First call as EMT-B

How well do you remember your first run?

  • not at all

    Votes: 46 17.7%
  • some of it

    Votes: 31 11.9%
  • most of it

    Votes: 81 31.2%
  • every detail

    Votes: 102 39.2%

  • Total voters
    260

LIFESAVER4U

Forum Probie
10
0
0
My first call was my best freinds dad he had a massive MI. My first call shift, my first call. I will never forget that one.
 

mikeylikesit

Candy Striper
906
11
0
My first call was my best freinds dad he had a massive MI. My first call shift, my first call. I will never forget that one.
i bet you will never forget. did his dad make it?
 

lightsandsirens5

Forum Deputy Chief
3,970
19
38
My first call as a 3rd party was a 26 y/o female, poss. OD. Call was about 15-20 miles out of town. (Rural ambulance service;)) Dispatch did not have any more info as they couldn't get a hold of the RP. (Turned out the caller was the Pt's father on the other side of the state! How he knew, unless she called him and told him, I'll never know.) On scene found Pt. sitting on her couch holding her head. Sheriff told us she had taken something close to a whole bottle of Tylenol(?) P.M. But didn't know why she had. Asked Pt. if she was home alone. She replied that she was, and then proceeded to start gagging and retching. One of the crew members helped her while I got the gurney inside with the Sheriff. As we were taking her out of the house she said something like don't forget my baby, he is in the back room. (You might have told us that before lady!:wacko:) The sheriff went to get him and we ended up taking him with us. I believe the Pt. may have been flown out to a bigger hospital in the city.
 

Stewart1990

Forum Crew Member
99
0
0
my first call was when i was 16, was running MA call with local FD. 30-something yo fem. w/ chest pains. basic eval. and transport. But my most memorable was my second call. We were on out way to a call (cant remember what it was) and came across an overturned pickup pts still inside. FD extricated and we boarded and booked. Fem. passenger c/o back/neck pain, male driver mild abr. . I remember it so well because of how cold it was in conjunction with working traffic with FD. Fun.
 

Medic506

Forum Probie
18
0
0
My first ever call was an MVC. No damage to either car and the woman in the passenger seat was the biggest prima donna I've ever seen! Her neck hurt oh so bad!

I'm envious (if ya wanna call it that) of all y'all. I've been a Basic for about a year and rode with my company for a couple years before that as an observer. I'm a full-time dispatcher, but also work in a rig a couple shifts a week in our county region. I've only ever run back to the hospital with my lights and sirens once, and that was cuz the woman was diabetic and we couldn't get an IV on her.
 

Parama-dick

Forum Ride Along
7
0
0
My first call as an EMT-B was a fall. A woman in her late 40s had slipped on her tile floor and hit her shin on the the dishwasher, leaving a nice chunk of flesh completely missing. His her head and shoulder on the floor. Complete break to the clavicle and a nice lac and hematoma on the side of her head. I think she also had a broken wrist. Took her BLS she refused pain meds...
 

MedicTom

Forum Probie
18
0
0
My first call was to one of our local correctional facilities for chest pain. I had a wonderful career, military AEMT as the in charge on the call. He gave me the best advice I ever got from any EMS provider. "No matter who your patient is, they are still a human being and they deserve respect." I carry that philosophy with me to this day.
 

nibejeebies

Oldie but Goodie. Still Young Though!
58
0
6
Well Im not an EMT yet (NR practical is 4/30), but let me share these Firsts:

First Medical Call with my Volunteer FD:
MVC with 90% Decapitation, 18 yo F

Ride Along in an Ambulance before going to EMT school:
Full Amputation of the hand from just above the wrist (tones when out and i thought i was going to vomit when i saw it, got there and Held the Hand while they were applying pressure dressings. Was surprized didnt even get the feeling of wooziness, got done with the call and the Medic told me that I should deff go to emt school.

First Call as EMT Student on a clinical:
3 month old respitory dypena arrive on scene and she codes. get her into the ambulance, the medic is screaming at the emt to hit the gas, we start infant CPR and by the time we got to the ER (Very Very long transport) she was crying top if her lungs.

