Lifetaker

Wow. I never thought I would get such a response. Thank you to everyone who responded. I have many questions and will probably be posting many more questions. All of your input was very helpful. If anyone has any questions for me please ask. Or any more input. So I work for a company with some paramedics that RSI just about anyone. They say, If they can't drink a glass of water, they need to be intubated. Well, half the Pt's we transport can't drink a glass of water and we don't intubate them. Anyway thank you all again for your input. Glad to be a part of the City and keep on truckin.

Thank you both for your comments. To Bieber, I chose not to give Activated charcoal because there wasn't really any indication for it, he hadn't OD'd or anything and I gave him the fluids because of his alcohol intake which is dehydrating and he had vomited quite a few times which is even more dehydrating. Once I got him to the ER they started a second line and hung 2 more liters prior to our departure from the ER. The ER doc was also very concerned about his paleness and ordered blood work stat. ER doc also asked if I had given any anti emetic like Promethazine and I had not. To ERDoc, You're right, I probably should have given him some anti emetic to lower the risk of aspiration and make him feel better. I'm just so different like that sometimes. My thinking was that, he was vomiting and able to clear his airway so why not let him rid himself of whatever alcohol is left in his stomach, but then hindsight kicks in and I think, Crap I should have done this or I should have done that. The ER staff were also questioning me why I came code 3 with a drunk. Well, I wasn't worried about him being drunk but his profuse diaphoresis and paleness, and even the ER doc was thinking something else was going on. I've seen a lot drunks and never have I seen one that pale and diaphoretic. Then again I am a new medic so I havn't seen that much. Thank you again for your input.

So I'm a fairly new medic in a rule area and I could use some feed back on this call. What would you have done different, things like that. Anyway the other night I had an ETOH call. This guy was about 28 with ADD as his only med Hx and Adderall slow release as his only meds. He's also not a drinker so he is pretty intoxicated off about 6 shots of some liquor called Absynth or something. Found him the bathtub with his pants on and quite a bit of vomit all over the place. Pt was very pale warm and VERY diaphoretic. Could'nt hold his head up very well at all. Pt kept vomiting but he was able to spit and move so he wasn't just laying there choking on his own vomit. Pt took his 10mg slow release Adderall earlier in the morning and it is now midnight. Anyway, started an IV, had a firefighter controll his head and sat him up in fowlers, put him on 3 lpm o2 NC with 98% sats. Gave about 1000 ml of fluid on the way to the hospital. We have half an hour transports. Cardiac monitor with normal sinus rhythm at 85. Bp was good and blood sugar was 168. And family denied pt ODing on his meds. Called poison controll and they said he would be a little diaphoretic from the Adderall but not that pale. Opted not to give anti emetic because I wanted him to rid his system of what was in there, in highnsight that probly was'nt that good of a decision. Then handed care over to the ER. So any feed back at all would be helpful. I'm still pretty new. Should I have Intubated the guy or put in an NG tube, or given some anti emetic? Or was he just really drunk and he's fine? Thanks in advance and keep on truckin.