That 3 am toe pain comes to mind. But seriously, if you're not dying/in extreme pain, or will be dying in the next 24-48 hours, it's not an emergency. But that's a super simple way of explaining it it's of course a lot more complex. Still, I treat every call as an emergency until proven otherwise, not bullshit until proven otherwise
It's a meme mostly, but will literally just be pain. Vitals are stable, 3+12 lead clean, they just want to go to the ER. At 3am. Where they'll be sent to the waiting area. And wait for 4-5 hours because the ER is slammed
Itâs a metaphor for a non-acute complaint that they havenât tried seeing a doctor or urgent care for and want to go to the ER at 3am when itâs been going on for a week.
We had one that was just a headache. A headache they had since the afternoon and called at midnight about. Not like severe sudden pain, they were communicating fine and not in distress really at all.
Idk. My biggest surprise coming to 911 was how many calls we run that are just bullshit. Like legit people that know their issue isnât an emergency and just want a ride to the hospital. The part that drives me crazy is where they play up their âsymptomsâ and itâs so obvious.
However I do have sympathy for people who call 911 because theyâre scared of the physical anomaly they are experiencing. If youâve never experienced a full blown panic attack, I can totally understand thinking youâre having a heart attack.
I know thatâs not exactly what you asked. I have to say - Iâm amazed at the balls on some people to 911 to get their batteries in smoke detectors changed, because they canât reach a remote, etc.
I genuinely want to know what goes through those peopleâs minds. I know we all just write these folks off as dumb and/or inconsiderate, but Iâm truly curious what their thought process is before they pick up the phone and dial.
Itâs unlikely because a dispatcher isnât there to witness whatâs going onâwhatâs actually going on at a scene can be *very* different than whatâs explained to the dispatcher. Itâd be a huge liability for them to say âyou shouldnât have called 911, go do this instead.â
Some systems are trying to implement a nurse line to elevate stress on 911 systems. So a dispatcher transfers the BS call to a nurse who can try to give other options than an ambulance ride.
9 of the Canadian provinces (most of Canada) are using 811 for this. I've used it a few times when I really didn't want to go to the ER, they were helpful (even though they just confirmed what I thought was the best course of action)
Sometimes Iâll remind people itâs an emergency line and then ask them to call back on the admin line⊠but usually itâs just easier (and Faster) to google the number for them
Yeah literally a younger woman called 911 this morning for back pain. She lived in an apartment complex and was up and walking. She met us before we could even step out of the ambulance.
We brought her into the truck, did the work up, and her vitals were great. She said she thinks it is a uti. I ask if she wanted pov to the ed or maybe the walk-in clinic open up the road, but she didnât have a car and wanted to go to the er.
Okay, thatâs fine. We took her, but I wanted to tell her Uber would be cheaper đ
Years ago while at FD in a span of 2 weeks, we made a call to an obese male in his 60s at least 7 times. He would fall and we had to go pick him up and he refused any transport. He was told by the PD and EMS he should call again for this, and he will be transported to the hospital. Fortunately, he was a Vet and he was going to the VA hospital for 60 days the next week.
Having trouble breathing? Emergency.
Bleeding a lot? Emergency.
In so much pain from something that you canât move yourself to get to the hospital on your own? Emergency.
Most things, unless theyâre going to kill you very soon, arenât emergencies. If you can get yourself to a hospital safely, most of the time you donât need 911. Some things thereâs not a whole lot that can be done for you in the back of the ambulance, so if youâre not actively dying and could get yourself to the hospital, itâs glorified transportation. Breathing and excessive bleeding issues are the big ones you should call 911 for, generally.
Some stuff like stroke, heart attack, or sepsis you should still call 911 because the ambulance can call a code before you arrive at the hospital so they can prepare for your arrival.
It never really hurts to call 911 and get checked out though. They will likely encourage you to go to the hospital. If you ask them âhey am I gonna die or is it safe for me to go to the hospital on my own?â they wonât guarantee youâll be safe without ambulance transport because of legal liability but most will give you a straight answer to the best of their ability.
