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10 ways to tell that you don't have an emergency


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Had this happen: At MVA scene the officers want to talk to everyone "involved" in the accident after they are checked out by EMS. EMS transports them all to the ER first. In the ER I am doing the medical screening asking the pt what brings him in. Answer- the ambulance crew said I needed to be checked out. Me- what are your injuries? He says injuries? I say yes were you not involved in the accident. He pauses and says Oh, oh you mean "involved- like involved. Oh no I just witnessed the wreck."

 

 

Lol: what moron lets themselves be transported to the ER because he witnessed the wreck and now feels "involved"

I wonder if that ambulance ride will be paid for?

 

 

True story...

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To quote an old Air Force ER Colleague, "If they have a blood pressure, it is not an emergency." But to put this in context, if the civilian EMTs declared an "emergency" they could ask for permission to enter the base and come to our ER. If denied, they would have to drive the 25 miles to the civilian hospital ER. Dr. Holland would always get on the radio when they would call for permission, "Do they have a B/P." The answer would be something like, "Uh . . . yeah, it is 88/nil and they have a knife in their chest." To which he would replay, "Well permission to come here is denied. This is not an emergency because no one has ever died with a blood pressure." It might go without saying but he didn't like patients coming into his ER . . . none of them. Actually, he didn't like patients at all. He said he became a doctor for the money and wish there were no patients to deal with.

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To quote an old Air Force ER Colleague, "If they have a blood pressure, it is not an emergency." But to put this in context, if the civilian EMTs declared an "emergency" they could ask for permission to enter the base and come to our ER. If denied, they would have to drive the 25 miles to the civilian hospital ER. Dr. Holland would always get on the radio when they would call for permission, "Do they have a B/P." The answer would be something like, "Uh . . . yeah, it is 88/nil and they have a knife in their chest." To which he would replay, "Well permission to come here is denied. This is not an emergency because no one has ever died with a blood pressure." It might go without saying but he didn't like patients coming into his ER . . . none of them. Actually, he didn't like patients at all. He said he became a doctor for the money and wish there were no patients to deal with.

 

 

Unfortunately, I've worked with a couple of providers like the one you described. They are very dangerous....not to mention stupid.

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Hey now... That hurts.

only because it's true....you can't begin to compare a bunch of 16 yr old yahoos on a volunteer squad with a professional, full time paid paramedic unit.

the WORST first responders I ever worked with were the vollies in pennsylvania. scary. most of them joined just to get their "blue light" so they could drive code 3 all over the city "on the way to calls" or lunch, or their girlfriend's house, or a random redneck activity.

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only because it's true....you can't begin to compare a bunch of 16 yr old yahoos on a volunteer squad with a professional, full time paid paramedic unit.

the WORST first responders I ever worked with were the vollies in pennsylvania. scary. most of them joined just to get their "blue light" so they could drive code 3 all over the city "on the way to calls" or lunch, or their girlfriend's house, or a random redneck activity.

 

In general, it is true. But it's an overgeneralization. I'm a volunteer EMT, so are the paramedics and EMTs on our squad. I take pride in what we do and how well we do it, partly because I've had a hand in training our cadre and partly because I'm one of them. That's why it hurts. :) But yes, I know that generally the vollies are scary - take any of our outlying agencies: all volunteers, all woefully under prepared for a true emergency.

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"I'm allergic to vicodin, but Norco works for me;" "vomiting x 1 hour;" "Fever x 30 min (seriously)." God, if teenagers and twenty-somethings knew ottowa rules and nexus criteria... AND if young parents knew how to treat a fever and what constituted an ACTUAL sick kid... Dr. Spock, where are you?

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