Is this a typical reaction

[crazyemt5150]

Ok so Im still pretty new to the whole ems thing and continue to run some decent calls. I was doing a 48 out in taft which is a pretty rurual area and most of the mva's are bad and most of them are either head on or roll overs. So its about noon yesterday quick call goes off. We respond we receive the call as a rollover off of the 33 and midway which is in the middle of nothing. As we get there fire smokes us on scene. and is putting out the fire. I grab the monitor and first in bag and go to the car. Where i see out pt who was a 68f laying out side gcs of 15 but keeps asking the same question over and over. Fire had put a bandage over her head. So i removed it so I could see the wound. She had a nasty evolusion "she got scalped" from the above the eyes to the middle of her head. I couldn't see at first untill i cleaned the wound on how bad it was. After I saw the clean wound and the bright white skull with a peace missing and brain exposed not damaged I nutted up and couldn't move talk think but just stare for about two minutes. My medic actually had to pick me up and move me what the hell happened to me and is that normal for rookies. I have seen some pretty bad shit before and it never happened why yesterday did it happen. Do you guys know or have any suggestions on how I can not do that again

[Scaramedic]

You vapor locked, no big deal.

You saw something a normal human being should never see, a living persons brain. This is a normal reaction, in time you will respond differently. You will never get used to stuff like that but you will learn to deal with it better.

Cut yourself some slack and chalk it up to a learning experience.

Also don't be afraid to admit that part of you was thinking "wow that is so cool." We all do it.

Peace,

Marty

[HellsBells]

First of all, please use the spell check and look at your grammar before posting. That was a little hard to read

As for you freezing up? It is a common stress reaction. I can remember my mind going completely blank trying to take simple histories from patients when I was on practicum. That said, being a rookie is no excuse not to do your job.

The best advice I can give is that when you're faced with a hairy situation, try to fall back on your training and do things in a step by step process. I.e. LOC, ABC's, put bandage over skull so I'm not distracted, C-collar, spineboard, etc. Remember, if this patient has a MOI so significant that a piece of skull is missing, then she probably has other more severe injuries and needs to get to the hospital fairly quickly.

gcs of 15 but keeps asking the same question over and over

Are you sure thats a GCS of 15?

[crazyemt5150]

gcs of 15 but keeps asking the same question over and over

Are you sure thats a GCS of 15?

[scparamedic98]

"As for you freezing up? It is a common stress reaction. I can remember my mind going completely blank trying to take simple histories from patients when I was on practicum. That said, being a rookie is no excuse not to do your job."

Cut the guy some slack, he came in here asking an opinion, and admitted he had a brain fart. Also, try not to contradict yourself when you answer his question. Either it's normal to freeze up as a rookie or not, can't have it both ways.

Otherwise, had I been the medic on scene I wouldn't have been overly happy with you. We would have discussed it after the call and moved past it though. One thing, get a report from the fireman/ 1st responder about the wound and unless it's bleeding through, leave the bandage in place. Also, unless it's grossly filled with grass, dirt etc. I wouldn't have tried to clean a head wound especially enough to see the skull.

[Yummymedic05]

I would say, if this happens to tell someone on scene so they can take over, while you take a few deep breaths. That way no one is being treated half assed due to a cloudy mind. I think we've all been there. Heck the first time I almost didn't make it was watching child birth. I froze, got hot, thought about barfing, and still would rather never see/assist with it again!

[stcommodore]

I was able to read it fine, don't let the grammer gods get you. I know a medic that has a theory that rural type roads create alot worse accidents then others, so wouldn't be surprised if that holds true in overall rual systems. But like everyone said find someone to take over (if possible) otherwise realize what it is and get past it. While I didn't have it for my test there is a very common registry scinereo for the a station where there is a graphic injury, but that injury isn't a life threat and it often distracts people from the actual assessment and treamtment.

[tskstorm]

Are you sure thats a GCS of 15?

i should of finished but YES she knew the year date president where she was what happened all the good stuff

[HellsBells]

Cut the guy some slack, he came in here asking an opinion, and admitted he had a brain fart. Also, try not to contradict yourself when you answer his question. Either it's normal to freeze up as a rookie or not, can't have it both ways

I didn't think that I was being overly critical of crazy emt. Obviously, being new to the job there are things out there that can be impossible to prepare for. Everyone, including myself has experienced it.

The good thing about incidents like this is that they tend to stick with you and motivate you not to repeat the mistake next time

[Dustdevil]

Scaramedic's reply is golden. And tskstorm's advice about some time with the ME can be very, very helpful to you, so I hope you'll check into it. But yes, this is not a terribly uncommon reaction. It is extremely common at the EMT level because of the limited assessment and intervention tools you are given to utilise. Consequently, you see something like this and immediately think, "whoa, this is really bad! What can I do about it?" Honestly, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. So you end up locked up like a Microsoft PC trying to find a file that doesn't exist.

Of course, it is also possible that you locked up simply because you were grossed out, which would be a totally different scenario than above. It's up to you to honestly assess yourself and determine which it was, because each of those problems is addressed differently.

That said, I think the grammar thing is a fair point. After all, if your post had been easier to read, more people would have immediately picked up the whole GCS discrepancy (which, by the way, you could use some remedial study on). Personally, I kinda got lost after you said the FD "smoked" you. :? What is that all about? No matter how new you are to EMS, you're a 21 year old high school graduate. You shouldn't sound like you are new to English. And it's not like HellsBells was harsh about it. He brought it up quite matter of factly, so don't take offence. Just take it as the good advice that it is.

Anyhow, we've all been there. Don't sweat it. Give it a lot of thought and learn from it. If you do that, you'll be fine.