5 Terrifying secrets about ambulances

[Happiness]

http://www.cracked.com/article_19798_5-terrifying-secrets-about-riding-in-ambulance.html

interesting

[AZCEP]

Aside from the obvious "if it bleeds, it leads" journalistic style of the article, interesting might be a bit of an overstatement.

[HellsBells]

...and likewise, my stating that this is sensationalist bullshit would be a bit of an understatement.

[cscboulder11]

...and likewise, my stating that this is sensationalist bullshit would be a bit of an understatement.

I just laughed at it. Sadly, people will buy this.

[Kaisu]

gee I don't know.. sounded pretty accurate to me

[fakingpatience]

I just laughed at it. Sadly, people will buy this.

What is wrong with people "buying" this? Sadly, almost all of it is true where I work;

5: Ambulances tend to explode- while we haven't had any exploding ambulances, they are poorly maintained, have died on calls, and have had health hazards (and we were not allowed to pull it out of service)

4: Patients abuse the system in ridiculous ways- Really, everyone in EMS has experienced this at one time or another

3: The burn out rate for crews is sky high- again this is a given at many (private) companies, I was actually surprised how accurately they were describing our long hours, sleep deprivation, and the effects of the stress of the job

2: Procedures are constantly changing, then changing back- They even used the perfect example of bleeding control and the use of tourniquets coming back into use!

1: Crews are constantly getting attacked- Ok, out of all of them, this is the one I have found to be the least true, at least here

Personally after reading the article, I feel almost certain it was written by someone who was/is in EMS

[Bieber]

Only numbers 5 and 1 were all that sensationalized, in my opinion--and number 1 only a bit.

[cscboulder11]

What is wrong with people "buying" this? Sadly, almost all of it is true where I work;

5: Ambulances tend to explode- while we haven't had any exploding ambulances, they are poorly maintained, have died on calls, and have had health hazards (and we were not allowed to pull it out of service)

4: Patients abuse the system in ridiculous ways- Really, everyone in EMS has experienced this at one time or another

3: The burn out rate for crews is sky high- again this is a given at many (private) companies, I was actually surprised how accurately they were describing our long hours, sleep deprivation, and the effects of the stress of the job

2: Procedures are constantly changing, then changing back- They even used the perfect example of bleeding control and the use of tourniquets coming back into use!

1: Crews are constantly getting attacked- Ok, out of all of them, this is the one I have found to be the least true, at least here

Personally after reading the article, I feel almost certain it was written by someone who was/is in EMS

The premise is true, but I feel the article just wants to sensationalize everything.

But ambulances do explode. A lot. - This is a regular event?

all of which must be used by the EMTs while weaving in and out of traffic at top speed and blasting through stoplight. - I've yet to see this.

EMTs will almost always experience burnout '- Almost always' is not a number.

services run in 12- or even 24-hour shifts. True, but they make it sound like you are on a call during that entire time.

Learn it today, unlearn it tomorrow. Relearn it again next month. - The medical field is always changing. New techniques and practices come into play. You get more good things than bad out of this change.

weighing just shy of a ton - I didn't realize EMTs provided care to whales.

Edited May 17, 2012 by cscboulder11

[Arctickat]

I'm surprised that he didn't mention:

"That bed you're gonna be laying on? Yeah, somebody died there." or "not very long before you were on it was a puddle of quivering goo that was pile driven by a speeding semi."

[Kaisu]

You guys read cracked right? It's humor.....