Your experience being a PATIENT of EMS

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eveningsky339

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Hi everyone. I know that most of us work in the EMS field, but I was curious as to your experience being a patient of EMS. I did a search and didn't find a thread on the matter (though I have a habit of being wrong ;) ), so I decided to start one up. I'll relate my experience first:

Only a few months ago, I woke up at about four in the morning and heard my wife crying. Half-asleep, I assumed she had just had a nightmare and drifted away once more. Only minutes later, however, I awoke to her shaking me and telling me to call 911.

My adrenaline immediately picked up as I hopped out of bed, still half asleep and not sure what was happening. I came in and asked her if she really wanted me to, and she looked at me as if I was an idiot, though I suppose I was for asking such a thing at 4:00 am. She said yes, that she fainted in the bathroom and had chest pain, so I called.

I told the 911 operator what was going on, and he said that the ambulance was on its way. Great, the high-school dropout ambulance drivers who know how to take blood pressure and slip nitro under the tongue. I just hoped that they would get to the hospital quickly so the real professionals could take over. Even when I heard the siren and saw the flashing lights, I didn't feel the least bit more comfortable with the situation.

But when the EMTs came in, my stupid and negative generalization was blown out of the water. One was only a basic, the other only an intermediate, but these guys were healthcare professionals. They were sharp, professional, calm, and comforting. Not to be melodramatic, but they instantly brought order to chaos. While one carefully examined the bottles of medication my wife was currently taking, the other assessed her. She had woken up with chest pain-- a ten on the pain scale-- gone to the bathroom, and fainted, hitting her head on the way down.

The EMTs stated that since chest pain and head injury were involved, a visit to the hospital was highly advised. They took my wife into the ambulance, slipped her some nitro, hooked up electrodes, and took an EKG. The EMT taking a look said something along the lines of, "Oh my Lord, that's beautiful!" To this day I suspect that a perfect EKG is porn for EMS :P

At any rate, my wife had simply damaged some muscles in her chest, and she was fine. ...And now, I'm working on a healthcare certificate and my EMT-I. I took about a 50% paycut by giving up nursing, but I wake up every day in-love with my job.
 
Wow, thanks for sharing!

Nice to hear a good story.
I personally have not been an EMS pt, but my wife mother and some friends have, from both volunteer and paid folks. My patients regularly are transported by local FD EMS.
Most of my experience has been good. My worst experience were twice (two different teams) with AMR sending each time a pair of young hotdogs taking nearly an hour for a thirty minute response, being disrespectful to our staff, and basically snatching and splitting. (Each case was theirs because the pt required a laydown transport but was not critical).
 
They had the ability to do an EKG but popped nitro first? So much for catching Prinzmetals angina.



The one time I was in an ambulance as a pt was a few years ago when I was at Marine Corps bootcamp. One morning I woke up sweating and shivering like crazy. A couple if my squadmatea saw, threw their blankets on amd rushed to get a DI, who sent me to sickbay. I get there and they take some blood.

The doctor comes back and says "Were calling an ambulance for you and rushing you to the hospital". Turns out my WBC count was horrendiously high.

Ambulance comes and I get loaded. I had no clue the levels if the providers in the back as this was 2 years before I even thought if EMS. Get to the hospital and get diagnosed with pneumonia. Turns out I had it since the first week of boot(it was now the 6th) and I ended up having it for close to 20 weeks.
 
My experience with EMS happened in Tampa FL. Christmas morning my dad woke up with 8/10 chest pain so mom called 911. We lived like 4 or 5 blocks from the firehouse and within 2 minutes of mom calling there was an engine and an ALS First response rig were there. The fire department guys were great. Two of the guys on the engine were not EMTs and they stayed outside and out of the way. The medic and the guys inside had him hooked up to a moniter and an IV before you could blink. The amb was there within several minutes of the FD and pretty much all they had to do was load and go. Some of the best FD EMS I've seen. The Amb crew was gret as well and acted very professional. I beleive it was an ALS crew.

Long story short, they took himr to Tampa Genaeral ER and couldnt find a thing wrong. He stayed in the hospital overnight and the next day they ran the stress test on him. The doctor said that he maxed it out and even went over the max and nothing happened. (Dad was still a SEAL at the time.) Anyhow, they finally gave a diagnosis, but I don't remember what it was, something simple though.
 
I don't remember being a pt of EMS, more accurately of HEMS, thanks to being a recipient of a concussion. However, if you look at my pics you'll realize that I had positive results. My avatar was taken after the pics of the halo. My flight crew, who are my partners, along with my surgeons, nurses, and physical therapists are all stellar. They did an outstanding job. I couldn't have asked for better care.
 
