Last night was what I would call a perfect night of EMS. It's a hard concept to come to grips with, but as an EMT, there is a certain part of you that wants to work - you want calls, even though you know that a call means that someone else is sick or injured. You don't wish for the accident, you wish for the chance to help, and more often than not, you get it.
Last night was such a night. I came on in a good mood, although I had been tired and feeling sick all day. Dinner improved my spirits, and afterwards, we settled in for a quiet night. A little after 9 pm, we received a call, and luckily I was still dressed; an elderly individual at a local restaurant, unresponsive and projectile vomiting. We hop in the rigs quickly, the call is upgraded to code 1, the lights go on, and we page for assistance.
We arrive on scene to find a person in truly serious condition. They aren't speaking, but seem to be able to obey vocal commands; they are able to squeeze our hand, they're breathing, and they have a good pulse. So far so good. However, there are clear signs of a neurological problem of some kind; the eyes are unresponsive, and one is pointing in the wrong direction. We attempt and fail a quick on-site blood pressure reading, and decide not to wait any longer. We load the patient (with some difficulty) and move to the ambulance.
Doors close and we move right away. On route, I set to taking a blood sugar reading, which came up normal. I grab a gauze pad to cover the finger, and look up at the patient, who coughs twice before proceeding to vomit a surprising amount of barely-digested expensive dinner, a sizable portion of which ends up on my legs. I ignore this, towel the patient off a bit, and we continue to be bounced around the ambulance, suctioning the vomit from the patient and starting him on high-flow oxygen via nonrebreather mask. We arrive at the hospital, move him in quickly, transfer him to a bed, and the nurses set to him immediately. I stand back and watch it all happen, never having experienced this level of emergency before, and find that everyone's motions are practiced and smooth, while I hardly know where to stand this time; I just take it all in, remembering what to do for the next patient.
Afterwards, we begin on the lengthy cleanup process. Every tool we used gets wiped down thoroughly, and I change into a set of scrubs, feeling for all the world that although I've been an EMT for a year now, this was my first real call.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Happy Halloween
I went as an emergency services worker for halloween last night, and definitely got to go out trick-or-treating. A number of bizarre incidents, some of which directly related to the holiday, kept my team and I running around all evening. Sadly, I treated two patients who had very minor injuries as the result of violence perpetrated by themselves and others, and one patient with a more serious injury caused by her desire to not let the unfinished state of her front steps stop her from giving out candy to local kids.
The first and most notable incident was well in progress when my shift started. An assault took place at the local convenience store, and the guy proceeded to run off into the woods, where he "tripped on some bittersweet vines and twisted his knees and ankles." He then proceeded to climb onto the roof of the bowling alley, which is perhaps the most exposed yet least escapable location I can think of in town. Following a brief scuffle with officers (which I believe caused the laceration to his forehead) he was arrested. He seemed to be much calmer when we took him to the hospital later, and this leads me to wonder what he may have been thinking (or on) when he committed the crime. Witnesses say he "threw the clerk five feet through the air," but that scarcely seems possible from looking at him.
The second incident was a simple fight victim found in a parking lot. 19, a shiner, and drunk enough to write his date of birth on the "today's date" line beside the signature on his refusal form (the form that says we think you should go to the hospital but you don't want to and it's your choice.)
Third was a woman whose house was under construction who broke one ankle and sprained the other while running out to give candy to local kids. It was good to deal with a patient not handcuffed to something, but the downside was that her house was like an obstacle course. we had to traverse around a hanging wire, through a muddy dirt front yard, over a very steep makeshift step and through a doorway that didn't allow the stretcher to turn through without lifting it a couple feet over the stairway. Generally, having a hydraulic stretcher (the Power Pro on this list) is a huge advantage, but when you have to carry the whole thing, patient included, the extra weight is not helpful.
Long story short? Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's an incredible cultural event, and it was interesting to see it from this perspective. However, there's no question that any emergency department is going to be spread thin with unfortunate incidents when there's a combination of children in the streets and drinking, all while the spirits are free for the evening to walk the earth.
The first and most notable incident was well in progress when my shift started. An assault took place at the local convenience store, and the guy proceeded to run off into the woods, where he "tripped on some bittersweet vines and twisted his knees and ankles." He then proceeded to climb onto the roof of the bowling alley, which is perhaps the most exposed yet least escapable location I can think of in town. Following a brief scuffle with officers (which I believe caused the laceration to his forehead) he was arrested. He seemed to be much calmer when we took him to the hospital later, and this leads me to wonder what he may have been thinking (or on) when he committed the crime. Witnesses say he "threw the clerk five feet through the air," but that scarcely seems possible from looking at him.
The second incident was a simple fight victim found in a parking lot. 19, a shiner, and drunk enough to write his date of birth on the "today's date" line beside the signature on his refusal form (the form that says we think you should go to the hospital but you don't want to and it's your choice.)
Third was a woman whose house was under construction who broke one ankle and sprained the other while running out to give candy to local kids. It was good to deal with a patient not handcuffed to something, but the downside was that her house was like an obstacle course. we had to traverse around a hanging wire, through a muddy dirt front yard, over a very steep makeshift step and through a doorway that didn't allow the stretcher to turn through without lifting it a couple feet over the stairway. Generally, having a hydraulic stretcher (the Power Pro on this list) is a huge advantage, but when you have to carry the whole thing, patient included, the extra weight is not helpful.
Long story short? Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's an incredible cultural event, and it was interesting to see it from this perspective. However, there's no question that any emergency department is going to be spread thin with unfortunate incidents when there's a combination of children in the streets and drinking, all while the spirits are free for the evening to walk the earth.
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