So much blood...

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chet

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Hi!!

I plan on working as an EMT-B, once I pass my exams and hopefully get hired. My question today is, have you ever gone on a call where there was so much blood and or chaos you thought you would just run away right there and then? I read the local paper and there was an incident where a guy bashed in his ex girlfriends and her new boyfriends head with a bat, in the news story,law enforcement commented on the large amounts of blood. This happened in the city I did third ride time, those EMTS are kick *** and so cool headed (at least the ones I rode with, and we didn't have gore and blood that day) I was out walking the other night and an old lady was cutting her hedges with an electric hedge trimmer, I imagined her cutting off her arm (I know a hedge trimmer can't do that just imagining) and I tried to picture it, you know if I had to administer care. I don't think the blood would get me as much as the screaming and crying from her and the relatives. When you are called to a serious injury does law enforcement always show up? Do they control the bystanders? And has anyone ever felt the urge to just get the hell outta the scene?? Thanks for reading this!
 
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DesertMedic66

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I've had a couple of calls with serious amounts of blood (arterial bleeds). I have never once had the feeling that I wanted or needed to run away. We got off scene quickly because the patient needed blood products and not saline to survive.

You have to control the scene. It needed to be in a sort of controlled chaos if you will.

It depends on your area if PD will automatically respond or not. For my area they do not always respond. We can call them if needed to help control the scene.
 
RocketMedic

RocketMedic

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Google Khorne for my attitude towards gore.
 
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chet

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Oh I don't play video games (does Ms. Pac Man count?) maybe I should start...

You guys kill me, and I am so glad I have the opportunity to ask you these questions. Thanks!!!!
 
Craig Alan Evans

Craig Alan Evans

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I've been on some pretty gory and creepy scenes and not once did I ever consider running. My only thoughts were what needed to be done next. Just take every call one step at a time and you will be fine. Another thing to consider is maybe this isn't the line of work for you which is nothing to be ashamed of. My father was a Marine and served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. When my mom got a nose bleed he would practically feint. I asked him how he could ever be a Marine in three wars if he got so queasy. He said he never stopped and looked at any of that. He was a great Marine, and a wonderful father, he wouldn't have made it a week as an EMT.
 
Akulahawk

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I have never felt like I had to leave a scene purely because of the blood/gore that was present. I have wanted to leave quickly because the patient needed blood... and a surgeon. I prefer a bit of chaos myself... and can control it to enough of a degree that I can work with it. Part of our job really is bringing some control to chaos.

Frankly, I've felt more uneasy working traffic collisions than crime scenes.
 
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chet

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Thanks to all who replied, I truly appreciate it! As I stated in my post, the blood and gore wouldn't bug me as much as the emotions from the pt and bystanders. I have already decided I will be like Johnny Gage and say, ok settle down now just settle down. I am sure there have been countless people who attempted a career in EMS who failed. I think some seasoned EMS workers would eat people like me up, therefore I am reconsidering this decision. BUT I made it through my training (you are probably thinking big deal, but it was for me) and now I can continue in another direction in the health care field. Some of the stinkin comments I have read on this site have helped me a lot. PEACE!
 
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Mariemt

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roxy said:
Thanks to all who replied, I truly appreciate it! As I stated in my post, the blood and gore wouldn't bug me as much as the emotions from the pt and bystanders. I have already decided I will be like Johnny Gage and say, ok settle down now just settle down. I am sure there have been countless people who attempted a career in EMS who failed. I think some seasoned EMS workers would eat people like me up, therefore I am reconsidering this decision. BUT I made it through my training (you are probably thinking big deal, but it was for me) and now I can continue in another direction in the health care field. Some of the stinkin comments I have read on this site have helped me a lot. PEACE!
Click to expand...
I think what helped me a lot was being a mother before ems, poop, blood, puke etc.
 
Akulahawk

Akulahawk

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Yeah, parenthood prior to going into healthcare is good training for exposure to blood, poop, puke, people screaming at the top of their lungs because they stubbed their toe... Yep. Great training!
 
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jefftherealmccoy

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We just had a plane crash call, 2 dead, 1 survivor. Coolest call I've ever been on. One of our medic units had a medic student with them. The girl was traumatized. She broke down sobbing after the call, went home early, may quit her program.
This is how you know you're cut out for this or not. Do you have the attitude of, "that was the coolest thing ever." Or do you get stuck on the fact that this was a very traumatic scene. When you think about it, it was very sad. Two people died, one (a 12 year old btw) seriously injured. Do you have the ability to look past all the blood, see what needs to be done and do it? If not, a new career path would be worth exploring.
 
