Stupid things you did on your first few calls

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vienessewaltzer

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Well, I've run three calls so far as a second medic, one of which got cancelled. So, technically I've physically run two calls. The first call wasn't bad, I was just the "go get this"/"go get that" guy. The second call, I was actually asked to perform various tasks which I feel I struggled through. Looking back, it's kind of hilarious how everything just piled up on me. First, I couldn't get a BP on this PT for the life of me (but neither could the first medic so I didn't feel too awful). We then were attempting to backboard the pt and I was asked to secure the PT with straps to said backboard. Well, I screwed that up by putting a strap on her knees (doh!). Then once we got to the hospital and were going to put the PT on the bed, I brought the gurney in the room the wrong way. Looking back this stuff makes me laugh, and it will most likely help me in the future to not run into such silly flukes. I can't help but thinking that the trainer I had on that call is back with his first medic buddies having a good laugh at my blunders. I hope I'm not the only one, so what were some of your flukes/screw ups on your first calls?
 
Welcome to life, we've all been there. Hopefully you continue to take each call as a learning experience.

Things I've messed up the first time around (and maybe the fifth)
1. Not disconnecting the O2 from the main when taking a patient out of the rig.
2. The stair chair.
3. Forgetting an O2 wrench and needing to start a new tank.
4. Leaving stuff behind. O2, pager, prep, etc.
5. Grabbing the wrong mic (we had three) and yelling into it "MOVE TO THE RIGHT" on my first RLS call. Turns out I grabbed the dispatch microphone, not the one for the PA, and he couldn't move any further right.
6. Writing patient vitals on gloves.
7. Getting lost... many times. Finding my way quickly... most times.
8. Not asking for help soon enough.
9. Suctioning a trach.
10. Getting disposable backboard straps wet with mud. They stuck to everything but what they needed to stick to.

I got better every time, and you will too. Good luck!
 
MMiz said:
5. Grabbing the wrong mic (we had three) and yelling into it "MOVE TO THE RIGHT" on my first RLS call. Turns out I grabbed the dispatch microphone, not the one for the PA, and he couldn't move any further right.
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Nice!!!

In one of my ED clinicals we had an unconsc. kid - ETOH OD. There were several people in the room doing a number of things. I was getting a NRB ready, inflating the bag when I got distracted. It popped and was so loud everyone jumped... the patient even jerked a bit.
 
I still leave the O2 tubing on the truck supply at times, thankfully my partner notices. Really, 9 times out of 10, if I have a patient on O2, I'm busy doing other things as well ;)

And never say "Oh" when doing something near a patient, they freak out, even if it was totally harmless.



Also, anytime you THINK you checked every little thing on the rig, and ended up missing something you needed on a 911 call. You don't ever miss it again, and you go back to using the physical checklist.
 
clibb said:
I've seen a lot of medics do that. Our instructor even told us to do it.
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Lots of medics I know do it, and it works great for them. Me, I write down all of the important information, and then toss my gloves. I learned to just take a second or two to record the information on the run sheet, even if I have to do it on a scrap piece of paper on the clipboard.
 
Notes on the gloves is nasty. Try a piece of tape on the pantleg or shirtsleeve, works pretty well for me.

Asking questions that are too open ended get me. "What's your history like?" "Well, my grandparents migrated here from..."
 
Jeez, probably too many list.

However, the most embarrassing thing I think I've ever done was when I was a paramedic intern. I had a patient hooked up to the monitor, and the monitor's batteries were low so I also had it plugged into the RA's inverter to charge it. Well, when we went to take the gurney out of the back I failed to unplug the monitor; and, when the tension on the charger cable inevitably exceeded the electrode's ability to stick to the patient's skin they all ripped off and our unit's Lifepak 12 plummeted back to the earth. Luckily, it just crashed into the tailboard making a deafening sound before ricocheting off the tailboard and coming to a gentle (actually, it seemed like the tailboard did nothing at all to break its fall) rest on the concrete ground of the ambulance bay.

