The past 24 hours have been some of the worst of my career.

[mediccjh]

The past 24 hours have been exhausting and mentally straining of my 10 year career.

Where do I start?

Monday night, we had 2 MVAs with Rescue, pin jobs 1st was 3 blocks away from the station...my guy had busted his face, missing teeth, possible LeForte I fx...he was intubated at the hospital. That was around midnight.

Then at 6a, we get hit for another pin job. Car blew a stop sign and got T-boned by a tractor-trailer doing 55 (the speed limit on that stretch of road). The engine block was in the center console, neither driver nor passenger were wearing seatbelts. The female passenger was unconscious, and the way they were positioned she was on top of him, as if they were spooning. There was NO room to work due to the massive damage (roof intrusion, engine block in her lap, massive intrusion into passenger compartment of doors, dashboard, everything), so all I could do was manual C-Spine w/ jaw thrust since she was breathing about 4 times a minutes. After the driver was extricated, I was finally able to put a collar and O2 on, but couldn't bag her so it was just a NRB, since the roof was still in the way. Needed to extricate him first to get to her to treat her, all while I'm in the back in my Blueberry Jump Suit and helmet. Got her in the back of the bus, I tubed her and got bilateral 14s since she was hypotensive, tachycardic, cold and clammy, blah, blah, blah. She has:R cranial bleed w/ left brain shift, Pnemomediastinum, Busted ribs, Lacerated spleen,Possible L femur or tib-fib fx, and that's only what I could remember...somehow she is still alive. The car was fucking destroyed...we were only onscene for 17 minutes, 15 of that FD working to cut, which they did a kick-ass job on.

Last night, I had a preceptee til 1...not too bad.

5 am we're dispatched for an unconscious. Get there, this guy is laying on left side, tachypneic w/ dried dark blood around his mouth. He was a quadriplegic, so the stairchair was out of the question. Threw him on the Reeves, he started gurgling, so we got him out to the bus as fast as we could. I bagged him and tubed him in the bus...he had some wicked kyphosis, so it was pretty much a blind tube since all I saw was the top of the cords w/ my partner giving me cric pressure...got it on the first shot (same with the chick from the MVA).

Then at 0644, ANOTHER PIN JOB!! We get going, me muttering not again over and over, We get there, and 2 minor injuries, thank God.

The past 24 hours have been exhausnting and mentally straining. The crash at 6a was one of the worst, if not the worst, I've ever see w/ live patients. I think what's getting me is the helplessness of only being able to keep her airway open and C-Spine manually in-line due to the conditions. I know I did what I could, and if she survives this, it's a fucking miracle.

It's been a rough 24 hours, and I can't wait to escape Monday morning at 7a.

I just needed to vent.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Sounds like a rough couple of days. Go home monday, take a day away from the Pager and the scanner if you listen to it.

spend some time with friends, family or just in a hobby you enjoy.

My first day as an emt, brandnew on the streets emt, pedi code, adult code, mva with 3 class I trauma patients. They were so busy that I did not have a field training officer to ride with me and coach me. I was alone with my partner. All in all it went well but it was mentally draining.

Everyone has weeks like you had and in the end it does all work out.

Keep your spirits up and by all means, spend some time with the ones you love. We dont' get to see them all that often in this line of work.

[becksdad]

Hey, Mediccjh, I think most of us can relate to the strain of the shift you described. I also think you're pretty accurate in determining that some of it is from the frustration of being unable to gain access to a critical patient and doing what you know you could do if only....

Plus the stress of all those back to back critical calls! It is exhausting. I read somewhere that somebody did some study on emergency workers and chemical indicators of stress (I'm not real sure of this info. - it was a long time ago). But the conclusion was something like one serious call is the equivalent of a full days work in so-called "normal" jobs. And you had how many in one shift?

We had a shift once where we had 2 trauma alerts, a REALLY bad GI bleed, and a REALLY bad breather. Pretty evenly spaced throughout the day. And it was pretty much ok until midnight when we ran on a little 2-or-3 year old boy hit by a truck. As I remember it, the boy had agonal resps when we arrived, badly deviated trach., obvious extremity Fx's x 3 or 4. We did a lot for him, but he died next day. Follow-up informed us he had (in addition to extremity fx's), multiple skull fx's, lacerated liver & spleen, hemopneumo, I forget if anything else (as if that's not enough). But what we got to do is stop at the fire station that responded with us and just shoot the breeze some. We sort of went over the call, talking about what we did, why we did it, etc., etc. Maybe we just confirmed for ourselves that we did everything we could, but it was good just to talk about it with people who were there.

I don't know what else to say, except that you know we know what its like. Thank God those kind of shifts are usually few and far between!

[iadybug423]

Can someone tell me what a "pin" is?

[Dustdevil]

The car was fucking destroyed...we were only onscene for 17 minutes, 15 of that FD working to cut, which they did a kick-ass job on.

Awesome job, right there! Sounded like a half-hour job to me, at the very least!

There are few things nearly as frustrating (and stress inducing) as having to sit there and do nothing but hold c-spine because of access problems (or because your partner got lost while retrieving equipment for you :roll: ). The seconds seem like hours.

The good news is, your next few shifts will (hopefully) seem totally uneventful to you after this one. Life has a way of evening things out!

[iadybug423]

"Pin job" means people pinned in vehicle? Feeling a bit "new" and "duh"-like.

[Asysin2leads]

Medic, I'd say take a few days off, if you can spare them. The human body and mind, even if its battle hardened, can only take so much. Take a few days off and relax.

[etfink]

Medic, I'd say take a few days off, if you can spare them. The human body and mind, even if its battle hardened, can only take so much. Take a few days off and relax.

Great advice. If you have days off take them. Recharge. This is exactly how great medics get burned out. To second Dust, 17 min scene time..Bravo Zulu. Good Job.

[Ridryder 911]

When it ...."rains it pours"... of course, I can't say anything you have not heard before..... other than IT SUCKS!...

For some reason or another, it appears, you currently have the "curse" .. 'black cloud" .... "Sh*t Magnet"... or whatever or however you label it, it sticks with you for a while. Then it when it does go away... you are dry again... it appears it comes in waves...

Ditto .. to what others have said... I do know how you feel.. fortunately, I am on the dry side now.. had the weird sh*t magnet a couple of weeks ago.. glad that is gone... yet, I go back to work Thrs.. who knows?

Hang in there buddy.. have a one on me !

[Eydawn]

mediccjh, absolutely amazing on the scene time on your rough one. And even though it seems frustrating that all you could do was maintain airway and C-spine, think about it this way.. if you hadn't done that, she might not have had a chance at all!

Take it easy, if I were over 21 I'd buy you a Guinness!

Hang in there.

Wendy