What was your First Run

iu2baiw

Forum Ride Along
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When you first started working as a EMT/EMS/Paramedic what was your first thoughts of the whole day?
 

MrBrown

Forum Deputy Chief
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20 minutes sleep in 14 hours is not a good thing
 

EMSLaw

Legal Beagle
1,004
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38
20 minutes sleep in 14 hours is not a good thing

Followed closely by, "This would be a lot more fun in an orange jumpsuit!" ;)

My first call, we made it 100 yards out of the bay before there was an MVC in front of us. Wound up dealing with that while another rig went to our call.
 

MrBrown

Forum Deputy Chief
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Followed closely by, "This would be a lot more fun in an orange jumpsuit!" ;)

Nah I hadnt realised the awesomeness of rocking up in a helicopter wearing an orange jumpsuit with "DOCTOR" written on it at that stage :D
 

Porkchop

Forum Crew Member
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I'm still an unemployed EMT, but I can tell you how I felt when I did my first ride-along (on a busy Medic unit in downtown San Diego, no less)

At first: What did I get myself into?

By the end: This is where I belong.
 

lightsandsirens5

Forum Deputy Chief
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Ha ha ha! Love the 20 minutes of sleep thing. I think we got about 30 in 12 hours my first shift.

My very first call-out was a CPR and I remember walking in the door behind the medic and the EMT and seeing this lady on the floor with shopping bags full of stuff still next to her on the floor and her shirt and bra cut off. Fire was on scene and was already doing CPR, pushing drugs and then shocked as we walked in the door.

My first thought was, "Wow, when the teacher said to get the clothes off, he ment it."

There is nothing like the intense feeling that hits you when your first page comes through. A mix of excitment, dread, anticipataion and downright terror. (I think. Something along those lines.) Coupled with your entire class running through your head in about 7 seconds and your instructors voice re-telling those "true" horror stories of people who get hauled into court over stupid stuff. :p
 

Sandog

Forum Asst. Chief
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I'm still an unemployed EMT, but I can tell you how I felt when I did my first ride-along (on a busy Medic unit in downtown San Diego, no less)

At first: What did I get myself into?

By the end: This is where I belong.

Was it off the I 94 East SD, like around 28th st? Scary
 
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clibb

Forum Captain
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My first call on an engine was for MVC, everyone was alright, so no big deal. Second call was for a Diabetic patient who was in shock. Blood sugar was 13 when we arrived, got him up to 126 and he inhaled right after getting the D50 which was awesome to see.
First call on a bus was for a patient with MS. Which was hard to see since my aunt has it. This lady was in the very late stages of MS and I felt really sorry for her since she was unable to really function at that time since her symptoms were so bad. But at the same time it gave me the best feeling I've ever had knowing that we were helping her.
 

8jimi8

CFRN
1,792
9
38
first day of experience was 6 hours of triage at the hospital, followed by wow'ing the SH*T of out an ER nurse (because i was a 3rd semester nursing student, taking an EMT-B class-- my partner said that he didn't want to rotate behind me because I set the bar too high) followed by A hep c+, cirrhosis/ esophageal varice/ vomiting 2 liters of BRB. I held crich pressure while the ED doc intubated, and then got mistaken to be an ER doc after my partner and I followed her up to ICU and continued to help (i mostly suctioned BRB while another doc scoped and sclerosed her) But i guess they thought I was a doc because I reported that she was a left mainstem as soon as we got into the ICU and i listened to her breath sounds... Was pretty intense to see 6 ICU nurses go white when the found out i was a student... " You mean... we've been without a doctor this whole time???!!" my partner lied, " sorry, we're just paramedic students." (this is after the GI doc asked him his opinion on whether we should back the ETT out a few cms)

2nd day was 6 hours of triage followed by working a CPR in progress.... 6'3" 56 yoM with a King, res-q-pod and his swollen tongue hanging out of his mouth. He died.


3rd day was 24 hour taxi ride with nothing but bullsh*t calls where we did nothing, except for a couple of transports where no interventions other than assessment were required. I did get to hear stridor in a pedi tho. Oh and we transported a lady who fx her sternum on her steering wheel, but she was a non-emergent transport.

but i've yet to be paid for any EMS work. That'll prob be after i finish my EMT-I. I've got an un-accepted open invitation to apply down at Goliad EMS, but won't because I can't entertain the idea of working as a bls provider.

sorry i actually DO have an ego...
 

