My Taxi Service

[Emtpbill]

If the call was on the way to the hospital you could have stopped, started to render care, have your partner stay with the woman in the back and just nicely explain that it will only be a short delay.

That way you can possibly get an airway and stabilization til the next crew shows up. Hand care off to them or transfer your patient to them.

[paramedicmike]

If the call was on the way to the hospital you could have stopped, started to render care, have your partner stay with the woman in the back and just nicely explain that it will only be a short delay.

That way you can possibly get an airway and stabilization til the next crew shows up. Hand care off to them or transfer your patient to them.

What you're advocating actually sparked a big debate in here a while back regarding the ethics and legality behind this type of stunt. The discussion was sparked by the story of an ambulance in NYC with a patient on board (pediatric seizures if I remember correctly) that stopped for a traffic accident that resulted in one of the drivers getting out with a gun.

There were two sides to the debate. One side argued that you have your patient on board and are already transporting so your responsibility begins and ends with that patient already on your ambulance. The other side argued that it was perfectly reasonable to stop even though it delayed care of the patient with whom they'd already made contact and ultimately turned into a shooting endangering themselves, the patient and the patient's parents.

It got pretty interesting... and heated.

[Richard B the EMT]

Was the second call on the way to the hospital you were transporting the first call to? As long as you have one tech or medic in the back, you've not abandoned the patient, and your partner could have initiated care on a "flag down" at the second call, until the backup ambulance crew arrived.

Check local protocols and laws, see if that could have been feasible. Otherwise, as already stated, you have to play the hand you've been dealt.

[ambodriver]

taxi it up bro. Welcome to EMS.

Can't recall how many times I've transported some drunk dumbass or toe ache and missed a deserving call. Like the child vs vehicle. Great.

detach yourself emotionally, it'll do wonders for ya.

[ShockDoctor]

It's our local SOP that if a bus is transporting or caring for a patient at call #1, that it doesn't handle call #2 until we are clear (10-8). There are a handful of exceptions to this rule, but this particular incident didn't fall under any of those.

[Just Plain Ruff]

It's our local SOP that if a bus is transporting or caring for a patient at call #1, that it doesn't handle call #2 until we are clear (10-8). There are a handful of exceptions to this rule, but this particular incident didn't fall under any of those.

I had a call that fell outside our standard procedures.

One ambulance for entire county of 13500 or so. We covered 3/4 of the county and usually had 2 crews on during day but only one on at night. Had a 2nd ambulance service 17 miles away that covered the other 1/4 of the county.

Got called to the nursing home for a patient who had fallen and hurt her ankle. She was pretty docile and was sleeping by the time we turned on to the street to take her to the ER.

Call came in for a 2 year old choking 5 minutes away from where we were at the time. I made the decision to have the 2nd ambulance service start responding and we would respond also, with the patient in the back of the ambulance. We arrived and found a 2 year old in significant distress and then go unresponsive. Had swallowed a penny.

Child on the way to arrest. Was able to visually see the penny and pulled it out with magill forceps. Began to breath for the patient with a BVM and he started to come around. My partner (EMT) was in the back with the sleeping patient.

We waited for the other ambulance service to get there, they transported the child with what turned out to be a great outcome. Had we have followed SOP and waited for the other ambulance to get there, that child would be dead.

I gave the penny back to the parents in a specimin jar.

[Richard B the EMT]

Each call has to be on it's own merit. As I previously inferred, see if it fits in your rules, regulations, protocols, etc, or be prepared to explain to your supervisors, why you responded to a second call with one already on board.

Vague memories of a news story, alleging a minor condition patient on the way to a hospital, was ordered out of the ambulance, that the crew could respond to the "action" call. The crew just left them street side, with the patient and family "rider" unaware where they were when ordered out. As always on this deal, the city paid out big time, and both crewmen of the ambulance were fired, with state certs pulled.

[tniuqs]

Isn't a bus a large awkward vehicle to respond in ?

[ambodriver]

Isn't a bus a large awkward vehicle to respond in ?

yea, those crazy NYers don't know WTF a rig is eh?

[tniuqs]

Eh would be correct !

Ok a little EMT City history rule's of engagement, the term "bus" can only be used within the city limits and 5 boroughs of NYC, any Unauthorised use of this term other than in 1. Manhattan 2. Brooklyn 3. Queens 4. The Bronx 5. Staten Island is punishable with a minus 5 on the Dustdevil scale under the very clearly defined term whackerism .

The exception being an MCI Bus