Lone Star Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 With this patient you do not want to tilt their head back, trauma patients require the jaw thrust instead of the head tilt. I'm guessing you were taught this at some point. Anyways have someone take c-spine and then extricate the patient out of the car and on to the ground. Have the person at the head control c-spine and open the airway, if the patient is pulseless then start cpr, if you don't have a face mask or anything similiar and EMS is that close then just do compressions @ 100/minute until EMS arrives. If there is no danger of fire, explosion, electrocution, etc, etc, etc,...there should be no reason for the first responder to extricate the pt from the vehicle unless CPR is called for. The responder obviously had no equipment with them, and by attempting to extricate the pt, they could have caused more injury to the pt. mgarner123... kudos to you for even stopping! In today's society, with the prevalent 'me first, screw you' mentality, its nice to see there is still some hope for people in general. Kudos also for knowing that you were limited in your abilities to treat, and starting the 9-1-1 system in motion. While retrospect and critiquing your treatments and actions after the call are a good thing in my book, don't beat yourself up for your feelings of 'I should have been able to do more'. Even the higher trained professionals do that, and still get that feeling of "What else could I have done to effect a better outcome?" My suggestion is this. If you like the field of EMS, then by all means, when you turn 18, advance up the chain of licensure by enrolling into the EMT-B course, get some road time in (at least 6 months to a year) then go back to school and go for the next higher licensure. By taking time between your licensure advances to work the road, it's my opinion that it gives you time to hone and use the skills you've learned, and therefore they become second nature on a call.
Dustdevil Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 Ditto to the preceding kudos. Job well done. I am glad that you weren't stuck there alone waiting for the closest EMS, coming from 60 miles away. I suppose the only criticism I would offer would be that you "ran" up to the vehicle. If you meant that literally, I would encourage you to stop and take a deep breath in the future before approaching the scene. Sounds like you did have safety in mind, and that is great, but have it in mind from the very beginning, not just after you reach the car. Dangers exist on the way to the car also, so again, slow down, take a deep breath and a look around you before you approach your patient, and then walk quickly to their side, but do not run. Running is just something we do on "Rescue 911" re-enactments, not in real life. Welcome to the dark side!
JCicco345 Posted April 30, 2007 Posted April 30, 2007 If there is no danger of fire, explosion, electrocution, etc, etc, etc,...there should be no reason for the first responder to extricate the pt from the vehicle unless CPR is called for. The responder obviously had no equipment with them, and by attempting to extricate the pt, they could have caused more injury to the pt. In the original post the patient was said to be pulseless and apenic.
mgarner123 Posted April 30, 2007 Author Posted April 30, 2007 Thanks guys. Well no i did not literally run to the car. My car was also parked to the lane next to the accident, i could not see into the vehicle as so many people were crowding. I rolled down the widnow and asked if anyone needed help. I really want to get some sort of sticker on my car saying not to touch me if im in an accident. The people taht were trying to help were absoultety stupid. One man immediatly pulled the seat level makign the seat fall back extremely so that she was lying down for "better circulation". Another was attempting to break the front window to extricate her from the front end of the car legs first even though the doors were all working.
Timmy Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 lol! Yeah you get that! I remember my first MVA, my first aid team were called as first response as the paramedics were 45mins out. It was on a major rural highway in the middle of no wear. It was a head on, with another car some how getting involved and rolling into a drain. We drove over the bridge and as we got to the top we had a bids eye view. There were about 20 semi trucks and cars pulled over and 40 people congregating around the 3 cars. The police were on scene but were way to busy trying to slow the prime moves down (they fly at incredible speed along these roads) before someone became a pancake. Finding parking for the ambulance was bit of a hassle. Anyways I jumped out and the truck drivers had already taken an unresponsive driver with chest injuries out and laid him on the hood of his car. They were also attempting to jimmy open the doors on the other cars or even attempting to smash the windows. Then up crawled a Truckee from the table drain with a girl in his arms, her neck flying in all directions, we had a women who said she knew first aid trying to straighten out a major leg fracture. The whole thing was just serial and insane! I was only 16 when this happens, I had that much adrenaline flying around I could barley breath. Just goes to show what moronic behavior and actions people can do trying to help, but having basic knowledge of first aid can make all the difference.
sledogg1 Posted May 1, 2007 Posted May 1, 2007 Good job, you did what u could do. It was a traumatic arrest so CPR would not have helped............ look after yourself and if you have anymore questions, etc let us know and i am sure we will be there for you. Take Care and thankyou for your assistance. Chris
EMSm0nster Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 Good job, I am sure most 17 yo do not have the training nor balls to take control of the situation like you did.
AnthonyM83 Posted May 2, 2007 Posted May 2, 2007 You get points for actually stopping and not just honking and zooming around her.
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