Ask a Paramedic anything at all...
Discussion
Ruskie said:
Excuse the Daily Wail but this quote made me laugh ????????
‘This Morning's resident GP admits he was left 'broken' after his 12-hour shift as a paramedic saw him fail to save a life, treat stab wounds and comfort grieving relatives’
Or in other words a normal day at the office for Ambulance staff ??
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5298543/...
Lol exactly. I occasionally have an 'observer' out with me along these lines - someone from a hospital, or a call handler. Almost universally, they say something along the lines of 'I have no idea how you guys do this every day...'‘This Morning's resident GP admits he was left 'broken' after his 12-hour shift as a paramedic saw him fail to save a life, treat stab wounds and comfort grieving relatives’
Or in other words a normal day at the office for Ambulance staff ??
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5298543/...
Occasionally I sit and reflect on my job, and I have come to the conclusion that it takes a special kind of weirdo to want to do it!
I like the way the article says the crew the GP observed with had to "even treat stab wounds" as thought that's somehow excessive.
Who do they expect to treat these things?
Last night's highlights for me were a homeless man overcome by smoke after burning rubbish to keep warm but in the enclosed space of a small public toilet, and two hours being shouted at by a woman with bipolar.
Who do they expect to treat these things?
Last night's highlights for me were a homeless man overcome by smoke after burning rubbish to keep warm but in the enclosed space of a small public toilet, and two hours being shouted at by a woman with bipolar.
Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 1st February 15:58
Z064life said:
I've seen some pretty graphic injuries on tv but how can you manage to not only see them but actually rectify them? I.E. dislocated knees, broken legs, etc.
I'm a Paramedic, based in Central Manchester and I'll answer from my point on view.Simply put you go into work mode, I've seldom seen things that have stopped me in my tracks, usually if they do it's because there's more than one very serious injury that's obvious from the offset, it's only a second or so of a delay, but in that time I've been able to compose myself and work out a plan of action.
I've never been squirmish, but say I was having a look at videos of leg breaks, people falling and going snap etc, even though it might make me go ouch, in work you really do have a totally different view of injuries, a sort of dissociation I guess.
What I would add is I'm from an age that the internet was full of the likes of live leak, ogrish, faces of death and boys being boys I'd guess I'm very desensitised.
meehaja said:
dislocated knees goes back in if you tickle their foot generally.
I"ve never understood the "the training kicked in" or "switching on work mode" mentality, its all a bit incredible hulk for my liking.
You don’t understand how resuscitating a child requires a certain type of detachment to enable you to do the job correctly? What’s the other option curl up in a ball and cry?I"ve never understood the "the training kicked in" or "switching on work mode" mentality, its all a bit incredible hulk for my liking.
Dr Jekyll said:
On TV documentaries about paramedics they often ask the patient to rate their pain from 1 to 10 where'10 is the worst pain you've ever had'. If the paramedic doesn't know what painful conditions they've had before, how does this help?
That subject could be a thread of it's own. It's pretty much just a one size fits all approach and it's used mostly as a audit tick box to be honest, hence if you're being filmed your going to ask. There's a whole load of ethics attached to pain scoring, even pain scoring for children has many different ladders for the getting the same result. We did about a week alone on it in Uni.To over simplify, you can tell fairly well how much pain people are in, or better put how much pain relief they're going to want or need. People have very different pain tolerance, certain ethnic backgrounds have a very different attitude to pain, so you have to go off experience and how you personally treat people.
Some people I work with it's their goal not to give morphine, others they like to dish it out to everyone. There's some paramedics not wanting to be 'tricked' into giving something stronger than needed, while we also have patients that abuse the service to get pain better pain relief like morphine when they're being treated for long term conditions via say GP or a pain specialist.
It also works as a marker for any stuff given - if they say they're an 8, and then after giving them something they say they're a 6, then you know you're going in the right direction.
We rescued a bloke who'd paraglided into the Northern Face of Pen Y Fan - smashed himself up properly, broken back & soft tissue etc... When asked what his pain score was he said '7'. When it was commented that it seemed pretty low given the mess he was in, he replied, 'You're going to move me in a moment and I'd like a few to play with..'
