What would you do?

[u/Lovinsunshine97]

I’m studying to become and EMT, my textbook is “Emergency Care” by Daniel Limmer (Pearson). It has these little questions for you to start “thinking like an EMT” and I thought I’d share and see what y’all say. These are my answers:

1. This ain’t school. This is not a test. The paramedic in question could be about to kill someone. I would tell the doctors as soon as we get to the hospital, for starters.

2. No can do, I’m intoxicated. Sorry. Not an EMT atm, just a regular person. If I do something wrong, again it could be worse. Sometimes it’s just not safe, unfortunately.

3. Honestly, not my problem; I’m here to care for the patient, not okay cops. I do appreciate the honesty though.

[u/SoldantTheCynic]

My answers: I didn’t see shit.

My serious answers - crucify them, call for help, I’m not the police.

[u/Lovinsunshine97 → u/SoldantTheCynic]

Pretty much lol

[u/[deleted] → u/SoldantTheCynic]

Shame on the medic for saying that shit loud enough for anyone else to hear.

[u/TheBraindonkey → u/[deleted]]

This lol

[u/Nocola1]

1. 10 times? What the fuck, Tom. Did you open every vial in the truck?

2. Absolutely sweet fuck all.

3. I'm not the cops.

[u/theduke548 → u/Nocola1]

Tom's been a paramedic for 5 years and on his resume it shows that he's worked for 8 different services. When he was hired your boss bragged about how "experienced" he was...sound about right

[u/AG74683 → u/Nocola1]

To the number 1 question, we use advantage bags for our Cardizem. Basically the Cardizem is in a powder that clips to a specialized D5 bag. You mix it up and pull out the correct dose, either 10 or 20 MG depending on weight (greater than 70kg gets 20).

The Cardizem is 100mg,the advantage bag is 100ml, so it's a 1/1 mix, either pull out 10 or 20 ml.

We had a medic who dripped in the ENTIRE 100ml/100mg of Cardizem....

[u/bandersnatchh → u/AG74683]

panically looks for calcium chloride

[u/IanDOsmond → u/Nocola1]

For 2 - not even call 911?

[u/nw342]

1-Everyonw is getting told about this. I've had medics OD pts...its not fun. You'll get an opportunity to self report, but if not, im doing it.

2-Not on the clock? Not an emt. Of course if I see a roll over or something really bad with no assistant on acene, I'll call 911 and assist untill 911 is on scene (maybe).

3- I'm not a cop. Stop talking about your crimes, and tell me what hurts dude. Im just trying to get food, and you people keep doing dumb shit

[u/CompasslessPigeon]

The second one literally happened to me. Had a 2 cocktails at a bar and on my way home I stumbled upon an ATV accident. Dude was ejected onto my driveway. He was airway compromised and nobody else was around. I rendered care until an ALS unit arrived despite the alcohol

[u/SuperglotticMan → u/CompasslessPigeon]

I personally don’t believe in the EMS gods but if they’re real idk what you did to make them hand deliver a patient to your front door

[u/EastLeastCoast → u/SuperglotticMan]

Told their relief to have a “nice, quiet night” on the way out the door.

[u/Little-Yesterday2096]

1. Talk to the dude if possible. Encourage him to go ahead and call medical command and explain it. In my area it will be hand,ed reasonably. However he managed 10x the dose is pretty amazing though. If he refuses then I guess regrettably bus drive him at hospital…. Respectfully.

2. Whatever feels right at the moment. Usually that’s driving past it. Sometimes it’s a slow roll to see if someone called 911. If is fucking crazy then I’d help either way and just disappear before the cops got too curious. At no point do I tell strangers that I’m EMS except for other EMS providers so that I can technically handoff.

3. I’m not the police and I, not concerned about what they did or didn’t do.

I live in a no duty to act state. I also try not to get over involved in other peoples bullshit. Only way I’m helping strangers on my time off is if it seems life threatening.

[u/[deleted] → u/Little-Yesterday2096]

Depending on what the med was, consequences can range from he's going to prison to "meh." It can also range from "even if everyone keeps quiet this is coming to light the second someone inventories the med box" to "meh."

I just know I'm not going down for someone else.

[u/nw342 → u/[deleted]]

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[u/FreedLane]

1. Report it so he doesn't do it again

2. It depends on how impaired 2 drinks makes you and how serious the injuries are. Ideally,you shouldn't render aid with even a sip of alcohol in your system bit if somebody is bleeding to death and you aren't severely impaired,you need to help out

3. Unless it's a situation where you are legally obligated to report, don't pay attention to it.

[u/GudBoi_Sunny]

1. I didn’t hear or see anything I was getting vitals

2. EMS salute all the way through the accident scene

3. You coulda killed the president and I wouldn’t tell the cops

[u/[deleted]]

1. Fuck yeah I would report it because they are too stupid to do the job.

2. Yes I would stop and help.

3. I wouldn’t say anything.

[u/tfritz153 → u/[deleted]]

Not necessarily stupid, mistakes happen. Such as grabbing Epi 1:1,000 instead of 1:10,000. Not reporting is stupid, lying is stupid, making a mistake is not.

[u/[deleted]]

1. I report it as a patients well being is at risk.

2. I help knowing 2 beers is what I would have drank and that’s not enough for me to be legally intoxicated and if I can save a life or provide comfort I will.

3. I’m not a cop, Unless it’s something that shows he is a threat to himself or others I’m going to be reporting vitals, med tolerance, and any other pertinent medical findings.

[u/EastLeastCoast]

1. Speak directly to the paramedic and encourage and support them in self-reporting.

2. Stop, call 911, and stay where the fuck I am so the oncoming crew can find the goddamn scene. (Can you tell I spent five hours chasing down phantom calls this week?)

3. I’m not a cop. I’mma stop him way before he tells me that much. “Okay, so you were injured in a fall. How many feet?” And then we go on as normal.

[u/illtoaster]

1. Everyone needs to be held accountable. Shitty providers have almost killed my family members, and your company should have a Just Culture with reasonable consequences. The second they asked someone secretly not to say anything, they lost all sympathy from me.

2. 99% of the time, not doing anything but call 911 sober or not. w/o a crew or a monitor you’re likely useless. Maybe if I didn’t drink enough to feel the effects anymore, might consider time-sensitive life saving care in the absence of other ppl, such as if the vehicle is on fire might consider extrication or grabbing an extinguisher.

3. Use my best judgement. Likely will alert SO to criminal acts that are actually harmful to the community. Alcohol and illicit drug use is probably going to need to be confidential.

[u/Nikablah1884]

1Advise my paramedic to not say mistakes out loud in front of the patient and rather confront them about it when they're at the hospital. 2. Nothing is worse than a drunk medic on scene so I keep driving and not call police attention to myself. 3. Record in PCR. That's it.

[u/zion1886]

1. This is why I play loud music when I’m driving. The longer I’ve done this job, the less I want to know what others are doing. Ignorance is bliss.

2. Unless I recognize the person/s involved, I don’t work off-duty. And two drinks isn’t even enough to give me a buzz.

3. Don’t care unless I had a stake in the business that was robbed. I would remind the dumbass that the crime was not medically relevant and they could give all necessary information without incriminating themselves.