Are You Kidding!!!

sarahharter

sarahharter

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Okay lets start with i am a little, well small person. and what i mean is i may be tall like 5'9 but i only weigh in around 120 lbs. and yes i just put my weight out for everyone to see. any who......i got a call the other day that made a bunch of firefighters and medics almost pee their pants laughing at me.


okay we get dispatched for an unresponsive, that is know responsive but she is stuck in the bathroom blocking the door. we get to the house and i get told hey skinny get in there. so they push teh door enough that i could squeeze in the doorway. i get in their and she is first of all laying in her own nasty feces and urine. okay so i am about to vomit because wow never smelled anything that bad before i mean ill talk a dead body over that any day. well shes screaming "im gonna die" and "i cant breath" and i am just trying not to be a smart *** and say your talking and screaming so your breathing. but hey thats just mean. so i start to calm her down when hey guess what she rolls over on her stomach. well at that exact moment she goes unresponsive and i yell to my partner and than what of all things do i hear snoring resp. what the :censored::censored::censored::censored:!!!!!so i check to try and get an airway secured and doesnt she stop breathing and freaking code. im thinking what the hell else can go wrong with this. so i pull the lady by her feet to get the door open so i can get some help and o2 and a bvm. well so what happens i start doing compressions. my medic gets there and while i'm doing cpr asks so what do we have!! are you joking. what does it look like. any way i calmly tell him well im doing cpr so i think she has no pulse and isn't breathing and thats about it so far. so we get her hooked up to the monitor and relize my compressions are not doing to much. oh yeah forgot to tell you she was pushing 450 lbs. so i get the bright idea to bounce and sorta jump off the ground to do my compressions. this seems to work so i think nothing of it. we call fire to help get her out of teh house because we are all know stuck in this small bathroom leaning in nasty and she aint going anywhere. so as i look around, and im sweating and panting because well its been 30minutes and im getting damn tired. there are about four guys just standing there laughing at me because of how funny i look doing compressions they way i have to do them. and do any of them ask hey can i give you a break, noooo they just stand there! well we get her into the truck finally, which means the guys standing around actually do something and help carry her down the stairs. so we keep doing this the whole way to the hospital. so we get there and yeah she has a pulse back. than i start feeling my lunch come back up because right before we went on the call i ate mozz sticks perogies and chips and whatever else i could find, and let me tell you jumpiong around like that and that smell, which usaually doesn't bother me, but the jumping and tummy rocking well i lost my lunch in the truck. that has never happened in my three years of doing this so im not sure what was going on. but any way my pt lived and went to cath lab and from what i here is doing good. but i am know known as the jumping bean through out where i am working and get laughed at whenever they see me.

so in the end 120lbs doesnt work easy when workng 450lbs
 
Anyone who would just stand there and laugh while a smallish female is struggling like that is a jerk, i think you should find a way to prank them.
 
LBB with c-spine for "training"
 
American Heart Association ACLs says you MUST change chest compressors every two minutes (if hands are available). Even the best compression technique suffers when the compressor tires.. even those macho people who think they are really strong deliver less than optimal compressions after 2 minutes. You are running with idiots and the patient didn't deserve the unprofessionalism. You had a witnessed arrest. The patient was alive when you got there and died on you. It's about the most unfunny thing I have read in a long time.
 
Kaisu said:
American Heart Association ACLs says you MUST change chest compressors every two minutes (if hands are available). Even the best compression technique suffers when the compressor tires.. even those macho people who think they are really strong deliver less than optimal compressions after 2 minutes. You are running with idiots and the patient didn't deserve the unprofessionalism. You had a witnessed arrest. The patient was alive when you got there and died on you. It's about the most unfunny thing I have read in a long time.
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I have to agree. Those guys are idiots and deserve a good boot to head. Very unfunny, and if I were you I would have had a long talk with them after she got to the hospital. Total :censored: heads!!!!!
 
