Paranoid
I spent my first 8 waking hours at school. It went relatively well...I'm still glad I'm done until Wednesday.
I got to work at 1500. Right away I got a call for a return to a nursing home-nothing special. The lady had a hip fracture and was going for rehab. We were told to post a hospital about 10 miles away and right before we got there they cancelled us. We sat at the station for a while getting some paperwork done and chatting with our regional manager. Then dispatch called back and said to go post the same hospital, once again. We didn't make it there this time either. We were told to go to a nursing home down the road (about 5 miles) on priority for vaginal bleeding. Needless to say, the bleeding wasn't severe and it had been going on for two days. Another day of risking my life to act as a taxi.
We didn't even clear from that call when we were paged out to take a patient from the same ER to another hospital for surgery. Our patient was using a table saw and it slipped, partially amputating his right index finger and lacerating the others. We took him directly to the OR at a hospital about 20 minutes outside of Chicago.
We got back to our quarters and got to rest for about two hours. Then we got dispatched for a psych transport. The lady was a paranoid schizophrenic. She was walking around in circles around the nurses station muttering to herself. She asked many questions and kept saying, "I can walk...I can walk." She also asked me why she had to wear all the seatbelts, and that she couldn't help anyone if she was strapped down. She was very concerned that the doors were locked and that no men were in the ambulance. She asked if she could go home. When I said she had to go to the hospital she said, "I can't go home? Is that what my mom said?" I just told her it was the hospital's policy and that they would work everything out there. I was glad to finish the call-my hand was getting tired from all the times she made me unlock and relock the back doors to prove to her that they were, indeed, locked.
Back to quarters again for about an hour. We were called for a return to a nursing home from an ER for a patient that had abdominal pain that was cured with a GI cocktail. Great. Easy enough, right? Nope. She weighed almost 500 pounds. Before we left quarters I asked my dispatcher for a lift assist because they included the weight on the page. She said she was sending one from the Glenview area and that they would meet us at the hospital. We were about 1 mile from the hospital when one of our company's ambulances passed us-with both people in the front. The rig wasn't from my station so I figured it was our lift assist-having missed the hospital. My dispatcher kindly turned them around and they got to the ER about 10 minutes after we did. I can't believe they missed the hospital. As if the big blue signs with the "H" on them means anything but hospital. Oh well. We got the lady to the nursing home without incident. She was a big one and I was glad that was my last call.
(back dated)
I got to work at 1500. Right away I got a call for a return to a nursing home-nothing special. The lady had a hip fracture and was going for rehab. We were told to post a hospital about 10 miles away and right before we got there they cancelled us. We sat at the station for a while getting some paperwork done and chatting with our regional manager. Then dispatch called back and said to go post the same hospital, once again. We didn't make it there this time either. We were told to go to a nursing home down the road (about 5 miles) on priority for vaginal bleeding. Needless to say, the bleeding wasn't severe and it had been going on for two days. Another day of risking my life to act as a taxi.
We didn't even clear from that call when we were paged out to take a patient from the same ER to another hospital for surgery. Our patient was using a table saw and it slipped, partially amputating his right index finger and lacerating the others. We took him directly to the OR at a hospital about 20 minutes outside of Chicago.
We got back to our quarters and got to rest for about two hours. Then we got dispatched for a psych transport. The lady was a paranoid schizophrenic. She was walking around in circles around the nurses station muttering to herself. She asked many questions and kept saying, "I can walk...I can walk." She also asked me why she had to wear all the seatbelts, and that she couldn't help anyone if she was strapped down. She was very concerned that the doors were locked and that no men were in the ambulance. She asked if she could go home. When I said she had to go to the hospital she said, "I can't go home? Is that what my mom said?" I just told her it was the hospital's policy and that they would work everything out there. I was glad to finish the call-my hand was getting tired from all the times she made me unlock and relock the back doors to prove to her that they were, indeed, locked.
Back to quarters again for about an hour. We were called for a return to a nursing home from an ER for a patient that had abdominal pain that was cured with a GI cocktail. Great. Easy enough, right? Nope. She weighed almost 500 pounds. Before we left quarters I asked my dispatcher for a lift assist because they included the weight on the page. She said she was sending one from the Glenview area and that they would meet us at the hospital. We were about 1 mile from the hospital when one of our company's ambulances passed us-with both people in the front. The rig wasn't from my station so I figured it was our lift assist-having missed the hospital. My dispatcher kindly turned them around and they got to the ER about 10 minutes after we did. I can't believe they missed the hospital. As if the big blue signs with the "H" on them means anything but hospital. Oh well. We got the lady to the nursing home without incident. She was a big one and I was glad that was my last call.
(back dated)
posted by Ambulance Girl at 12:11
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home