"Secret" Signals

[MedicPrincess]

What kind of signals do you have for your partner when you need something done?

If for some reason I haven't realized we need to do something she has nutty little things she'll do so as to no alarm the patient or family....Or it may be because shes a nut....

For instance....

When we have a patient she is going to have to intubate she begins humming (or actually singing depending on her mood) "You get a line, I'll get the pole, We'll go down to the fishing hole...."

When a patient is misbehaving and we are going need to restrain them she'll start with "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro, can you tie them in a knot...."

To launch the helo she will point at me, then point at the sky and twirll her hand around.

Do you guys have any nonverbal or verbal things you do to clue your partner in to what you need?

 

[gradygirl]

We're not too secret about what we do. I think our most subtle signal is a head shake towards the hall so we can talk about something while not in front of our patient or when we are trying to get the LEOs to get out of our way. We're pretty blunt with one another and with our patients, but then again, most of our patients are highly intoxicated, so they don't understand subtleties. I guess it's the nature of how the squad runs and the area in which we run, also we have everything with us at all times, so we usually grab what we need or have someone toss it to us.

 

[MariaCatEMT]

What kind of signals do you have for your partner when you need something done?

If for some reason I haven't realized we need to do something she has nutty little things she'll do so as to no alarm the patient or family....Or it may be because shes a nut....

For instance....

When we have a patient she is going to have to intubate she begins humming (or actually singing depending on her mood) "You get a line, I'll get the pole, We'll go down to the fishing hole...."

When a patient is misbehaving and we are going need to restrain them she'll start with "Do your ears hang low, do they wobble to and fro, can you tie them in a knot...."

To launch the helo she will point at me, then point at the sky and twirll her hand around.

Do you guys have any nonverbal or verbal things you do to clue your partner in to what you need?

See? Patient or partner, nutters, I'm telling ya.

 

[emtbuff]

It depends on who I'm working with, some we are in sync with one another enough we don't always have to speak. Otherwise wise nod of the head out of the room or we just say what we need.

 

[DT4EMS]

Code words

This is along the same lines....... Here is a recent DT4EMS "success story"

Two different people, neither in EMS decided to take the DT4EMS course. One is a female abuot 507 and weighs 105. The other works security and is 608 and weighs 440lbs. (Yeah I know he's huge).

Anyway, everyone was gone from the office except for the female. Out of knowhere and intoxicated subject came inside and began to harass her. She was able to pick up the phone and call the hospitals direct line to security. She made the comment "WHat color is purple?" (IT is a code we teach in DT4EMS for a problem)

The security officer responded "That's a code word for trouble" she said "Exactly " and hung up the phone. The security guard was about a mile away at one of the other buildings and hurried over.

Upon his arrival, the man was constantly approaching the female who was attempting to talk him down. When the big guy got there things went south.

Law enforcement got involved and the guy was a real fighter who had been looking for trouble.

Point is........... have a plan, but make sure everyone is on the same page. Good luck.

 

[Celtictigeress]

When I worked for Crestwood PD we had a code for the banks if we thought they were in trouble (ie robbery)

Bank-"Hello TCF this is .... how may I help you"
Us-"Yes I was thinking of opening an account do you have any forms i need to fill out"

At this point they would say either yes we have a T12J form (Yes we are being robbed" or

No we dont have the forms (we are fine)

typically a robber will have them put the speaker phone on.... so we and they can be assured if in progress the robber has no clue

(I didnt use the actual code but gives you an idea)

 

[MMiz]

The service I work for had an unnoficial service-wide code word that we used when transporting psychs.

For combative patients a tech would yell the word, driver would light it up, slam on the brakes, radio in our location for dispatch/PD, and help out in back.

The idea was that it would throw the patient off balance allowing the person teching to gain the upper hand. Usually we'd place a possibly combative patient on the bench seat, and we'd sit in the jump seat.

I never had to use it.

Besides that some partners and I would simply nod for certain things. A nod when the person on the side of the stretcher unlatched the safety hook from the ambulance (when unloading). I'm sure there are more, but after a while you don't even notice them.

 

[Jon]

We're not too secret about what we do. I think our most subtle signal is a head shake towards the hall so we can talk about something while not in front of our patient or when we are trying to get the LEOs to get out of our way. We're pretty blunt with one another and with our patients, but then again, most of our patients are highly intoxicated, so they don't understand subtleties. I guess it's the nature of how the squad runs and the area in which we run, also we have everything with us at all times, so we usually grab what we need or have someone toss it to us.

So I'm not the only person who works with such a population??? Yay!


As for Code-Words... at work, we have a similar system as CelticTigress said... we have silent panic alarms at each lobby desk, and the policy is to call the lobby officer and pull it up on camera... we will try to get as much out in yes/no questions as we can. We also have an "oh crap" panic phrase where the lobby officer tells the caller that they have a wrong number...

As for the hand signals, or other stuff... the "whirly-bird" gesture is sometimes used by me and others. We don't have a specfic "code-word" or anything... we should. I had a partner that I worked with doing transports for about 6 months... we could complete each other's thoughts and always played off of each other... we loved working together because we just "worked" with each other - everything was easier.