CPRinProgress
Forum Lieutenant
- 116
- 0
- 16
Or is it that people get desensitized to emergencies and therefore do not care as much. Just wondering.
Responding and Transporting Code 3
- Thread starter CPRinProgress
- Start date
Or is it that people get desensitized to emergencies and therefore do not care as much. Just wondering.
CPRinProgress
Forum Lieutenant
- 116
- 0
- 16
Well you are stopped at a light no matter how long it is you begin to feel helpless that you could be getting this person to definitive care but you have to stop for a light
- 5,018
- 1,356
- 113
I'd argue and say the swaying and hard braking seen with emergent transports would cause an increase in anxiety in the patient and family.
And personally, I love the red lights. Perfect time to get up and reach for something if need be. IVs? BPs? It's nice having a stagnant environment at times. If you're comfortable in knowing you can provide the care for your patient that they need, you won't feel rushed or "Get to the hospital ASAP!" at all.
This is preposterous. "Desensitized" to emergencies? Now you are just insulting people's professional disposition.
Go ahead and click "Search" and look for a thread I believe is called "When will we stop transporting code"
You should probably read that.
NYMedic828
Forum Deputy Chief
- 2,094
- 3
- 36
Nope I don't feel helpless.
Thankfully for me it is not up to the patient or family how I decide to drive. If I felt it warranted, I may proceed through the light in slow and controlled manor.
No... Not really sure what else to answer that with but a no.
You have a what if to everything by this point in the thread.
- 5,018
- 1,356
- 113
Being calm and collected is not a sign of being desensitized. It's being confident (and typically experienced). I recognize when patients are in need of care quickly. That does not mean I have to lose my mind and become reckless.
Just imagine the psychological effect of being dead....
I've transferred ICU patients that are far, far more critically ill than the majority of patients transported code 3. I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of times I've felt the need to transport these patients code.
I think you said it all when you said "exciting", "fun" and "adrenaline rush". Some of us have come to realize how deadly serious that part of the job is though, and would prefer to go home to our families at the end of a shift rather than get an adrenaline rush.
Of course, when you're a BLS unit from a volunteer rescue squad and the medics refused to transport with you, you don't really have much else. I do feel for the guy in that aspect though (been there, done that, unfortunately have the t-shirt).
CPRinProgress
Forum Lieutenant
- 116
- 0
- 16
Its not about the time but not doing anything when something can be done. The bottom line is that it come down to a risk reward situation where people have to decide to take the risk.
Risk: Getting in a T-Bone accident causing a career/life ending injury, with other injured people as well. Not to mention being in the news (which I try to avoid at all costs) and possible disciplinary action for destroying an ambulance.
Reward: Getting to the hospital 90 seconds sooner, doing it all over again.
Sounds like a fair trade.
We've established the risk, please explain the reward.
NomadicMedic
I know a guy who knows a guy.
- 12,219
- 7,002
- 113
I guess the question is: is driving with lights and sirens worth the risk to the patient and provider in the back?
9 times out of 10 the answer is no.
You're new and excited about the job. That's good.
Don't get excited about the job for the wrong reasons.
Lights and sirens don't save patients. Ever.
The actions of the providers do that. Help them do their job by driving with due regard and not getting blinded by the "woo woo rush".
9 times out of 10 the answer is no.
You're new and excited about the job. That's good.
Don't get excited about the job for the wrong reasons.
Lights and sirens don't save patients. Ever.
The actions of the providers do that. Help them do their job by driving with due regard and not getting blinded by the "woo woo rush".
VFlutter
Flight Nurse
- 3,728
- 1,265
- 113
No not at all. Being desensitized to emergencies does not mean that a person does not care. When one of my patients codes my demeanor does not change at all. There is no yelling, no panic, no running around. Everything is calm and organized. I have actually had family members get frustrated that we are so calm because it does not "feel" like an emergency or what they expected. They expect people yelling out orders, running down the halls, etc. We all truly care about the patient.