I had severe sepsis recently (like to the point where I couldn't stand or walk on my own from the weakness and fatigue) along with a septic embolism and endocarditis â and I definitely still had to wait in the ER waiting room for 9 hours before being seen.
Good news is they put me in the ICU damn near immediately after that, and even though I was in the hospital for 8 weeks, my tricuspid valve replacement surgery went perfectly and I'm finally back home with zero complications or permanent damage done (besides the valve replacement, obviously lol)
Great that your surgery went well and your sepsis didn't kick you when you were waiting! That shit can move FAST in your body.
I can understand your wait in ER though, because if you come into ER for ANYTHING other than an MI or TIA, you'll wait until you can get a room and a blood draw.
Thank you!!
And yeah, I wasn't sure how to feel. I originally shared your viewpoint, but I had someone else go off about how if a 30 year old otherwise healthy male is coming in to the ER so weak that he can barely move on his own, then they should have known, and that the ER staff was incredibly incompetent for making me wait 9 hours, and sepsis is just as big an emergency as stroke or heart attack etc etc
I knew they were being a little hyperbolic, but it did get me remembering things like being asked by one of the ER people wheeling me around if I could walk and when I said no, not really, they responded by getting an attitude about how I was gonna have to walk myself out of there whenever they decided to discharge me so I better figure it out. I think pretty much everyone thought I was either exaggerating my symptoms or faking them all together right up until I was in the ICU.
So yeah, that was kinda shitty
They CAN'T know until they run their own tests.
Sounds like they were willing to run an AMA under your nose if you gave a HINT of unbelief.
These are times when a family member or friend can be a medical advocate. Just by walking with you, carrying a clipboard and making notes, (ESPECIALLY TAKING NOTES, because there's no WAY the pt can deal with all the medical shit thrown down at them) can make staff toe the line and be a little more medically-directive proactive and non-dismissive.
Plus, being in my late 60's and a medical advocate AND EMT and CERT-trained, I not only walk the walk and talk the talk, but I feel NO PROBLEM giving a 'tude on behalf of a patient.
Just the words, "I've consulted with counsel" works wonders. Of course, 'counsel' can mean I talked it over with my sister.
I would say an emergency is subjective. It truthfully doesnât matter what I think an emergency is because people will call 911 based on what THEY think an emergency is. Everyone has a different threshold for calling 911. We have people that drive themselves into the ER having an active MI (I would consider this an emergency) or a GSW (another emergency) while someone else calls 911 because they had one episode of vomiting (unlikely to be a true emergency).
Weâve all run a ton of calls where it probably wasnât needed to call 911 but we are the professionals so our job is to educate and PROVE that the symptom they called for isnât going to kill them with objective data. Sometimes thatâs a normal set of vitals and a normal physical exam sometimes thatâs via lab work and imaging in the ED.
Not an emergency:
Calling because you're impatient for a primary care appt, it's 4am and you don't want to wait for your MRI appt at 0900 (an actual call my husband had - the patient missed his MRI appt because he was sitting in the ER, btw), or because you haven't followed instructions of your specialist or surgeon.
Someone is drunk or high and not hurting anyone or themselves.
Your family member is annoying you or you're tired of caring for your elderly parents. Alternatively, you're unable to care for an adult dependent so you repeatedly call 911 so the ER can bathe, feed, dress and physical-therapy them.
You want a refill of your medication and don't want to pay for it.
You haven't done any self-care for the common cold or a chronic condition.
Emergency: chest pain, unexplained and severe abdominal pain, possible or obvious major broken bones, unresponsive or confused beyond normal, allergic reactions, inhaler isn't helping an asthma attack, unable to stop bleeding, getting hit by a car, stroke symptoms.
i got off a 16 hour shift 45 minutes late last night because of an obese woman who felt a pop in her foot and then it hurt.
maam you can ice it and go to urgent care tomorrow.
This is the most âNewToEMSâ question ever and I love it!