Top lad.
We rescued a bloke who'd paraglided into the Northern Face of Pen Y Fan - smashed himself up properly, broken back & soft tissue etc... When asked what his pain score was he said '7'. When it was commented that it seemed pretty low given the mess he was in, he replied, 'You're going to move me in a moment and I'd like a few to play with..'
Top lad.
Mexican cuties said:
right ref MIL with dementia and another passing out episode early hours this morning, trip to hospital with all her vitals and stats fine, could it be worth checking into transient ischemic attack, no one can get to what is causing these black outs ta
Without knowing the full story and without being able to assess your MiL it's impossible to say anything more constructive than you've probably already been told at A&E.If the hospital staff can't nail it with the patient in front of them, doing it by proxy over the web certainly won't.
Z064life said:
I've seen some pretty graphic injuries on tv but how can you manage to not only see them but actually rectify them? I.E. dislocated knees, broken legs, etc.
Everything becomes normal once you've seen it a few times. The most important skill is empathy, not sympathy. You help the mangled, not by feeling their pain, but by acting in their best interests, giving pain killers and managing their affliction. It's a type of detachment.There is no dislocation/fracture/evisceration that causes the healthcare professional pain, so he/she switches to training/experience and picks them up.
Also, things are much much more gory in the operating theatre! Wait until I start taking things apart, to put them back together. Who's bothered about a few bones poking out the skin ?
Apologies for thread hijack....
The_Doc said:
Z064life said:
I've seen some pretty graphic injuries on tv but how can you manage to not only see them but actually rectify them? I.E. dislocated knees, broken legs, etc.
Everything becomes normal once you've seen it a few times. The most important skill is empathy, not sympathy. You help the mangled, not by feeling their pain, but by acting in their best interests, giving pain killers and managing their affliction. It's a type of detachment.There is no dislocation/fracture/evisceration that causes the healthcare professional pain, so he/she switches to training/experience and picks them up.
Also, things are much much more gory in the operating theatre! Wait until I start taking things apart, to put them back together. Who's bothered about a few bones poking out the skin ?
Apologies for thread hijack....
Ruskie said:
The_Doc said:
Z064life said:
I've seen some pretty graphic injuries on tv but how can you manage to not only see them but actually rectify them? I.E. dislocated knees, broken legs, etc.
Everything becomes normal once you've seen it a few times. The most important skill is empathy, not sympathy. You help the mangled, not by feeling their pain, but by acting in their best interests, giving pain killers and managing their affliction. It's a type of detachment.There is no dislocation/fracture/evisceration that causes the healthcare professional pain, so he/she switches to training/experience and picks them up.
Also, things are much much more gory in the operating theatre! Wait until I start taking things apart, to put them back together. Who's bothered about a few bones poking out the skin ?
Apologies for thread hijack....
Yes ouch.
I respect all paramedics, but you a little less now.....
Just as long as you don't drive around with a green light on the top of your car....
"what's that green light in my rear view mirror? Is it the on-call butcher? "
All paramedics are brilliant in my view. I witnessed a big smash at 6:30am a few years back. T-bone RTC Jaguar vs Fiesta. The Jag man walked out easily and I parked up and rushed over to Fiesta boy, who was unconscious over his steering wheel, chin down. I held his airway open for 20 minutes as his GCS improved from ?4 to perhaps 13. Fire engine came at 20 mins and ambulance at 23mins.
It was about minus 3, I had no equipment and the car (and us two) were in a ditch in 6inches of mud.
So I have respect for all pre-hospital staff.
I respect all paramedics, but you a little less now.....
Just as long as you don't drive around with a green light on the top of your car....
"what's that green light in my rear view mirror? Is it the on-call butcher? "
All paramedics are brilliant in my view. I witnessed a big smash at 6:30am a few years back. T-bone RTC Jaguar vs Fiesta. The Jag man walked out easily and I parked up and rushed over to Fiesta boy, who was unconscious over his steering wheel, chin down. I held his airway open for 20 minutes as his GCS improved from ?4 to perhaps 13. Fire engine came at 20 mins and ambulance at 23mins.
