Lights Vs. No Lights To The ED

[Guest NYTruckie]

Good point WAS.  

 Any issues I have with a med control and there are those out there we all know who are a pain with getting narc orders I bring it up to my med director and urge other medics in my system to do the same.  A good med director will look at the case and hopefully attempt to bring some change.

What if your Med director is the one that is stoping you from giving meds? It has gotten to the point if I call I ask what Dr's are working so I can talk to the ones that will give orders.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

NY I feel for you, we've all been there. I've had times where I couldnt get through to the hospital I was txp too :roll: and had to call another to get orders.

[Skooter92 7]

Shopping for medical control!!!!!

You should be.....welll....should be....<snicker>...ashamed of your self. Subverting the system to maximize patient benefit. How dare you? Why, that's almost humane.

[WAS967 97]

It does indeed suck when you medical control sux. I was actually surprised tho when our medical control doctor actually AGREED with my use of Labetalol recently, so much so that he even felt we (myself and the hospital) were OBLIGATED to use it given the patient's condition. I was speechless actually. Now if only we could convince him that 4mg of Versed just isn't enough. ](*,)

[BFD1054 1,552]

Personally, i only go lights & siren to the ER when i am told to (by ALS or the crew chief). Unfortunately, there are many people that insist on going l&s to the ER on EVERY call, no matter how minor it is. If we are transporting to Phelps, i will usually turn the lights on when we reach the Arcadian shopping center & ride the middle of the lanes. The reason for this is that the lanes are soo damn narrow that the rig barely fits & everyone wants to race around you. But thats really the only time i will use lights or siren when they may not be totally neccessary.

In New Jersey however....My girlfriend goes to Rutgers University in New Brunswick & her apartment is in between St. Peters Hospital & Robert Wood Johnson University hospital (local trauma center i believe). When i say a good 90% of the ambulances that are en-route to the ER's use lights & siren, its no exageration! And it doesn't seem to matter what time of day or night it is or how much traffic there is.

I've also noticed that whoever is driving the ALS fly cars that are following the rigs to the ER's tend to use their l & s, why is that? I can't even count how many times i have driven the ALS fly-car back to the hospital & i have never used the lights or siren. There is no reason for it. If the call is going ALS, i would hope that the Medic has all of his required equipment with him/her & i usually check with them before they take off. So there is no reason why the fly-car should be brought back to the ER code-3....big liability IMO! I'm pretty sure alsfirefighter would ring my neck if i was returning his medic car code-3 lol!

Anyway, just my thoughts & observations.

[Guest paramedico987]

For the most part I agree that even with an unstable or critical patient one should not drive in excess of the posted speed limit (less the condition of the patient will dramatically be changed by the presence of a doctor as in trauma). One exception, in my mind, is to use "secondary" lights with a patient who benefits from a slow gentle ride on an otherwise fast highway to warn upcoming cars from behind of my slow speed (i.e. hip fx)

LET'S FACE IT, MOST OF OUR PATIENTS WOULD BE BETTER OFF TAKING A CAB ANYWAY

[WAS967 97]

LET'S FACE IT, MOST OF OUR PATIENTS WOULD BE BETTER OFF TAKING A CAB ANYWAY

But the ambulance is cheaper. So call 911. Cab wants money up front. 911 sends a bill which we can ignore later on. ](*,)

[Skooter92 7]

Check your V&T. Even with your secondaries on, you are operating with the minimum to be considered in "emergency" mode. Have an accident, and it's all on you. All lights on or all lights off. Nothing in between.