Dumbest thing you have been asked

medic417 said:
See even the public thinks it is ridiculous to give our professional services away for free.
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I doubt that's what they were getting at but nice attempt at stumping for your beliefs.
 
this was aked with 4 ems crew members with all equipment,5 firefighters and a ems boss as were standing outside a building rining the buzzard

q: do you guys need to get in?
A: no were holding a union meeting outside and are trying to wake the chairman
 
Really?

I was in the ER the other day transferring care to the medical staff and the pt's son comes to me and says to me "Why didn't I hear the page??" and I said "Excuse Me?" and then he said "Yeah, I have my own radio and I didnt hear the page!!" so i said "Well sir, I'm sorry. I frankly dont know what to say. Except that inspite of you not hearing the page, we still managed to transport your mother here safely while keeping her alive."

I walked away after that, way better things to do than to deal with a drunk guy in the ER.
 
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Fireguy said:
We put up a poster outside the station for volunteer recruitment. The headlines in big red letters read "VOLUNTEERS NEEDED". We had someone walk in and ask about the pay and benefits.:huh:
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To be fair, some departments really do give benefits to volunteers, though there are usually service requirements attached. I have more benefits from mine than I do from my day job...
 
Working a cardiac arrest at a gym, pt.'s vomit is pouring out/all over the floor...when I defibrillated, it shot out of the King LTS-D. Working the arrest in the middle of the machines...by the leg press station to be exact.

Front desk person: "Uh...do you want us to clear everybody out of here?"

Me: "Yeah...that'd be good."
 
i got a call downtown for a man who got sunburn on his roof over the summer and when we got there his wife asked us "do you guys go to the hospital?"
 
"I don't wanna go to the hospital...can you just give me some pain medication?"

Followed by, "I'm allergic to morphine, codeine, darvocet..."
 
Sasha said:
Keep in mind there is more patients in a nursing home than just the patient you are coming to pick up, and the nurses handle more patients at once than you are likely to see a day. They don't always have information on who is going out and who is not, especially if it's not one of their patients.
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Sorry Sasha, I've never bought that excuse no matter who it was coming from. (Nursing home, retirement facility, EMS, etc.) I don't care who you are, you hand over care of a pt. you give report to the person/facility/team taking over and you make a point of mentioning ongoing or developing issues as well as urgent situations.

For instance:
1) Arrive at ED, report to triage.
2) Assigned a bed, report to attending staff
3) Shift change while still on offload delay, report to oncoming staff and transfer ePCR to their computer
4) Pick up a pt. for an emergency transfer; meet any escorts and recieve report, orient them with the vehicle and equipment and determine roles for transport. Receive chart and transfer papers for review. For non-urgent transfer take report from hospital staff and take paperwork for review. In both cases confirm settings for lines, etc.
5) Transfer a pt. back to LTC facility, make contact with staff provide hospital chart, verbal summary given on disposition from hospital and care during transport
6) Relieved by ALS or HEMS, provide report and ID# (for their form); ditto if I'm relieving FD (first responder) or another medic working the SUV

In all cases the onus is on me to collect accurate information or disseminate it and make sure it's understood and complete.

I do try to appreciate the unique working conditions LTC staff work in as I hope others in health care do with us, but if you are responsible for the pt. I do expect you have a basic knowledge of their condition before accepting that responsibility.
 
WolfmanHarris said:
Sorry Sasha, I've never bought that excuse no matter who it was coming from. (Nursing home, retirement facility, EMS, etc.) I don't care who you are, you hand over care of a pt. you give report to the person/facility/team taking over and you make a point of mentioning ongoing or developing issues as well as urgent situations.

For instance:
1) Arrive at ED, report to triage.
2) Assigned a bed, report to attending staff
3) Shift change while still on offload delay, report to oncoming staff and transfer ePCR to their computer
4) Pick up a pt. for an emergency transfer; meet any escorts and recieve report, orient them with the vehicle and equipment and determine roles for transport. Receive chart and transfer papers for review. For non-urgent transfer take report from hospital staff and take paperwork for review. In both cases confirm settings for lines, etc.
5) Transfer a pt. back to LTC facility, make contact with staff provide hospital chart, verbal summary given on disposition from hospital and care during transport
6) Relieved by ALS or HEMS, provide report and ID# (for their form); ditto if I'm relieving FD (first responder) or another medic working the SUV

In all cases the onus is on me to collect accurate information or disseminate it and make sure it's understood and complete.

