What was your first "DUH" moment on a call.

[mrsbull]

First "Duh" moment something asked,said done etc. Or your first "Pucker" incident??

Just thought it might be a fun thread.

Mine was actually when I was in school. I was doing my clinicals it was near the end. Actually 5 mins to leave and an MI comes in. I asked if I could stay and observe. When the pt was given his meds and returned to stable condition. I "interviewed him" Sample and all that.

Doc walks in and said to the pt that he was going to the cath lab. I thought that would be cool to see. So I asked if I could observe. Mind you I had been "working" 12 hours but not much sleep before cause I was excited. I was told yes IF the pt was ok with it. I asked, he was.

So we went to the lab. Where I was told to gown up and put a vest on. There was a spare vest I was told to put on (It was a cardiologists vest) for the radiation. The tech in the Cath lab said to me if I have any questions to feel free to ask. I tell him ok. There was a student who walked in about 5 mins after I put the Docs vest on. The radiology student thought I was an MD. Said Hi Dr so and so. I had just asked what tools were used for what. The tech was nice until he started getting "obvious" on me. ie those are gloves, that is an ultrasound machine that is a syringe. He had started ticking me off I told him well "I have those figured out it isn't Brain Surgery After all" Boy did I get a look from the Cardiologist!!!

Let's hear them!!

[WolfmanHarris]

Attended for a ~60y/o M, epistaxis. Became clear on scene that even with his extensive mental health history (call at a group home) not all was normal with him. Took a BGL found it was 2.5 mmol/L. Started to explain to the pt. that we were going to give him a shot of glucagon to correct it and when I reached for the drug bag my partner put a tube of oral glucose in my hand and smiled. Right, if I can explain to the pt. what's going on and chat with him, chances are he can handle the glucose.

[Kiwiology]

Being told that a critical asthmatic who was speaking like one word a breath and clutching his chest looking ready to keel over and die was fine "because he has no wheeze and is speaking".

[medicKristina]

Yeah. Mine is similar. I was on my internship and I get a call for difficulty breathing. Walk in on a 50 y/o man, tripoding working like crazy and he tells us that he's been using his albuterol like crazy but can't catch his breath. Go to listen to breath sounds and there was NOTHING! The man was moving NO AUDIBLE AIR! We do a load and go and he crashes en route to the hospital (OF COURSE!!!). First internship tube...first unstable/crashing pt....FIRST PUCKER moment EV-VER!

[BushyFromOz]

Went to some old duck who was complaining of feeling dizzy. I was taking her pulse and said "Well its not your heart rate is nice and regular" She says "I bloody hope so son i had a pacemaker put in last month"

DUH......

Being told that a critical asthmatic who was speaking like one word a breath and clutching his chest looking ready to keel over and die was fine "because he has no wheeze and is speaking".

I love these patient!, Its one of those job where you really get to see the effect your treatment is having! Its not very often we get to see someone go from pre-arrest to arguing about why they need to go to hospital!

[worlandemt]

I think my first DUH moment was. I have been an EMT for maybe for a month and we got called to the local high school. There was a wrestling tournoment with like around 400 wrestlers. But anyway the call came in as a male patient that had been dropped on his head and couldn't mive his legs or arms. Well we arrive on scene to find the patient lying there on the matt. Remind you that there were still matches going on. So we tried to get the patient packaged up as fast as when could just to get him out of there. So of course we do a full c-spine precaution. Then i was in charge of calling the hospital and telling them what we had. So in the meen time the otjer emts finished getting the patient ready for transport. So when we get to the hospital we takes the blankets of the patient and come to find out that he was in head blocks but there were no spider straps attached to the board to hold the patient in place. So of course I was like holy crap and ran out to the ambulance and got some straps and ran back in and put them on the board and patient. Then like 2 mins later the Dr. comes over and says we can take the patient off the board and leave him in the collar. So I was like well crap and the ER nurse was just laughing that we freaked out and put straps on and then the Dr took them off

[Just Plain Ruff]

As a new medic this one probably takes the cake.

