GET LOST!

[firedoc5]

I know we've all had partners that weren't the brightest bulbs, but have you ever had to tell a "partner" to GET LOST, or tell them to go sit in the rig, up front?

Luckily I didn't I didn't have to face that situation, sort of awkward. But I've seen it done on several occasions. I'd seen them cry, be p!ssed off at either the crew chief or with themselves, etc. 90% of the time we were just a two man crew, and if we needed a third one of Fire/ Rescue would jump in. But believe me, there were sometimes that if we had at least one more person there I would have told the "moron" to sit in the rig and stay there. And I'm not talking about Rookies. There were some guys that had been in EMS for five years or more. Guess that's why most of them were still BLS.

One guy I would have fired on the spot if it weren't for being in a "no man's land". It was right were there were three different agencies could cover. It just depended who the caller called. We'd usually get the call because of the three we were the only ALS, at the time. If one of the other agencies showed up, which often happened, I would have told "Jim" to go with them back to their HQ and wait for a ride back to our station, which he would have been promptly fired. Even though I really needed two sets of hands in the back, I still made "Jim" sit up front and had "Brad" (ILS) drive.

Due to already being short handed, and I cooled down a little bit, and "Jim" was next in rotation to make a transfer, he wasn't fired...that day. His "day" came about three months later.

[mobey]

One time I was called in a panic to help with a severe difficulty breathing 22 y/o female.

I arrived on scene just as the ambulance was leaving.

I jumped in the back with a 20+ yr veteran EMT who has chosen not to keep up on her/his education.

I looked at the patient, looked at the EMT, and asked What her air entry sounds were. The EMT said "I haven't had time to check them!

I stuck my head up front and told the driver to pull over and shut the siren off..../ Every patient gets assessed before they are moved!

I heard some wheezes in the lung fields, but not much to worry about. SP02 99 I think on room air (no time for 02 ya know) but resps like 40. With the carpopedal spasms present it was clear to me this was a hyperventilation.

I asked the other EMT to put 2.5mg salbutomol in a neb as I began to coach the patient.

She tore the bag open and spilled the neb parts all over the floor she was shaking so bad.

I told her "Just sit back and watch"

Anyway, the patient who was originally going in and out of Cx, eventually walked out of the rig into the hospital. And we were able to transport with no sirens!!

[emtannie]

I have had to tell a partner to back away from a patient so I could intervene when I could see that their interventions were going to do more harm than good, or when I could see they were panicking and not helping the patient.

All of the incidents I can think of are partners who have been working a long time, but have chosen not to maintain their skills. I work with one EMT who has been in the field for over 15 years, and still panics when it is a serious situation.... it drives me crazy. This person hasn't done anything that has warranted more than a verbal reprimand (well, in supervisor's eyes, anyway),.... but it is only a matter of time before it is more serious...

A couple of times I have spoken with this person and gotten the "when you have worked here as long as I have, you can tell me what to do" speech..... to which I respond "time doesn't equal skill and knowledge and you have to keep your skills up to date" which usually gets me the "FU" comeback...

[mobey]

Lots of times I have to tell my Paramedic partner to "back off" so I can perform bls on our patient that he forgets all the time.

In fact, the majority of my job is babysitting the als providers, and "saving them" from major screwups.

[firedoc5]

I have had to tell a partner to back away from a patient so I could intervene when I could see that their interventions were going to do more harm than good, or when I could see they were panicking and not helping the patient.

All of the incidents I can think of are partners who have been working a long time, but have chosen not to maintain their skills. I work with one EMT who has been in the field for over 15 years, and still panics when it is a serious situation.... it drives me crazy. This person hasn't done anything that has warranted more than a verbal reprimand (well, in supervisor's eyes, anyway),.... but it is only a matter of time before it is more serious...

A couple of times I have spoken with this person and gotten the "when you have worked here as long as I have, you can tell me what to do" speech..... to which I respond "time doesn't equal skill and knowledge and you have to keep your skills up to date" which usually gets me the "FU" comeback...

Now that I've had to do quite a few times. Like poor bedside manor, or being apathetic. Some would not hardly acknowledge the pt.was even there it seemed like. A lot of it was blamed on burn out.

A few times the pt. and Medic would be arguing over something, so I'd step in, calm things down and see what the problem was and try to satisfy the pt.

[reaper]

Lots of times I have to tell my Paramedic partner to "back off" so I can perform bls on our patient that he forgets all the time.

In fact, the majority of my job is babysitting the als providers, and "saving them" from major screwups.

Dam I wish you would come work here!

[Don1977]

Not a partner but have thrown a few Nursing home nurses out of the room......

[Just Plain Ruff]

Had a crew who called us in as 2nd unit in on cardiac arrest. Not sure why we got called but I'm glad we did.

Unresponsive patient, cpr in progress.

Asked how long down and they said witnessed

Patietn passed out in the ambulance.

CPR started

I noticed that each time the medic in question compressed the chest the patients face grimaced.

We started towards the hospital and I asked to hold cpr - she did.

Patient started to moan and then cry

I asked the patient some questions and she said she felt each and every one of the countless compressions but she couldn't wake up.

she had abounding pulse of 135, a bp of 108/74 and a unassisted resp rate of 20

The monitor originally showed asystole but it was a great sinus tach of 135

The patient said she had seizures without seizure activity and it took her some time to awaken from them.

This person suffered 4 broken ribs, a broken sternum and spent a night in the hospital for pain control. A

All because a medic out of school less than 6 months panicked and started cpr on a seizure patient. Her response when confronted with the facts was that she hadn't checked a pulse and treated the monitor.

I'm not sure what happened to her after that but I know she quit the job and went to work somewhere in a rural area.

[mailmantech82]

I recently had an "experienced" medic ask me what a Duoneb was... He had no clue...

[Laura Anne]

I think just about every situation of unfortunate EMS providers that have either choked on a call or lost their brains at some point in time in theirs lives have all worked for my company. I SWEAR!!! :shock: :shock: :shock: There have been a lot of providers over the years that have dropped the ball BIG time on a call....... some of them I don't think can spell the word 'B-A-L-L'.

I always tend to try to give these people a fair shot; try not to judge them until they have proven themselves to be incompetent. Sometimes it's a brain fart situation, sometimes its a brainless situation. Lord knows I had made my fair share of mistakes..... :oops: Nothing detrimental to a patients or crews well being tho....

That being said..... :twisted:

Once upon a time, I had a 13yr old burn victim: kids were playing fireman with gasoline...you can fill in the rest.

While attempting to put an IV in this Pt, I instructed the EMT partner of mine to examine the legs for the amount of burns and to give an approx "rule of nines" count. This EMT excitedly started to cut the melted shorts the kid was wearing off his legs.... got too impatient and grabbed the cut pieces and pulled hard at the rest of the shorts all the way up his legs.............

The skin had torn off with the pants. I didn't know the EMT had done this until the poor boy screamed the most gut wrenching scream I had heard in a long time. My back was to him due to positioning myself to start the IV, therefore I had no idea of the idiotic move this EMT was doing behind my back. I felt responsible for the anguish this child just endured at the hands of my 'partner'. Thank GOD a second ALS float unit has shown up to assist us and they were able to promptly remove my 'partner' from my truck and assist me to the LZ.

This EMT no longer works at my organization. Its just a shame it took causing harm to a patient to have him removed.