is it really this dangerous as an EMT?

[rat115]

It can be dangerous. You've got to keep alert and know when to have a tough hide.

I've been kicked and hit by a drunk with a head injury from a MVC rollover. I've been punched at by a guy who blacked out and would normally be calling me "Gorgious" if he'd not had quite so much. I had my boss threatened and another EMT almost punched by a suicide attempt who was wonderfully cooperative for me and another EMT just because of how we talked to him. I've been yelled at and cried on. I even had one of our local RNs threaten to punch me when she was drunk and going into diabetic coma because her BGL was so out of wack, and then she passed out just after turning herself on her stomach and vomiting so I had to prevent her from aspirating. (She's been pretty nice to me since she was told her condition when she was wheeled into the ED.) I've had drunks and sober come onto me and try to cop a feel.

You will see everything. You will expericence things you didn't think you ever would in your life. If this is for you, you'll make it through.

[systemet]

I am pretty sure no EMT is supposed to be going into any kind of situation with drunks or drug users without first waiting for Police to arrive. Isn't that what they teach you about assessing the scene? I would be sitting in the Ambulance not doing a damn thing if I felt it was not safe to be out there. What do I care if some drug user or drunk drops dead before Police arrive.

It doesn't really work like that. I've had night shifts where I've done 10 calls and everyone's been intoxicated. I feel like I've had tours like that.

Where I work, our dispatchers will stage us on shootings, stabbings, and assaults where the assailant is on scene. They can stage us if they believe the scene is unsafe, and I can stage whenever I feel like it, based on the information I get, which is often < 2 lines of text on a computer.

The dispatchers don't ask, "are you drunk or high?", you generally work that out once you're there. Not to mention that a lot of people don't answer those questions truthfully. Or that sometimes all the dispatcher gets is "there's some guy lying in a bus shelter [click]".

A lot of the people we see are drunk, a lot are high on a wide range of drugs, both prescription and non-prescription. A lot of people are just violent. Some people aren't perceiving reality the same way you and I do, and are acutely psychotic, whether drug-induced or "organic". Sometimes hypoxia and hypoglycemia or postictal states are a problem. A lot of people haven't had good experiences with people in uniform, and a lot of people are quite willing to hurt a stranger, especially if they appear rude or unfriendly.

The best defence isn't a stab vest, judo chop, or AR-15. It's being polite to people, and remembering that you're there to help.