The only time I've been a pt was when I was transfered up to St.Louis. It was 5 yrs ago last May, I was 28 wks pregnant and was just dx with PreEclampsia. I was being transfered up to Barnes Jewish/STL Childrens Hospital because our local hospital could not have taken care of a 28wk preemie.

It was an ALS transfer, the medic and I chatted the whole way up...interupted with periodic BP checks...199/89 was the highest (my normal at that time was 117/64 "ish"). I know my OBGYN had given the medic something to put in my IV if I hit 200 systolic, because I remember her threatening me with the shot at that point. I told her I had to pee :blush: so we made a stop so I could go (24 hr urine collection anyone?? fun stuff!). My BP dropped back into the 180's after that.

There was a person doing orientation with them, so 3 people in all, A Parametic, EMT and the person doing orientation. They were all very nice and professional and very good in an otherwise stressful situation for me.

(My, now 5 yr old, daughter was born 2 days later - 28wks, 5 days was 2lbs at birth)
 
Never been a patient, but have on occasion taken steps to ensure that if I should ever be in need of prehospital emergency care that I can not provide on my own, I will get the best my area as to offer. For instance, at a conference I recently attended (in which we would be taking part in physical activites such as high line ropes work, playing with new diving gear, etc...) we had to sign medical paperwork so that the Paramedic Crew working the standby would have medically relevent paperwork. Under the "Other Instructions" section I wrote what I have made clear on numerous occasions, including my Advanced Medical Dirrective:

1. Under no cirrcumstances are ANY Firefighters allowed to "treat me"... Once again, this is not a bash against Firefighters, just my local Firefighters "abilities" (or lack there of) when it comes to EMS. I have seen what they are (in)capable of and would prefer to wait for the Ambo Crew to show or even allow other BLS providing agencies, such as SAR or Ski Patrol, to help me.

2. I WILL NOT be transported to our local hospital. It is the only one in the county and substandard. Literally, people die (incluing people I knew) on a regular basis of conditions that should have been diagnosed (and could have been by a MFR!) and were treatable. Not just my opinion... 90% of the county feels the same way... Transport me the 1.5+ hour to the closest Trauma Center an/or call for an air ship... If it don't require an air ship... I'll drive myself and take my chances...
 
I was transported fairly often as a small kid. Being a little adrenalin junkie with loads of health problems will do that. The care I received varied pretty widely. I had a lot of wonderful crews. And then I had ones that administered medication I'd told them I couldn't have, insisted I was only experiencing hyperventilation syndrome when it was actually an asthma attack that wasn't responding to treatment, and a few other horror stories of the sort. By the time I turned 10, I was terrified of ambulances and hospitals.

In the past decade or so, I've only been transported once. The medic and basic in the back couldn't do much beyond spinal immobilization and starting a line, but I've got no complaints about how they handled everything.
 
Dislocated a patella, got a ride to the ER. Also got some morphine... It turned my veins red... A very interesting reaction to say the least, although I really didn't care at the time :P
 
eveningsky339 said:
Hi everyone. I know that most of us work in the EMS field, but I was curious as to your experience being a patient of EMS. I did a search and didn't find a thread on the matter (though I have a habit of being wrong ;) ), so I decided to start one up. I'll relate my experience first:

Only a few months ago, I woke up at about four in the morning and heard my wife crying. Half-asleep, I assumed she had just had a nightmare and drifted away once more. Only minutes later, however, I awoke to her shaking me and telling me to call 911.

My adrenaline immediately picked up as I hopped out of bed, still half asleep and not sure what was happening. I came in and asked her if she really wanted me to, and she looked at me as if I was an idiot, though I suppose I was for asking such a thing at 4:00 am. She said yes, that she fainted in the bathroom and had chest pain, so I called.

I told the 911 operator what was going on, and he said that the ambulance was on its way. Great, the high-school dropout ambulance drivers who know how to take blood pressure and slip nitro under the tongue. I just hoped that they would get to the hospital quickly so the real professionals could take over. Even when I heard the siren and saw the flashing lights, I didn't feel the least bit more comfortable with the situation.

But when the EMTs came in, my stupid and negative generalization was blown out of the water. One was only a basic, the other only an intermediate, but these guys were healthcare professionals. They were sharp, professional, calm, and comforting. Not to be melodramatic, but they instantly brought order to chaos. While one carefully examined the bottles of medication my wife was currently taking, the other assessed her. She had woken up with chest pain-- a ten on the pain scale-- gone to the bathroom, and fainted, hitting her head on the way down.

