Contempt of EMT

[JPINFV]

What you said has really no relation to what I said...

How often, with the exclusion of psychiatric patients on a hold, do you have to assert your command over a patient who both meets the criteria of implied consent, but is being uncooperative?

 

[Shishkabob]

How often, with the exclusion of psychiatric patients on a hold, do you have to assert your command over a patient who both meets the criteria of implied consent, but is being uncooperative?

Diabetics, TBIs, UTIs with AMS, overdoses, drug use, postictal patients, etc etc.

 

[JPINFV]

Postictal and uncooperative doesn't really go together. Actually, same with most of those don't really go together with uncooperative in the sense that saying, "By the power invested in me by the State of Texas, you must do _____" would be a successful tactic.

 

[abckidsmom]

Postictal and uncooperative doesn't really go together. Actually, same with most of those don't really go together with uncooperative in the sense that saying, "By the power invested in me by the State of Texas, you must do _____" would be a successful tactic.

I disagree. Some of those, if they interfere with mental status and solid thought, get you into that position.

But it's more like, "Ma'am, because of your -----, you aren't thinking clearly. You need to go to the hospital for xxxx treatment."

Five minutes of that and the average person with mental status impaired by illness has given in.

Diabetics just get treatment.

Post ictal people have plenty of fight in them, but mostly need to just have some time to get smart again after the seizure.

This is not so tricky, is it?

 

[Veneficus]

Post ictal people have plenty of fight in them, but mostly need to just have some time to get smart again after the seizure.

This is not so tricky, is it?

So much for the stock I bought in harry handcuffs. :huh:

 

[Sandog]

I don't do anything when the cigarette is still lit. Nothing.

I ran this by my hubby, who said that he tells people that he's carrying sensitive equipment that the smoke interferes with, and that the oxygen could explode.

I don't lie to people if I can avoid it.

I was sorta making a joke.

 

[CANDawg]

Sure we do. Look up "implied consent".





I don't do customer service because I have no customers.

Control as it has been talked about in this thread is forcing people with their full mental capacities to do something that they don't want to do. Implied consent is something completely different. Implied consent is simply a legal ability to make decisions in the patient's best interests when they are unable to do so. If your unconscious patient suddenly wakes up and demands to be unstrapped and let out of the ambulance, anything less than doing just that is unlawful confinement. (Mentally unstable patients are a little different, but in most cases the control doesn't come from you, it comes from the LE with the patient or the court order remanding the individual into the care of health professionals.)

As for your second statement, I completely agree. It's probably to do with the way health care works here versus the states, but I hate it when patients are called "customers". That said, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't be empathetic and strive to provide the highest level of CARE, but until someone can walk into a hospital, slap a $50 bill on the counter and order up a morphine drip with a side of oxy, patients aren't clients.

 

[armywifeemt]

In a few scenarios I have run across pts who truly needed medical attention and were refusing it... because health care providers in the past had not taken them seriously, had treated them poorly etc... It is a valid issue. We can be a part of preventing that sort of scenario. In each case the pt was fully A&O, capable of making decisions for themselves. I explained all of the potential consequences, got a signed refusal, and told them to please not hesitate to call us to come back and get them if/when they thought they needed to go. Killed me to leave, but their wishes had to be respected.

In one case I had a combative patient. I politely explained to her that if she continued to try to hit me, I would have to restrain her. I told her I did not want to, that I would be nice to her whether she was in restraints or out of them, but that I thought the ride would be much more pleasant for both of us if she was not restrained. She calmed down and stopped trying to hit me. It seems shocking to me how much folks sometimes underestimate the power of politeness and kindness.

I've never understood the mentality that I generally attribute to extreme burn-out. Even if I am burned out with my job... the day I become burned out with helping people, whether they "deserve" it or not... Is the day I need to hang up my EMS pants and get the heck out of this field. Just sayin'.

 

[mycrofft]

Calm can convey power. Does Don Corleone have a tantrum? Does the President of the United States run around giving direct orders? Don't need to.

This conversation has degenerated into tail chasing and public messaging. Anyone have something new fresh or funny to add?

 

[NYMedic828]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned, but there are a handful of EMS services in the USA run by police departments.

The county police have an EMS division in my home town and they staff AEMTs and Medics who carry a baton handcuffs and OC spray. Granted they are given peace officer training. (they are not police officers)

That said, many people who work for FDNY EMS think they are police officers. To further irritate the problem, firefighters, NOT EMTs/medics are peace officers in NYC.