First patient and I got stumped

[pullnshoot25]

Well, I just started my first EMT job at a Christian camp and got my first patient, a young female with a c/c of a painful left ear. Took a look at it and her new ear piercing got infected. Posterior ear had an approximately 1.5-2mm whitehead obscuring the hole while the anterior hole was unblocked. Left ear was significantly larger and more red than the right ear.

I treated her by cleaning, applying triple antibiotic ointment and giving her alcohol swabs for continued cleaning (plus instructions) but where I was stumped is if I could have done more. I would have really liked to apply gentle abrasion or hot compresses to the back of the ear to dislodge the whitehead (this sucker was ready to pop) and allow the funk to drain out but I wasn't sure what I was allowed to do in terms of my scope of practice while on the job. I checked my protocol book but couldn't find anything about it.

I did confer with a doctor (he was in the girl's group, not with the camp) and he did the hot compress procedure (with mom's phone permission) and the ear looks much better now (about 18hrs later).

Any input is welcome. Thanks for helping a noob!

 

[adamjh3]

I think you did just fine. The doctor got it all figured out and phoned the parents for permission to treat. I doubt you'll run into this exact situation again, but if you did you could probably cut out the middle-man (doctor). You're obviously a lot smarter than the following statement allows for, so I'm going to say I'm putting it here for the benefit of other newer folks;

Don't just run around popping people's abcesses unless you've got a good medical reason for it and can back it up.

ETA: Just realized your in the PRK, what camp was this at? My li'l sis is up at a school camp right now, PM me

 

[pullnshoot25]

I think you did just fine. The doctor got it all figured out and phoned the parents for permission to treat. I doubt you'll run into this exact situation again, but if you did you could probably cut out the middle-man (doctor). You're obviously a lot smarter than the following statement allows for, so I'm going to say I'm putting it here for the benefit of other newer folks;

Don't just run around popping people's abcesses unless you've got a good medical reason for it and can back it up.

ETA: Just realized your in the PRK, what camp was this at? My li'l sis is up at a school camp right now, PM me

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I would have felt horrible messing up on my first patient.

 

[JPINFV]

Just a quick nomenclature clarification, a white head refers to a closed comedone which is a specific skin disorder. If it's an infection, then you were dealing with a pustule.

 

[pullnshoot25]

Just a quick nomenclature clarification, a white head refers to a closed comedone which is a specific skin disorder. If it's an infection, then you were dealing with a pustule.

I stand corrected, thank you for the clarification!