senior medics your advise is needed

[RocketMedic]

I have been forced to go on a call before the rig is checked also. Even for BLS Its not good practice and if your suctions not working, or the AED is missing patches, ect ect that silly little BLS call could go south, before you know it your sitting before a judge and jury.

I have done it when I was younger, but I would really put my foot down now. If the boss is going to be like that I suppose the way to avoid conflict would be to show up a little early and check your rig off the clock if your willing.(note this may not work if its a roving system status management) Or could simply put your foot down and say your not leaving until you check the rig.

I have arrived with a broken portable suction because of a sloppy rig check before and it became a very serious matter.

Been there, done that. Never again. I am a bit of a whacker in that I preload my cot with nearly everything I could conceivably need (suction, vent, monitor, airway and medical bags) and hump it all in, on pretty much every call that's not a prepared load-and-go or MVC. I come in early, check it all out, and have it all clean and serviceable before we roll out.

 

[usalsfyre]

Idiotic on the company's part? Sure. Illegal? Depends but it may not be something for you to worry about. (In Texas if you get spot checked the company gets the violation for missing equipment, not the medic)

Medics working a BLS spot is not a huge deal.

12 lead is not required, there's one large, national ambulance company that's still using LP10s at their Dallas operation.

Remember making sure the basics are there and work(O2, AED pads, BVM, some O2 delivery stuff, suction) does NOT take long. Do the full truck check as you get a chance.

 

[Tigger]

I still don't understand how it's even poor practice?

They're filling a hole in the schedule to transport a patient, either scheduled or unscheduled. Whether it's medically necessary is an entirely different debate, but I don't understand how it could be argued that it's poor practice. Would it be better to leave that patient where they're at if they truly do need an ER or would it be better to utilize the resources available to get them transported? Personally I would think the latter would be better practice, but that's just my opinion and those are like :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:s, everyone has one and they all stink

Sure, the medic isn't being allowed to act or treat the patient to their full potential, but how is putting a provider with more education on a call that is BLS poor practice? If the call turns ALS and you have to call 911 or for an ALS intercept from your company how is it any different than how it would have gone down had that been the regularly scheduled EMT on the truck rather than the medic that got placed on a BLS truck?

If you show up for your shift as a medic and they say, "nah, just grab a quick BLS transfer," then they're just wasting the medic. That medic can make the company a lot more money, or actually be of use to the rest of the company when they need ALS.

I would rather see companies using P/B trucks (if allowed), then just putting the medic on a BLS ambulance. We don't do it where I work, and it sucks to have no ALS available even though there are medics working in the system, just without equipment.

 

[Veneficus]

That being said, it left you in quite the legal predicament. Had that patient's family decided to sue, a defense of "well, we weren't ready" probably won't fly, especially with expert witnesses preaching the thoughts of the times that your 6th round of epi or atropine or an ET tube would have definately saved Grandma's life and allowed her to spend another thirty years knitting and rocking grandkids to sleep. Your agency would have been panned in court, and you would probably have been unemployed soon after.

As I said, it was a stressful day.

To the credit of the company, I honestly don't think given the circumstances they would have tried to take the action out on us as individual providers. There are some reputable agencies here and there.