It was about minus 3, I had no equipment and the car (and us two) were in a ditch in 6inches of mud.
So I have respect for all pre-hospital staff.
The_Doc said:
Yes ouch.
I respect all paramedics, but you a little less now.....
Just as long as you don't drive around with a green light on the top of your car....
"what's that green light in my rear view mirror? Is it the on-call butcher? "
All paramedics are brilliant in my view. I witnessed a big smash at 6:30am a few years back. T-bone RTC Jaguar vs Fiesta. The Jag man walked out easily and I parked up and rushed over to Fiesta boy, who was unconscious over his steering wheel, chin down. I held his airway open for 20 minutes as his GCS improved from ?4 to perhaps 13. Fire engine came at 20 mins and ambulance at 23mins.
It was about minus 3, I had no equipment and the car (and us two) were in a ditch in 6inches of mud.
So I have respect for all pre-hospital staff.
I sort of know what Ruskie is getting at - in any job or profession, there are always one or two people who spoil it for the rest of them! In my experience, regarding A&E docs - I could count on one hand how many were a bit 'billy big balls' and treated us (and nurses and indeed any subordinates) with contempt. It's pretty rare though, and I am happy to say that the vast majority of Docs I liaise with, are top men and women. I respect all paramedics, but you a little less now.....
Just as long as you don't drive around with a green light on the top of your car....
"what's that green light in my rear view mirror? Is it the on-call butcher? "
All paramedics are brilliant in my view. I witnessed a big smash at 6:30am a few years back. T-bone RTC Jaguar vs Fiesta. The Jag man walked out easily and I parked up and rushed over to Fiesta boy, who was unconscious over his steering wheel, chin down. I held his airway open for 20 minutes as his GCS improved from ?4 to perhaps 13. Fire engine came at 20 mins and ambulance at 23mins.
It was about minus 3, I had no equipment and the car (and us two) were in a ditch in 6inches of mud.
So I have respect for all pre-hospital staff.
Indeed going further, I often summon up the assistance of HEMS which normally arrives with at least one hugely experienced Doc....and in my patch, I'm even sometimes lucky enough to get a well-known and widely published consultant professor turn up. I've never had any attitude from any of them, in fact the opposite - they give me 100% attention and take my handover and clinical assessment with complete professionalism. For example, if I say to them 'I think this one needs an RSI...' then an RSI I get.
Good of you to say such kind words anyway, thank you. And don't ever drive on by if you see an incident - we're always grateful for any off-duty assistance given before we arrive, from you guys. As for respect for us - as I said a few posts back, I think we're a special kind of strange people to do this job. We love it, for some reason. Go figure as they say!!
The_Doc said:
Yes ouch.
I respect all paramedics, but you a little less now.....
Just as long as you don't drive around with a green light on the top of your car....
"what's that green light in my rear view mirror? Is it the on-call butcher? "
All paramedics are brilliant in my view. I witnessed a big smash at 6:30am a few years back. T-bone RTC Jaguar vs Fiesta. The Jag man walked out easily and I parked up and rushed over to Fiesta boy, who was unconscious over his steering wheel, chin down. I held his airway open for 20 minutes as his GCS improved from ?4 to perhaps 13. Fire engine came at 20 mins and ambulance at 23mins.
It was about minus 3, I had no equipment and the car (and us two) were in a ditch in 6inches of mud.
So I have respect for all pre-hospital staff.
Excellent. Great stuff.I respect all paramedics, but you a little less now.....
Just as long as you don't drive around with a green light on the top of your car....
"what's that green light in my rear view mirror? Is it the on-call butcher? "
All paramedics are brilliant in my view. I witnessed a big smash at 6:30am a few years back. T-bone RTC Jaguar vs Fiesta. The Jag man walked out easily and I parked up and rushed over to Fiesta boy, who was unconscious over his steering wheel, chin down. I held his airway open for 20 minutes as his GCS improved from ?4 to perhaps 13. Fire engine came at 20 mins and ambulance at 23mins.
It was about minus 3, I had no equipment and the car (and us two) were in a ditch in 6inches of mud.
So I have respect for all pre-hospital staff.
Gassing Station | Health Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff