secondarybigdaddy

Like someone else here said I think the consensus here is that if you can justify a Visual examination by saying that it will definitively alter your course of action by doing it, then one in good conscious should be doing one. I don't feel right basing my call on whether or not to perform one on sex "females might sue more". I had a scenario very similar to the poster above with a Male, a slight language barrier, and a Catheter. In this case I was in training (not yet cleared for Pt Care) and the Male Pt was complaining of throbbing Groin pain. We were asking him all sorts of questions, Hernia, Exercise, had he been to the hospital lately. I said "should we take a look?" the crew members I was training with both agreed " I'm not taking a look!" "You want to Go Ahead". I was embarrassed and I felt I did not have their support, so if I had found something I felt I might be on my own. So I didn't look. We arrived at the hospital which was two blocks from the scene, and it turned out the guy had a catheter tube that had been in for over two weeks and was badly infected. I mean we were asking this guy everything, and he didn't say one thing about a Catheter. We felt pretty stupid giving report to the ER Nurse and Not having had any knowledge of this. Now in this case, would it have made any difference, other than us saving face? Probably not. But it made me think right from the very beginning of my EMT career about to expose or not expose. I for one am glad the OP brought this up as I am new here and have not read a lot of old threads. On a side note someone posted that a friend of theirs was fired for what seemed to be a justified exposure, even though he was found to have been justified. That is disheartening, I have to base my judgment on what is best for the Pt. and if I think taking their pants down might make the difference even if it's just to Upgrade the call to "Emergent" that's what I should do. Shame on the company for not standing by their employee. ...and shame on his wife for not standing by him while he was out of work.

Hi, Fairly new EMT here (almost 2 years). Here to learn. Interested ATM in going back to school for Nursing and then specializing (not sure where yet). Happy Thanksgiving!