Files from the Batcomputer (aka Batgirl's EMS Stories) - Page 2

batgirl · 09-03-2009, 07:49 PM

Double whammy for today

One of the best parts of my job is that I always get something new. Sure, I have repeat patients, but even after 6 years doing this, I still haven't seen everything.

The elderly and I have a bond

We get a call to take a man home to his residence. Residences are a bit iffy, and I dislike them greatly for 2 reasons:

1- There are usually stairs, making us need to lift the patient on the stretcher (which itself weighs 110) up said stairs.

2- More often than not, the amount of stairs are lied about. The page will say "male, 200lbs, 2 steps" but once we get to the house, surprise surprise, there are 6 steps, making my job that much harder.

The patient we were sent to pick up was 230lbs and was going to a house in Queens, far in Queens. We meet the family and thank god, there's no steps. I find out that the poor man has advanced dementia, and really only has very brief lucid moments. I talk to him for a little while, and he seems to be doing ok. His daughters say their goodbyes to him until they meet us at their house and we begin our journey. As we start driving I notice that the man is lying slightly to the side. Now our stretchers are not made for comfort, but I'd like to think that I do my best to make my patients as comfy as possible. I ask the man if he was comfortable and he says yes.

Me: "Ok, but if you're not, just let me know and I'll do what I can."
Man: "Would you like me to make love to you?"

And then he grabs his junk. Yay.

Sometimes I get calls that are really just ridiculous. They make me wonder why the hell some people have gone into the health field the way they treat patients.

WARNING: GRAPHIC

Are you retarded?

My partner and I get a call today for shortness of breath. No biggie, so we head out to a nursing home that is notorious for being full of bullshit. We arrive on the floor and I go see the nurse. She explains to me that the patient in question vomited coffee grounds (iron oxidized blood so it looks black and like coffee) last night and today had an oxygen saturation (how much air you're taking in) of 83% (normal healthy people hover around 97-100%) and was congested. They think he might have aspirated (emesis/vomit or fluids entering the lungs) and he's getting worse. This was not bullshit.

Now, I can hear what you're thinking: But Batgirl, why didn't they call the ambulance last night when he was clearly vomiting blood? Well my good friends, I'll tell you: I have no fucking clue. Maybe there was only 1 or 2 nurses on the night shift and they didn't check on him afterward, maybe they didn't want to fill out paperwork, maybe they just wanted to leave it for the morning nurses, maybe they just didn't give a shit.

I leave the nursing station and as I get closer to the room, I hear gurgling and wheezing. Audible gurgling and wheezing. Without my stethoscope. Outside the room and down the hall. As I enter the room, I see a man with a small nasal cannula in his nose on 4 measly liters of oxygen. Big fucking help that'll do. He's kind of thrashing around and is turning purple. I grab a nonrebreather mask and pump my oxygen up to 15 liters, throwing the mask on him. I debating calling for a paramedic, but the odds of one being in the area were almost zero, so my partner and I grabbed the man onto the stretcher and flew.

In the truck, the man was asking for water, which is putting salt in the wound. No need for more fluid to go into the lungs, but he was so confused he didn't get what I was saying. All I could do for him was take a blood pressure, keep the oxygen flowing and hope he didn't die on me. He had a DNR, but I'm not one for having corpses in my truck. His pressure is dropping (114/41), but we make it to the hospital. I grab the nearest nurse and explain the situation while we move the man over and start going over medical history (lung cancer, another clue to send him out last night, dear nursing home?) allergies and medications. The nurse puts him on a monitor and gets another blood pressure: 78/26. Oh shit.

She dials up respiratory therapy to bring a BIPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) machine (a machine that regulates and helps breathing) and they start to try and get IVs in. The man is resisting, so I hold his arms down so they can get an IV in both, one arm and one hand. They get an EKG going and start a dopamine drip.

After 50 minutes in the ER, I manage to toss my gloves and get a signature for my report. I grab a soda and stagger over to the truck, feeling numb, the rush of adrenaline and tunnel vision I get with serious calls draining from me. The absolute disregard for that man's well being by the nursing home was overwhelming me. I've seen it before, too many times. This was a bit different though. If they would have left him for 30 more minutes the way he was, he would have died, easily. And they showed almost no concern, like it was not a big deal to them. They're nurses too, same training as ER nurses, and they just didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of that call.