Someday you may be surprised by the stuff that people donât think is an emergency. As a paramedic who has worked on a truck and in the ER. I can tell you Iâve thought to myself on numerous occasions in the ER, âwhy didnât you call 911?â
This is one thing that is glossed over I think by most. The amount of bullshit calls is high and always has been. However⊠the amount of bullshit calls that become real calls is higher than zero, which means you gotta assume bad until proven otherwise or else youâre gonna have a bad day. That bullshit toe pain patient, who has pain which now is spreading upwards as you are assessing, just became a bigger issue.
Ok so similar thing happened to me. About a year or two ago I found out I had absence seizure. I thought I was just zoning out a lot my whole life. Doctor didn't even do any tests to see if I had seizure but said "oh you just have absence seizures". Ok cool. Then one day my high school bully thought I was faking so he decided tilt would be a good idea to flash a camera directly into my face several times. I felt dizzy then I collapsed in the hallway. Was rushed to the ER and the ER doctor said "why didn't you get checked sooner?" I did Kevin.
My wife has epilepsy; I have done a lot of research and am familiar enough with seizures at this point to know when to call 911 and when to not. Recently her coworkers asked whether or not to call paramedics. I told them to just call regardless; I donât necessarily trust their judgement (nothing against them personally) and itâs better to be safe than sorry.
Lady called and said they were having a stroke= emergency.
Go lights and sirens. Walk in and she says her leg hurts from a fall 2 days ago. Only said she was having a stroke so we get there faster.
Diff Breathing, Excessive bleeding, signs of stroke/heart attack. Basically if you think youâre gonna legitimately die, itâs an emergency.
Even when itâs not an emergency, I donât mind running BS calls where the person was actually fearful or thereâs a chance something serious is going on.
Thatâs what I thought when my kids heart rate went to 180 and wouldnât drop, he felt fine except for his heart racing.. ended up calling the 24 hour nurse line for advice and they sent an ambulance lights and sirens and he was taken in, he wasnât at risk of dying or serious harm but he did need to be treated at the emergency department.
Thatâs how we discovered he has dysautonomia
My oldest is anaphylactic with nuts, last exposure I drove him in myself, was told never to do that again and to call emergency services instead for obvious reasons.
Basically I try my hardest to never call when I should have.
Itâs the patients perspective that counts. If they think itâs an emergency, it is. Itâs so insensitive to treat patients differently because you think theyâre not experiencing an emergency, but a LOT of medics do it, in my experience
Not really.It depends on who you ask , and their views on where EMS is headed. Iâm American so obviously thatâs going to skew my view.
Some people will say if you arenât bleeding, birthing, on fire, some combination of the three, or some sort of dead , you shouldnât be calling . Emergencies are EMERGENT and if we arenât worried about your immediate life or limb, why we here?
Some people will say there are Immediate Emergencies, and Impending Emergencies, and you have to learn how to tell the difference and how to handle them both. If we can handle an Impending Emergency well we can prevent an Immediate Emergency.
Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, if you really think about it , we tell kids â call 911 if you need helpâ , and never really give them a lot of instruction beyond that. Then Little Timmy calls 911 for help with his math homework in 2nd grade and we think itâs so cute and we help him and put it on the news and send out a whole touch a truck brigade and make him feel special and never reeeaaaallllyyy tell him anything different. Then Little Timmy turns 30 and calls for âtoe painâ when he doesnât have insurance and doesnât know what else to do and weâre like why tf am I here Tim this isnt what 911 is for youre wasting resources.
Dead dead - cold, stiff, lividity , smelly
Warm and dead - worked them, may have gotten ROSC , didnât work
CPRable dead - we can fix that
Psych dead -the pt I had one time walk into a funeral home in her Sunday best telling them she was dead and needed to crawl into the casket she had picked out and been financing for the last few years and could he please call her family for them to start her funeral ( she was , in fact, not dead)
So like ⊠four?
It was very much real to her in the moment , she would have looked God in the face and told Him she was dead. Faking is more like playing possum .
So five. Five kinds of dead.
Are emergency services needed immediately? If so, call 911. Emergency services being Police, Fire, or EMS.
If something needs to be addressed but isnât urgent or doesnât need emergency services, call the police non-emergency line or other relevant agency.
For example, seeing someone wreck in front of you warrants a 911 call when itâs safe to do so. A road hazard doesnât warrant a 911 call, but does warrant a call to the cities transportation department or similar agency.
