But you're a nurse, you could've done this....

[Madras]

So today I left work and was on my way to meet hubby and kiddo to run errands. I was about 5 minutes away when I get a call from him saying they've been in a car accident! "We're ok though".

I arrive on scene, police had just gotten there as well. I see the car and someone sideswiped the passenger side of his 2 door coupe. My son was in the back seat passenger side. I do a look over of him, quick assessment and take him out of the car. He's blabbing on and on about his new crazy experience. (6 yr old aspiring race car driver) looking good.

The officer asked if I wanted an ambulance to come and I said yes.

So ambulance arrived on scene. My kid is just yapping away and enjoying all the attention. The medics take one look at me and say "but you're a nurse, you could've handled this, he seems fine". (Still had my badge on from work)

I said "yes but I'm an OR nurse so not exactly my forte plus I'd feel much better if he got a full assessment and some vitals".

So all in all everything is fine, the medics were really great but this raised a thought for me......

What would other nurses have done? Thoughts?

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Police have certain indications to call an ambulance to evaluate people in a car accident, and it doesn't sound like he felt there was any need, but you being a nurse he thought he would ask your opinion and your response was "yes". Everyone appeared fine so the medics asked why they were there, which is a reasonable question.

I don't think it was reasonable to ask the mother and wife of crash victims to make that decision, despite APPARENT appearances.

And it was EMT who asked her, not police, wasn't it?

I have seen 911 ambulances, paramedics called just for transportation for an AIDS pt who was feeling ill but didn't have other transportation but didn't need 911. Have seen scads of 911 ER runs for far less than car crashes.

OP, you did exactly what you should have done. I hope all of you are fine.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I agree that you should not have been expected to do an objective nursing assessment on your own family, but I disagree with your choice to tie up an ambulance and its crew for this. You could have called a taxi or a friend to transport to a Convenient Care for vitals and a quick check up if you didn't have access to a vehicle of your own, then gone to an ED if Convenient Care recommended a more thorough exam.

I vehemently cannot concur. OP's priority is not to leave an ambulance available for someone else, she should not be taking her crash victim son to a drug store or wherever for a quick check-up, or do anything other than what she did. If ER wants to laugh at her, poke fun at her, ridicule her, or tar and feather her for not skipping the ER/ambulance scene, let them. She will be up all night watching over her loved ones - after they are cleared by ER.

I guess I'm a dinosaur, but it's kind of hard to believe the advice I'm seeing here from some posters to not go to ER and obtain peace of mind. God knows the ER decisions are, often enough, incorrect and cursory.

[maxthecat]

I don't think that I or anyone else has chastised the OP for her decision. If that's how it came across, I apologize. I'm not saying don't get an assessment, just that I wouldn't have called an ambulance to transport. It may be different in your town, but Convenient Care in mine is not a storefront operation, it is an alternative to a full blown ER visit and is staffed by fully competent physicians and nurses. They are able to do an objective assessment and advise if pt needs a scan or something else beyond what they can provide.

The OP didn't indicate there was a concussion involved, so that may be coloring my advice. My family and I were involved in a car accident serious enough to cause a broken bone in one of my kids, but because there were no head injuries we never received scans. My advice would be different if the OP had mentioned that the child had hit his head or been injured by airbag deployment.

[brandiep1982]

I agree with a PP who said there are no rights or wrongs here, just different "what would you do's".

Being a Paramedic, who is trained in prehospital care/ first responder care, I would have done the same initial assessment as OP did, checking pulse rate and all. If there were no alarming symptoms, I would have taken him to the ER myself. There is nothing more the Medics would have done. However, I can totally see where everyone is coming from when they say they don't feel it is right to assess their own loved ones.