I know that even though the part I played in that call was minute. I couldn't do much other than monitoring his vitals and keeping his oxygen going, but I know I did all I could. They can't say the same, and I hope to god they find out what happened to that man (I doubt he'll make it through the night) and that they lose a hell of a lot of sleep over it.

krogothwolf · 09-03-2009, 07:55 PM

Why do nursing homes always have horror stories like this? If its true as you say about training, then are they picking up the bottom of the barrel or something?

Is he really that far gone? And it could have been saved if they had called earlier? That's frightening.

I do want to say congrats on a job well done.

Magus · 09-04-2009, 12:28 AM

I hope someone makes sure whatever family the man has sues the nursing home for negligence, and hopefully the people will move their loved ones to a better facility because of it.

batgirl · 09-10-2009, 06:59 PM

The Partner From Hell

During my time on the ambulance, I have come to work with many partners. Some of them have been awesome, and are still my good friends to this day, and some are just plain awful. My normal partner these days is a wonderful 52 year old man named Steve who jokes around with me and is really good at what he does. We work super well together and are highly regarded as one of the "trustworthy and awesome" crews.

Steve wasn't feeling too well yesterday and was fighting off the last bit of a cold. Other than some congestion, he said he was feeling ok and we went on with our day like any other. Today I come into work to see that Steve really wasn't feeling well at all and called in sick. Now, instead of letting me sit in the office doing bitch work (organizing, answering the phone, picking up equipment), they sent me out with the partner from hell: Laura.

Laura has a reputation in our company for always being late, never being in uniform and pretty much thinking she's hot shit when she's really cold diarrhea. She has a major superiority complex because she's currently training to be a paramedic (though she did drop out of college because her theater major was too hard for her) and just plain gets on people's nerves. All my friends at work were patting me on the shoulder and giving me condolences.

You know how you meet someone and you just don't like them? This was Laura for me.

Laura flounces into work 25 minutes late. I had already checked out the truck and cleaned it, so it was ready to go. Her shirt is untucked and she is wearing ballet slippers. I had to wait for her to change into her boots and make herself presentable.

Now before I go on, I'll just say this: Laura is a good EMT. I have no complaints about her skills or her patient care. She is really good with patients, not being condescending or impatient or uncaring. She knows her stuff when it comes to EMTing and she does have the patient's best interest in mind.

Continuing on, Laura proceeds to make me drive to her car so she could take everything (her equipment, paramedic textbook, purse) out of it and deposit it all on top of my bag, crushing my lunch. We go do a couple of calls and she's blabbing to me the whole time and singing loudly to the radio music that she keeps changing every 10 seconds. She then tells me that she forgot her socks and makes me drive to her house to get them so she won't get blisters. Minor annoyances really, but it gets much worse.

We finally get some down time while we wait for a call at a cardiac hospital, so Laura decides to have a really loud phone conversation with her sorority sisters about a get together they're planning. I'm trying to read and it's a perfectly nice day outside, but does she excuse herself from the tiny truck to talk outside? No, she yells and laughs at the top of her lungs in the truck so I eventually leave to read outside. She then decides that it's makeup time and takes out a huuuuge cosmetic case and starts doing her makeup, spilling powder all over my truck (I call it mine because I drive in it everyday). That's not the biggest deal, but then she start plucking her eyebrows and throwing the stray hairs on the dash. My eye starts to twitch.

We're driving to an emergency and she's blabbing about the diet she's on. She then stops at Taco Bell and Pizza Hut to get tacos and bread sticks while my boss is yelling at her about the emergency that we're taking too long to get to. I offer to drive but she insists on driving, talking on her cell phone and dunking her bread sticks into dipping sauce and eating them at the same time. We finally get to the emergency (was bullshit, but still) and she's driving the patient and I to the hospital. I peak up from my paperwork and see that she's driving the truck, but she's also flossing in the mirror. She then picks the stray food off the floss and flicks it in the truck. As soon as she throws the floss out, I see her dig into her nose and flick her boogers everywhere. While driving an emergency.

At the end of the day we drive back to base and she doesn't even help me clean up her mess, because she has tickets to the Mets game and doesn't want to be late. I'm left to clean up after her and tell my boss that I will quit if I ever work with her again.