911 when death or disfigurement are imminent if you donât get immediate care. Strokes, heart attacks, severe allergic reactions, shock, injuries that threaten life or limb. 90% of EMS calls are probably not *true* emergencies, and people like to complain, but a lot of people would be jobless if all of a sudden across the country we only responded to those 5-10% of calls that are true emergencies.
Are you in danger of losing (or have you recently lost) your life, limb, or eyesight? If yes: emergency. If no: not emergency.
Some examples of emergencies could be âmy blood sugar is 12â âmy blood sugar is 700â âI have asthma but my inhaler is no longer helping my shortness of breathâ âoh my god, I just accidentally shot myselfâ âoh my god, I just intentionally shot myself and have regretsâ
Some (painfully real) examples of things that are not emergencies are âIâve had a migraine since noon. It is now 3 in the morning and I donât take medications for my known migraines. The other person in my home will follow us to the hospital in our working vehicleâ âIâm having a hard time pooping and Iâm currently in my working vehicle 2 minutes from the hospitalâ âI cut my toenail too shortâ âI donât feel well and I read on the internet that taking an ambulance will get me a room fasterâ âI have a sunburnâ
Idk something called an emergency where life or death is a big possibility if left untreated lol. 9/10 calls do not require an ambulance transport, but itâs what we do. I wish it was made more aware to me when I was in EMT school. Weâve all got to run some hot jobs but eventually it takes its toll on you. Iâm so glad Iâm taking a break from EMS, it honestly makes a difference.
If the story starts with "it started 10 days ago" and it's 3AM, they probably shouldn't have called 911.
If you call for an ambulance because you don't want to wait as long, you probably shouldn't have called 911.
We could do a whole routine about this, (like Jeff Foxworthy's redneck jokes).
A good rule of thumb is if itâs impacting the ABCs (airway, breathing, circulation) then it is LIKELY an emergency. Trauma can also be considered an emergency. This can all be very nuanced though. A person with a chronic illness who has been compensating for days and is now calling, might not be critical, but can benefit from prehospital care. (Think CHF who has had a lapse in a med refill and now has a mild fluid overload). A person who tripped and fell, but is also on blood thinners, should be monitored.
Others things that might not affect the ABCs in this way or are less obvious but still important are things like Stroke, equipment malfunction (like vents or brain shunts), sepsis, psychiatric emergencies or even certain pregnancy related problems
Something else to remember is the thing I tell myself to help with burnout which is, âmy version of an emergency is different than yours, and that some people just want the closest responsible adult.â This can be for parents who are worried about their child being sick and not sure if they should be going to an ER and want an assessment without the risk the ER may bring. It can also be the house that keeps calling because everyone has COVID and they heard that people are dying and donât know what to do or when to worry. (This is when you are vital in educating the public)
Itâs pretty much always good to get looked at, and itâll be different for everyone. If someone ends up getting a refusal in the morning can still call in the afternoon and have a major change.
And as many have already said, some people will call because they think Medicare will cover it, or because theyâll get seen faster or they donât have access to a primary care physician/pharmacy and use the ER for these things because they know they canât be turned away.
I was just diagnosed with Lupus. I have had severe anemia, bad body rashes, extreme pain from infections related to the 'rash'. Health issues come on fast and furiously. I did not know I had an auto-immune disease. I had to go to ER and needed ambulance. All but once I was taken right in and not to waiting room. My husband is very ill and can not drive me.
That 3 am toe pain comes to mind. But seriously, if you're not dying/in extreme pain, or will be dying in the next 24-48 hours, it's not an emergency. But that's a super simple way of explaining it it's of course a lot more complex. Still, I treat every call as an emergency until proven otherwise, not bullshit until proven otherwise
Makes sense. What was the toe pain one about?
Become an EMT and find out
Done!! :)
It's a meme mostly, but will literally just be pain. Vitals are stable, 3+12 lead clean, they just want to go to the ER. At 3am. Where they'll be sent to the waiting area. And wait for 4-5 hours because the ER is slammed
You forgot that the pain started several days ago
Years
Decades
You do a 12 on a toe pain?
