# Not fast enough!



## Doc13 (Jan 9, 2008)

This happened a couple of nights ago to our night crew.  They get a call around 1 AM for a elderly woman with chest pain and difficulty breathing, when they arrived they no one met them at the door so they went in and found her sitting on her bed with a stop watch in her hands!  She started ranting about not getting there fast enough (even though they got there in less then 6 mins) and if she had a real emergency she could be dead! That's right, IF she had a real emergency!!! She was only testing the response time of the ambulance.  Well after they called back I guess the police got involved due to false information, but that's another story.  What is this world coming to? A stop watch!?....


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## EMTMandy (Jan 9, 2008)

yeah...that is pretty outrageous...

I am one to believe however, that everything happens for a(n) (underlying) reason. In this case, the lady was probably thinking that it was a GOOD idea.  She may have true insecurities about her safety in her neighborhood.  otherwise, what the heck would she be doing up at that hour haha

I'd like to think that my thought processes accomplish two things. 1. keeping me sane (and professional) as an obligated responder to events such as that. 2. Remembering everyone has come from a different walk of life with differnt thought patterns of their own.


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## ffemt8978 (Jan 9, 2008)

EMTMandy said:


> yeah...that is pretty outrageous...
> 
> I am one to believe however, that everything happens for a(n) (underlying) reason. In this case, the lady was probably thinking that it was a GOOD idea.  She may have true insecurities about her safety in her neighborhood.  otherwise, what the heck would she be doing up at that hour haha
> 
> I'd like to think that my thought processes accomplish two things. 1. keeping me sane (and professional) as an obligated responder to events such as that. 2. Remembering everyone has come from a different walk of life with differnt thought patterns of their own.



I agree to a point, but there is another side to this.

She obviously thought she was more important that everyone else, and didn't care that her actions may have delayed care to someone who really needed it.


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## EMTMandy (Jan 9, 2008)

ffemt8978 said:


> I agree to a point, but there is another side to this.
> 
> She obviously thought she was more important that everyone else, and didn't care that her actions may have delayed care to someone who really needed it.



Yeah but once again, as unfortunate as it may seem, it's really not going to change anything for us.


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## Ridryder911 (Jan 9, 2008)

I would had calm but firmly educated her that due to her reckless behavior she could be delaying care to those that "really needed my assistance". That 6 minutes is well within the normal and average response time and that any other such calls of false emergencies may end up with a fine and discussion from the EMS administrator. That this is *not a game* to be "played" with :excl:

I do not tolerate B.S. :censored: from anyone. Again re-emphasizing that her "little game" could and may have caused a real death for a real emergency. I usually do not stop, until I see tears... :angry: ..lol

R/r 911


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## EMTryan (Jan 9, 2008)

I totally agree with Rid on this one...only call 911 if it is a real emergency. Imagine what might have happened if there was a real emergency at the same time and help was delayed. 

It kind of reminds me of this one lady who called our local police to report a crime. The police came and took a report. After they left she called 911 back and asked for them to send that cute cop back to her house. No emergency, she wanted to ask him for a date! Made the local news and everything when the cop came back and arrested her!


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## Emt /b/ (Jan 9, 2008)

I'm sure no matter how fast they got there it wouldn't have been good enough.


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## bstone (Jan 9, 2008)

Oy oy oy. I do hope the police were alerted.


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## MikeRi24 (Jan 10, 2008)

not sure about other states, but in NY, "acceptable" response time is considered 8 minutes or less, and 80%of response times have to fall within that to keep the state happy. In my particular county, they follow the same idea, but raise the standards to 6 minutes or less on 80% of calls, and have not had a problem meeting that demand. I was told by some of my peers in the business that its not worth driving like a maniac and putting the lives of others and your own in danger just go get on scene a minute faster. in all honesty, if the person dies there probably wasn't much you could do in that minute to change that, so all your doing is endangering the lives of yourself and others.


