What You'll Deal With As An EMT Or ER Tech

I’ve had a few strange days in the ER. You never know what to expect especially on the weekends. You can count on a few things. People who plug up the waiting rooms because they have a cough or cold. These are usually your biggest complainers.  These are the folks who will obstruct you with a complaint about how long they have to wait while you take a patient with chest pain to the back.

You can also count on the drug seekers. They come in with complaints of pain and demand medication. They are sweating, scratching, and having obvious DT’s. I had one of these patients walk in to a room where we were treating a patient having a seizure. This guy actually walked in to the room and got in the way so he could demand medication. He left the room in handcuffs.

We had an unexpected gunshot wound come in the front door while being chased by police. The patient had been shot in the back and had an evisceration at the exit wound in front. I felt bad for the children in the waiting room who had to see all of that.

Not long after, all the trauma bays were full of gun shot wounds.  There were several from the same incident and another from an unrelated incident. I saw a chest tube put in for the first time. It was amazing, but there was blood everywhere.

I had an interesting day on the ambulance as well. I’m still learning my way around my new town. I’m also learning to cope with the driving habits of the folks in my new town. We were approaching an intersection while driving emergency. I was in the oncoming traffic lane with a left turn lane to my right. We were making as much noise as we could with the siren, and still almost creamed a guy who tried to make a left turn in front of us.

When I was a rookie, driving emergency was a big thrill. I loved doing it. It has definitely lost its appeal. It’s really just dangerous. People don’t yield, and will use you as a way to run a red light. It’s unbelievable what we’ve become.  It’s hard to stay positive. Maybe I’m working too much.