Flag downs with PT on board?

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MikeEMTB

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So I had my first flag down experience the other day during a TXP to the hospital. 1 minute into an ALS TXP (Vent PT) Some guy comes running in front of our bus, pointing to the sidewalk. 3 people seizing next to each other post K2 OD. So I look at the medic in the back and he says I'm good I'll stay with the PT, go help. So i put it over the air and render aid with fire until the other units show up. My question is I've heard mixed things about whether to stop or not with a pt on board. Obviously the medic is a higher level of care so if he's directing me saying he's good I can go by that. Our Pt was stable but if you have a critical do you just keep driving by? Anybody have experience with this sort of event? Would you stop or just radio it in and keep going?
 
Depends on your protocols.

It has changed in MA a few times, but currently you can stop at an incident while already transporting a patient as long as:

1. The patient you are transporting is stable
2. An EMT stays with the patient in the back of the rig.
 
Stable patient, stopping is fine here. Emergent transport with unstable patient, call it in and keep going

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As they said. Stable patient, and one provider remaining with the stable patient you can stop to investigate. At the same time, you do need to have a background thought of can one provider handle this, is my ambulance about to be jacked, is it K2 or a hazmat if you have three people down seizing,...

Otherwise, say "We have a patient" and call it in and keep on trucking.
 
IMHO - a pt on a vent would not be a situation where I would stop. Call it in and keep going. Your first and most important obligation is ALWAYS to the patient you have.
 
jwk said:
IMHO - a pt on a vent would not be a situation where I would stop. Call it in and keep going. Your first and most important obligation is ALWAYS to the patient you have.
Click to expand...
Im just curious why that is? Some vent patients are very stable and even have their own home vents they take with them out and about. I think tjat is fully patient condition dependent as well.

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We had 3 full o2 tanks plus an onboard, medic in the back with her hooked up to his vent and monitor so he felt comfortable enough to stop, I definitely made sure of that before I hopped out

jwk said:
IMHO - a pt on a vent would not be a situation where I would stop. Call it in and keep going. Your first and most important obligation is ALWAYS to the patient you have.
Click to expand...
We
 
Well...while the vent patient may be stable, the new patients may not be. Which means I would have called it in and kept trucking. As the medic in back with a vent patient, I would not have said "I am good, you go ahead"....you (my partner) are now entering a NEW unknown situation which could turn hostile in a second. You could get in the weeds very fast as well. I would not know any of this and not be able to help you with any of this. Say I hear you scream for whatever reason...do I now abandon my patient to help you and possibly put myself in a bad situation or do I ignore you...both options suck! All because you SAW something more visibly exciting than what you were currently doing. While it sucks for those people seizing, this is THEIR emergency, keep it that way.
 
Stable patients are fine. For initial response to cardiac arrests (called a "purple") an ambulance or PTS van that already has a stable patient onboard can stop off if they are closest and attend to the other patient, including leaving their patient alone for a short period of time i.e. clearing as soon as practical.
 
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