# What is the worst rookie mistake you've seen



## MWN1998 (Jan 25, 2018)

Curiosity here. What is the craziest, or dumbest rookie mistake you've either made or seen? And how did it affect the career of the person who made it, or the patient for that matter?


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## mgr22 (Jan 25, 2018)

Dumbest rookie mistake? Thinking I knew more than I did.

How did it affect my career? Not much long term, but short term, probably convinced some of my partners that new medics should have longer internships.


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## rujero (Jan 25, 2018)

I had just come off 3rd riding. On a transfer to Mass General one day I was pulling the stretcher out of the truck... the wheels were brought down but I held the trigger and the stretcher collapsed to the ground with the pt on it once the back wheels rolled off. It was right in front of a bunch of Boston EMS crews and of course everyone noticed and stared. I have never been so embarrassed in my life but my partner kept her cool. The patient ended up being no worse for wear luckily, and my partner talked me down in the truck after which helped me slow my brain down so I never made that mistake again. The pt never made a complaint to the home office luckily for me.

Bet your A$$ my partner had me practicing with just the weight of the gear bags and O2 before we left the MGH garage though hahaha.

-r


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## Peak (Jan 25, 2018)

Every new hire (these were not new Firefighters/EMTs, just new to a department who ran a bus) who took the stretcher out in the bay to mop the back of the bus, we drop a call, they close the doors and we pull up to scene and magically discover that we don't have a cot. 

I don't get it. Nobody ever forgot to back a hosebed or put the saws back after they were playing... uh I mean cleaning... them. But the stretcher that I need to put the dead person in the bus to drive to the hospital. We apparently didn't need that.


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## NomadicMedic (Jan 26, 2018)

mgr22 said:


> Dumbest rookie mistake? Thinking I knew more than I did.
> 
> How did it affect my career? Not much long term, but short term, probably convinced some of my partners that new medics should have longer internships.



Also guilty of this


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## Never2Old (Jan 26, 2018)

My first day rookie mistake ... trying to take a dump while on duty ... pinch and go!  I suffered greatly that day.


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## VentMonkey (Jan 26, 2018)

mgr22 said:


> Dumbest rookie mistake? Thinking I knew more than I did.
> 
> How did it affect my career? Not much long term, but short term, probably convinced some of my partners that new medics should have longer internships.


Quoted for emphasis, and I’m also guilty of this. Also, humility will carry improvement on its shoulders your entire career, remember that.


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## rescue1 (Jan 26, 2018)

Ditto on the thinking I knew more than I did stuff.

I did once watch a new EMT place a nasal cannula into a patient's eyes once though.


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## Tigger (Jan 27, 2018)

Sits in the recliner.


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## Jim37F (Jan 27, 2018)

Tigger said:


> Sits in the recliner.


on my first day of FTO training to be a single role ambulance operator EMT at a fire department, I made the cardinal sin of walking around with a cup of coffee in hand...


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## mgr22 (Jan 27, 2018)

rescue1 said:


> Ditto on the thinking I knew more than I did stuff.
> 
> I did once watch a new EMT place a nasal cannula into a patient's eyes once though.



Was the EMT trying to flush the eyes?


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## rujero (Jan 27, 2018)

mgr22 said:


> Was the EMT trying to flush the eyes?



Yeah that was my initial thought too. But I am guessing not in this case haha.


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## NomadicMedic (Jan 27, 2018)

Jim37F said:


> on my first day of FTO training to be a single role ambulance operator EMT at a fire department, I made the cardinal sin of walking around with a cup of coffee in hand...



I’d never make it. I always have a cup of coffee with me.


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## rescue1 (Jan 27, 2018)

mgr22 said:


> Was the EMT trying to flush the eyes?



Alas, he was not.


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## Lo2w (Jan 27, 2018)

...got turned around and took the scenic route for an MI to the hospital.


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## Jim37F (Jan 27, 2018)

NomadicMedic said:


> I’d never make it. I always have a cup of coffee with me.


Oh no, the sin wasn't drinking their coffee, it was merely having a cup of coffee in hand...you see even though I was a single role EMT and not a FF, I was still expected to behave like a probationary FF and I hadn't earned that luxury of being able to have a cup of coffee in hand inside station yet....


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## Gurby (Jan 27, 2018)

Lo2w said:


> ...got turned around and took the scenic route for an MI to the hospital.