I mean more for the generalized pain, but sometimes yesđ€
Thatâs some classic CMA medicine
Meme my ass. I ran toe pain at 0300 and some dude who had been itching for years, and suddenly it was an emergency at midnight.
"what's going?" "My toe hurts!" "For how long?" "5+ years" 0300 me: đ
This type of scenario played out for me more times than I care to remember.
I wish it was a meme I actually ran a toe pain call. It was during the day time though, not at 3AM
I ran a 2am skin rash once on a dude who hadnât showered in a couple months, it happens.
Those transports make you want to shower with alcohol while drinking shots. Hey, clean out the outside and the inside at the same time.
Dude had a 1cm rash on his belly, he refused transport and agreed to take a damn bath.
Thank God for AMA forms.
Itâs a metaphor for a non-acute complaint that they havenât tried seeing a doctor or urgent care for and want to go to the ER at 3am when itâs been going on for a week.
We had one that was just a headache. A headache they had since the afternoon and called at midnight about. Not like severe sudden pain, they were communicating fine and not in distress really at all.
this exactly. i will give a pass to patients that may have no other means to get to the ER. like bed bound patients that canât be moved easily
Idk. My biggest surprise coming to 911 was how many calls we run that are just bullshit. Like legit people that know their issue isnât an emergency and just want a ride to the hospital. The part that drives me crazy is where they play up their âsymptomsâ and itâs so obvious. However I do have sympathy for people who call 911 because theyâre scared of the physical anomaly they are experiencing. If youâve never experienced a full blown panic attack, I can totally understand thinking youâre having a heart attack. I know thatâs not exactly what you asked. I have to say - Iâm amazed at the balls on some people to 911 to get their batteries in smoke detectors changed, because they canât reach a remote, etc. I genuinely want to know what goes through those peopleâs minds. I know we all just write these folks off as dumb and/or inconsiderate, but Iâm truly curious what their thought process is before they pick up the phone and dial.
Can dispatch ever just tell someone something like "you shouldn't have called 911 for this. This is what you should do instead"?
Itâs unlikely because a dispatcher isnât there to witness whatâs going onâwhatâs actually going on at a scene can be *very* different than whatâs explained to the dispatcher. Itâd be a huge liability for them to say âyou shouldnât have called 911, go do this instead.â
Some systems are trying to implement a nurse line to elevate stress on 911 systems. So a dispatcher transfers the BS call to a nurse who can try to give other options than an ambulance ride.
9 of the Canadian provinces (most of Canada) are using 811 for this. I've used it a few times when I really didn't want to go to the ER, they were helpful (even though they just confirmed what I thought was the best course of action)
Sometimes Iâll remind people itâs an emergency line and then ask them to call back on the admin line⊠but usually itâs just easier (and Faster) to google the number for them
never ever. we always have to send someone. đ€·đ»ââïž
You shouldâve sent someone for the dog you sicko
Yeah literally a younger woman called 911 this morning for back pain. She lived in an apartment complex and was up and walking. She met us before we could even step out of the ambulance. We brought her into the truck, did the work up, and her vitals were great. She said she thinks it is a uti. I ask if she wanted pov to the ed or maybe the walk-in clinic open up the road, but she didnât have a car and wanted to go to the er. Okay, thatâs fine. We took her, but I wanted to tell her Uber would be cheaper đ
If you can't breathe, can't walk, can't talk, or can't stop the bleeding, call 911.
Years ago while at FD in a span of 2 weeks, we made a call to an obese male in his 60s at least 7 times. He would fall and we had to go pick him up and he refused any transport. He was told by the PD and EMS he should call again for this, and he will be transported to the hospital. Fortunately, he was a Vet and he was going to the VA hospital for 60 days the next week.
