I’m either fortunate or cursed enough to live in Austin, Texas, which bills itself as the Live Music Capital of the World. As part of that, we’re also home to South By Southwest, a giant musical festival that allows Austin to be the temporary capital of hipsters and music executives during that time. (And here’s my obligatory kudos for the super work by the medics of Austin/Travis County EMS, the firefighter first responders of the Austin Fire Department, and the Austin Police Department during the mass casualty incident…)
One thing that SXSW is full of is guest lists, especially for private parties. And these guest lists get enforced by bouncers and velvet ropes. In other words, if you’re not cool enough to be on the list, you don’t get in.
EMS doesn’t have private parties. (Ok, if we do, I’m not telling.) But so many medics want to function as bouncers for the ER. “Well, we can take you to the hospital if you really want to.” “Yes, but it’s 10 o’clock and the ER will be busy.”
Or if we do let you past the velvet rope into the ambulance to take you to the ER, some of us treat people as the “not cool” crowd. “I stick everybody with at least an 18 gauge.” “I only give pain medicines if I think they need them.” Or my personal least favorite, “I’ll BLS this call. We’re only X minutes from the hospital.”
The one recurring theme that I find with “bad” medics is a continued unwillingness to do the job — namely, to take people to the hospital and (hopefully) improve their condition by the time they’ve gotten there. Nowhere in any EMS job description does it add the caveat: “But only if you think the patient is worth your time.” Don’t be a bouncer. Be a clinician.
This very topic is exactly why I’ve always considered it a BLESSing to have been a patient’s family member first before doing anything else.
I saw my sister in a Medical trauma 1 and paramedics saved her life.
Some people think that makes me too emotional but I believe it does exactly what it’s supposed to do in terms of caring no matter what.