Scariest thing that I have ever witnessed

I gotta say great job for stopping and helping making sure people were alright, and to all the negative people, you may be right about some things but you don't gotta be an a** about it.
 
I don't know if I even want to poke my nose in here....

Music, you worked with the tools that you had, and that is a great skill. Don't let situations work you up. It's not your emergency, it's the patient's. If you put yourself in a bad situation and get hurt yourself you remove a potential resource and add a patient. I frankly am tired of reading news articles about on and off duty EMS providers being killed, but that's just me.

The best tool you have when you are off duty is your cellphone. It's part of your scene size up, BSI, safety of the scene, MOI/NOI (which you witnessed so this was already established), number of patients, then additional resources

I witnessed a roll-over on the freeway the other day, and i'll be the first to admit I didn't stop. I called 911 and continued on my way. That was my choice.

Don't let responses discourage you, people are expressing their opinions. EMS providers are jaded, and this is one of the many things you will learn with experience. This site is a great resource, use it, absorb it, learn it and apply it.

I'm glad everyone was ok.
 
If I witnessed a bad accident off duty, I stop. Or even a fresh bad one that I didn't witness, but has no one on scene yet I'll stop. The only things I take from my truck is my phone and a pair of gloves. I'll call dispatch, let them know who I am, and what the scene is like, what they need to send. Then when someone on duty comes in, I'll let them know what I know, and retreat.
 
usalsfyre said:
We learn much more from people critiquing us than patting us on the back.
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This. Harsh but true. Some of the things I remember most from school are the things we totally effed up on in scenarios and got reamed for.



Oh, and also that I apparently run like a girl. :rolleyes:
 
I just got a flash of a completely honest paramedic running up to a car accident and telling the driver

" sir you appear to be uninjured and will probably be alright but by law I must inform you that you may have an internal injury that is causing you to bleed out while we speak and will kill you before we can get you out, even if this isn't the case it is possible that we may accidentally cut you in half while removing you from the car or even drop you on your head while loading you onto the cot causing you to be a vegetable the rest of your life. Even if none of these things occur and by some miracle we get you to the hospital uninjured there is a good possibility you will pick up a nasty infection in the hospital and end up dieing anyway. But don't worry the chances of any of that bad stuff happening are pretty low.
 
Some of the finer points when there's not much to do medically.

If 911's been called (and it is good to MAKE SURE they were called, ask the caller to report back to you), nothing's on fire, gasoline is still in its tanks, and no one is hurt badly enough to be treatable with what you have, her are some helpful things to do or delegate:
1. Tell folks to turn off their ignitions and put the keys in their pockets.
2. Tell folks, if it is safe and it doesn't hurt, to get and hold onto their purse, courier bag, cell phone, laptop, whatever.
3. Go upstream a ways to traffic and deploy any warning devices. You can get training through your loca, CERT for free if you are a member, but rule of thumb is to BE SAFE, don't put improvised stuff in the road, don't leave flares unsecured and anywhere NEAR or downhill of fuel, or near flammable brush, gutter litter, etc. (I made coathanger legs you slip the flare into, light it, then lay it down without it rolling). Cheap but not microscopic fluorescent cones and triangles are much safer.
4. Make sure victims stay out of traffic. Ask them to sit or lie down in a safe place unobscured by the accident (so FD doesn't run 'em over. It's happened).
5. Keep an eye out for pets, but do not get hurt trying to contain them. Loose pets in traffic epecially at an accident warrant law enforcement and animal control, mention it to the dispatcher (loose critters cause more accidents and mental anguish).

Just saying. ;)
 
Unfortunately in the time of relative anonymity of an online forum, others will take their time to say what they feel, rather then uplifting criticism. Again, unfortunately, this is the written language and readers can see criticism as that, or "bashing" the poster.

Thank you for taking the time to stop at the scene of an accident. I assess a scene when I come upon it. If fire/police/EMS is already there, rarely would I stop. However, if no one there, I would stop long enough to ask if there would be assistance (EMS-related) would be needed.

