When Bad Ambulances Get Worse...

[fiNEWBIEre]

I'd like some opinions...

Lets say theres an ambulance service, we'll call them "L" if ya wanna get specific... Why Losers? Maybe it's a Y Loosing battle...?

They have about 600 calls a year, yet only answer about 100 of them with out having to go "2nd Due".

They frequently respond with not properly equipped ambulance.

Lets says there's an auto accident, and they have no backboards?
or a Cardiac Arrest and they still have no backboard, short board, cpr board, they Have an AED... BUT no AED pads, or no portable suction unit, no tubing for on-board suction...

Or they get a call for lets say a severe respiratory patient, and while on scene they get called to back up, lets say the police for a suicide, confirmed DOA.. So they all leave the resp. patient and go to the dead guy; and theres nobody left to help the resp. guy?

And they typically take 12-23 minutes to respond; when they should take no more than ten by licensing laws...

Go to an MVA and drag the ppl out, maybe causing more injury.

Not having a fair knowledge or in some cases the slightest clue how to handle the patients care.

Not knowing what ALS means.

Telling someone that they are crazy b/c "Why the hell do we need air transport, we already have oxygen on them, we need a bird"...
Air transport of course in their mind is transporting... Oxygen???
:rolleyes:

Being unprofessional, using foul language when talking to other crews, and around the patient... Smoking near the patient...

Standing outside a house smoking before going into to the patients house b/c "it's always a refusal, and it will be this time to, whats the rush?"

What should be done?

If someone brings up the fact that patient care suffers, everyone else wants to sweep it under the carpet, keep it quiet, give them all the time they need to get out... They'll get the hang of it... WHEN SOMEONE DIES???

WHAT ABOUT THE PATIENT???

Opinions?

[Bones42]

Opinions? Move. :eek:

[ff7134]

Contact you state EMS Board or whoever is in charge at the state for EMS. They should have a complaint process, you also need to start documenting the occurances; date, time, crew names, run numbers if availible, an a narrative of what occured.

[lieutenant109]

What ff7134 said is correct. Get ahold of the right people to come investigate. Make sure to document, even video would be good. Know you don't want to get anyone in trouble but are these the people you want treating your family?

[IsraelMDA]

hey!

look wherever you are in the world you will see that that is a problem for example here in israel the ambulance service itself are equiped for everything but the driver doesnt want to use any of it! its his job he gets paid for it and as long as he gets paid he doesnt care how he treats the patient and the patient thinks that what he is doing is right but in actuality he can only cause more damage. the only possible thing to do is to report it to the proper authority and hopefully they will look into it! if by you its like here in israel then it can take 5 years! maybe even more :) hope all works out.

[Jay911]

Originally posted by fiNEWBIEre
I'd like some opinions...


Good Lord.

Your state has to have some kind of agency that gives licenses to ambulance services. Here in Alberta, "Alberta Health" is a government branch that does this very thing. If they deem the ambulance service unfit to provide service to the public, the license can and will be pulled. Gather your evidence and proof and run, don't walk, to your state's agency and get this joke shut down.

And let us know how it turns out!

--j.

[IAMedic]

Your governing body should know what's going on. If they don't do anything about it, take it to the City/County/Some Type Administrator if you are run by a municipality, county or other governing body. If none exist, then proceed to the State Dept of Public Health. They're the ones probably regulating you.

However, I would have taken a leave of absence or quit long before now if this has been going on. Just remember, you are all considered "one" group. Each member has a reputation of being a part of that group. And...it could possibly end up that if one goes down, you all go down.

Take a leave of absence, attend what meetings you can to see if things have changed, and report what you wrote to the proper authorities. Someone's going to foot the bill for a wrongful death lawsuit.

Good Luck and keep us informed of what happens.

[MedicNathan2004]

Go to the store and buy a gun and some ammo. Go to the station they are at and shoot them. Then let their own people treat them. (Trust me on this one, they will eliminate themselves.)

When asked by the DA why you did it, repeat this: "I was trying to prove a point." When he says that you killed a man say this: "I might have killed one, but I saved a couple of hundred."

That was a joke. Don't really do it. (My disclamier.)

That is really freaky man. I'd gather some proof and submit a strong case to the state and local government. Also get the local media in on this and their name all over the news. 99% of the people that see it will over react and you'll have a million man march demanding for the removal of them from your area.

So you remove the fools, you get more pay because yoru going to be working harder to cover their area, and you give EMS a better name by getting rid of the servies and people that make the rest of us look bad.

[ALS142]

And what opinion would you like about this situation? Are you trying to find out how you yourself could go about and achieve this remarkable level of care and training?

Quit your bitchin' and moanin' here and document what you see and hear accurately and submit the reports to your superior officers. If nothing happens, find out why, and if the response isn't to your liking, submit copies of your original report over their heads.

[historyjunkie]

This sounds sooooooo familiar..?

Ya know, not to bash NJ's First Aid Council. But this is the only state I've seen that has a list of hundreds of people who acted as EMT's, Paramedics, etc for years; that never had any training at all and it took up to 20 years on some to figure out they had fake numbers. There were ambulances operating for decades that were never inspected, never licensed. How is that possible?

Ya know, not saying anything; but doesn't that just sound.. um.

WRONG

[MedicNathan2004]

I agree with my sparing buddy, that is really wrong. 20 years, damn, I knew it was a little weird up there, but that really bothers me. Glad I live here in Texas where the most that could go wrong is they load you up in a cattle trailor with ambulance on it.

[eyeOthestorm]

Originally posted by MedicNathan2004
Go to the store and buy a gun and some ammo. Go to the station they are at and shoot them. Then let their own people treat them. (Trust me on this one, they will eliminate themselves.)

When asked by the DA why you did it, repeat this: "I was trying to prove a point." When he says that you killed a man say this: "I might have killed one, but I saved a couple of hundred."

That was a joke. Don't really do it. (My disclamier.)


I may have been a joke to you but it is not funny. My friend that was like a brother to me was murdered along with his partner while on duty at their station. They were murdered by another EMT...he shot them over a computer program..:mad:

Remember folks, part of our job is to "Do No Harm" I know some folks need to be slapped or whatever and have no problem with that....murder is not funny...

Sorry for the rant on that issue..Now on to the topic at hand...
We are certified (ambulances and people) by our state EMS commission. Anytime any EMT or anyone else for that matter has a severe complaint they contact the EMS commission rep. for their area. Usually that starts the ball rolling in the right direction. I would hope that you would have a way to do that as well.
Good Luck!