Driving an Ambulance

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emt seeking first job

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What was the hardest part for you to overcome ?

For me it was the fact I can not look at the back, regardless of the curved mirrors and back-up camera. Also, I need to make wider right turns.

What were the hurdles, if any for you ?

Also, what do you see others do wrong ?

I see too many people follow too close, and sort of lump lights and siren with getting on everyone's tail, swerving around obstacles. Some people I see never get it that you can use lights and siren to clear a path, yet, keep a space cushion and give other vehicles a moment to get out of your way.
 
ArcticKat

ArcticKat

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One common error I see is that my drivers don't realise they are driving a vehicle significantly wider in the back than in the front and I often catch them drifting the rear across the centre line even though the cab of the ambulance is well within our lane.
 
adamjh3

adamjh3

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Some people get so nervous and drive so carefully to the point of it being unsafe. Taking a solid two minutes to back out of a driveway while I'm standing in traffic to back you? Yeah...
 
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MrBrown

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Brown whole heartedly believes that driving is the most dangerous part of the job of an Ambulance Officer meaning they must be a thoroughly capable, skilled and professional driver.

Hardest part to overcome? The damn 40 hour logbook requirement, i.e. 40 hours of driving after passing the pre-course test and classroom/practical assessments before being allowed to take the practical assessment for p1 driving.

40 hours sure comes slow when its built in 10 and 15 minute blocks :D
 
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emt seeking first job

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adamjh3 said:
Some people get so nervous and drive so carefully to the point of it being unsafe. Taking a solid two minutes to back out of a driveway while I'm standing in traffic to back you? Yeah...
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I teach passenger car driving professionally.

I would recommend taking the person to an empty lot to back up first, let them drive around forwards a bit before backing out into traffic or into a bay.

That would build up confidence a bit and lessen chance of the person freezing up.
 
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HotelCo

HotelCo

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When I first started, it was odd using the mirrors instead of turning my head to look to see if the lane was clear. Now, its just normal.
 
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emt seeking first job

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HotelCo said:
When I first started, it was odd using the mirrors instead of turning my head to look to see if the lane was clear. Now, its just normal.
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I have many passenger car students that dont do that. Many people do not. I just grew up doing it.

One thing I got from the CEVO class was leaning forward in the seat to get a better view in the mirror.
 
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Pneumothorax

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running people over thinking they are speed bumps...

jokinnnnnng!
 
the_negro_puppy

the_negro_puppy

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Having to constantly put myself and the public in danger driving lights and sirens to patients who are neither time nor transport critical.

Having to deal with morons on the road who have no idea what do when there is an emergency vehicle running lights and sirens near them.
 
medicstudent101

medicstudent101

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the_negro_puppy said:
Having to constantly put myself and the public in danger driving lights and sirens to patients who are neither time nor transport critical.

Having to deal with morons on the road who have no idea what do when there is an emergency vehicle running lights and sirens near them.
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Although I happen to agree. Lets be real though, It's fun. It's why 80% of us got into EMS.
 
the_negro_puppy

the_negro_puppy

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medicstudent101 said:
Although I happen to agree. Lets be real though, It's fun. It's why 80% of us got into EMS.
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Oh it can be fun, but it's not a game

50285_312913183765_3646509_n.jpg
 
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medicdan

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From THIS week's American Journal of Emergency Medicine:

Am J Emerg Med. 2011 May 11. [Epub ahead of print]
Use of a limited lights and siren protocol in the prehospital setting vs standard usage.
Merlin MA, Baldino KT, Lehrfeld DP, Linger M, Lustiger E, Cascio A, Ohman-Strickland P, Dossantos F.
Source
Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Our objective was to determine if implementing a standard lights and sirens (L&S) protocol would reduce their use and if this had any effect on patient disposition.

METHODS:
In a prospective cohort study, we trained emergency medical services (EMS) personnel from 4 towns in an L&S protocol and enrolled control personnel from 4 addition towns that were not using the protocol. We compare the use of L&S between them over a 6-month period. Our protocol restricted the usage of L&S to patients who had maladies requiring expedited transport. Emergency medical services personnel from the control towns had no such restrictions and were not aware that we were tracking their usage of L&S. We also considered if patient disposition was affected by the judicious usage of L&S.

RESULTS:
Prehospital EMS personnel who were trained in an L&S protocol were 5.6 times less likely to use L&S when compared with those not trained. Of the 808 patients transported by both types of workers, no difference in patient disposition was observed.

CONCLUSIONS:
Our protocol significantly reduced the use of L&S. Judicious use of L&S has significant implications for transport safety. By allowing for selective transport with L&S usage, we observed no impact in patient disposition.

Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc.

PMID: 21570233 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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Taken from pubmed (emphasis added).
I have the full article for those interested, but don't want to share it publicly (I got it through institutional access).
 
ArcticKat

ArcticKat

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Not too sure how many here us the MPDS system but many years ago we adjusted our policies to respond L & S to only Delta and Echo determinates and limited the use of them when patient outcomes would not be affected by the delay.
 
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MMiz

MMiz

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The hardest part for me was being a smooth driver and remembering that there was as EMT and patient in the back.
 
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