I definitely got on the highway going southbound instead of northbound once with an emergency


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## Lo2w (Jan 27, 2018)

Gurby said:


> I definitely got on the highway going southbound instead of northbound once with an emergency



I mean my medic gave me a wrong turn at one point in the cluster but yeah I screwed up.


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## Tigger (Jan 27, 2018)

Jim37F said:


> Oh no, the sin wasn't drinking their coffee, it was merely having a cup of coffee in hand...you see even though I was a single role EMT and not a FF, I was still expected to behave like a probationary FF and I hadn't earned that luxury of being able to have a cup of coffee in hand inside station yet....


Wut. It be a problem if you weren't drinking coffee here I think. Need some caffeine to get through the new person process. Jesus.


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## VentMonkey (Jan 27, 2018)

Jim37F said:


> Oh no, the sin wasn't drinking their coffee, it was merely having a cup of coffee in hand...you see even though I was a single role EMT and not a FF, I was still expected to behave like a probationary FF and I hadn't earned that luxury of being able to have a cup of coffee in hand inside station yet....


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## CALEMT (Jan 27, 2018)

Jim37F said:


> Oh no, the sin wasn't drinking their coffee, it was merely having a cup of coffee in hand...you see even though I was a single role EMT and not a FF, I was still expected to behave like a probationary FF and I hadn't earned that luxury of being able to have a cup of coffee in hand inside station yet....



Ok, I get the whole proby thing but this is just ****ing stupid.


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## EmergencyMedicalSike (Jan 31, 2018)

About a year and a half ago while I was doing my clinical ride alongside for emt class. Was in the back with an emt and a LaCoFD medic and I had the privilege of spiking the bag for the medic when he had to get an IV going. We went over a very well timed and convenient pothole in the road and I almost “spiked” the bag where the fluids shouldn’t be coming out of.


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## VentMonkey (Feb 1, 2018)

EmergencyMedicalSike said:


> About a year and a half ago while I was doing my clinical ride alongside for emt class. Was in the back with an emt and a LaCoFD medic and I had the privilege of spiking the bag for the medic when he had to get an IV going. We went over a very well timed and convenient pothole in the road and I almost “spiked” the bag where the fluids shouldn’t be coming out of.


Because that makes all of the difference??...

#SalineLocksAreOverrated


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## EmergencyMedicalSike (Feb 1, 2018)

VentMonkey said:


> Because that makes all of the difference??...
> 
> #SalineLocksAreOverrated


Can’t get fluids going if there’s no fluids in the bag


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## VentMonkey (Feb 1, 2018)

Whatever you say, skip. They spike bags on almost every patient, and in short I’d trust none of their assessments, but hey have fun learning how not to practice EMS...


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## CALEMT (Feb 1, 2018)

EmergencyMedicalSike said:


> Can’t get fluids going if there’s no fluids in the bag



LACoFD is pretty much the Oprah Winfrey of IV's.


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## MSDeltaFlt (Feb 1, 2018)

The Mississippi Delta has a thing called the Delta Rain.  Driving down the road at night during the summer sounds like it's raining but it's not.  It's bugs hitting your windshield.  Went on a call at night during the summer and I left the doors open to the unit.  Bugs were all in it.  My Intermediate chewed my butt out bad.  So I tried to fix the problem with him and the patient in the back by spraying bug spray in there before we left.  I have never seen that man that pissed before or since.  He had that look in his eye like the actors in cheesy scifi films just before their heads explode.


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## rujero (Feb 1, 2018)

CALEMT said:


> LACoFD is pretty much the Oprah Winfrey of IV's.



Oh my god I died at this. This is a thing?!


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## Lalaleche (Feb 2, 2018)

We roll up on a TC, a couple walking wounded and one critical still in the driver seat with ALOC + head trauma. Fast forward a couple minutes and Cap shows up and asks my partner to go get the backboard for our critical pt, all while I'm holding c-spine. 

Partner comes back with the folding stretcher...Partner goes back, and she comes back with the spine board that's half the size. 

Cap at this point was at a loss for words and instead asked other EMTs on the scene to get a backboard.  

Needless to say, we had a long talk after this call.


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## CanadianBagel (Feb 3, 2018)

I REALLY shouldn’t admit this, but I tripped over a pt’s ekg wires in the emergency room. 
Don’t ask me how, but it happened.

