I work in a welfare home. Just a few days ago, we had an unhappy
encounter with a paramedic officer.
One of our resident choked and her life was in danger, and hence
ambulance was called in. Fortunately, our resident was saved and
revived on time by our nurses in the Home.
To be fair, ambulance arrived exactly after 15mins after call
was made. However, when the paramedic officers came, one of our
staff who was extremely anxious about resident's life, kind of
raised her voice and asked "What took you so long?" the paramedic
officer instead of being sensitive of the anxiousness, he flared up
and shouted at our staff rudely. He quoted while pointing fingers
at our staff: " I rushed from braddell, you think I'm a superman?"
He also shouted and said "it's fifteen minutes, if you don't
believe, you can go verify with my doctor!" He was very rude, hence
another staff who got agitated with that reaction also raised her
voice " What kind of attitude was that?" The paramedic then kept
quiet and stormed off to the location of where the resident
was.
Upon seeing the resident, he did not immediately check the
resident's vital signs etc, instead he asked alot of questions, I
am not sure what kind of procedures he is supposed to do, but
usually the other paramedic officers (previous encounters) would
check for vital signs etc first. After checking like for 15mins,
they finally decided to send the resident to hospital.
Before they left, that paramedic officer who was rude earlier,
took the remarks from the staff earlier personally, and questioned
the other staff of the staffs' names earlier and claimed that those
staff accused him and even mentioned that he would lodge a complain
against the staff. He also mentioned that " the resident is fine,
and you do not have to teach me what to do!" (Nobody was teaching
him what to do.) His no sense of urgency really pissed all of us
off. I don't care if he had a bad day or what, but before he reach
the resident, isn't he supposed to see an urgency of a human's life
who is already in danger? Our resident was not saved by him, but by
our staff nurses and nursing team, who is he to be so stucked
up?
Being a certified first aider, I know that if a person
stopped breathing and if oxygen does not reach the brain for more
than 7-10mins, the person would die. He, as paramedic, doesn't he
know?
He is totally rude and I really think he is not fit to be a
paramedic officer. Thank goodness our resident was fine. All thanks
to our wonderful nursing staff.
.(but i wont comment much, just on professionalism)
im a nursing student and medic(v).
in this case, its your fault. your attitute to the
paramedic.
if you're in his shoe, you will never post this, i swear.
you mentioned you're a CERTIFIED FIRST AIDER in a welfare home, but
did you help the paramedic by letting him know all the crucial
details to make his and your life easier.
in this case, we can lodge a complain to MOH or MOM about you
instead, and made it big on paper. you decide.
and you mention that the patient was revived by nurses. of cos
we need to question.
its part of it, so that when we pass it to police, its easier to
knw who is involved.
we ask questions cos you didnt answer that to HQ while you
called.
when you called, you should described in detail, so when we reach,
we can spring onto action. you wasted the time, not us.
next thing.
try being a paramedic.
im in, i can tell you its different then in nursing.
nursing is in a controlled environment. everything stablised. BED
SIDE NURSING
paramedics are dealing with pre-hosp care, so they need whatever
info, so the receiving hospital can check the history. and the
stress of being a paramedic is higher then of even a chief surgeon
in OT. cos every smallest details can cause patient to die while
enroute.
you think about your jobscope and the paramedic's, what is there
to compare?
if its urgent enough, they would have sent the paramedic bikers
down. not just the ambulance alone. thats the protocol.
your detailing is too brief that it doesnt look like an
emergency case. cos you've said its a choking case but revived, so
since you have saved the patient, i dont see the point, what we
have to do is to sent to hosp to stablise condition there.
if you are so proud of being able to this without our
paramedics, be a paramedic yourself. alot have tried, but failed
the final evaluation test. if it looks easy, they wont be a nurse,
they should be doctors or even senior consultant, then they can say
this paramedic is not fit in his or her job.
what are you, in a paramedic's eye?
ranking wise
First aider -> Trained First Aider -> Nurses -> Medic /
Nurse (Emergency/ Critical Care) -> Paramedic -> Doctor.
wells, where do you actually stand? ask yourself.