I'll tell you what though, those Lifepak's are tough. My preceptor (bewildered that this just happened) picked it up and there wasn't a scratch on it. It didn't even shut off - I had expected its internal machinery to resemble a bucket of bolts and metal shards after the thrashing it just received.

Anyway, I received a bit of a talking to after that little episode.
 
On my ride alongs as an EMT student, I did two stupid things I regret. The first one was I was asked to take a blood pressure several time on the same patient while we were transporting and I kept taking on and off the sphygmomanometer, which I eventually figured out that was redundant thankfully before my third patient contact, and even beneficial to keep it on. My third patient contact was a heroin OD who was combative. He wouldn't sit still even though he was already restrained and strapped down to the gurney. Kept trying to get a blood pressure, but he kept jerking around when I tried. I left the cuff on him, and even though it wasn't me, when he finally stopped for just a few seconds, my instructor who was also my teacher quickly swooped in to get a blood pressure.

On that same patient though I made another mistake although I would like to blame it on someone else even though in the end it is my fault for listening. On my first two patient contact we did everything in the ambulance. We'd pretty much arrive, load the patient in the ambulance, and start assessing in the back of the ambulance. So after the second patient contact I asked the EMT FTO (we always had at least four people in the ambulance at a time, haha, an EMT (who was the one being supervised since the company required that all EMTs get 911 experience on an ALS rig occasionally), an FTO for the EMT, a paramedic, and me so essentially we were a clown car) if it was even worth bringing my stethoscope on scene/outside of the ambulance since we kept putting the patient in the back of the ambulance anyways. That wasn't communicated to the paramedic/my teacher so when we arrived on scene for the third patient, she immediately asked me to take a blood pressure. Damn I felt like an idiot. I said "I left my stethoscope in the back of the ambulance. What should I do? Get it?" She was like "Nah, borrow it from one of the firefighters" so that's what I did. She's my teacher so now she always jokes about it with me "Andrew learned his lesson to not leave his stethoscope in the ambulance" in class.
 
Spiked an IV bag on a ride along and didn't close the regulator so when the medic grabbed the end to attach to the catheter, it sprayed on the patient, medic, and the floor.
 
God..I've done heaps of stupid s**t. Mostly through fatigue, but also newbie-ness.

Put a nasal cannula on backwards and for some reason it just didn't click when I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't stick...I was paralytically tired that day :blush:

Very nearly cut through the defib cords at an arrest. Almost had a bloody stroke when I saw.

I've put the blood pressure cuff on backwards...about 12 times. In a hurry, nervous, tired. Not the end of the world, but its embarrassing as hell because the supervising medics instantly think you're the world's biggest idiot.

Our stretchers when being unloaded require a second person to make sure the legs click into place...a fact I was unaware off when first unloading a patient....my wheels did not click into place.

Put the monitor dots on backwards on a very attractive patient. I was so worried about making sure she didn't think I was having a perve, that I put my dots on arse-up.

Probably heaps of other stuff. Don't worry about it mate. As long as you learn from your mistakes, you'll be right.
 
Aprz said:
On my ride alongs as an EMT student, I did two stupid things I regret. The first one was I was asked to take a blood pressure several time on the same patient while we were transporting and I kept taking on and off the sphygmomanometer, which I eventually figured out that was redundant thankfully before my third patient contact, and even beneficial to keep it on.

ive done this before too on my ride alongs. Also it took me three or four tries to get a pts blood pressure because the driver thought it would be funny to take a detour down a cobblestone street (historic part of the city i work in). He told the pt before hand and the pt agreed it would be funny, she was one of their frequent fliers. I was quite embarrassed but thought it was still funny.
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I remembered another episode of stupidity from my past.

As an EMT I was in the back of the ambulance with the medic and a rather hypotensive patient who was receiving IV fluids. As the time to change out the IV bag neared, I grabbed a new bag and, while the old one was still hanging from the hook on the ceiling I foolishly pulled the tubing out of it causing the remaining fluid to spill out everywhere. Most got on me, but the patient received plenty of it, and it was bumpy enough in the back to even spray the medic who was sitting directly across me on the bench seat. So yeah, that was pretty stupid.

