Sasha
Forum Chief
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Emtgirl21,
I work for a fully funded government run service. My qualifications are between your EMT-I & EMT-P. We do not have private transport companies. WE R NOT PART OF A FIRE BRIGADE!!!!!!!
Now that is out of the way. If you have read my posts, i agree that there are many transfers that are done that are not requiring ambulance resources. What I am challenging here is the notion that
1. as was staed earlier, all psych patients are drug addicts,
2. Even though they may have no physical injuries, a psych patient is indeed a medical emergency because they have an illness of the mind, &
3. That the attitudes that we, as so called prfessional are bordering on the ignorant by believing otherwise.
I have been assaulted by a psych pt in the past, so don't preach to me about that crap. EMS covers a vast array of illnesses, I am sick to death of hearing most people brag about the trauma the do, the cardiac, the off beat jobs, well psych is as off beat as they get, but no one wants to brag about them.
The attitude in the broader communities will never change if the attitudes within the medical community doesnt change. Mental Illness, according to the World Health Organisation will be, by 2020, second only to trauma as a killer. Like it or not, we will be dealing with it more & more over the next few years.
The challenge is to treat psych pateints with the dignity & respect they DESERVE. Sedation is an option, but should always be a final option.
Emtgirl21, try reading all of my posts again & this time read them properly, i am challenging everyone who reads this thread to open their minds, not just label all psych patients. Oh, yeah, & when we do a psych transfer it is in excess of 2 hours & the receiving hospital will not accept them sedated.
probably the best post on this thread.