Hello all.
I'm about to start EMR training next week. I'm in IT as my day job and don't plan to change careers. The reason I'm getting the training is that I have found myself in numerous situations over the last few years where I wish I had more first aid training than I have (I keep my Basic First Aid, CPR & AED current, but nothing else).
I drive a lot and have found myself arriving at accident scenes before the emergency services about 3 or 4 times this year already during my regular commute, and always stop to help where I can. About 3 weeks ago I came across a major accident scene with a trapped patient in the right emergency lane, another patient on the ground in unknown condition and lots of people milling around the blocked freeway with no clue what to do. Thankfully the first passerby was an off-duty EMT who took over the care of the trapped driver (her stopped car was rear-ended by a dump truck going full freeway speed) and sent me to check on the other patient that he'd already decided was not injured but had suddenly chosen to lie down on the freeway. He turned out be just dizzy from emotional shock of potentially killing the other driver. I sat with him or a couple of minutes and checked him over as best I could and found he was ok, but advised him to stay seated in a safe place until EMS arrived in case he got dizzy again.
It took EMS another 5 minutes to arrive on scene after I got out of my car. I know that if the off-duty EMT had not been there I would have been waaay out of my depth trying to look after the trapped girl. She had no obvious injuries to her extremities beyond cuts on the backs of her hands from the broken windshield, but given the impact (her car was crushed down to where the B-pillar used to be) it obviously needed someone with proper training to properly evaluate her.
After letting the EMT know I had a first aid kit and basic first aid training and was willing to help with anything he needed I just stayed out of his way but close enough for him to ask me for help. I cleared vehicle debris from the shoulder/emergency lane so that the fire truck / ambulance could get through and stood near the engine bay of the smashed car with a big fire extinguisher watching for any signs of fire.
After this experience I found myself going over and over it again in my head beating myself up about what I could have done to help more and what I should not have done. I identified three cars that were stuck blocking where the emergency vehicles would be trying to get through, asked them if there were involved in the accident and/or did they witness it. When the said No to both questions I told them to slowly make their way down the opposite shoulder to the accident drive down the left emergency lane (furthest from the smashed car) and clear the scene. One there was enough space for the fire truck to get through I kept everyone else stopped to reduce traffic through the accident scene. Was this the right thing to do? All 4 lanes had been stopped dead for about 4 minutes by the time I was clearing those few cars that were blocking the fire truck, so keeping the lanes closed seemed like a better way of preserving the status quo at the scene until EMS arrived.
So anyway... My goal for being here is to complement my EMR training with real-world advice and situations on how I can best help at the scene before EMTs arrive. What do YOU want me to have done before you get there? Clear a path for the ambulance? What level of First Aid (splinting/bandaging etc) is helpful without going overboard. (Should I be putting a SAM splint on someone's arm knowing you're likely just going to take it off 2 minutes later and use that vacuum splint instead).
At this point I'll just lurk and watch from the sidelines. I won't ask EMR procedural questions here until my classroom training is finished (Nov 7th). The training will likely answer 90% of any questions I may have and I certainly don't expect you guys to train me. Also, I promise I won't be asking you to do my homework for me! If I ask any scenario questions before Nov 7th then tell me to do my own danged homework!
Thanks all,
Scruit
I'm about to start EMR training next week. I'm in IT as my day job and don't plan to change careers. The reason I'm getting the training is that I have found myself in numerous situations over the last few years where I wish I had more first aid training than I have (I keep my Basic First Aid, CPR & AED current, but nothing else).
I drive a lot and have found myself arriving at accident scenes before the emergency services about 3 or 4 times this year already during my regular commute, and always stop to help where I can. About 3 weeks ago I came across a major accident scene with a trapped patient in the right emergency lane, another patient on the ground in unknown condition and lots of people milling around the blocked freeway with no clue what to do. Thankfully the first passerby was an off-duty EMT who took over the care of the trapped driver (her stopped car was rear-ended by a dump truck going full freeway speed) and sent me to check on the other patient that he'd already decided was not injured but had suddenly chosen to lie down on the freeway. He turned out be just dizzy from emotional shock of potentially killing the other driver. I sat with him or a couple of minutes and checked him over as best I could and found he was ok, but advised him to stay seated in a safe place until EMS arrived in case he got dizzy again.
It took EMS another 5 minutes to arrive on scene after I got out of my car. I know that if the off-duty EMT had not been there I would have been waaay out of my depth trying to look after the trapped girl. She had no obvious injuries to her extremities beyond cuts on the backs of her hands from the broken windshield, but given the impact (her car was crushed down to where the B-pillar used to be) it obviously needed someone with proper training to properly evaluate her.
After letting the EMT know I had a first aid kit and basic first aid training and was willing to help with anything he needed I just stayed out of his way but close enough for him to ask me for help. I cleared vehicle debris from the shoulder/emergency lane so that the fire truck / ambulance could get through and stood near the engine bay of the smashed car with a big fire extinguisher watching for any signs of fire.
After this experience I found myself going over and over it again in my head beating myself up about what I could have done to help more and what I should not have done. I identified three cars that were stuck blocking where the emergency vehicles would be trying to get through, asked them if there were involved in the accident and/or did they witness it. When the said No to both questions I told them to slowly make their way down the opposite shoulder to the accident drive down the left emergency lane (furthest from the smashed car) and clear the scene. One there was enough space for the fire truck to get through I kept everyone else stopped to reduce traffic through the accident scene. Was this the right thing to do? All 4 lanes had been stopped dead for about 4 minutes by the time I was clearing those few cars that were blocking the fire truck, so keeping the lanes closed seemed like a better way of preserving the status quo at the scene until EMS arrived.
So anyway... My goal for being here is to complement my EMR training with real-world advice and situations on how I can best help at the scene before EMTs arrive. What do YOU want me to have done before you get there? Clear a path for the ambulance? What level of First Aid (splinting/bandaging etc) is helpful without going overboard. (Should I be putting a SAM splint on someone's arm knowing you're likely just going to take it off 2 minutes later and use that vacuum splint instead).
At this point I'll just lurk and watch from the sidelines. I won't ask EMR procedural questions here until my classroom training is finished (Nov 7th). The training will likely answer 90% of any questions I may have and I certainly don't expect you guys to train me. Also, I promise I won't be asking you to do my homework for me! If I ask any scenario questions before Nov 7th then tell me to do my own danged homework!
Thanks all,
Scruit