Specterbane · 09-10-2009, 09:01 PM

I can kinda feel your pain about Laura there. I've had room mates that live their lives with that same kind of self-centered arrogance that dismisses anything unrelated to them in their personal life, but that was in a whole house instead of a small truck. You did say she's a good EMT, so there is that at least for the patients. But being able to work well with other is crucial in any sort of job, especially a high stress one like I'd imagine a team of paramedics or EMTs would face. Here's to hoping your boss listens to you, and to you for being THAT patient. That deserve a compliment.

batgirl · 09-10-2009, 09:16 PM

I find that since I started working in the private EMS sector, I've developed a great deal more patience. I think I didn't flip out today mainly because I'm off for 3 days after today and it was a nice day outside.

Thanks for a compliment by the way. I also find that text ranting to your co-workers helps let off some steam, especially when you find out that they're doing 50 mile jobs into the city with a screamer patient.

Meister · 09-11-2009, 02:13 AM

Quote:

she does have the patient's best interest in mind

Quote:

We're driving to an emergency and she's blabbing about the diet she's on. She then stops at Taco Bell and Pizza Hut

That doesn't seem to fit together.

batgirl · 09-11-2009, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meister

That doesn't seem to fit together.

Well I meant when she's taking care of someone directly. The "emergency" that we were sent for wasn't a real emergency, it was for low blood chemistry. In layman's terms that meant the guy was going in for a transfusion, but since he has to get registered through the ER, it comes over as an emergency. We hadn't really had a chance to eat all day, so I can see why she'd want to stop. Clearly it's irritating since anyone with half a brain at our company brings their own lunch so they have food even if we're running all day.

**Satan's Onion** · 09-16-2009, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by batgirl

...
At the end of the day we drive back to base and she doesn't even help me clean up her mess, because she has tickets to the Mets game and doesn't want to be late. I'm left to clean up after her and tell my boss that I will quit if I ever work with her again.

Oh, that's always fun, ain't it? Watching fellow employees breeze in almost an hour late, go to lunch early, come back late, and then breeze on out around about 4:15 because they had, like, this really important thing they didn't wanna miss. And in the meanwhile, you're basically doing your job and theirs...

That brought back memories for me, is all. (Also, I replied to this now 'cos I kind of wanted to keep this on the first page.)

Sir Pinkleton · 09-16-2009, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by batgirl

I find that since I started working in the private EMS sector, I've developed a great deal more patience. I think I didn't flip out today mainly because I'm off for 3 days after today and it was a nice day outside.

Have you ever flipped out, on co-worker or patient, before?

09-03-2009, 07:55 PM	#12
krogothwolf Fetched the Candy Cane! Join Date: May 2009 Location: Calgary Posts: 4,278	Why do nursing homes always have horror stories like this? If its true as you say about training, then are they picking up the bottom of the barrel or something? Is he really that far gone? And it could have been saved if they had called earlier? That's frightening. I do want to say congrats on a job well done. __________________ Knowledge is Power, Power is Knowledge ╔╦╦══╦══╦═╦══╦══╦╗╔╦╦╦╦══╦╗╔═╗ ║═╣╠═║╔╗║╔╣╔╗╠╗╔╣╚╝║║║║╔╗║║║═╣ ║║║╔╗╣╚╝║║║╚╝║║║║╔╗║║║║╚╝║╚╣╔╝ ╚╩╩╝╚╩══╩═╩══╝╚╝╚╝╚╩══╩══╩═╩╝

09-04-2009, 12:28 AM	#13
Magus Archer and Armstrong vs. the World Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 7,164	I hope someone makes sure whatever family the man has sues the nursing home for negligence, and hopefully the people will move their loved ones to a better facility because of it. __________________ The Valiant Review

09-10-2009, 09:01 PM	#15
Specterbane Safety First Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Land of Gumdrops and Ice-cream Posts: 746	I can kinda feel your pain about Laura there. I've had room mates that live their lives with that same kind of self-centered arrogance that dismisses anything unrelated to them in their personal life, but that was in a whole house instead of a small truck. You did say she's a good EMT, so there is that at least for the patients. But being able to work well with other is crucial in any sort of job, especially a high stress one like I'd imagine a team of paramedics or EMTs would face. Here's to hoping your boss listens to you, and to you for being THAT patient. That deserve a compliment. __________________ http://www.nuklearforums.com/showpos...ostcount=10436