If you think that person yelling, panicking, and sprinting down the hallway with the crash cart bumping into walls and dropping supplies cares more than me by then all means request them when your family member codes. I wish you the best of luck.
Trashtruck
Forum Captain
- 272
- 1
- 0
You are clearly new. In time, you'll become sick of the wail of sirens and find driving with them very, very annoying(and pretty much useless).
As far as it being fun, if I were to bet, you will not find running lights and sirens 'fun' after doing it a few times.
As a medic sitting in the back with a pt(s), I often get asked why we aren't going through red lights, swerving through traffic, speeding, and all the other cool stuff that ambulances do on TV. I tell them, flatly, this isn't an emergency and that they are not used in non-emergent situations.
I'm not going to 'play' with the ambulance like I'm in Grand Theft Auto so that the pt can feel psychologically comforted.
Going through red lights, disobeying traffic laws, creating anxiety in other drivers, throwing people around in the back, and CREATING a hazardous situation is unnecessary.
When I drive lights and sirens, I drive no differently than when they are not on. Same speed. I still stop at all lights. I don't go off the road. I don't oppose traffic for more than a block. It's controlled. Just more flashy and loud.
- 11,139
- 1,599
- 113
Not so much policy as it is a requirement for the legal exemption from the speed limit.
- 7,884
- 2,851
- 113
I've given some broader thoughts, here's something n=1.
When I was taken to the hospital after hitting a tree skiing, the crew drove non-emergent in the rural areas and then emergent through the one town on the way to the hospital.
The emergent part was a lot more painful. I know they were trying to get me to the hospital faster, but the harder stops, starts, and cornering actually made things more painful. The driver was by no means driving recklessly, but it was still more painful.
Not to mention that when you're riding backwards you cannot see the traffic so you cannot anticipate the use of the airhorn. Scared the crap outta me a few times and made my back lock up even worse.
It's a similar thing to "treating" pain with 02. Many think that the patient is being "reassured" that you are treating their problem, but many do the exact opposite. They thought their breathing was fine and now they're scared because you just clamped a mask on their face. The public perception of an ambulance racing to the hospital with a critical patient in back is very real. If you're hauling to the hospital, your not-so sick patient probably thinks they are in trouble.
Our patients do not know better, but we do.
When I was taken to the hospital after hitting a tree skiing, the crew drove non-emergent in the rural areas and then emergent through the one town on the way to the hospital.
The emergent part was a lot more painful. I know they were trying to get me to the hospital faster, but the harder stops, starts, and cornering actually made things more painful. The driver was by no means driving recklessly, but it was still more painful.
Not to mention that when you're riding backwards you cannot see the traffic so you cannot anticipate the use of the airhorn. Scared the crap outta me a few times and made my back lock up even worse.
It's a similar thing to "treating" pain with 02. Many think that the patient is being "reassured" that you are treating their problem, but many do the exact opposite. They thought their breathing was fine and now they're scared because you just clamped a mask on their face. The public perception of an ambulance racing to the hospital with a critical patient in back is very real. If you're hauling to the hospital, your not-so sick patient probably thinks they are in trouble.
Our patients do not know better, but we do.
Last edited by a moderator:
I have actually been written up for "not sounding paniced enough" with a critical patient when I phoned med control during my EMS career.
Am I desensitized to emergencies? Absolutely.
But I go about my business with a calm and methodical precision. With trained accuracy my speed and efficency have been built.
I do not run around in a panic thinking my urgency is going to have any positive impact on the situation.
I know that if I panic, everyone else in the room does. If I am calm, they are calm.
Whether it is a newborn or a 100 year old, my process is the same. My results are self-evident.
It is hard to find patients critical enough to even be stimulating. People call me when they do.
Whether or not I care is a judgement I will leave to others.
Last edited by a moderator:
- 11,139
- 1,599
- 113
This...it pays to remember whose emergency it really is.