The EMTs stated that since chest pain and head injury were involved, a visit to the hospital was highly advised. They took my wife into the ambulance, slipped her some nitro, hooked up electrodes, and took an EKG. The EMT taking a look said something along the lines of, "Oh my Lord, that's beautiful!" To this day I suspect that a perfect EKG is porn for EMS :P

At any rate, my wife had simply damaged some muscles in her chest, and she was fine. ...And now, I'm working on a healthcare certificate and my EMT-I. I took about a 50% paycut by giving up nursing, but I wake up every day in-love with my job.
Click to expand...

I have two experiences. The first was 7 years ago, my brother was in a horrendous crash and ejected out the rear pickup window. The paramedics/EMTs saved his life by intubating him on the scene and getting the helicopter to send him to the nearest trauma hospital. Although he was in a coma for 3 months and has a TBI, had to relearn how to talk, walk, eat, etc--He is alive because of quick thinking and reactions of the EMT/Paramedics.

The second experience was only one year ago. I knew I had a nut allergy, and avoided most nuts (haha I know), but I didn't know the chinese food I had with my two sons (one being autistic) would cause an anaphylactic shock. I was on the highway of all places for this attack to occur. First I couldn't feel my feet, then I was numb up to my chin...I was having trouble breathing and thinking clearly. My 12 year old son called 911 from my cell, the ambulance was there within 5 minutes. They reassured me and my sons and were kind and calmed my fears. My car had to be towed, my autistic son had to be watched by one of the medics so he didn't run off into traffic as he is prone to do. They brought me to the hospital quickly and I had to have two rounds of epiniphrine IV and benadryl for days afterwards. The ER doctor said if it was any longer I could have died.

These are my experiences and I can't wait to be part of this. I know its rough and its going to be grueling at times and the burnout rate is high; but to know that you make a difference is priceless. BTW I just lost my job two days ago. I will be certified as an EMT in December. I already have a job lined up. I am also taking a 50% pay cut. I'm scared as hel$$ but know that this is the career for me.
 
fma08 said:
Dislocated a patella, got a ride to the ER. Also got some morphine... It turned my veins red... A very interesting reaction to say the least, although I really didn't care at the time :P
Click to expand...
A dislocated patella? Those are relatively easy to reduce... if done early. The big thing to watch for though, is a lateral condylar Fx. A dislocated patella shouldn't be reduced in the field in that instance... But that stuff is normally outside the realm of a medic...
 
I've never needed EMS for me or my family per se. I did once, request my co-workers to help me out with manpower when my wife needed to be seen at the hospital though... but outside the manpower issue... not a problem. They were quite professional around her though.
 
I was a work one day, at the private service I used to work for. My partner and I were going through one of the trucks - I believe we were switching into it, but can't remember for sure now. I was feeling "off" although I couldn't really explain how I felt, sort of "disconnected" from the rest of my body, just a really weird feeling. I stood up to reach for something in a cabinet and apparently I turned ghost white, and I suddenly felt as if I was going to pass out and was seeing black spots in front of my eyes. Turns out I was hypertensive. They quickly found someone floating around to drive and my partner took me into the ER. I got the whole shebang - IV, monitor, etc. The ER doc told me that since I had a history of hypothyroidism, that it was obviously what had caused the episode. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism 15 years or so prior and have always managed it appropriately. It has never made me feel like that when things were out of whack.

Within the next 1-2 weeks, I then took my partner to the ER for an allergic reaction, and he then took me back to the ER a second time for a repeat episode of the near-syncope. I followed up with my family doc, and it turned out that once I was treated for hypertension the episodes have stopped.
 
I gave birth to my second child at 37 weeks repeat c-section in full labor. She was having trouble breathing. Gasping/wheezing as she would "Cry" then fall asleep. She had classic respiratory distress symptoms. Couldn't make a crying sound, chest was see-sawing, mucous membranes were beginning to loose color. We kept alerting the nurses and they kept telling us nothing was wrong. My mother in law who was a CNA at the time (now in RN school) kept looking at my daughter and knew from past experience with my husband that something was wrong with her. She went to the desk and demanded they reevaluate her. When they came in they finally seemed concerned and took her off.

(removing huge parts of the story to nutshell it)

When I finally found out what was going on, she was under an oxygen hood because she couldn't sustain her O2 levels. And being transferred via ambulance to a civilian hospital because our military hospital in El Paso couldn't handle her care. No NICU. They suspected an infection but didn't have much more information to offer me. I was in hysterics when the crew arrived to take her to the civilian hospital. They didn't speak to me but I watched them intensely and was absolutely relived with the level of care and compassion they showed my less then day old baby. I'll never forget the way one of them picked my daughter up and transferred her to the incubator. Then insisted that her blanket stay with me. It definately left me with as much relief as could be afforded that she was in good hands.