09-03-2009, 07:49 PM	#11
batgirl Aim for the top! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The Infield Posts: 2,583	Double whammy for today One of the best parts of my job is that I always get something new. Sure, I have repeat patients, but even after 6 years doing this, I still haven't seen everything. The elderly and I have a bond We get a call to take a man home to his residence. Residences are a bit iffy, and I dislike them greatly for 2 reasons: 1- There are usually stairs, making us need to lift the patient on the stretcher (which itself weighs 110) up said stairs. 2- More often than not, the amount of stairs are lied about. The page will say "male, 200lbs, 2 steps" but once we get to the house, surprise surprise, there are 6 steps, making my job that much harder. The patient we were sent to pick up was 230lbs and was going to a house in Queens, far in Queens. We meet the family and thank god, there's no steps. I find out that the poor man has advanced dementia, and really only has very brief lucid moments. I talk to him for a little while, and he seems to be doing ok. His daughters say their goodbyes to him until they meet us at their house and we begin our journey. As we start driving I notice that the man is lying slightly to the side. Now our stretchers are not made for comfort, but I'd like to think that I do my best to make my patients as comfy as possible. I ask the man if he was comfortable and he says yes. Me: "Ok, but if you're not, just let me know and I'll do what I can." Man: "Would you like me to make love to you?" And then he grabs his junk. Yay. Sometimes I get calls that are really just ridiculous. They make me wonder why the hell some people have gone into the health field the way they treat patients. WARNING: GRAPHIC Are you retarded? My partner and I get a call today for shortness of breath. No biggie, so we head out to a nursing home that is notorious for being full of bullshit. We arrive on the floor and I go see the nurse. She explains to me that the patient in question vomited coffee grounds (iron oxidized blood so it looks black and like coffee) last night and today had an oxygen saturation (how much air you're taking in) of 83% (normal healthy people hover around 97-100%) and was congested. They think he might have aspirated (emesis/vomit or fluids entering the lungs) and he's getting worse. This was not bullshit. Now, I can hear what you're thinking: But Batgirl, why didn't they call the ambulance last night when he was clearly vomiting blood? Well my good friends, I'll tell you: I have no fucking clue. Maybe there was only 1 or 2 nurses on the night shift and they didn't check on him afterward, maybe they didn't want to fill out paperwork, maybe they just wanted to leave it for the morning nurses, maybe they just didn't give a shit. I leave the nursing station and as I get closer to the room, I hear gurgling and wheezing. Audible gurgling and wheezing. Without my stethoscope. Outside the room and down the hall. As I enter the room, I see a man with a small nasal cannula in his nose on 4 measly liters of oxygen. Big fucking help that'll do. He's kind of thrashing around and is turning purple. I grab a nonrebreather mask and pump my oxygen up to 15 liters, throwing the mask on him. I debating calling for a paramedic, but the odds of one being in the area were almost zero, so my partner and I grabbed the man onto the stretcher and flew. In the truck, the man was asking for water, which is putting salt in the wound. No need for more fluid to go into the lungs, but he was so confused he didn't get what I was saying. All I could do for him was take a blood pressure, keep the oxygen flowing and hope he didn't die on me. He had a DNR, but I'm not one for having corpses in my truck. His pressure is dropping (114/41), but we make it to the hospital. I grab the nearest nurse and explain the situation while we move the man over and start going over medical history (lung cancer, another clue to send him out last night, dear nursing home?) allergies and medications. The nurse puts him on a monitor and gets another blood pressure: 78/26. Oh shit. She dials up respiratory therapy to bring a BIPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) machine (a machine that regulates and helps breathing) and they start to try and get IVs in. The man is resisting, so I hold his arms down so they can get an IV in both, one arm and one hand. They get an EKG going and start a dopamine drip. After 50 minutes in the ER, I manage to toss my gloves and get a signature for my report. I grab a soda and stagger over to the truck, feeling numb, the rush of adrenaline and tunnel vision I get with serious calls draining from me. The absolute disregard for that man's well being by the nursing home was overwhelming me. I've seen it before, too many times. This was a bit different though. If they would have left him for 30 more minutes the way he was, he would have died, easily. And they showed almost no concern, like it was not a big deal to them. They're nurses too, same training as ER nurses, and they just didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of that call. I know that even though the part I played in that call was minute. I couldn't do much other than monitoring his vitals and keeping his oxygen going, but I know I did all I could. They can't say the same, and I hope to god they find out what happened to that man (I doubt he'll make it through the night) and that they lose a hell of a lot of sleep over it.

