Faceing Fears in the line of duty.

[Medic]

Hey guys are any of you scared or worried about getting stabbed by a needle or scalpel that has been used on an aids, hip A, B, C, or any other infection found on patients.

Or been near a parson with an air born virus. Or having a cut on Ur hand, upper arm etc.

Personal protection can only protect you so far.

Id like to hear your views on this issue.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

Very good question.

I've been stuck with dirty needles. I've been bitten by pts. Been physically assalted (I love the hood). Been exposed to HIv, TB, and different Hep viruses more times than I can count. I also almost died in a helicopter crash.

But this is a calling.

Mark Twain once said, ''Courage is resistance to fear; mastery of fear. Not the absence of fear''.

 

[vquintessence]

Hey guys are any of you scared or worried about getting stabbed by a needle or scalpel that has been used on an aids, hip A, B, C, or any other infection found on patients.

Or been near a parson with an air born virus. Or having a cut on Ur hand, upper arm etc.

Personal protection can only protect you so far.

Id like to hear your views on this issue.

Sure it can be sketchy in the best of situations. Walking into a "medical aid" and finding a guy shot in the head and no LEO's even aware of the call due to a poorly dispatched tiered system. Let alone the other pathological exposures you've mentioned.

Easiest thing to remember is that WE are the priority when giving care. I can't understand anybody that says otherwise. Don't be a hero, wait for the cops if needed. Take the extra 5-10 seconds to put all sharps away immediately (critical pt or not).

I believe the most overlooked safety issue is in regards to making sure your partner doesn't drive like a maniac; out of the people I know who've been stuck, a good number of sticks came from when their truck had to swerve or accelerate/decelerate rapidly.

I was told a while back that "EMS are the cowards of the front line". It wasn't meant in a derogatory way at all; she meant that we're no good to anybody if we ourselves fall stupidly victim to a dangerous situation.

Some say that's craven... but whatever. It's all risk versus benefit. Maybe I'll be responding to get them one day? Hopefully not.

 

[VentMedic]

Hey guys are any of you scared or worried about getting stabbed by a needle or scalpel that has been used on an aids, hip A, B, C, or any other infection found on patients.

Or been near a parson with an air born virus. Or having a cut on Ur hand, upper arm etc.

Personal protection can only protect you so far.

Id like to hear your views on this issue.

Education...Education...Education.

Once you become educated about infection control and the various disease processes, you will no longer have the same fear of them. You will instead respect them for what they can do and gain much more repect for the patients who must live every day with these diseases.

BTW, you didn't even mention the really scary ones.

 

[Medic]

Like ebola and this super T.B that managed to get into South Africa from Zambia. The medic and the pilot died from catching it from the pt and the cleaner in the ward. Takes about 4 days to kill you and 28days to find out if you have it, quite a problem when the symptoms are the same as flu or summing. But thats off topic.

I guess be carefull and take extra precortions like personal protection devices etc and as vent medic says education will help alot and i agree.

I just hear alot of scary stories from medics but hey its part of the job if u like it or not.

 

[Airwaygoddess]

It is out there

Education...Education...Education.

Once you become educated about infection control and the various disease processes, you will no longer have the same fear of them. You will instead respect them for what they can do and gain much more repect for the patients who must live every day with these diseases.

BTW, you didn't even mention the really scary ones.

To be well read is to be well informed, well informed is als part of on going education. I think it is inportant to have a "little healthy fear" for your job, this will always remind of the respect you must have for your profession. As Vent had said eariler, Education...Education... Education. :excl:

 

[BossyCow]

take extra precortions like personal protection devices etc

PPE is not an 'extra precaution' PPE is the bare minimum.

Every job has dangers associated with it. As you become more familiar with the dangers of any job, you become more confident in your ability to offset those dangers with caution, knowledge and proper safety procedures.

 

[VentMedic]

Like ebola and this super T.B that managed to get into South Africa from Zambia. The medic and the pilot died from catching it from the pt and the cleaner in the ward. Takes about 4 days to kill you and 28days to find out if you have it, quite a problem when the symptoms are the same as flu or summing. But thats off topic.

I wasn't exactly referring to Ebola and we do have a couple of drug resistant strains of atypical TB in the U.S.

There are numerous bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoans out there that are very deadly to some patients even if they don't normally harm someone with a healthy immune system. Often your patients have more to fear from you than you do of them.

I just hear alot of scary stories from medics but hey its part of the job if u like it or not.

They are scary because some may not have fully educated themselves about the many types of infections and disease processes. Paramedics often don't get much more information about infection control than the EMT.

Bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoans are the causes for some of the reasons EMS is needed. Even trauma patients will rapidly fall to one of these. The patient may survive the trauma but die of sepsis.

Working with infections and infectious diseases as well as preventing them from spreading or occuring at all are what health care workers do. It doesn't matter what patch you wear or what initials you have behind your name.

Wear the PPE and wash your hands well and often, with and without patient contact. PPE and handwashing are meant to protect both you and the patient.

 

[Medic]

Ye I understand now and ill make sure to use the sanitising liquid after and before every call. Make sure the bus is spotless handle sharps with extreme care and wear PPD's.

Thanks for the help, you can add more to this topic still if your keen but I want to open a new debate on scene safety at MVA's & PVA's. In the states do you have warning devices for motorists? (I guess this is a fear of all ems personal)

In SA its stroking lights on the bushfire and police cars. Cones 45meters before the scene (stand to be corrected here) reflective vests. That bout it. I think we need to have a sign that strobes about 150meters before the scene saying accident ahead slow down, have this every 50 or so meters until it gets to the scene, because people tend to see lights and are drawn to them like moths or some thing and end up driving 100km/h into a scene.