No one there was hard on me though; I was hard enough on myself. As I’ve gotten older I’ve just learned not to beat myself up over the stupid little mistakes. Rookies are bound to do some dumb things! 

Also, I tried to attach ekg wires to a pt when I thought they snapped on like a button, when they were really clip on. I took literally what had to be all of five minutes pushing these little clips on my pt trying to get them to attach to the pads. The pt actually took the wire from my hand and put it on themself FIRST TRY. I never have felt so stupid in my life.


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## Linny911 (Feb 3, 2018)

Early on in my first gig, I woke up at 3:30 am for a call. I sit in the driver’s seat waiting for my crew when my captain kicks me out of the seat. No problem, but he is an awful driver and I’m now facing backwards in the back and I’ve been known to get carsick going far distances. The drive time to this call is 40-45 minutes on top of a mountain with switchback roads. Yay. We get there and I survive, all for my captain to make me in charge of the pt. Still no problem. When I went to do the 4 lead, I accidentally placed RA/LA on her shoulders and RL/LL on her wrists. Just wasn’t thinking and I caught my mistake pretty quickly, but I got my *** chewed for not reading the label and wasting the lifepak paper on a bad 4 lead. We hand off the pt to the transporting ambulance and I put everything away. Captain wants to hang around to talk, so I get in the driver’s seat again and waited... and waited... finally he comes over and says he is getting a ride with the other crew. Whatever. To this day, he still brings up my 4 lead screw up almost every time I see him.


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## NomadicMedic (Feb 3, 2018)

Linny911 said:


> Early on in my first gig, I woke up at 3:30 am for a call. I sit in the driver’s seat waiting for my crew when my captain kicks me out of the seat. No problem, but he is an awful driver and I’m now facing backwards in the back and I’ve been known to get carsick going far distances. The drive time to this call is 40-45 minutes on top of a mountain with switchback roads. Yay. We get there and I survive, all for my captain to make me in charge of the pt. Still no problem. When I went to do the 4 lead, I accidentally placed RA/LA on her shoulders and RL/LL on her wrists. Just wasn’t thinking and I caught my mistake pretty quickly, but I got my *** chewed for not reading the label and wasting the lifepak paper on a bad 4 lead. We hand off the pt to the transporting ambulance and I put everything away. Captain wants to hang around to talk, so I get in the driver’s seat again and waited... and waited... finally he comes over and says he is getting a ride with the other crew. Whatever. To this day, he still brings up my 4 lead screw up almost every time I see him.




Anyone who tells you they haven’t put the leads on the wrong limbs is full o’ crap.


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## Tigger (Feb 4, 2018)

NomadicMedic said:


> Anyone who tells you they haven’t put the leads on the wrong limbs is full o’ crap.


Yarp. Everyone does it every now and again. Also wasting paper in the LP? Uhh...


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## CALEMT (Feb 4, 2018)

NomadicMedic said:


> Anyone who tells you they haven’t put the leads on the wrong limbs is full o’ crap.



I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have to make a conscious effort to put the limb leads on right.


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## medichopeful (Feb 17, 2018)

NomadicMedic said:


> Anyone who tells you they haven’t put the leads on the wrong limbs is full o’ crap.



I still routinely do it fairly often as much as it pains me to admit it. I almost always catch it immediately, but every now and then...


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## StCEMT (Feb 17, 2018)

I know I have recently.


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## Trvlr (May 14, 2018)

Was a middle of the night call, was moving the cannula from the stretcher to the ambulance O2 supply, kept turning up the regulator but noticed it not working. Then remembered I had to hit the oxygen button on the module; not realizing I had the regulator all the way open. Patient got a nice blast of air in the nose...


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## DrParasite (May 14, 2018)

As I am reading this so many questions come to mind





Linny911 said:


> Early on in my first gig, I woke up at 3:30 am for a call. I sit in the driver’s seat waiting for my crew when my captain kicks me out of the seat.


ok, your captain wants to drive, some people want to do that.  So I am guessing you are in the passenger seat (since you were waiting for your crew to arrive, i'm thinking it was just the two of you in a QRV right?)





Linny911 said:


> No problem, but he is an awful driver and I’m now facing backwards in the back and I’ve been known to get carsick going far distances.


your facing backwards?  so you're in an engine, not a QRV..... who's riding officer / sitting in the front passenger seat?





