BS calls

[HellsBells]

so the person who drives their wheelchair 2 miles and the battery runs out and all they need is a ride back to their house is not a BS call?

I don't consider this a BS call. This woman is stranded and does need help to get home. The wheelchair most likely doesn't fit into a police cruiser. The ambulance is most well equiped to transfer this person home.

However, the overall tone of this thread is correct. There are BS calls, and I think EMS folks should have a little responsibilty in who is transported to hospital. The old "you call, we haul" mentality is outdated and there should be alternatives to mindlessly tranporting every pt to a hospital. If one truly wants to "touch" the life of a pt, educate them about alternatives to calling 911; your feet are mildly sunburned? A recomendation for aloe at the local drug store may improve this pts quality of life much more than an expensive hospital trip and a long hospital wait.

[flamingemt2011]

I never said every patient should be transported, just saying every patient is a person that deserves a professional response, no matter how low-acuity their illness or injury is.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Of course they deserve a proffessional response, no one on here has said "I tore them a new asshole for wasting my time". Everyone gets treated with respect regardless of how we feel about the call. Rule number one, it is not my emergency, rule number two, just because I don't think it's an emergency doesn't mean the patient sees it that way. This could be a huge emergency to them and we treat them with dignity and respect. Then, after the call, we laugh about it and use the black humour we know so well to blow it off. like in this thread where we can talk about the bull shit calls that you have ruined with your mightier than thou art bull shit.

[HellsBells]

First off, I wasn't referring exclusively to you flamingemt. That comment was a little bit of venting I had to get off my chest.

As for a less than professional response, I don't think anyone was promoting treating people disrespectfully. However, this is an EMS forum, and if people want to come here and blow off some steam about what they regarded as a BS call, then thats their right. I fail to understand your argument that paid practitioners have no right to be annoyed by frivilous or unessesary calls. I personally have felt that way on a number of calls, but can still function properly, and feel that I do what is in the best interest of the pt.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Hells bells, I agree that she was best served by our ambulance in getting her home but this did indeed tie up one of only two ambulances in our county. No other calls came out that night.

I also treated her with utmost respect and was the one who said to put her in the ambulance and drive her home.

I felt it was BS because she did have a husband who could have come got her but he was so pissed at her he said "tell her to get her own fucking ride home and maybe she won't do this again".

It took us less than 30 minutes from call start to finish and made a lifelong (at least 3 more weeks) fan of EMS here where I worked.

[PCP]

IMOP calling for an ambulance when you are cold is a BS call! I have been cold many times when walking home and did not put on a extra layer of clothes or jacket because I was too cool as a kid to put on my coat. NOT once did I ever think to call for an ambulance to take me home!

I feel it is a little different when someone calls an electrician and it turns out all he has to do is turn on a breaker as one can help themself by putting on a coat or sucking up the fact they are cold due to not putting on a coat but one can not help call an electrician when they do not have the knowledge of electrical issues and something is wrong!

Big difference my friend!

I wish we had been able to drop him off at home so we could have talked to the mom and dad or who ever was home at the time and explain to them when their kid should be calling for an ambulance.

[rock_shoes]

How can you say that Voranus ? Have we not taught every child to call 911 for everything for the past 20 years. I am surprised we do not get requests for pizza delivery to teenager's homes.

Which is exactly where patient re-education as to the services provided by EMS should occur

Sorry voranus, those are real calls. HLPP, give me a list of examples of your definition of BS calls, I will prove you wrong.

You’re right. Those are real calls. That doesn’t mean patients should be allowed to abuse the system like that. “You call we haul” is a bullshit attitude. If EMS wants to ever move past a being a basic “blue-collar” taxi service, denial of transport (with strict guidelines of course) needs to become a tool in the medic’s box.

[PCP]

I do not think I am hijacking anything, I believe contrary to the OPs point, and I am "on-topic", I did not change the topic, I just disagree with the statement that there are BS calls.

Easy Vorenus, without any details from the OP about what the real temperature or weather conditions were that day (raining/windy):

The definition of hypothermia is when the body temperature drops below 95 degrees. If a child is walking in the cold (even if dry and not windy), without proper insulation, it would not take long for mild hypothermia to settle in. I imagine the child was starting to feel those symptoms, and realized he could not make the rest of the walk. Who knows, if instead of lecturing the child, we actually took his temperature, we might have discovered that as well.

Now if it were 98 degrees outside, my argument does not hold.P.S. They stated they DROVE for 5 minutes, not walked for 5 minutes:So let's say they only drove 30mph (5280 feet x 30 = 158,400 feet per hour / 60 minutes = 2640 per minute x 5 minutes = 13200 feet / 5280 feet per mile = 2.5 miles the kid would have had to walk.

It was NOT raining, windy, or snowing! It was about 7 degrees out and when asked what was wrong he responded by saying he was cold and wanted a ride home! No signs of hypothermia what so ever temp. was taken and it was 36.7. done! Now if it was snowing or windy or minus 10 or something then by all means I am sure it would have been a different story but when the patient says I want a ride home cause I am cold and the weather was good that is a BULLSHIT call.

[the_negro_puppy]

I never said every patient should be transported, just saying every patient is a person that deserves a professional response, no matter how low-acuity their illness or injury is.

I wonder if you would still hold this view, if one of your family members was in critical condition in couldnt get an ambulance because the only one within 30 minutes was giving a "professional response" to a lazy git who wanted a lift home?

[ERDoc]

These are some great PR stories (which are always a good thing) but they go against what EMS is.

Emergency: A serious situation or occurrence that happens unexpectedly and demands immediate action

Medical: Of or relating to the study or practice of medicine, requiring treatment by medicine

Both were taken from thefreedictionary.com

That is the essence and purpose of EMS. Anything else is an abuse of the system. We do need to keep in mind that an emergency to one is not an emergency to another but I think we should be able to safely apply the reasonable man arguement to decide. The person who was cold and wanted a ride home was neither an emergency nor a medical case. The parents should have been sent the bill to reimburse the taxpayers or whoever were funding the ambulance for their expenses (gas ain't cheap). Even the wheelchair is an abuse of EMS resources. It may be an emergency but there is nothing medical. I will admit that there are times when the lines need to be blurred, nothing is black and white. Does it sound callous, yeah probably but life isn't easy. People are constanly screaming about how much waste there is in the government, this is just as wasteful not to mention it puts others at risk by tying up limited resources. If we lived in the utopia that flaming does it would not be an issue but here in the real world it is a very real issue. People need to start being accountable for their actions and have some skin in the game. You call 911, you get an ambulance. If you don't have an emergency medical issue, we'll take you but you will need to pay a co-pay or fee. Start making people responsible with their own money and you will see the abuse come to an abrupt hault. I'd love to see the same thing applied to the ER. Just because your PCP cannot see you for 2 days does not mean you should go to the ER.