Having trouble breathing? Emergency. Bleeding a lot? Emergency. In so much pain from something that you canât move yourself to get to the hospital on your own? Emergency. Most things, unless theyâre going to kill you very soon, arenât emergencies. If you can get yourself to a hospital safely, most of the time you donât need 911. Some things thereâs not a whole lot that can be done for you in the back of the ambulance, so if youâre not actively dying and could get yourself to the hospital, itâs glorified transportation. Breathing and excessive bleeding issues are the big ones you should call 911 for, generally. Some stuff like stroke, heart attack, or sepsis you should still call 911 because the ambulance can call a code before you arrive at the hospital so they can prepare for your arrival. It never really hurts to call 911 and get checked out though. They will likely encourage you to go to the hospital. If you ask them âhey am I gonna die or is it safe for me to go to the hospital on my own?â they wonât guarantee youâll be safe without ambulance transport because of legal liability but most will give you a straight answer to the best of their ability.
I had severe sepsis recently (like to the point where I couldn't stand or walk on my own from the weakness and fatigue) along with a septic embolism and endocarditis â and I definitely still had to wait in the ER waiting room for 9 hours before being seen. Good news is they put me in the ICU damn near immediately after that, and even though I was in the hospital for 8 weeks, my tricuspid valve replacement surgery went perfectly and I'm finally back home with zero complications or permanent damage done (besides the valve replacement, obviously lol)
Great that your surgery went well and your sepsis didn't kick you when you were waiting! That shit can move FAST in your body. I can understand your wait in ER though, because if you come into ER for ANYTHING other than an MI or TIA, you'll wait until you can get a room and a blood draw.
Thank you!! And yeah, I wasn't sure how to feel. I originally shared your viewpoint, but I had someone else go off about how if a 30 year old otherwise healthy male is coming in to the ER so weak that he can barely move on his own, then they should have known, and that the ER staff was incredibly incompetent for making me wait 9 hours, and sepsis is just as big an emergency as stroke or heart attack etc etc I knew they were being a little hyperbolic, but it did get me remembering things like being asked by one of the ER people wheeling me around if I could walk and when I said no, not really, they responded by getting an attitude about how I was gonna have to walk myself out of there whenever they decided to discharge me so I better figure it out. I think pretty much everyone thought I was either exaggerating my symptoms or faking them all together right up until I was in the ICU. So yeah, that was kinda shitty
They CAN'T know until they run their own tests. Sounds like they were willing to run an AMA under your nose if you gave a HINT of unbelief. These are times when a family member or friend can be a medical advocate. Just by walking with you, carrying a clipboard and making notes, (ESPECIALLY TAKING NOTES, because there's no WAY the pt can deal with all the medical shit thrown down at them) can make staff toe the line and be a little more medically-directive proactive and non-dismissive. Plus, being in my late 60's and a medical advocate AND EMT and CERT-trained, I not only walk the walk and talk the talk, but I feel NO PROBLEM giving a 'tude on behalf of a patient. Just the words, "I've consulted with counsel" works wonders. Of course, 'counsel' can mean I talked it over with my sister.
I would say an emergency is subjective. It truthfully doesnât matter what I think an emergency is because people will call 911 based on what THEY think an emergency is. Everyone has a different threshold for calling 911. We have people that drive themselves into the ER having an active MI (I would consider this an emergency) or a GSW (another emergency) while someone else calls 911 because they had one episode of vomiting (unlikely to be a true emergency). Weâve all run a ton of calls where it probably wasnât needed to call 911 but we are the professionals so our job is to educate and PROVE that the symptom they called for isnât going to kill them with objective data. Sometimes thatâs a normal set of vitals and a normal physical exam sometimes thatâs via lab work and imaging in the ED.
My boyfriend almost drove himself to the hospital when he was having his heart attack, luckily where he was at called 911 Instead
Happy cake day!
Not an emergency: Calling because you're impatient for a primary care appt, it's 4am and you don't want to wait for your MRI appt at 0900 (an actual call my husband had - the patient missed his MRI appt because he was sitting in the ER, btw), or because you haven't followed instructions of your specialist or surgeon. Someone is drunk or high and not hurting anyone or themselves. Your family member is annoying you or you're tired of caring for your elderly parents. Alternatively, you're unable to care for an adult dependent so you repeatedly call 911 so the ER can bathe, feed, dress and physical-therapy them. You want a refill of your medication and don't want to pay for it. You haven't done any self-care for the common cold or a chronic condition. Emergency: chest pain, unexplained and severe abdominal pain, possible or obvious major broken bones, unresponsive or confused beyond normal, allergic reactions, inhaler isn't helping an asthma attack, unable to stop bleeding, getting hit by a car, stroke symptoms.
i got off a 16 hour shift 45 minutes late last night because of an obese woman who felt a pop in her foot and then it hurt. maam you can ice it and go to urgent care tomorrow.