Oh there would be payback. Side note dont do CPR on a large person the day after you get a cast off your wrist. OUCH!
 
oh there is going to be payback!!! just have to think of something that i can do that would be payback enough!!! and yeah me she left the hospital!!!!! total save!
 
feel free to check my "practical jokes" thread in the humor section for some ideas.
 
sarahharter said:
oh there is going to be payback!!! just have to think of something that i can do that would be payback enough!!! and yeah me she left the hospital!!!!! total save!
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I personally feel that there is no payback for the stupidity and disregard shown for life by these individuals. Even making sure they know how much bs this was, and letting the supervisor make it perfectly clear for them is nowhere near enough. I do not know how urban areas take it but in rural/semi-urban a code is important business. Never ever ever would this be condoned anywhere in either state I work in. This was childish and could very well have cost this patient their life. Those 4 individuals EASILY could be charged with negligence. Even though it was a save (and major congrats to you on this because it is not a common thing) there is still a case for negligence as 1. There was a duty to act ( the unit was dispatched to an emergency, the patient was in cardiac arrest), 2. A breach did occur (instead of doing what they are trained to do, they left you alone with a situation that you should not have been stuck in alone), 3. Causation (The pt may have been a save, however, she may have had ROSC and nowhere near the damage if effective CPR had been conducted as a team giving the pt the highest % of recovery), 4. Harm was caused (Though you did an awesome job, the pt would have been less affected if good effective cpr was used with multiple rescuers. Instead of standing around laughing, the pt could have been moved to where all rescuers could access her. Was there an AED available on the unit before medic arrived? If so they should have been applying it while you were doing compressions or controlling the airway. AHA standards and guidelines by which most protocols are wrote were not followed.

Pranks are for jr. high and in this case I agree with kaisu. Having a dead pt is about the least funniest thing I can think of. I hope they know how lucky they are to still have a license/certification/card because I would not put up with this :censored::censored::censored::censored: and would take it as high as I needed to up the chain of command. This is the kind of :censored::censored::censored::censored: that kills EMS and gives us such a bad name. These are also the kind of partners who will leave you out to dry or not be watching your back so be CAREFUL.

Sorry for the language and I am in NO means implying you personally did not do a great job. Enjoy the code save. I just had my first one in a LONG time my last shift and it was the best Valentines present I could have asked for. Again, they are few and far between.

On a side note we (EMT-B/I and EMT-P) do sometimes have to work codes by ourselves in our rural county when 1st responders or our director is not available to assist, but those times are few thank goodness. Luckily our Is can intubate, start lines, and assist in ways I never could have hoped for until becoming licensed over here.
 
sarahharter said:
my medic gets there and while i'm doing cpr asks so what do we have!! are you joking. what does it look like. any way i calmly tell him well im doing cpr so i think she has no pulse and isn't breathing and thats about it so far.
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As a bit of constructive criticism, you can always tell the medic what was going on before the patient crashed. Besides that, yea, I fail to see what's so funny about the situation.
 
Arkymedic said:
I personally feel that there is no payback for the stupidity and disregard shown for life by these individuals. Even making sure they know how much bs this was, and letting the supervisor make it perfectly clear for them is nowhere near enough. I do not know how urban areas take it but in rural/semi-urban a code is important business. Never ever ever would this be condoned anywhere in either state I work in. This was childish and could very well have cost this patient their life. Those 4 individuals EASILY could be charged with negligence. Even though it was a save (and major congrats to you on this because it is not a common thing) there is still a case for negligence as 1. There was a duty to act ( the unit was dispatched to an emergency, the patient was in cardiac arrest), 2. A breach did occur (instead of doing what they are trained to do, they left you alone with a situation that you should not have been stuck in alone), 3. Causation (The pt may have been a save, however, she may have had ROSC and nowhere near the damage if effective CPR had been conducted as a team giving the pt the highest % of recovery), 4. Harm was caused (Though you did an awesome job, the pt would have been less affected if good effective cpr was used with multiple rescuers. Instead of standing around laughing, the pt could have been moved to where all rescuers could access her. Was there an AED available on the unit before medic arrived? If so they should have been applying it while you were doing compressions or controlling the airway. AHA standards and guidelines by which most protocols are wrote were not followed.

Pranks are for jr. high and in this case I agree with kaisu. Having a dead pt is about the least funniest thing I can think of. I hope they know how lucky they are to still have a license/certification/card because I would not put up with this :censored::censored::censored::censored: and would take it as high as I needed to up the chain of command. This is the kind of :censored::censored::censored::censored: that kills EMS and gives us such a bad name. These are also the kind of partners who will leave you out to dry or not be watching your back so be CAREFUL.