I do try to appreciate the unique working conditions LTC staff work in as I hope others in health care do with us, but if you are responsible for the pt. I do expect you have a basic knowledge of their condition before accepting that responsibility.
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Again to 'play devils advocate' the last shift may have called 911 and just left without telling anymore. Which wouldn't be unheard of.
 
Fox800 said:
"I don't wanna go to the hospital...can you just give me some pain medication?"

Followed by, "I'm allergic to morphine, codeine, darvocet..."
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hahahahaha ive had this one too....i had a guy call 911 cause he wants his tooth pulled
 
Sasha said:
Keep in mind there is more patients in a nursing home than just the patient you are coming to pick up, and the nurses handle more patients at once than you are likely to see a day. They don't always have information on who is going out and who is not, especially if it's not one of their patients.
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i worked txp ems for 5 years and have been to every nusring home and hospital in nyc and work the 911 system for the past 3 years.nh know when a pt is going out and when they are comming in.even in an emergency situation while we are doing our paitent care they can be getting the notes ready for us.that whole "its not my paitent" thing is a very poor excuse and just a way for a nurse to try and pawn off responisiblity when you get there but lord help you if YOU show up later than they expected then they want to play like they are high and mighty.

its like when the HHA says "i dont know its my first day" there is no real excuse for not knowing whats wrong if you deal with the paitent for 8 hrs a day.the only excuse ems has for not knowing is because they couldnt gather the info because (atleast in my system) we are considered a taxi with sirens and not everyone wants to give us the info we need
 
FDNYChick said:
i worked txp ems for 5 years and have been to every nusring home and hospital in nyc and work the 911 system for the past 3 years.nh know when a pt is going out and when they are comming in.even in an emergency situation while we are doing our paitent care they can be getting the notes ready for us.that whole "its not my paitent" thing is a very poor excuse and just a way for a nurse to try and pawn off responisiblity when you get there but lord help you if YOU show up later than they expected then they want to play like they are high and mighty.

its like when the HHA says "i dont know its my first day" there is no real excuse for not knowing whats wrong if you deal with the paitent for 8 hrs a day.the only excuse ems has for not knowing is because they couldnt gather the info because (atleast in my system) we are considered a taxi with sirens and not everyone wants to give us the info we need
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So true! These NH are worse than puppy mills.
 
Dominion said:
Again to 'play devils advocate' the last shift may have called 911 and just left without telling anymore. Which wouldn't be unheard of.
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Oh I know it happens. Way too much. My argument wasn't that it doesn't, it's that there's no excuse for not having basic information about pt.'s under your care as reporting should be done with any transfer of care, whether a few minutes (the "their nurse in on break I'm just covering" excuse) or a shift (the "I just came one it must have been the last shift" excuse).
 
we just took a lady in that had a hospital bracelet on from 2006.

really... come on now people.

they just couldnt talk their way outta that one.
 
impossiblecr4e said:
we just took a lady in that had a hospital bracelet on from 2006.

really... come on now people.

they just couldnt talk their way outta that one.
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That's why if I take a discharge, I cut off the hospital braclets and pull of the stickies for the telemetry. God knows when NH staff will get around to it.
 
Sasha said:
That's why if I take a discharge, I cut off the hospital braclets and pull of the stickies for the telemetry. God knows when NH staff will get around to it.
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I do the same when I offload my pt since the hospital use different ECG electrodes than us. Not that I don't trust the hospital, just doing my due diligence.
 
I was suppossed to take a patient out of a hospital to SNF. I begin to get vitals on the floor. My partner is at the Nurses station waiting on the chart. An RN begins to help me get the vitals.

I ask why the patient is here. She says she doesn't know. Its not her patient. We get an O2 sat of 80% and a BP of 80/40, twice. The nurse tells me that this is his usual. Same nurse doesn't know anything about the patient but than knows everything about the patient.

I checked the charts. No BPs close to that low. My partner tells the patients RN and the resident is sent. Transport is cancelled.
 
I also have had this situation arise with the doctor AND the nurse unable to figure the C-collar out and had to ask me for help.
 
firecoins said:
I ask why the patient is here. She says she doesn't know. Its not her patient. We get an O2 sat of 80% and a BP of 80/40, twice. The nurse tells me that this is his usual.
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In what world is an O2 sat of 80% 'usual'? Even COPDers are usually higher than that. And a BP that low is barely on the low end of the measurable range. I mean... c'mon.

"Oh, that's normal for him." in this instance seems to be code for, "I don't care." Much like vitals listed as "WNL" means "we never looked."
 
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