Botched Ambulance Call

[Lee Sampson]

I was a paramedic and EMS Director for 2-services. In addition I was also a flight medic for Life-Net. I ran myself ragged over the years and decided I wanted out.

I have been out of EMS for five-years now after having worked 5-twenty-four shifts per week for almost 12-years.

I moved to help care for my elderly mother who presents with severe end-stage COPD and CHF. I had to call for an ambulance a few weeks ago with my mother close to resp. arrest.

The ambulance showed up about 10-minutes after alerted. The crew was a male EMT and a female paramedic. I tried to give the paramedic an overview of the event. The paramedic next to ignored me and simply stated I have been here before I do not need to know a history.

Needless to say, I was appauled and at the same disappointed in the reaction from a paramedic.

I called the ambulance service that is a county based service and spoke with the director. I began the conversation letting the director know I have 12-years as a paramedic and director so let's get directly to business.

I think with the conversation with the director she was going to so something about the situation but really not postive.

What upsets me so much is!

1. The crew took no history at all.
2. They took no vitals.
3. Never asked my mother name, age, doctor or anything else.

I have trained hundreds of EMT's and preceped many paramedic's in my day. I could not comprehend what I was seeing.

Is this what has happended to EMS after only five-years of being out of it or is this just a plain shit can crew? If this were one of my crews, they would not have a job after I were finished.

I guess the moral of this story is this! I was so sick from what I witnessed I have decided it's time to get back into the field of EMS.

I called the state here in indiana and found out what I need to do to get back into the business again.

I am asking anyone out there who has been out of the EMS business for several years and decided to get back at it for some help. I thought I would never do it again but since the call I seen with my mother as the patient, I have figured out how much I really do miss the patient care and even more directing EMS personnel to be the best they can be.

Please help me out folks, where do I start brushing up my skills, regaining the skills I have lost and getting some CEU's since I need 48-hours to be able to test out. Your input would be appreciated much and I hope all understand my story is not fabricated in any way at all. It is by far the cappiest EMS casll I have ever witnessed and not becuase it was my mother.

[Jamie Davis, the Podmedic]

Lee,

I feel your pain and I'd like to think you got a crew that wasn't the best in the area. We all know who they are in our own companies. As far as getting back into the game, I would recommend a few classes that I think will make the most of your time and give you some assistance preparing for your test.

PEPP (Pediatric Education for Prehospital Providers) the best pediatric program out there in my book

AMLS (Advanced Medical Life Support) a great review for medical patients and medical emergencies

PHTLS (Prehospital Trauma Life Support) get back in the saddle with this trauma refresher class

Each of these are 2 day (16 hour) classes that would offer you the 48 hours you need in the most compact form possible.

You might also contact your local emergency agency at the local, county, and state levels as well as college EMS programs to find out if any of them offer the NREMT DOT 48 hour refresher classes. This will also satisfy many of your requirements and prepare you for re-testing.

Here are some links I found with the help of Google. Since I don't know where you are in Indiana, I just did a statewide search:

PHTLS -- Deaconess Health System July 24-25 $80.00 for the course including text -- this is a great deal!
Some additional training links here for EMS offered here

I can't attest to the quality of these links but this is what I found with about 10 minutes of computer time. I hope that helps you out some. I'll talk about this on this week's MedicCast and see if we can't find some more info for you!
--
Jamie Davis, NREMT-P "the Podmedic"
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[Lee Sampson]

Thanks for the info and taking the time both researching and commenting back. I appreciate you taking the time researching Google. I am already seeking a few classes but the ones you suggest make more sense to me. Thaks again!