Leaderboard

I am lucky to work for a service where I get to do a whole range of things - on a shift, I could do interfacility transfers, emergency calls, and a flight, all in a single 12 hour shift. The IFT calls we get are generally either to or from a long term care facility, or from our hospital to a higher level trauma or cardiac care facility. First, some of the things I don't like: - some of the long term care facilities have staff who are very poor at giving historical information, and you have limited or no access to medication lists, medical history, or DNR status. - some facilities will treat you like you have no right to ask questions, or just want the patient off their hands, and you will see poor patient care in some facilities. - some of the facilities have staff that are incredibly hard to find - we have returned patients to facilities, and have had to page staff from the front desk, or go up and down the halls looking for staff so we can do a report and hand off the patient. - sometimes, you are a taxi service only. You don't provide any medical care, and you are there only because family members cannot be bothered to look for any other alternative to get their family from one place to another. Now, some of the positives: - you will get to see a variety of things that you may not see on emergency calls, and that you may not have time to ask a lot of questions about on an emergency call. For example, transferring a dialysis patient may give you the opportunity to ask questions about their dialysis routine, some of the things that they find a problem or a good thing, or they may let you inspect and listen to their fistula if they have one - a good learning experience - some patients are very willing to talk, and you can learn a great deal about life in general from these patients. The other day I had a patient who had been a war bride - and she loved to tell me about coming to Canada - she was so interesting to listen to. - sometimes, the only care you will give these patients is comfort and a hand to hold, and for some of these patients, that is worth more than any medication you could provide. Seeing the smile on their face when you hold their hand, or getting a hug from them when you drop them off, is an added bonus to a day where you may not get thanked for the work you do. - if you are transferring a patient from one health centre to a higher care centre, you may have the opportunity to talk to staff there, or be able to follow your patient through some procedures, again, being able to learn from these calls things that you wouldn't see on a regular e-call. I will admit, I wouldn't want to work strictly IFT calls. I like the emergency calls, since they are what I originally got into EMS to do. Don't sell IFT calls short though - there are some that you can learn a great deal from.

ok here i go the fire dept does not make any money on youer run and i bet the volly make nothing when they help you with youer job we are there to help

But other than wrecks with extrication than is really no need to waste tax payer money or risk the public safety by having so many emergency responders. You may not charge but either by taxes or donations the tax payers money support you. Responding on all calls is a waste of money. Bad for the environment, bad for the tax payers, unsafe, I could go on and on. If we do not request you do not respond.