The Infamous Cab-ulance

Published

I'm curious to know some of the things your patients call the ambulance for. Just recently we've had patients who present to the ED via EMS and c/o ripped cuticle, or a med refill, along with many more complaints that, in my opinion, absolutely do not justify the need for emergency medical services. The worst one lately, though, was a patient who presented to the ED and when getting off the stretcher, stated that they just needed a ride to this side of town to get to their friend's house and simply walked out the EMS bay doors. I was flabbergasted.

What inane EMS runs have you experienced?

Dear Administrator,

I used to really enjoy this site, but after reading all of the unprofessional posts made by "TraumaSurfer" I most definitely will not be returning allnurses.

TraumaSurfer...... you may want to look into a hobby to release all of that miserable energy you have inside (besides this site). The word "bully" actually came to mind while reading your comments. I bet you don't have a lot of friends.

CowboyMedic....... KEEP SAVING LIVES !! What you do is important and I know that people are walking around today who would have been dead if not for your interventions. Maybe, since TraumaSurfer hates EMS so much, he won't call 911 when his life is on the line......but then again, I bet he will. His tune will change if that day ever comes.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Hey guys can we get back to the original topic please.thanks

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Specializes in CRNA.

Back to the original topic. I once had a pt that called us complaining that he was going to have a seizure just so that we could help him move from his chair to his couch which was about 10 feet apart. He was a frequent flier always complaining of "I'm going to have a seizure." He did have a Hx of seizures, but I never ran on one of his seizures. A few of our other crews for the company that I worked for at the time had ran on him when he was having seizures and they were pretty bad.

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I had a pt come in by rescue today. C/O "I cut myself while trimming my nose hairs". It was a teny tiny nick on his nostril !!! ***. These people should go to jail for wasting the medics and everybody else's freakin time.

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Dear Administrator,

I used to really enjoy this site, but after reading all of the unprofessional posts made by "TraumaSurfer" I most definitely will not be returning allnurses.

TraumaSurfer...... you may want to look into a hobby to release all of that miserable energy you have inside (besides this site). The word "bully" actually came to mind while reading your comments. I bet you don't have a lot of friends.

CowboyMedic....... KEEP SAVING LIVES !! What you do is important and I know that people are walking around today who would have been dead if not for your interventions. Maybe, since TraumaSurfer hates EMS so much, he won't call 911 when his life is on the line......but then again, I bet he will. His tune will change if that day ever comes.

Amazing how everytime someone mentions the education for Paramedics should be raised it is seen as a hate post. Thus EMS remains a certificate technician and those who might love EMS but must move on to nursing or some other health profession if they want to advance their education.

Doesn't anyone see the connection between education and the ability to treat and release? If you don't want to get past a certicate, don't expect medical directors to just hand you the power to leave people on the street. The post made by cowboy medic is a great example of a system which fails those who just need a little assistance. No way would a community Paramedic program be of any use in a system like that until attitudes and education changes. Right now EMS is as much the problem which over plays the potential of being part of the solution. So, until the Paramedics who are so against more education even when it comes to CCT, don't expect much change in transport policies. At some point you should stop bitchin and start looking at solutions or at least realizing that cutbacks in medical funding for outpatient services/clinics affect us all.

And medic2514, it is extremely unprofessional to even suggest about not providing 911 service to anyone who disagrees with you. This is just another example where a few bad apples in EMS treat patients by emotions and ego rather than by physical assessment.

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Specializes in SICU / Transport / Hyperbaric.
Also in the video- the patient was not an emergency AFTER they gave the narcan- he was alert- talking and aware of his medications all three if those lead me to believe he was stable.

My rule on the ambulance. If I medicated you, no matter what it was(even a simple D50 for low sugar), I transported you. Never got into trouble that way.

Only told 1 patient I wasn't going to transport them. They literally called for a bleeding hangnail while sitting in his nice cool A/C. It was the hottest summer ever recorded in Wisconsin that I can remember. Temps were close to 115* (that's hot up here) and we had so many elderly patients without air conditioning dropping and hot weather deaths we were running back to back calls with 911 calls stacked.

I was pretty confident he was gonna be okay.

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
And medic2514, it is extremely unprofessional to even suggest about not providing 911 service to anyone who disagrees with you. This is just another example where a few bad apples in EMS treat patients by emotions and ego rather than by physical assessment.

This isn't even remotely close to what medic2514 stated! Can you even read? What was said is:

Maybe, since TraumaSurfer hates EMS so much, he won't call 911 when his life is on the line......but then again, I bet he will. His tune will change if that day ever comes.

This means that medic2514 isn't saying they'd refuse service -- just that they doubt whether you'd even bother to call 911 given that you have so little respect for the training and expertise of EMTs.

I hope for your patients' sakes that your assessment skills are a heck of a lot better than your reading comprehension skills!

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This isn't even remotely close to what medic2514 stated! Can you even read? What was said is:

This means that medic2514 isn't saying they'd refuse service -- just that they doubt whether you'd even bother to call 911 given that you have so little respect for the training and expertise of EMTs.

I hope for your patients' sakes that your assessment skills are a heck of a lot better than your reading comprehension skills!

