EMS/Medical Superstitions.

[Sapphyre]

Sorry Resq, Didn't see this one. I live in western San Bernardino County, but, I work in SGV

 

[BossyCow]

Every time a new vollie gets their EMT cert, there is an immediate cluster of calls around their house. seriously... like a vcrtex that draws the calls in...

Calls come in threes....

If I wear girl shoes to my day job, we will be toned out for a SAR.

 

[Airwaygoddess]

Well he are mine.......

When I had soeone expire in the rig I do the decon routine, but I open up all of the windows and doors so "everything has a chance to move on and out"
It it was on the night shift I would go somewhere and see the sun rise, I guess this is my way of starting a new day.

I also will not sleep in the back of an ambulance...... I still get the "Willies"

 

[RESQ_5_1]

There seems to be a correlation here between students and call volume. Our Paramedic is usually a black cloud. Unless, he gets a student. Or, if we have to do any kind of Orientation.

 

[Epi-do]

New medic = crap magnet around here.

Everytime we have tacos for dinner, we get a run.

And, on a side note, throughout medic class I felt as if I was working part-time for the grim reaper. I have never had that many cardiac arrests/DOAs in such a short time span as I did in that year. Well, instead of getting one every shift for several shifts in a row, I am now getting them in pairs. Lovely....

 

[artman17847]

So far, that hasn't worked for us at all. We have been looking for a decent MVC for quite some time and have heard every other station around us do them almost daily.

That means some bad juju is building up for you guys!

 

[traumateam1]

Everytime I sit down for a Timmys! :sad:

 

[EMTinNEPA]

- Codes come in threes.
- I will not use our service's GPS, stethoscopes, or clipboards. I always use my own.
- I have a little white cloud that once, every few weeks, likes to paint itself black, then immediately take a bath.
- I wear a glove pounch, a phone case, my pager, and a mag-light on my belt. I will not put them on my belt before entering the station for my shift, because bad things will happen.
- I pity anybody who happens to be working or is coming into work at the same time a certain medic arrives, because he loves to have codes RIGHT at shift change when everybody is there and is morally obligated to go and help, giving him an EMS Army at his command.
- If the paid service I work for gets a bad call when I am not on duty, I will not come from home and help, unless it's a code (since it's hard to make dead worse) and I know for a fact that I am physically the closest EMT. Any time I've come from home to help without meeting this criteria, bad, BAD things have happened to me.

 

[Dobby]

Well here are some typical superstitions that the Emts believe in here in South Africa:

1. NEVER but NEVER take off your boots whether it may be to sleep rest or whatever.....NEVER take them off..you will garunteed get a call.

2. NEVER ever check the maternity packs ( we keep them sealed up so that we know all the stock present what needs be) if you open the sealed maternity pack and check it .....you will get a maternity call .

3. Never wish for a certain type of call, never wish you dont get a certain type of call, never wish to be busy, or the Q word, it will always back fire on you.

and one of my own personal "rituals" whenever it comes to putting on my boots before going to work the right foot always goes on first then the left....silly I know. :wacko:

 

[KEVD18]

1. NEVER but NEVER take off your boots whether it may be to sleep rest or whatever.....NEVER take them off..you will garunteed get a call.

this is probably the most common ems myth/superstition and maybe it rings true for some of you but its been my experience that its crap.

everybody thats ever worked with me or heard me talk about when i was working knows that im a professional paid sleeper on the job. it makes me feel exceptional to get paid to snooze, so i do as much of it as possible while on duty. meal/bathroom/cigarette/videogame breaks aside, if we're not on a call, i'll be snoring away and the very first thing i do is kick off my boots.

about a year ago, i was working for a company that wasnt incredibly busy to begin with, but on sundays was dead. i had a sunday 24. my goal was to sleep at least 18hr's of that shift(a goal i met on more than one occasion) and got close many others. all bootless. nope, i think its crap but hey, maybe im the exception to the rule.

 

[Sasha]

this is probably the most common ems myth/superstition and maybe it rings true for some of you but its been my experience that its crap.

everybody thats ever worked with me or heard me talk about when i was working knows that im a professional paid sleeper on the job. it makes me feel exceptional to get paid to snooze, so i do as much of it as possible while on duty. meal/bathroom/cigarette/videogame breaks aside, if we're not on a call, i'll be snoring away and the very first thing i do is kick off my boots.

about a year ago, i was working for a company that wasnt incredibly busy to begin with, but on sundays was dead. i had a sunday 24. my goal was to sleep at least 18hr's of that shift(a goal i met on more than one occasion) and got close many others. all bootless. nope, i think its crap but hey, maybe im the exception to the rule.

I sleep with my boots on! But not to avoid a call when I'm working overnights, but because my feet don't smell pretty in my work boots and taking them off exposes the partner!

Sleeping with the boots on is not very comfortable...

 

[pumper12fireman]

The one thing we never say is what kind of call we want.... We always get it, in the worst way.

This is true of our department as well (unless we're hoping for a fire). Last week one of the guys said that he "wished for a good MVC". Two hours later, we're cutting a DOA out while putting the deceased's mother on a LSB getting ready to run her hot to a trauma center.

So, we don't wish for a kind of a call any longer.

 

[daemonicusxx]

we rely on the trauma god. although i think i got a broke one, it only brings us interfacility transfers or alpha sick persons, or "flu like symptoms"

 

[LucidResq]

I have 3 friends that, when combined and hanging out just the 3 of them or any 2 of them, form THE ultimate :censored::censored::censored::censored: magnet. They have driven by some astounding things. Their names all start with the same letter. The :censored::censored::censored::censored: magnet effect is lost when you add anyone else to the equation.

 

[lightsandsirens5]

Every time we train on something, we get that type of call within two weeks.

HA! Every time we get a good call, we train for it in two weeks!

 

[lizhiniatsos]

....everything said here rings true...or false...depending on day, time weather, availability of unavailability of necessary equipment, adequate training, or lack thereof, availability of food or hunger or people or animals or moon phase or star alignment or clothing worn (or not)....
only one thing is for sure,
expect the unexpected....

 

[Meursault]

If the outgoing crew tells me their shift was hellish, and all signs point to my shift being as bad, and I plan my night accordingly, nothing will happen.

Most recent example: It's the first full weekend back on a college campus, and frats are having spring rush parties. The crew I'm replacing had 3 simultaneous calls at one point, on a campus that averages about 2 calls/24 hours. The bag I'm checking out looks as if someone took the dividers out, unzipped it, and shook it violently, then replaced the dividers. There's 5" of snow on the ground in places and another 6" is falling.
Not a single call.