When to cut away a patient's clothes?

"Me fix broken things." Yeah man, EMTs are just like ED docs. Don't let the rest of these ignoramuses stample your truth ;)
 
George 31 said:
It's funny how your instructor tells you in school that you need to follow the national Registry federal mandates to a T and then things like this get questioned. This issue really isn't even up for discussion. You undress the patients completely and follow your DCCAPBTLS sequence with bilateral palpations in a rapid focused and detailed physical examination. It's amazing how these states feel that they can come up with laws that supposedly supersede federal mandates of the national Registry. The algorithms don't change from patient to patient or call to Call. There's a reason you have to go to school to be an EMT. We all went there and we know that 99% of all sexual abuse cases against an EMT are frivolous. 99 times out of 100 we don't have a doctor on board so much of our training is similar to what a physician learns.
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You must be new to EMS :)

Take the majority of what you learned in EMT school and toss it in the trash. If you see a provider following NREMT skill sheets to the T odds are they are a brand new EMT or Medic.
 
Especially if they walk in with their hands above their head saying "BSI! The scene is safe!"
 
if you are cutting the patients clothes off, they have more pressing matters to worry about than their clothes. dislocations, fractures, major trauma, cardiac arrests or if for w/e reason my ALS needs access to the patients chest yesterday. otherwise, do your best to take their clothes off without cutting.
 
Yet for some reason EMS has a fetish about using shears on trauma patients. If the patient can take off the clothing, odds are it's not going to effect their care.
 
Tigger said:
Yet for some reason EMS has a fetish about using shears on trauma patients. If the patient can take off the clothing, odds are it's not going to effect their care.
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Not just EMS. Some of the hospitals around my area are obsessed with cutting patients cloths off. During my clinical hours we had a 46 y/o male who was having a STEMI. I asked the patient to take his shirt off. He was in the process of taking it off without any issue when a couple of nurses came over and cut his shirt off.
 
George 31 said:
It's funny how your instructor tells you in school that you need to follow the national Registry federal mandates to a T and then things like this get questioned. This issue really isn't even up for discussion. You undress the patients completely and follow your DCCAPBTLS sequence with bilateral palpations in a rapid focused and detailed physical examination. It's amazing how these states feel that they can come up with laws that supposedly supersede federal mandates of the national Registry. The algorithms don't change from patient to patient or call to Call. There's a reason you have to go to school to be an EMT. We all went there and we know that 99% of all sexual abuse cases against an EMT are frivolous. 99 times out of 100 we don't have a doctor on board so much of our training is similar to what a physician learns.
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Being pretty new as well, I tend to agree with you. I just wanted to point out that sadly, we don't have a federal standard. The US DOT NHTSA sets guidelines but the states have to use them (or not) to set up their own EMS systems. The National Registry is a third party organization that facilitates proving that you have a certain amount of knowledge. They also set standards, but it is up to the states to adopt (or not). (So I understand).
 
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