Was working at a small rural EMS system.

Called on a possible overdose. We arrived, searched the house and found nothing. I decided to search the back yard. I didn't tell anyone (first mistake)where I was going.

Walked around and saw a detached garage. I went to the windows and saw the patient lying on the floor, appearing to be unconscious

I yelled for the gang to come help and I began to climb into the garage. The door wouldn't open and the top part of the door was missing.

This was approved by the cops.

I got in, the others were trying to lift this 900 pound garage door up, not very good luck.

My partner was climbing in now.

I touched the patient and the fight was on. Out pops a glock from the patients shirt and all I see is my life flashing in front of me. I grabbed the gun, my partner then arrives and we fight this kid until the FD basically pulls the door off it's hinges and the cops who had put out a Officer needs assistance call, jump in. All I hear was sirens coming and then once the patient is subdued and arrested, I realized how close I had come to dying. I transported the kid to the ER and throughout transport he kept telling me that he didn't want to kill me but he had to, the voices told him to do so.

Moral of the story and the Duh moment was this, If you and 5 other guys can't get the door open do not go into an enclosed space with a patient until you have backup. The patient can lie there for the little extra time it takes to get the door open. Don't risk it.

[Riblett]

Can't think of any duh moment off hand. But I definitely remember my first pucker moment.

I had been a paramedic for 3 months. Up until that time I had been riding with a seasoned medic and it was my first shift with an EMT-I as my partner. The entire shift was uneventful, a few BLS transports, a couple of should-have-called-a-cab runs, and a diabetic given IV dextrose who signed a refusal. It was about 4am and we had been soundly sleeping for a couple hours when the pagers go off for sick call. The dispatcher gave us no further information and the residence was only a few blocks from the station so we got there before the call was fully EMD'ed. I stumbled into the residence with my eyes half open expecting someone with the flu.

I found a 70 something year old man lying side ways across the bed, semiconscious, and doing that guppy fish breathing that you can see is pulmonary edema from down the hallway. His 02 sats were in the low seventies, cool, clammy skin. In the words of Kelly Grayson, aka AD, you couldn't have "shoved a knitting needle up my ass with a sledgehammer." I kinda stood there for a second like a deer in headlights. Finally gaining my composure, for some reason I asked him what wrong (as thought it wasn't obvious!) He replied, "I-am-f*ck-ing-dy-ing."

I made a grab for my radio to summon some help and ended up flinging it across the room, breaking several ornate objects. After calling for back up I managed to get the CPAP on him, get a line, and have my partner get a 12 lead. He had ST depression in nearly every lead, but after 5 minutes on the CPAP his sats were low nineties. A volunteer EMT showed up to drive us to the local ER and I thought it was all over. I was sitting behind the nursing station trying to catch my breath when the ER doc (who happens to be the medical director) comes over. He very nonchalantly says, "Oh by the way, the MICU unit is tied up. You gotta take this guy to Duke. Right now." An hour away. That was my first FML moment in EMS, as well.

[Richard B the EMT]

Not mine, and unknown if it was the poster's first, but someone reported here, that they asked a stable, non cardiac patient to walk down stairs, and got a lot of flack from the patient and family for asking. Seems the woman had her double BK amputations hidden under her blanket.

Not mine, and unknown if it was the poster's first, but someone reported here, that they asked a stable, non cardiac patient to walk down stairs, and got a lot of flack from the patient and family for asking. Seems the woman had her double BK amputations hidden under her blanket.

[tom5706]

Dont' know if this qualifies as a first, bit a DUH just the same. Toned out at 2 a.m. been asleep about 2 hours) to a pt with abdominal pains. Arrive on scene to find an elderly Pt. sitting up on bed clutching a small waste can trying to vomit. Assessment revealed classic textbook signs of STROKE. Packaged him up and was heading out the door when ALS arrived. While giving report, I said "breath sounds are round and reactive to light". He looked and said OK, and how are his eyes. I realized what I had said and replied " clear bilaterally" We had a laugh over that one.