Ask a Paramedic anything at all...

[Ruskie]

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.

Cool story Doc or another way of looking at it, just a normal everyday Paramedic shift

I jest of course, however here was a quote from an A&E consultant after I took a GCS 3 patient in who the consultant tried to tell me wasn’t. It was only when the anaesthetist pointed out he actually was GCS 3 that he stopped laughing and paid attention. Afterwards he approached me and said....

Consultant- “I think there was a misunderstanding, I really respect you guys.”
Me - “No misunderstanding. I rang a GCS3 through, you didn’t believe me and laughed with your colleague saying, I can see he’s at least an 8 from here. It’s cool I know you have zero respect for us”
C- “No, no, You do loads of really important stuff on scene.”

Dramatic pause....

“Like you carry people down the stairs”

[anonymous-user]

Isn't that what the fire brigade are for?

[anonymous-user]

So last night, we get a call to a central London pub where a 25yo male (let's call him John) is intoxicated.
John jas been out with friends and returned from the gents saying he's "had some powder"
John is acting strangely, slurred speech, trouble focussing and so on. Could be pissed, could be drugs.
On examining him, his resting heart rate was 150+ and his BP was consistently above 200.
So off we jolly well go to A+E.
John brings a friend who, in between talking total garbage, he instructs to phone his girlfriend to let her know he won't be home.
John scrolls though his phone contacts, picks one and says "That one"
His friend calls the number.
"Hi! Yeah....nothing to worry about, just calling on behalf of John. Bit awkward, we've had a night out and it all got a bit lairy and the upshot is we had to call an ambulance and the crew think he's taken some drugs but we don't know what but it's all fine and he's gonna be ok and you needn't worry and all that.
What?....Why am I phoning you?....Well John told me to phone his girlfriend....he thought you'd be concerned.....You're not his girlfriend? Who are you then?.......Oh. You're his boss?"

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 9th February 13:23

[Mothersruin]

Ha!

[14]

Have you ever been called to a house where an elderly person has died in their sleep, If so what do you do? I'm asking as a distant relative of mine died in those condition on Monday morning, and from what I've heard the doctor made a mistake on the death certificate which meant the undertakers weren't able to take the body because of it.

[The Mad Monk]

14 said:

Have you ever been called to a house where an elderly person has died in their sleep, If so what do you do? I'm asking as a distant relative of mine died in those condition on Monday morning, and from what I've heard the doctor made a mistake on the death certificate which meant the undertakers weren't able to take the body because of it.

What happened?

[14]

He went to bed on Sunday night and when his wife went to wake him up the next morning, she couldn't wake him up. I think she quickly realised he'd died in his sleep. I'm guessing that she might of phoned 999 or 111 to report his death and then called my mum - her niece - to tell her about what happened and for my mum to come over. By the time my mum had got there the doctor had been, the undertakers had also been but they were unable to take the body due to a mistake on the death certificate. His death wasn't completely unexpected, as he'd been in poor health for a couple of years and his health had deteriorated in the past few weeks.

[The_Doc]

Have a read of this, see if it fills in any blanks

https://www.bma.org.uk/advice/employment/gp-practi...

W

[The Mad Monk]

14 said:

He went to bed on Sunday night and when his wife went to wake him up the next morning, she couldn't wake him up. I think she quickly realised he'd died in his sleep. I'm guessing that she might of phoned 999 or 111 to report his death and then called my mum - her niece - to tell her about what happened and for my mum to come over. By the time my mum had got there the doctor had been, the undertakers had also been but they were unable to take the body due to a mistake on the death certificate. His death wasn't completely unexpected, as he'd been in poor health for a couple of years and his health had deteriorated in the past few weeks.

So how was the situation resolved?

[14]

The_Doc said:

Have a read of this, see if it fills in any blanks

https://www.bma.org.uk/advice/employment/gp-practi...

W

Cheers.

[The Mad Monk]

14 said:

the doctor had been, the undertakers had also been but they were unable to take the body due to a mistake on the death certificate.

Are you able to tell us what then happened?

It sounds like an impasse.

[anonymous-user]

Wasn't something as simple as the name, date or gender being incorrect was it?

[The Mad Monk]

14 said:

the undertakers had also been but they were unable to take the body due to a mistake on the death certificate.

Are you in a position to tell us what happened?

[briangriffin]

It may not be something you’ve seen but I’d guess you’d know about, but going from films how accurate is it when the portray a soldier losing a limb from an IED?

Often there’s an open wound but Little excess blood from what I would assume is the femoral artery in the leg for example, does it effectively get cauterised when blown off?

And can you give your thoughts on the difference between you and your military equivalent?


Thanks

[glazbagun]

Mothersruin said:

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.

[14]

I don't know anything else I'm afraid.

[Badda]

briangriffin said:

It may not be something you’ve seen but I’d guess you’d know about, but going from films how accurate is it when the portray a soldier losing a limb from an IED?

Often there’s an open wound but Little excess blood from what I would assume is the femoral artery in the leg for example, does it effectively get cauterised when blown off?

And can you give your thoughts on the difference between you and your military equivalent?


Thanks

Initially the arteries will spasm, to some extent, to reduce loss but this can't go on for ever/long.

[anonymous-user]

briangriffin said:

And can you give your thoughts on the difference between you and your military equivalent?


Thanks

I spent a long time in the military (although not in a medical branch) and am now LAS.
I'd say the biggest difference is military medics are dealing generally with young, fit individuals who take care of themselves and have a good level of general health. Soldiers are usually averse to bleating about every little ailment too, so whereas in my current role we often have patients who'll admit to having every complaint under the sun, I think one of the challenges of a military medic is convincing the patient they aren't well.
In terms of dealing with trauma (which traditionally a military medic will see more of), there's the advantage that the people involved usually have higher-than-average first aid skills and so can really assist in a meaningful way, instead of being kept at arm's length as some civvy bystanders need to be.
With the decline of ops in Afghanistan and Iraq the exposure to very serious trauma has no doubt declined but up til then, the exposure to traumatic amputations, serious haemorrhage and so on was way above what a civilian ambulance crew experience.
It's also worth remembering that a lot of military medical staff are TA, on loan from the NHS, and a lot of hospital staff are the reverse.

[glenrobbo]

When you have a casualty with serious spinal injuries on board and no air ambulance available, what is your opinion of those fg awful traffic calming speed humps?

[Cognoscenti]

glenrobbo said:

When you have a casualty with serious spinal injuries on board and no air ambulance available, what is your opinion of those fg awful traffic calming speed humps?

The same opinion of all drivers on the road - Maybe a little more annoying