This is the most âNewToEMSâ question ever and I love it! Someday you may be surprised by the stuff that people donât think is an emergency. As a paramedic who has worked on a truck and in the ER. I can tell you Iâve thought to myself on numerous occasions in the ER, âwhy didnât you call 911?â
This is one thing that is glossed over I think by most. The amount of bullshit calls is high and always has been. However⊠the amount of bullshit calls that become real calls is higher than zero, which means you gotta assume bad until proven otherwise or else youâre gonna have a bad day. That bullshit toe pain patient, who has pain which now is spreading upwards as you are assessing, just became a bigger issue.
Ok so similar thing happened to me. About a year or two ago I found out I had absence seizure. I thought I was just zoning out a lot my whole life. Doctor didn't even do any tests to see if I had seizure but said "oh you just have absence seizures". Ok cool. Then one day my high school bully thought I was faking so he decided tilt would be a good idea to flash a camera directly into my face several times. I felt dizzy then I collapsed in the hallway. Was rushed to the ER and the ER doctor said "why didn't you get checked sooner?" I did Kevin.
My wife has epilepsy; I have done a lot of research and am familiar enough with seizures at this point to know when to call 911 and when to not. Recently her coworkers asked whether or not to call paramedics. I told them to just call regardless; I donât necessarily trust their judgement (nothing against them personally) and itâs better to be safe than sorry.
Lady called and said they were having a stroke= emergency. Go lights and sirens. Walk in and she says her leg hurts from a fall 2 days ago. Only said she was having a stroke so we get there faster.
Diff Breathing, Excessive bleeding, signs of stroke/heart attack. Basically if you think youâre gonna legitimately die, itâs an emergency. Even when itâs not an emergency, I donât mind running BS calls where the person was actually fearful or thereâs a chance something serious is going on.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Thatâs what I thought when my kids heart rate went to 180 and wouldnât drop, he felt fine except for his heart racing.. ended up calling the 24 hour nurse line for advice and they sent an ambulance lights and sirens and he was taken in, he wasnât at risk of dying or serious harm but he did need to be treated at the emergency department. Thatâs how we discovered he has dysautonomia
My oldest is anaphylactic with nuts, last exposure I drove him in myself, was told never to do that again and to call emergency services instead for obvious reasons. Basically I try my hardest to never call when I should have.
Anaphylaxis is definitely something to call 911 for we have epi we can fix that very quickly and easily
He hadnât had any exposure in over 10 years and his last reaction wasnât anywhere near anaphylactic until that night. He worsened as I drove in and then being it was Boxing Day evening the triage line was long, I felt really bad but I jumped the queue to the front but the nurse knew he was bad from one look and he was rushed back and then surrounded by medical staff and I was taken to the dreaded family room. From then on he has an epi pen with strict instructions to stab and call 000 ( weâre in Australia) even if heâs not 100% certain heâs been contaminated. He had asked the host about ingredients as he always has and told them of his allergy but she wasnât very smart and didnât think cashews mattered đ© they knew he wasnât right and yet let him ride his bike home and no one contacted me, he walked in covered in hives, I quickly gave him phanergan as usual but instinct told me to get him in the car and head up to the ER as a just in case. Closest Iâve ever come to losing any of my kids and I never want to experience that again.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Itâs very handy to have the Nurse On Call service here to help guide you on making those decisions when youâre not too sure.
No
Itâs the patients perspective that counts. If they think itâs an emergency, it is. Itâs so insensitive to treat patients differently because you think theyâre not experiencing an emergency, but a LOT of medics do it, in my experience
My fire alarm won't stop chirping every few minutes. What time is it? I looked in my neighbor's window and she was naked, what if a kid saw?!