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## enjoynz (Jan 10, 2008)

MikeRi24 said:


> not sure about other states, but in NY, "acceptable" response time is considered 8 minutes or less, and 80%of response times have to fall within that to keep the state happy. In my particular county, they follow the same idea, but raise the standards to 6 minutes or less on 80% of calls, and have not had a problem meeting that demand. I was told by some of my peers in the business that its not worth driving like a maniac and putting the lives of others and your own in danger just go get on scene a minute faster. in all honesty, if the person dies there probably wasn't much you could do in that minute to change that, so all your doing is endangering the lives of yourself and others.



Wise words indeed! 
After all safety comes first! I know this lady was not thinking of the people in her town's safety, by wasting ambulance resources!
We were on stand by at a central area as the ambulance from one of the other main towns in our coverage area, was on a job. We were called P1 (urgent response) to a job in our town. Drove back, got to the address to find it was a vacant house for sale (Caller had rang from a phone box).
We were just on our way back to the stand by area and we get another P1 call (chest pain), in the direction we had been on stand by, but at the next town after that! 
My partner (EMT-I) said this had better not turn into a cardiac arrest, as that brank caller would have just cost that patient, their life!


Cheers enjoynz


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## Ridryder911 (Jan 10, 2008)

MikeRi24 said:


> not sure about other states, but in NY, "acceptable" response time is considered 8 minutes or less, and 80%of response times have to fall within that to keep the state happy.




Not to hijack a thread, but I find it ironic that almost all EMS uses those standards. When one researches upon where and how they came up with magical number, there is no factor except the American Ambulance Association had cited from AHA many years ago, that BLS should be started within 4 minutes and ALS within 8. Again, without any real merit.. thus a tradition is started. 

In a dream world, EMS would always be there in 4 minutes or less, but in the real world it unrealistic. That is why there are metropolitain standards and urban, rural.. all the length of times change..and hard to have limits. 

R/r 911


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## certguy (Jan 11, 2008)

You get all kinds out there . We used to deal with a lot of bogus calls dealing with medi - cal abuse . Usually in the middle of the night and uncannilly just as you're finally about to get some sleep . The worst ones I had were one who called because he ran out of meds at 3:00 am and wanted transported to get some , and a call for a " foot amputation " in a residential area around the same time of night that turned out to be a possible broken toe . The guy was standing at the curb waving his medi - cal card at us ! When we and PD ( who were just as thrilled as we were ) asked why he lied , he said he knew they wouldn't send a rig if he didn't . This was on the tail end of a 48 with very little sleep . It was hard to conduct ourselves as we normally did . Another common one was first time moms freaking out the first time thier baby had a fever . A few were rightous , but most were from lack of education . ( baby buried in blankets , no tylenol given , etc. )


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## Grady_emt (Jan 11, 2008)

certguy said:


> . Another common one was first time moms freaking out the first time thier baby had a fever . A few were rightous , but most were from lack of education . ( baby buried in blankets , no tylenol given , etc. )



We get those all the time, or another good one is that you have your auntie/cousin/sister/baby daddy watch your child for the day, but neglect to give the the "albootyrol" nor tell them about your childs asthma and they have to call the ambalance to fix her.


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## Anomalous (Jan 12, 2008)

I would have billed her.


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## RESPONDA (Jan 14, 2008)

The story of "the boy who cried wolf" comes to mind on this one.But we cannot obviously assume all her calls will be the same result.
 Looking at the posts entered into this one, the same thing seems to keep coming up....lost,precious time!

responda


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## firetender (Jan 15, 2008)

*Just wondering out loud here...*

When I was in the field, my cry of "Somebody could die while I waste my time with you!" was perhaps loudest of all. (And YES I did something like that with lots of patients abusing the system.)

But now, with some distance between me and it, I wonder...does anyone know of *documented* instances where someone actually DID die while the ambulances were responding to BS calls?


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## Ridryder911 (Jan 15, 2008)

EMS nowadays go to level 0 (without any available responding units) so yes, it is common and well documented; however, most prefer not to for liability reasons. 

Unfortunately, no one knows it is a B.S. call until they arrive, and then a legitimate call comes in and you are tied up on the original call. 


R/r 911


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## Airwaygoddess (Jan 17, 2008)

Oh dear...... somebody needs a medication change!   stopwatch, what comes next....


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