Sorry for the language and I am in NO means implying you personally did not do a great job. Enjoy the code save. I just had my first one in a LONG time my last shift and it was the best Valentines present I could have asked for. Again, they are few and far between.

On a side note we (EMT-B/I and EMT-P) do sometimes have to work codes by ourselves in our rural county when 1st responders or our director is not available to assist, but those times are few thank goodness. Luckily our Is can intubate, start lines, and assist in ways I never could have hoped for until becoming licensed over here.
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Well-said.

I can't believe that people would just stand around and laugh, giving absolutely no assistance when they are 100% obligated to do so. Entirely unprofessional - I hope they don't stay in their current job positions for too much longer.
 
Chalk another one up to the "Can't believe they did nothing to aid you and watched you basically work this code by yourself..."

Good work on your part....but the rest of the story makes me a little worried.

-Matt
 
Arkymedic said:
I personally feel that there is no payback for the stupidity and disregard shown for life by these individuals. Even making sure they know how much bs this was, and letting the supervisor make it perfectly clear for them is nowhere near enough. I do not know how urban areas take it but in rural/semi-urban a code is important business. Never ever ever would this be condoned anywhere in either state I work in. This was childish and could very well have cost this patient their life. Those 4 individuals EASILY could be charged with negligence. Even though it was a save (and major congrats to you on this because it is not a common thing) there is still a case for negligence as 1. There was a duty to act ( the unit was dispatched to an emergency, the patient was in cardiac arrest), 2. A breach did occur (instead of doing what they are trained to do, they left you alone with a situation that you should not have been stuck in alone), 3. Causation (The pt may have been a save, however, she may have had ROSC and nowhere near the damage if effective CPR had been conducted as a team giving the pt the highest % of recovery), 4. Harm was caused (Though you did an awesome job, the pt would have been less affected if good effective cpr was used with multiple rescuers. Instead of standing around laughing, the pt could have been moved to where all rescuers could access her. Was there an AED available on the unit before medic arrived? If so they should have been applying it while you were doing compressions or controlling the airway. AHA standards and guidelines by which most protocols are wrote were not followed.

Pranks are for jr. high and in this case I agree with kaisu. Having a dead pt is about the least funniest thing I can think of. I hope they know how lucky they are to still have a license/certification/card because I would not put up with this :censored::censored::censored::censored: and would take it as high as I needed to up the chain of command. This is the kind of :censored::censored::censored::censored: that kills EMS and gives us such a bad name. These are also the kind of partners who will leave you out to dry or not be watching your back so be CAREFUL.

Sorry for the language and I am in NO means implying you personally did not do a great job. Enjoy the code save. I just had my first one in a LONG time my last shift and it was the best Valentines present I could have asked for. Again, they are few and far between.

On a side note we (EMT-B/I and EMT-P) do sometimes have to work codes by ourselves in our rural county when 1st responders or our director is not available to assist, but those times are few thank goodness. Luckily our Is can intubate, start lines, and assist in ways I never could have hoped for until becoming licensed over here.
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I agree.... You did your job and it is a shame that no one else stepped up..
I am all for laughs, pranks, and joking around but there is a place and a time for it and during a "code" is not the place or time...PERIOD!

Now you have a responsibility for future patients and yourself to take this further, they shouldnt be aloud to stand by and watch again.. next time the patient might not be so lucky.. what if that was your mother/sister? Not that funny any more...
 
I can't think of a funnier prank than calling the fire chief of that company and informing them of the action (or in this case, inaction) of his members, and then calling the medical director, whose license they're working under, and informing him of the situation. /sarcasm

Seriously...this is a huge patient care issue. You are obviously providing incorrect CPR (I'm not knocking you here one bit, you made the save, and there is no better feeling IMO...but if you're bouncing around like you say you were, and happened to slip, crush the xyphoid process...), and medically trained personnel are not only failing to act, but they are making a mockery of you in the process.

The more I read your story, the angrier I get. I'm just glad there was a positive outcome in the end. But there definitely needs to be some action taken on part of that fire department. /rant
 
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