Ive never thought I would feel so good about hearing an child cry. That was three months ago, and the medic has called me twice to check to see how im coping with it, and to tell me that the family stoped by the station to show off there perfectly healthy baby girl.
 

irish_handgrenade

Forum Lieutenant
103
0
16
First call as an EMT-B, we responded to an unkown medical... We arrived on scene to a 275-300 pound man laying in his hallway with no pants on and covered in dry poop. social worker gave us a brief ( so brief she failed to mention a recent closed head injury) we found out the guy was diabetic and had seizures from his med list. His blood sugar was good, so we assumed he'd had a seizure. Well the only two things the pt said to us was "stop it" and " F*** YOU!" and was a little combative so we had the S.O. send a deputy with us in the truck. Well the ride was pretty quiet, the pt slept most of the way until we pulled into the ER bay. Pt began to squirm and kick his feet as we pulled him into the ER. We pulled into trauma 1 and slid him on to the ER bed and as I reached across him to untangle his O2 tubing I realized that I had just been punched in the face harder than I have ever been hit before. I got a little woozy and my contact lens got knocked out of my eye. The nurses got orders to sedate the pt while we restrained him. Come to find out the guy had a fever of 106 and had inter-cranial bleeding.
I was told the guy was taken to ICU the next time I came into the ER but I never found out if the guy was ok or not. Everyone I told about it said they would have been pissed but I was ok with it, the guy was sick he didn't do it on purpose or anything. So that was my initiation into EMS LOL.
 

irish_handgrenade

Forum Lieutenant
103
0
16
My first ever call was an MVC. No damage to either car and the woman in the passenger seat was the biggest prima donna I've ever seen! Her neck hurt oh so bad!

I'm envious (if ya wanna call it that) of all y'all. I've been a Basic for about a year and rode with my company for a couple years before that as an observer. I'm a full-time dispatcher, but also work in a rig a couple shifts a week in our county region. I've only ever run back to the hospital with my lights and sirens once, and that was cuz the woman was diabetic and we couldn't get an IV on her.

why didn't you give glucagon?
 

DV_EMT

Forum Asst. Chief
832
1
0
My first calls were as a ride along for my class.

1st - ped transport call. kid had a broken femur from jumping off his bike to avoid a guy who tried to "beat the light" in his car.

2nd - potential MI at a "doc-in-the-box".... that was a a joke of a call... the guy's vitals were just fine.

3rd - 91 y/o female. CHF and dimensia. that was a weird one to run. we got to the pt's home in the evening and she was lying in a pool of her own vomit and wheezing heavily. FD had cleaned her up when we got there, and boy oh boy you should have seen her medications. Ive seen a lot of people with 10-15 bottles of medications... not this lady. probably 30 different types of medications. anything from metoprolol to lisinopril and aricept. that was my job en route to the hospital. go through all her medications and tell the medic what type of medications she was taking..... by class (diuretics, beta antagonists, etc...)
 

Ridryder911

EMS Guru
5,923
40
48
She wasn't conscious enough for it.

Huh? Glucagon is administered either IV or the most popular route of IM and usually for those that are unconscious and not being able to establish an IV.
 

bstone

Forum Deputy Chief
2,066
1
0
Huh? Glucagon is administered either IV or the most popular route of IM and usually for those that are unconscious and not being able to establish an IV.

Perhaps he thought you meant glucose paste.
 

Chelle

Forum Crew Member
64
0
0
One of my first calls and one that I'll never forget was this past winter. We got called to a rollover with the driver trapped under the car. As soon as we pulled up the side door on the rig flew open. This kid was standing there, trying to shake the ice chunks off his hair like a dog. I felt completely disoriented because I was thinking...who the heck is this guy?? Turns out he was the guy who was pinned under the car. Holy heck! The firemen who were there before us picked the end of the car up that had him pinned. All they could see at that point were two feet sticking out from under the car. As soon as they lifted he popped up, yelling about being ok, just cold. He walked with a dislocated shoulder.
 