MySandie

MySandie

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I almost passed-out while watching an endoscopy

roxy said:
Hi!!
... And has anyone ever felt the urge to just get the hell outta the scene?? Thanks for reading this!
Click to expand...

Hope you all don't mind a non-EMT posting here, since I'm trained to be an RN...but during my 2nd semester of nursing school, I watched an endoscopy done by an MD who was about 30 minutes late arriving to do the procedure. By that time, the patient was already "coming out of" the light sedation that had been administered at the correct time.

The patient kept gagging, and pulling at the tubing, etc. They decided to use restraints instead of administering more meds.

I felt so bad for the patient, and angry at the MD. He just didn't want to "do the right thing" by stopping...only because, IMHO, it would have just added to his degree of being tardy for subsequent procedures.

So, yeah...I wanted to just get the hell outta scene!
 
Akulahawk

Akulahawk

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jefftherealmccoy said:
We just had a plane crash call, 2 dead, 1 survivor. Coolest call I've ever been on. One of our medic units had a medic student with them. The girl was traumatized. She broke down sobbing after the call, went home early, may quit her program.
This is how you know you're cut out for this or not. Do you have the attitude of, "that was the coolest thing ever." Or do you get stuck on the fact that this was a very traumatic scene. When you think about it, it was very sad. Two people died, one (a 12 year old btw) seriously injured. Do you have the ability to look past all the blood, see what needs to be done and do it? If not, a new career path would be worth exploring.
Click to expand...
You don't necessarily have to have an attitude of "that was the coolest thing ever" but you do have to have the ability to look beyond the obviously scary looking stuff and just cultivate the ability to "just get it done" and do your thinking about it later. I guess in a way it's kind of like the old Nike saying of "Just do it" or Larry the Cable Guy: "getter done!"

One of the things that really does make us different is that where the ones that have a personality type that makes us go toward problems instead of waiting for a problem to be brought to us or trying to avoid a problem altogether.

Where the kind of people that tend to look at something and go "wow that was totally messed up" or "man that really sucks" and continue having lunch afterward. I guess it is not so much that we are kind of sick and depraved people, it's that we are just more desensitized to some of the stuff that happens to other people.

Here is kind of a personal story about that. Quite a number of years ago, my partner and I were returning from a long-distance transport and we ended up seeing a very freshly dead deer on the road. Or, more correctly, the front half of the deer in the road. Pretty much our first thought was something along the lines of "man, that really sucks for the deer, now where's the other half…" About 100 yards later we saw the other half "...there it is," and then we saw the car that hit the deer. Amazingly enough, the car did not seem to have much damage at all, and clearly no one was injured. It probably wasn't so much that we didn't feel bad for the deer, it was that we had already triaged the deer as non-salvageable so we just went on, because there were potentially others that might have needed us more.
 
VFlutter

VFlutter

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"When I go home people'll ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? What, you some kinda war junkie?" You know what I'll say? I won't say a goddamn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it."

That "This is the coolest thing ever" attitude will fade with time.

I used to be all Gung-ho and jump right in with the blood and guts. Now I nonchalantly put my shoe covers on and hope the family calls the code before I torture the poor patient too much
 
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Mariemt

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jefftherealmccoy said:
We just had a plane crash call, 2 dead, 1 survivor. Coolest call I've ever been on. One of our medic units had a medic student with them. The girl was traumatized. She broke down sobbing after the call, went home early, may quit her program.
This is how you know you're cut out for this or not. Do you have the attitude of, "that was the coolest thing ever." Or do you get stuck on the fact that this was a very traumatic scene. When you think about it, it was very sad. Two people died, one (a 12 year old btw) seriously injured. Do you have the ability to look past all the blood, see what needs to be done and do it? If not, a new career path would be worth exploring.
Click to expand...
It took me about a week to be OK after my first death. I remember breaking down in class trying to put in an advanced airway. I remember crying in my sleep etc. The second death was a little easier than my first etc. I still "feel " the deaths. But it doesn't affect me like the first few did. Hopefully the student will come back. My director saw the need to step in and get me help.
I didn't want to admit I needed help. I didn't want anyone to think I wasn't cut out for this. But learning emotiom was normal etc got me back in the saddle.
 
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hogdweeb

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Heat of the moment with your adrenaline, you will not noticed things such as the the bystanders or the excessive blood and gore. After the fact, probably when youre looking back on things.
 
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