 

[aussieemt1980]

Ye I understand now and ill make sure to use the sanitising liquid after and before every call. Make sure the bus is spotless handle sharps with extreme care and wear PPD's.

Thanks for the help, you can add more to this topic still if your keen but I want to open a new debate on scene safety at MVA's & PVA's. In the states do you have warning devices for motorists? (I guess this is a fear of all ems personal)

In SA its stroking lights on the bushfire and police cars. Cones 45meters before the scene (stand to be corrected here) reflective vests. That bout it. I think we need to have a sign that strobes about 150meters before the scene saying accident ahead slow down, have this every 50 or so meters until it gets to the scene, because people tend to see lights and are drawn to them like moths or some thing and end up driving 100km/h into a scene.

Lol, we normally position police on the roadway. Rescue and Fire Trucks also make useful road blocks.

We pretty much use the same safety stuff as you guys, and always have an escape route. Another discouraging thing here is that accident scenes are considered to be road work sites - the speed limit is 40 km/h and the speeder is not only fined for speeding, but there are other items the driver can be charged with, i.e. endangering life, etc.

 

[Outbac1]

Not really concerned about sharps and diseases. I take the appropriate precautions as required. I can't worry too much about what I can't control, so I control what I can.

Accident scenes, I like to park the biggest vehicle available between oncoming traffic and myself. Preferably a big *** fire truck about 100m away.
I am also not shy about closing down a highway or road completly if it helps ensure my safety.

 

[EMT-B2B]

I am a student and not a EMT-B yet. But I have had my share of exposure to HEP, HIV, TB, and whatever else you can think of that is running around within the body of state inmates. I was formerly a correctional officer at a state prison in California and have been stuck with tattoo needles, razor blades, gassed (spit on, urine and feeces thrown on me), and blood exposure from inmates who have been involved in a violent incident. It's not fun. I have spent weeks and months waiting for tests to come back and have been fortunate enough to never have had one come back positive.

 

[Medic]

WOW that is really rough ay. Is that why you stopped working in the prisons?

Outbac1 I agree with you man well said.

 

[EMT-B2B]

Not really the reason I stopped. Just tired of the BS. I would rather deal with the public and help them instead of dealing with inmates. Did it for 8 years. Just ready to do something that I feel good about. Ya know what I mean?

 

[Medic]

Yep I do. Great choice of job/creer to go into, rewarding, fun & meet awsome people. Who can say they can leagaly speed and drive thre red traffic lights?

best job in the world in my eyes.

 

[BossyCow]

Yep I do. Great choice of job/creer to go into, rewarding, fun & meet awsome people. Who can say they can leagaly speed and drive thre red traffic lights?

best job in the world in my eyes.

Sigh.. where to begin to respond to this one! Hon, first of all, yes EMS can be rewarding.. but fun? How fun is spending hours trying to track down yet another crevice on the stretcher at 4am where the blood from the beat up drunk is hiding? How fun is sitting in an office writing up another report and trying to figure out a nice way of saying "FAKING FOR DRUGS" How fun is it to spend the day sleeping off the previous shift?

Yes you will meet some awesome people. You will also meet those who have turned EMS into their private taxi service and who are pros at manipulating the system and who know your protocols better than you do and which words they can say that will guarantee a ride in the ambulance to the ER.

And its all worth while because you get to drive code? You cannot legally speed. Read your company rules/protocols on driving code. You do not have carte blanc to drive through red lights.. read the news section on how many EMS workers have either died, killed someone and/or lost their jobs because of driving inappropriately.

:deadhorse:

 

[Medic]

Im looking at the positives of the job. Obviously there are negatives, working late, responding in all sorts of weather, arrive to an mva with a little child that was not wearing there seatbelt, etc etc

Fun, play games between calls like soccer, rugby.

I donno bout Driving protocals in SA, i see ambos coming past at a good 160kph and drive threw red robots (lesser speads), responce cars doing 240kmh. As I know very well speed kills and that comes with the job.

I was not intending to put any one off with that post but I love ems. Whith the good comes bad and I tend to look at the good.

Sorry

 

[vquintessence]

Im looking at the positives of the job. Obviously there are negatives, working late, responding in all sorts of weather, arrive to an mva with a little child that was not wearing there seatbelt, etc etc

Fun, play games between calls like soccer, rugby.

I donno bout Driving protocals in SA, i see ambos coming past at a good 160kph and drive threw red robots (lesser speads), responce cars doing 240kmh. As I know very well speed kills and that comes with the job.

I was not intending to put any one off with that post but I love ems. Whith the good comes bad and I tend to look at the good.

Sorry

I won't pretend to know the politics/protocols of South Africa, but speed shouldn't be a killer regarding EMS transporting! To drive through a red light at that speed (160 kmh) is completely reckless. Because you've seen it doesn't mean it has to be.

Most motorists don't hear the sirens until the ambulance is within 100 feet (sorry don't feel like converting to metric ) of their vehicle. If you're approaching them at 160 kmh, unless they're going the same speed, how many seconds until you're right on top of them? What if someone runs a red light? What if they panic and swerve in front of you as you pass? etc, etc.

The stopping distance of even a type II ambulance is crap at that speed, let alone the control/high center of gravity.

 

[Medic]

Sorry I was not very clear on the red light story. When you get to a traffic light or intersection, Sirens are put on bout 200m before and slow down to a stand still look left and right and then go threw the red light. But on the high way or open road or double lane they drive 160kmh.

 

[Outbac1]

The more you drive an ambulance at that speed the greater the odds of being in an accident. I believe driving at those speeds is driving "faster than your guardian angle can fly".