From my law enforcement experience, I wish people who witnessed an accident or crime for that matter, would stop to tell the police officer what they had witnessed. Makes the crime solving much easier.
 
bigbaldguy said:
I just got a flash of a completely honest paramedic running up to a car accident and telling the driver

" sir you appear to be uninjured and will probably be alright but by law I must inform you that you may have an internal injury that is causing you to bleed out while we speak and will kill you before we can get you out, even if this isn't the case it is possible that we may accidentally cut you in half while removing you from the car or even drop you on your head while loading you onto the cot causing you to be a vegetable the rest of your life. Even if none of these things occur and by some miracle we get you to the hospital uninjured there is a good possibility you will pick up a nasty infection in the hospital and end up dieing anyway. But don't worry the chances of any of that bad stuff happening are pretty low.
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I've only stopped once off duty, and my spiel went something like this: "My name is [HotelCo], and I've called 911. They'll be here in about five minutes. Do you hurt anywhere? ..."

And continued on talking until the ambulance was on scene. Notice that I never identified myself as a Paramedic, or did I make any reference to the severity of their injuries. I left that to those who will be doing a thorough assessment.

If someone told me I'd be alright, and I wound up paralyzed, missing a limb, or mangled in some other way, I'd be pissed. I'd feel lied to. So, no. I don't think telling people they'll be alright before you have the whole picture is a good idea. Quite the opposite, in fact.


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Hi, this is my first post here. I've been reading on this forum pretty intensively for a while, and I just decided to join because I wanted to say something... :blush:

I wanted to comment on one of the member's comment that we learn better by criticism than by praise/compliments. I agree with that statement mostly; however, why are they mutually exclusive? Can you not say to someone who responded well but made mistakes, "Hey, dude. Good job with that call. It was a tough one but you handled it well. Listen, though, next time X happens or someone does X, don't do X. You'll get a better result if you do Y instead of X."

Isn't that better than, "That sucked, dude! You didn't do X, Y, and Z! Then you did X again, Y twice, etc.!" or a similar comment?

I agree that in certain situations a tough critique can be very beneficial, but you have to be able to gauge what kind of situation you are dealing with. The first poster didn't freeze, he told someone to call 911, he tried to calm potentially injured civilians, and he help clear up afterwards.

Could he have done it better? Definitely!! Did he double check that the scene was safe before running straight into it? Was he wearing gloves? Did he wait long enough to grab anything that he could use like his first aid kit or medical kit? I don't know, and I think that anyone who brings these points up to him are doing great work for helping him to become better.

However, criticism alone is not what makes people better. It's criticism that not only teaches someone the right way to do something but also inspires and encourages them to improve and do it right next time. That kind of criticism is called constructive criticism, and I don't think it was presented very well in some of first posts.

Respectfully,

Patrick
 
Oi.

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Sasha said:
Oi.

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I believe the correct spelling is Oy.


I stopped once. Saw a car after it was wrecked. No responders on scene. Asked if everyone was ok. They said nope. PD showed up just then and I walked back to my car since everyone stated they were ok. Other wise I would have called 911 or had the PD ask for fire. Fire was never dispatched. (It was in my district and I was on my way to work and we never got called for it.)
 
It depends on what language you're saying it in, I guess. I've seen "Oi!" used in Japanese, but never "Oy!". Spanish?
 
FireWA1 said:
I believe the correct spelling is Oy.


Asked if everyone was ok. They said nope. PD showed up just then and I walked back to my car since everyone stated they were ok.
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:blink:
 
Jewish I think is the oy spelling. But we all get the picture.

In regards to what I came across.

Window was spider-ed but going inwards so something from the outside hit. If I remember it was a bird. (thought I saw feathers). Saw no blood, no other damage to the car and no one look to be injured and no one stated any injuries.

PD showed up about 10 seconds after I asked if anyone was hurt. He did not look like he wanted my help. I went on my merry way. I was given no indications that I needed to press on in finding out if someone was truly hurt.

If the officer felt that a medical eval was needed he would have called for it. Granted PD does not always make the best decision, but that is not my call and I can't help it if the people did not want any medical help.

Most of all it was not my scene.

EDIT: I guess after reading my previous post I did not paint a good picture of what had happened.
 
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I guess I have always heard the yiddish version. You learn something new every day.
 
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