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jochi1543

Forum Captain
273
0
0
My first call was a transfer and I drove (yes, exciting). My 2nd (and 1st emerg call) was an MVA. I remember it fairly well. It's the only MVA I've had to date, too.
 

Sasha

Forum Chief
7,667
11
0
2nd - potential MI at a "doc-in-the-box".... that was a a joke of a call... the guy's vitals were just fine.

Fine for whom? Fine according to what you book says is normal? Did you ask him what his normal BP, pulse, etc, run?

Did you take a look at the 12 lead to see what was going on with the heart? CP and crappy vitals are not the only indicatiors of an MI, there's all sorts of deferred pain, and not everyone's vitals are within what the book calls normal. Maybe he's normally 90/60 and was at 130/80. It's all relative, you've got to look past what the book tells you and think.

Did you ever do a follow up?
 

CAOX3

Forum Deputy Chief
1,366
4
0
First call as a student:
I remember as if it happened two minutes ago instead of two years...

Two car MVA with entrappments and death in the compartments.
Needless to say but not only was the on scene work a blast but the transport was a toughie to work.
I loved every minute of it.

First call as a certed EMT: Multiple GSW...shotgun (remember every bit)
long story short we basically did open chest CPR as the entire front ribcage and left arm were ripped away by the gunblasts. My medic later stated that he'd never started lines inside someones chest before. First learned that blood had a smell.

First call with own pt: Childbirth: (no I didnt deliver) an OB team jumped into the rig as we pulled in, we (ems) jumped out, and the kid came into the world two minutes later.

I LOVE trauma. I love ems, I love helping people. But for better or worse not a single call I have ever had has affected me. No, not bothered me, AFFECTED ME. I dont even think of my calls once I leave work. Never felt good about a call, just knew I'd done my job, Never had a single nightmare, and Ive done GSWs CPR on family members, 3rd degree burns on Peds. Maybe there is something wrong with me. Meh.. I hope tones drop for a car wreck tonite...its icy. ( no i am not someone who wants folks to get hurt, I just want to get paid for doing my job, instead of sitting on my butt)

You need to relocate

Open chest CPR, starting lines inside someones chest.

You sure you werent a actor on Third Watch.

As far as my first call as ant EMT. Cant remember, matter of fact I cant remeber the first call I did yesterday.....Oh well:)
 

Afflixion

Forum Captain
320
0
0
I LOVE trauma. I love ems, I love helping people. But for better or worse not a single call I have ever had has affected me. No, not bothered me, AFFECTED ME. I dont even think of my calls once I leave work. Never felt good about a call, just knew I'd done my job, Never had a single nightmare, and Ive done GSWs CPR on family members, 3rd degree burns on Peds. Maybe there is something wrong with me.

Well then you obviously are truly a person of extreme apathy....or you have been on the job for what a few months? There's always at least one thing that affects everyone. Personally i think your FOS but that's just me. You ever work on someone you live with, work with every day, call your brother because they are closer than friends and most family could ever be...worked as hard you may, did everything in your power just to have them die on you? I have. I still dream of it and this was 2 years ago. Once you have been on the job long enough/ performed some of those things you claim to have. something will jostle you...make you question your profession, faith in humanity among other things. Don't try to bulls*** something like that. I have my Combat Medical Badge...that is something I would not wish on my worst enemy...
 

CAOX3

Forum Deputy Chief
1,366
4
0
Well then you obviously are truly a person of extreme apathy....or you have been on the job for what a few months? There's always at least one thing that affects everyone. Personally i think your FOS but that's just me. You ever work on someone you live with, work with every day, call your brother because they are closer than friends and most family could ever be...worked as hard you may, did everything in your power just to have them die on you? I have. I still dream of it and this was 2 years ago. Once you have been on the job long enough/ performed some of those things you claim to have. something will jostle you...make you question your profession, faith in humanity among other things. Don't try to bulls*** something like that. I have my Combat Medical Badge...that is something I would not wish on my worst enemy...

One word at times humbling

There is always one that you never forget.
 
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