One of my nursing students just told me that yesterday she was driving home after an exam and saw a body lying in the middle of the highway. She pulled over, blocking traffic with her pickup truck (I shuddered at the thought...so unsafe! but I just listened - it was done and she lived...). She ran to the body and discovered two other students from our school attending to a woman who had been hit by a car. They stayed with her, she was breathing, but unconscious with visible wounds to the head. They comforted the driver of the vehicle as well - she was incredibly upset. EMS arrived first (it took about 10 minutes - the student said, "It seemed like forever" - seems like a long response time to me for one of the larger cities in a southeastern state. Here's where I freak out. She said, "EMS didn't put her on a backboard or stabilize her head." I can't even grasp this. Can anyone explain this behavior? I'm sure I can find out who was on that particular run, but I want to hear from ya'll first. Maybe I'm wrong, but I always thought that stabilizing the head and neck were the number one priority in an unwitnessed accident/victim unconscious.
Wondering what you would do? Should I try to track them down and report them? This student said several months ago she had called EMS to attend to her husband who was having chest pains and they hadn't known how to do a blood pressure. I am not typically reactionary and try to see all sides of a story, and of course the student could have misunderstood in the stress of the situation.
For someone who states seeing all sides of the scenario you sure seem to accept everything this student states as gospel from EMS not knowing how to do a BP to c-collar on a 'body' in the road. 'Tis possible person iin road had fixed/dilated pupils even with someone breathing and we only have her word on 'EMS not knowing how to do a BP...unless she is wonder-nurse she'll encounter everything from "son did get ANYTHING for pain in days!" to Mom did not have a BM in a week!" on her watch...
To be fair the OP did walk it back after hearing some of our responses and has been open to being educated but I agree this student sounds like a piece of work.
Specializes in Education, Informatics, Patient Safety.
3 hours ago, hherrn said:
This thread, like another recent thread, brings up the lack of first aid/emergency response training nurses get.
OP mentioned "She pulled over, blocking traffic with her pickup truck (I shuddered at the thought...so unsafe!"
Actually, an excellent choice- If she had been properly trained, this is exactly what she would do. Scene safety comes before Airway.
I wonder how many nurse would actually take an ERRN (Emergency Response for Registered Nurses) course if one existed.
I think an 8 hour course would go a long way in teaching RNs how to channel their knowledge in unfamiliar situations.
The reason I thought pulling her truck out to block traffic was unsafe was because I was concerned about her safety. I took a wilderness first aid course about 15 years ago, so my knowledge of emergency medicine is woefully outdated. It's time for an update and I will be pursuing that asap. I was always taught in all my first aid/BLS courses that the first order of business before anything is to make sure that YOU, the responder are safe. Does that make sense? I'm thinking what might have made the most sense was to block traffic with her truck, but remove herself to the side of the road? But that seems fraught with danger as well. I'm not sure there's a perfect answer here. I do know the local police commended the students for being willing to stay with the patient until EMS arrived.
The reason I thought pulling her truck out to block traffic was unsafe was because I was concerned about her safety. I took a wilderness first aid course about 15 years ago, so my knowledge of emergency medicine is woefully outdated. It's time for an update and I will be pursuing that asap. I was always taught in all my first aid/BLS courses that the first order of business before anything is to make sure that YOU, the responder are safe. Does that make sense? I'm thinking what might have made the most sense was to block traffic with her truck, but remove herself to the side of the road? But that seems fraught with danger as well. I'm not sure there's a perfect answer here. I do know the local police commended the students for being willing to stay with the patient until EMS arrived.
It's not rocket science, but diverting traffic with your vehicle is a nuanced skill picked up over time.. I'm not sure it's something I'd be comfortable doing for the very first time in my personal car on the scene of my very first bad car crash..
It really first came on my radar back in EMT-basic school (a long long time ago) when we were learning "standing take-downs", where someone is walking around but it's decided "HUR DUR.. MUST BACKBOARD".. We had this whole process for holding c-spine, putting the backboard flush to their back and laying them and the backboard flat onto the ground. I remember thinking "this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen, they were just walking around!"
Anyhoo, when the backboarding was finally on it's way out the door as standard practice, I cheered a bit inside..
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Wuzzie
5,238 Posts
To be fair the OP did walk it back after hearing some of our responses and has been open to being educated but I agree this student sounds like a piece of work.