Linny911 said:


> The drive time to this call is 40-45 minutes on top of a mountain with switchback roads. Yay. We get there and I survive, all for my captain to make me in charge of the pt.


why?  why isn't her officer of the truck (IE, the person in the right front seat) assigning you a task? if he bounced you out of the drivers seat, and you were the senior person on the crew, why didn't you end up in the front passenger seat?





Linny911 said:


> Still no problem. When I went to do the 4 lead, I accidentally placed RA/LA on her shoulders and RL/LL on her wrists.


ehh **** happens.  you won't be the first person to do this at 3:30am, and you definitely won't be the last





Linny911 said:


> Just wasn’t thinking and I caught my mistake pretty quickly, but I got my *** chewed for not reading the label and wasting the lifepak paper on a bad 4 lead.


seriously?  wasting paper?  you have a budget of at least $100,000 a year, 12 inches of monitor paper is not even a drop in the bucket.  sounds like your captain was being a royal douche





Linny911 said:


> We hand off the pt to the transporting ambulance and I put everything away. Captain wants to hang around to talk, so I get in the driver’s seat again and waited... and waited... finally he comes over and says he is getting a ride with the other crew.


So you're not the ambulance, you are just the first responder?  I'm guessing volunteer (not that there is anything wrong with that, just trying to get the entire story).  What other crew?   you send two fire units to the scene of a "routine" medical? it's 3:30 in the morning, he doesn't want to go back to sleep?  who wants to hang out at 3:30am?  And then to tell you he's getting a ride back to the station with the other crew?  So if you get another call you can't take it?  sounds like a major douche. 





Linny911 said:


> Whatever. To this day, he still brings up my 4 lead screw up almost every time I see him.


If he keeps doing that, than it sounds like a major douche who has a major case of little pecker syndrome.

I've actually applied the limb leads to a patient who has skin color stockings on, in a dimly lit SNF..... couldn't figure out why we kept having issues getting a clear reading.  Won't be making that mistake again


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## Emily Starton (May 21, 2018)

i cant think of any lol


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## phideux (Sep 2, 2018)

I had a new intermediate riding with me, we get a trauma call, she was so proud of getting her first 16ga IV while I was spiking the bag for her and getting vitals. She hooked the line up and it wouldn't flow real good, I look, and she put the IV in backwards. Luckily she got her 2nd Large bore IV first shot too. Flowed much better too.


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## johnrsemt (Sep 4, 2018)

I left the clipboard behind so many times my partners threatened to put Velcro on my hands and Velcro on the clipboard it to me


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## rujero (Sep 5, 2018)

phideux said:


> She hooked the line up and it wouldn't flow real good, I look, and she put the IV in backwards.



What exactly does this mean? You're saying she aimed the tip of the needle toward the distal end of the arm?


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## johnrsemt (Sep 11, 2018)

I was standing in line at Ambulance triage; about 4th;  talking to the medic in front of me;  happened to look at the IV hanging on their patient.  Asked the medic what was wrong with the patient, and was told she was dehydrated.   I asked him if it caused any cardiac issues and he looked at me like I was a moron.
  I leaned over and kind of whispered to him that he might want to replace the 500mL bag of Lidocaine that he had hanging with a 500mL bag of NS or LR.   The look on his face was priceless.   I give him respect that he told the ED doctor and nurses what he did;  and didn't blame it on his partner, even though his partner spiked the bag.


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## phideux (Sep 18, 2018)

rujero said:


> What exactly does this mean? You're saying she aimed the tip of the needle toward the distal end of the arm?


Yeah, you look away for 2 seconds sometimes.


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## johnrsemt (Sep 19, 2018)

I have seen people that have great veins on the bottom of their arms,  you have to fold the arm back to get at it;  so when you start IV, and you point needle towards the heart, it is actually pointed at the hand.  oops


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## ZootownMedic (Nov 16, 2018)

When I was a new medic I was rolling double medic with a guy who’d been at it for 20 years and who I respected a lot. Ran a teenager who had hurt his ankle skateboarding. Roll up on scene and do an assessment and see what I thought at the time was an abrasion to his ankle with some swelling and slight deformity. Medic standing behind says without hardly looking at it that it’s a puncture wound. I literally laughed and corrected him that it was an abrasion. Guess who was right? Bone had popped right through and gone back making a nice little puncture wound that looked like and abrasion. Learned not to argue with people who have been doing the job way longer because you just end up looking stupid.


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