Does BLS call for ALS intercept when not needed....

[tator55]

If i am not comfortable with a patient, if it just feels like something is wrong that i cannot pinpoint, then yes i would call for an ALS intercept. Worst comes to worst, they clear me and get a BLS release out of it. Thats the way i was taught to do it.

[kristinaemtb]

I am an EMT that works on an ALS truck. We intercept Quit a few calls in our area. Most of our calls have the need for ALS back-up. BUT...our EMT's also have protocols to "administer" nitro...and some Medics think that since we have those protocols, that we should follow our protocols and get to the hospital...Me on the other hand...I DO CALL FOR ALS ON CHEST PAIN CALLS!!! Some medics get so frustrated that we call for them...but I know that if I happen to work on a BLS truck, that if I do administer nitro, that I do not have the drugs to reverse any bad side effects. So...there is definitely some dumb reasons for intercept and some very "smart" decisions for intercept. Who gets to decide which is smart and which is dumb though???

[stcommodore]

My view on 'calling for a medic'

Recently was doing a stand by on a BLS unit at a football game. We get flagged to 'a sick person in the stands.' Arrive half way up the home stands to find a 80's yr old male, pale, vomiting and calmmy. Without even taking a blood pressure, my hand was on the radio calling for a medic. As the call progresses and we extricate him from the stands and to the ambulance after an assessment, 02, Hx from the wife by the time we were loaded the medic arrived and was able to get on the unit and go.

If the medic hadn't arrived or was futher away I wasn't going to wait. Just like a medic shouldn't way for the helicopter on the scene with a loaded patient.

If your closest ALS is the hospital, go and if they catch you great.

If your patient is sick, go and if they catch you even better.

[Dustdevil]

So...there is definitely some dumb reasons for intercept and some very "smart" decisions for intercept. Who gets to decide which is smart and which is dumb though???

We do.

Please post all of your intercept reports here for review.