8jimi8

CFRN
1,792
9
38
20 minutes sleep in 14 hours is not a good thing

how often do you have to nap, Brother Brown? I frequently push 20 hour days back to back (not that i'm proud of it, just have never been that much of a sleeper)
 

mcdonl

Forum Captain
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Mine was pretty recent :)

Ok, first call was an MVA... Friday night, the ink had not even dried on my license!! I of course was not alone. It was PERFECT! A multi system trauma, but a stable and alert patient. It was great because I was able to do a true trauma assessment, vitals, etc... but not have the stress of a serious ABC issue.

Within 12 Hours I had a call for a massive MI... again, patient was stable until medic's arrived and I was able to do all that I had learned. Nothing else of significance on my weekend shift as a volley but it was good to be helpful and to provide help to the medic's when they were on scene.

I love this "job" that I don't get paid for.
 

skippy54

Forum Probie
27
1
0
My first call was a nosebleed. I remember the page quite well. It was an "alpha response" (dispatch code around here for sorry about the bogus call), but when we got there the blood was all over the place and shotgun shooting out of her nose. No joke, shot from her nose on one end of the room and nailed the wall on the other side. Checked vitals and her BP was 210/150.

We pinched her nose the whole way in but it just blasted back in to her throat, so she was spitting it out all over the cot/wall/floor of the ambulance. Basically anywhere but the bag we gave her to spit it in!

That BP never did come down. We never got an update from the hospital on what it was all about because we didn't ask for one, but it would've been very interesting to find out what was pushing her BP so high. It was funny listening to the crew grumble about the call, and then the collective "oh ****" look on our faces when we saw the first blast out of her nose.

All together a fun call.
 

clibb

Forum Captain
366
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0
first day of experience was 6 hours of triage at the hospital, followed by wow'ing the SH*T of out an ER nurse (because i was a 3rd semester nursing student, taking an EMT-B class-- my partner said that he didn't want to rotate behind me because I set the bar too high) followed by A hep c+, cirrhosis/ esophageal varice/ vomiting 2 liters of BRB. I held crich pressure while the ED doc intubated, and then got mistaken to be an ER doc after my partner and I followed her up to ICU and continued to help (i mostly suctioned BRB while another doc scoped and sclerosed her) But i guess they thought I was a doc because I reported that she was a left mainstem as soon as we got into the ICU and i listened to her breath sounds... Was pretty intense to see 6 ICU nurses go white when the found out i was a student... " You mean... we've been without a doctor this whole time???!!" my partner lied, " sorry, we're just paramedic students." (this is after the GI doc asked him his opinion on whether we should back the ETT out a few cms)

2nd day was 6 hours of triage followed by working a CPR in progress.... 6'3" 56 yoM with a King, res-q-pod and his swollen tongue hanging out of his mouth. He died.


3rd day was 24 hour taxi ride with nothing but bullsh*t calls where we did nothing, except for a couple of transports where no interventions other than assessment were required. I did get to hear stridor in a pedi tho. Oh and we transported a lady who fx her sternum on her steering wheel, but she was a non-emergent transport.

but i've yet to be paid for any EMS work. That'll prob be after i finish my EMT-I. I've got an un-accepted open invitation to apply down at Goliad EMS, but won't because I can't entertain the idea of working as a bls provider.

sorry i actually DO have an ego...


You said you're Paramedic students when you were an EMT-B follow around? :p
 

mycrofft

Still crazy but elsewhere
11,322
48
48
Really?

I had my first thought that morning, and I had my last thought that evening about the whole day.

My first "code 3" run I sped up as I was ordered to do, then spun out on the ice. Fisrt thnoght" Oh, boy!". Last thought...unprintable about my screwy crewchief, who went on to criticize me for goling too fast.
 

8jimi8

CFRN
1,792
9
38
You said you're Paramedic students when you were an EMT-B follow around? :p

Well, i lied by omission not further correcting my partners statement...

it went something like this.

The charge nurse walked in and I was at the HOB in full PPE, plastic gown double gloved, full mask with face shield (the woman was Hep C+ and vomiting BRB) We had pushed 6 units of Oneg with the pressure infuser and 3L of 0.9%NS into her. i had suctioned a full 3L of blood from her oropharynx.

She looks at the bloodbath and recognized everyone except my partner and myself and asks, "Who are these people?" One of the nurses says, " They are ER docs."

We looked at each other and then looked back at the crowd around the bed and my partner says, "...Uh we're paramedic students..."

Then the nurse corrects herself and says, " Oh Ok, He's a student," then points at me and says, " He's an ER doc." at that point i said, "Sorry, Ma'am, I'm a student as well..."

That's when the jaws dropped and they all went into psychogenic shock... They didn't kick us out, but the certainly stopped asking us questions... lol, was still an awesome day Hah!
 

alphatrauma

Forum Captain
311
8
18
What was your first run?

Starbucks: venti Guatemalan
 

8jimi8

CFRN
1,792
9
38
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