She ended up being intubated. The infection was confirmed. Aspiration pneumonia and a pneumothorax that had to be tapped twice.
 
I have only been transported in an ambulance one time. I used to work for a semi secure treatment facility for 12-18yo female youth. These girls came from some of the toughest neighborhoods and it wasn't unusual for them to compare old gsw's. One day seven of them decided they had enough and barricaded themselves into a dorm, tore it apart and armed themselves, remember, this was SUPPOSED to be a treatment facility. Well, long story short, 7 of them vs 9 of us. They were armed, we weren't even trained to deal with armed youth and had to follow state protocol regardless, 2 of us for one of them in any physical altercation. Anyhow, one of the female nurses was getting the worst of it and I stepped in, I was stabbed by a resident with a piece of metal from a drop ceiling down into my hand, another one in the side of the head and multiple across my back and sides. I also had a fire extinguisher set off in my face.

I didn't know how bad I was hurt, due to the wonderful head wound bleed, which covered me from head to toe. EMS was called to scene, and I was the third to be transported. Complete with collar, cut clothes, 02 the whole nine yards. luckily, the only two serious wounds were the temple and hand, the others were only minor lacerations. The medics on the transport were great. I could tell by the way the lead medic handled himself that he was very competant and that alone made me relax. I ended up with 12 stitches in my hand and a chunk taken out of my temple that just was bandaged. While the EMS was great, the hospital (bandaid station) was a joke...seriously bad.

Sidenote, thankfully the place was shut down a short time ago. It was a bad place to work, and did nothing for the kids.
 
Me... never

My wife (fiancee at the time)... not sure exactly what it was. Docs diagnosed it as an anxiety attack that jacked her heart rate up through the ceiling. I think it was an allergic reaction. But we'll never know. Pasadena FD did the transport.


and then the 7 hours of sitting around in ER wasn't much fun either... got out round 7 am :/
 
Never been transported myself. Did have a car wreck a few years ago where i rolled my explorer about 3 times on the freeway at 75 mph. car was totalled, the roof had collapsed to where my head should have been, but my seat had broken about a week before and wouldn't sit upright all the time. that in combination of my seatbelt probably saved my life. Detroit EMS witnessed the whole thing from 3 cars behind me. told them I was fine, didn't hit my head, no pain, no insurance ( my company has decided that EMTs don't need any). i signed the waiver and the state trooper let me call family for a ride.

another incident was w/ my grandmother. just a routine transport from the hospital home. the emt's show up at the hospital, one with 2 angel of death tattooes on his skull and a flaming yingyang on his hand, and hungover. according to my mother when they had gotten to my grandmother's apartment, said EMT bolted for the bathroom and vomited on the floor. I later met this EMT when I got this job (same company), worst excuse for an EMT ever, he eventually got fired when he injured his back and demanded that he should be allowed to drive and have 2 other EMTs do the rest of the work.

my company is never to transport me in any situation.
 
The only time I was treated by "EMS" was by the Army medics in Panama. We were returning to Base Camp in the back of a Pickup. I was riding at the tailgate when the truck burned out it's brakes on a hill and went into a ditch. I flew from the back of the truck and impacted headfirst into a large steel frame at the back of the cab. I was obviously suffering a concussion, but didn't lose conciousness. Field medics arrived in the cool Humvee ambulance and proceeded to assess us.

Since working in EMS in California and Alberta, it has been protocol in both places to fly out anyone with a head injury. However, the Army didn't feel that was necessary and transported 3 of us unattended the hour and a half drive to the base hospital. I asked for a cold pack, and was given a damp brown paper towel. That was the extent of my treatment to the hospital.

Upon arrival to the base hospital, I was evaluated by the "Doctor" (he said he was one anyway) who asked if I had experienced LOC. I told him "no" because I did everything I could to remain concious for fear of falling asleep and never waking up. He watched me for an hour and gave me 2 regular strength Tylenol. He then released me and advised my squad members to keep an eye on me and bring me back if they couldn't get me to wake up.

About a week later, once the knot on my forehead went down, I was scratching my forehead and felt something not right. Upon further palpation, I was able to trace a skull fracture from my hairline to just above my left eye. All the way through the orbital bone.

That was 14 years ago, and there is still a palpable indentation over my left eye. Never had X-rays, CT, MRI or anything. I've simply continued on as though nothing happened. Although, I do suffer from memory problems, some conccentration issues, and minor Aphasia. Luckily, I have been able to adapt to better do my job.
 
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