09-10-2009, 06:59 PM	#14
batgirl Aim for the top! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The Infield Posts: 2,583	The Partner From Hell During my time on the ambulance, I have come to work with many partners. Some of them have been awesome, and are still my good friends to this day, and some are just plain awful. My normal partner these days is a wonderful 52 year old man named Steve who jokes around with me and is really good at what he does. We work super well together and are highly regarded as one of the "trustworthy and awesome" crews. Steve wasn't feeling too well yesterday and was fighting off the last bit of a cold. Other than some congestion, he said he was feeling ok and we went on with our day like any other. Today I come into work to see that Steve really wasn't feeling well at all and called in sick. Now, instead of letting me sit in the office doing bitch work (organizing, answering the phone, picking up equipment), they sent me out with the partner from hell: Laura. Laura has a reputation in our company for always being late, never being in uniform and pretty much thinking she's hot shit when she's really cold diarrhea. She has a major superiority complex because she's currently training to be a paramedic (though she did drop out of college because her theater major was too hard for her) and just plain gets on people's nerves. All my friends at work were patting me on the shoulder and giving me condolences. You know how you meet someone and you just don't like them? This was Laura for me. Laura flounces into work 25 minutes late. I had already checked out the truck and cleaned it, so it was ready to go. Her shirt is untucked and she is wearing ballet slippers. I had to wait for her to change into her boots and make herself presentable. Now before I go on, I'll just say this: Laura is a good EMT. I have no complaints about her skills or her patient care. She is really good with patients, not being condescending or impatient or uncaring. She knows her stuff when it comes to EMTing and she does have the patient's best interest in mind. Continuing on, Laura proceeds to make me drive to her car so she could take everything (her equipment, paramedic textbook, purse) out of it and deposit it all on top of my bag, crushing my lunch. We go do a couple of calls and she's blabbing to me the whole time and singing loudly to the radio music that she keeps changing every 10 seconds. She then tells me that she forgot her socks and makes me drive to her house to get them so she won't get blisters. Minor annoyances really, but it gets much worse. We finally get some down time while we wait for a call at a cardiac hospital, so Laura decides to have a really loud phone conversation with her sorority sisters about a get together they're planning. I'm trying to read and it's a perfectly nice day outside, but does she excuse herself from the tiny truck to talk outside? No, she yells and laughs at the top of her lungs in the truck so I eventually leave to read outside. She then decides that it's makeup time and takes out a huuuuge cosmetic case and starts doing her makeup, spilling powder all over my truck (I call it mine because I drive in it everyday). That's not the biggest deal, but then she start plucking her eyebrows and throwing the stray hairs on the dash. My eye starts to twitch. We're driving to an emergency and she's blabbing about the diet she's on. She then stops at Taco Bell and Pizza Hut to get tacos and bread sticks while my boss is yelling at her about the emergency that we're taking too long to get to. I offer to drive but she insists on driving, talking on her cell phone and dunking her bread sticks into dipping sauce and eating them at the same time. We finally get to the emergency (was bullshit, but still) and she's driving the patient and I to the hospital. I peak up from my paperwork and see that she's driving the truck, but she's also flossing in the mirror. She then picks the stray food off the floss and flicks it in the truck. As soon as she throws the floss out, I see her dig into her nose and flick her boogers everywhere. While driving an emergency. At the end of the day we drive back to base and she doesn't even help me clean up her mess, because she has tickets to the Mets game and doesn't want to be late. I'm left to clean up after her and tell my boss that I will quit if I ever work with her again.

09-10-2009, 09:16 PM	#16
batgirl Aim for the top! Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The Infield Posts: 2,583	I find that since I started working in the private EMS sector, I've developed a great deal more patience. I think I didn't flip out today mainly because I'm off for 3 days after today and it was a nice day outside. Thanks for a compliment by the way. I also find that text ranting to your co-workers helps let off some steam, especially when you find out that they're doing 50 mile jobs into the city with a screamer patient.