Chris31
Forum Ride Along
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So here's my dilemma. I've been a 911 responder with a private ambulance company contracted with LA County Fire for over a year now. I've noticed a pervasive practice by Fire EMT's and Medics alike, which has become more common as call volumes increase. Almost every shift now, I catch a firefighter or paramedic "faking vitals" in order to circumvent LA County ALS criteria and ship a patient BLS. Granted these are usually ETOH or Behavioral patients, In a few incidents, its turned out to be a stroke patient or a STEMI. I'm talking about lying about 12-lead results to base when one wasn't even preformed, or glucose readings which are completely false (101 when it was actually 425). I voiced these concerns first to a paramedic on scene when we were asked to ship a stroke patient bls, and was met with instant retaliation by the entire battalion on scene for questioning a paramedic's assessment skills.
Now, I understand the caliber of Southern California private ambulance EMTs can sometimes be lacking, and this can leave fire with a "bad taste in their mouth", but a good assessment is a BLS skill and when it comes to patient care on scene, its a group effort to provide the best care possible for a patient.
I was informed by a fire captain after the fact, that I was out of line for questioning his medic, and that EMT's are NOT to preform assessments because ALS Paramedic assessments are superior, and render EMT assessments obsolete.
Now obviously, I know this to be completely false, but it shows that as far as the internal workings of LA County Fire are concerned, medics can do no wrong. My question to all of you is; how would you address this breakdown of patient care, and most importantly, address Fire faking vitals in the interest of shipping a patient BLS?
Now, I understand the caliber of Southern California private ambulance EMTs can sometimes be lacking, and this can leave fire with a "bad taste in their mouth", but a good assessment is a BLS skill and when it comes to patient care on scene, its a group effort to provide the best care possible for a patient.
I was informed by a fire captain after the fact, that I was out of line for questioning his medic, and that EMT's are NOT to preform assessments because ALS Paramedic assessments are superior, and render EMT assessments obsolete.
Now obviously, I know this to be completely false, but it shows that as far as the internal workings of LA County Fire are concerned, medics can do no wrong. My question to all of you is; how would you address this breakdown of patient care, and most importantly, address Fire faking vitals in the interest of shipping a patient BLS?