Are you medic2514? How do you know what he is thinking? On the EMS forums some Paramedics get into a tantrum mode as soon as the education word is mentioned. I bet he has said the same "I am quitting this forum if you don't stop talking about education" on the EMS forums also. This is no different than some of the ADN vs BSN discussions on this forum. The only difference is for the Parmedics we are talking about raising the certificate of a few hundred hours to a mere Associates degree. Or, at least have college level prerequisites such as A&P, pharmacology and pathophysiology rather than just a tech school overview. Is that really too much to ask before they make judgments about whether a patient needs to be refused transport or to manage a critical ICU to ICU transfer? We can not even touch on all the levels of addiction and mental illness involved by some who are chronic 911 callers. There are reasons why some with chronic illnesses and elderly are put on mood stabilizers but that is something we can not even touch on because a couple of Paramedics have gotten their feelings hurt when "more education" is mentioned. There are bigger issues which must be taken into consideration before just telling someone they can not ride in your ambulance.

The fact is EMS education in the US is way too low and has remained that way for 50 years. Because some feel they have a few cool "life saving" skills they should be given the "authority" to determine who needs treatment and who doesn't. You can sling all the personal insults you want and make the "I hope you don't call 911" threats but the fact still remains in the US about EMS education. This is a national issue which has been under review for decades but has met opposition by those who refuse to acknowledge 1000 hours of training is not enough especially if you are doing CCT with lots of drips and a ventilator. Each state and every EMS agency have their own agendas which keeps EMS fragmented. But, if you feel that is more than enough to be a competent Critical Care provider, then Paramedics should be replacing RNs in the ICU. There is no shortage of them and they will gladly work for what an RN makes. I guess I wasted a lot of time getting a different degree so I could work in the ICUs. I should have just been an advocate for Paramedics with a few months of training to be in the ICUs.

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Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.

As a paramedic and a nurse, if me or a family member suddenly collapse into VF arrest, I will take the new paramedic over the new RN grad anytime ! Fact!

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First things first, I am a she! Been in EMS since 1998. I am a LICENSED Paramedic. I hold instructor level in ACLS, PALS, BTLS, CPR, PHTLS, and Blood Borne Pathogens HIV/AIDS. I have been teaching RNs for their continuing education hours and recerts for years.

Paramedics have over 1000 hours of classroom time, mine was probably closer to 1300. We have an additional 250-300 hours of clinicals in the hospital setting (including critical care). Then we have, at the very least, 500 hours of unpaid internship on the ambulance before we can take our boards. and, don't forget that you have to be an EMT-B first so let's not forget about those hours, because they do count.

I am currently in college bridging to RN only to pursue FNP. I do not have to complete any clinicals or labs (as well as some other classes, including pharm) because I am a Paramedic and I have already had them. I am learning the same A&P and micro that I already learned before, and if it weren't for the five year rule I wouldn't even have to take them again.

As far as us managing a critical care patient during a hospital to hospital transport, well, that's what we do and we are quite proficient at it! If an RN does go with me (and believe me it's rare) he or she couldn't even touch the meds on my truck if the patient did crash. I would still be the one administering the care. The only difference would be that I would have some extra hands to assist me if needed. We don't even have respiratory techs go with us on vent transfers because we have vents on our trucks and we know how to use them. I used to fly and we carried packed RBCs on the helicopter.

As for transports, we do not refuse to transport people. That is illegal! However, if a consenting adult patient does not want to go to the ER we can't make them even if we have already given D50% in the house, or whatever the case may be. That is called kidnapping according to the law.

As for you, of course I would treat and transport you! And you would receive top notch care! What Brillo said was right on and you completely misquoted me. I once had to treat and transport a man who had just shot and killed his two children and his wife and then ran from the police and managed to jump off a bridge and survive. He had several serious injuries and I treated every one of them like he was anyone else. Similar situations have happened to me over the last 16 years in EMS and I always treat all patients the same.

All in all I really don't care how you feel about our educational needs. What made me so upset is how you talk down to us. That was uncalled for and really is unprofessional. However, I do personally apologize for the comments I left about you. But' try to lighten up on people and don't be so condescending. You can get a lot more accomplished that way because you will have more people willing to listen.

Finally for the record: I totally respect RNs and anyone else in the medical field for that matter. Just do your job and do it well no mater what title you hold and all will be good! Let's work together!

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Hey guys, back to the topic at hand. Please discuss the RN versus paramedic topic in a new thread. Thanks very much!

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Specializes in Cardiac surgery ICU.

Here we pay for the ambulance, free if you get hospitalised, but you have to present your discharge letter from the hosptal. Road accident, the car insurance pays, but you have to get a police report to prove it was a car accident. Intensive care ambulance, you pay 50%.

If you don't pay, you get sued, plus you pay index rise and interest rate. If you still don't pay, the court sends people to your house and confiscate things to sell and pay off the debt. They can sue you up to seven years later.

If you have to get to a doctor's appointment and need a taxi and are on welfare, you get reimbursed by social security or welfare.

You can't abuse the ambulances here like I read on your posts.

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