A friend of mine also told me one of his stories. Apparently they got called to a cardiac arrest at a nursing home, and when they went to draw-sheet the patient to the floor from the bed he noticed that there was a large tear in the sheet the patient was on. After fruitlessly trying to warn the engine crew that there was a tear in the sheet, they went ahead with the draw-sheet anyway....well, I think you can see where this is going....the tear got a whole lot bigger and the patient fell through it and onto the floor. Problem solved I guess.
 
vienessewaltzer said:
Well, I've run three calls so far as a second medic, one of which got cancelled. So, technically I've physically run two calls. The first call wasn't bad, I was just the "go get this"/"go get that" guy. The second call, I was actually asked to perform various tasks which I feel I struggled through. Looking back, it's kind of hilarious how everything just piled up on me. First, I couldn't get a BP on this PT for the life of me (but neither could the first medic so I didn't feel too awful). We then were attempting to backboard the pt and I was asked to secure the PT with straps to said backboard. Well, I screwed that up by putting a strap on her knees (doh!). Then once we got to the hospital and were going to put the PT on the bed, I brought the gurney in the room the wrong way. Looking back this stuff makes me laugh, and it will most likely help me in the future to not run into such silly flukes. I can't help but thinking that the trainer I had on that call is back with his first medic buddies having a good laugh at my blunders. I hope I'm not the only one, so what were some of your flukes/screw ups on your first calls?
Click to expand...

As Miz said, welcome to life. Dude, I've been doing EMS for 15 years, caring for critically ill/injured for going on 20. I've forgotten more of my past dumb stunts than you could possibly pull in your lifetime. And the thing is I'm not done yet. Stories of me are legendary.

1. Gone on calls and forgot my kit.
2. Gone on calls and forgot my stretcher
3. Helped deliver a baby and thinking I was forgetting something. I did. Forgot to cut the cord. Thank God APGAR never dropped below 9.
4. 9 yo female hypoglycemic radioed PMH of gestational diabetes, not juvenile diabetes.
5. Transported a pregnant rollover MVC after pronouncing her husband dead on scene. Forgot to leave a sheet over him with his head still hanging out of car.


These are just a few. I'll leave the rest out of this picture.
 
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Foot in mouth

This was about my second or third ride in EMT school and we had a stable pt who was talking with us. She was complaining about the bad economy, and how she lost her job, and this, that, and the other thing. So then I turned to this pt that was lying on a stretcher en route to the ER and said, "At least you have your health." It funny now, but wow did I feel stupid at the time.
 
BP cuff on backwards... It'll get ya every time
 
i did the bp cuff backwards a few times i was really embarrassed<_< i got it like once out of 3 patients the first try lol
 
1. saying "umm" "uhhh" way too many times on the line with cmed
2. Pushing the stretcher sideways on grass/uneven pavement loaded with a pt. thankfully my partner SLAMMED home to me that this was frowned upon. :)
3. Saying i knew where someplace was where i had absolutely no clue because i was afraid to say i didnt know.
4. Like someone else said...NC on backwards...and on like 10 LPM. Brainfreeeeeze
5. Leaving portable O2 attached the whole length of call...and never replacing it for the next one!

Since i've been out of EMS for about a year and just coming back in, its been interesting working with newbies...i'm learning a new area with (slightly) different protocols and i get to work with some brand new guys and i love it. The biggest complaint I have is they hate asking for help. When you dont know know where you're going or what your doing ask us!!! :)
 
most memorable for me is we went to fuel up our rig and one of the other trucks pulled up to talk to us and when they was leaving i went to honk at them and i had no idea the sirens were hooked up to the steering wheel horn and everything started going off.. scared the :censored::censored::censored::censored: out of the people around us lol..
 
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