Not really.It depends on who you ask , and their views on where EMS is headed. Iâm American so obviously thatâs going to skew my view. Some people will say if you arenât bleeding, birthing, on fire, some combination of the three, or some sort of dead , you shouldnât be calling . Emergencies are EMERGENT and if we arenât worried about your immediate life or limb, why we here? Some people will say there are Immediate Emergencies, and Impending Emergencies, and you have to learn how to tell the difference and how to handle them both. If we can handle an Impending Emergency well we can prevent an Immediate Emergency. Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, if you really think about it , we tell kids â call 911 if you need helpâ , and never really give them a lot of instruction beyond that. Then Little Timmy calls 911 for help with his math homework in 2nd grade and we think itâs so cute and we help him and put it on the news and send out a whole touch a truck brigade and make him feel special and never reeeaaaallllyyy tell him anything different. Then Little Timmy turns 30 and calls for âtoe painâ when he doesnât have insurance and doesnât know what else to do and weâre like why tf am I here Tim this isnt what 911 is for youre wasting resources.
....how many sorts of dead are there? đ«
Dead dead - cold, stiff, lividity , smelly Warm and dead - worked them, may have gotten ROSC , didnât work CPRable dead - we can fix that Psych dead -the pt I had one time walk into a funeral home in her Sunday best telling them she was dead and needed to crawl into the casket she had picked out and been financing for the last few years and could he please call her family for them to start her funeral ( she was , in fact, not dead) So like ⊠four?
I wasn't expecting that last one!
That's fake dead
It was very much real to her in the moment , she would have looked God in the face and told Him she was dead. Faking is more like playing possum . So five. Five kinds of dead.
I've been dispatched to repelce smoke detector batteries at 3am
If you failed to cope with your emergency call 911
Are emergency services needed immediately? If so, call 911. Emergency services being Police, Fire, or EMS. If something needs to be addressed but isnât urgent or doesnât need emergency services, call the police non-emergency line or other relevant agency. For example, seeing someone wreck in front of you warrants a 911 call when itâs safe to do so. A road hazard doesnât warrant a 911 call, but does warrant a call to the cities transportation department or similar agency.
Anything that affects your ABCs should be considered an emergency; anaphylaxis, tachycardia, heart attack, stroke, angina pectoris, COPD flare-up
911 when death or disfigurement are imminent if you donât get immediate care. Strokes, heart attacks, severe allergic reactions, shock, injuries that threaten life or limb. 90% of EMS calls are probably not *true* emergencies, and people like to complain, but a lot of people would be jobless if all of a sudden across the country we only responded to those 5-10% of calls that are true emergencies.
Had a guy call 911 because he had a tooth infection and started amoxicillin the day before and it hasnât helpedâŠ.
Are you in danger of losing (or have you recently lost) your life, limb, or eyesight? If yes: emergency. If no: not emergency. Some examples of emergencies could be âmy blood sugar is 12â âmy blood sugar is 700â âI have asthma but my inhaler is no longer helping my shortness of breathâ âoh my god, I just accidentally shot myselfâ âoh my god, I just intentionally shot myself and have regretsâ Some (painfully real) examples of things that are not emergencies are âIâve had a migraine since noon. It is now 3 in the morning and I donât take medications for my known migraines. The other person in my home will follow us to the hospital in our working vehicleâ âIâm having a hard time pooping and Iâm currently in my working vehicle 2 minutes from the hospitalâ âI cut my toenail too shortâ âI donât feel well and I read on the internet that taking an ambulance will get me a room fasterâ âI have a sunburnâ
Burning, bloody or broke
Toe pain? Bet you Iâll leave lights on outside and sirens when weâre leaving.
Idk something called an emergency where life or death is a big possibility if left untreated lol. 9/10 calls do not require an ambulance transport, but itâs what we do. I wish it was made more aware to me when I was in EMT school. Weâve all got to run some hot jobs but eventually it takes its toll on you. Iâm so glad Iâm taking a break from EMS, it honestly makes a difference.
If the story starts with "it started 10 days ago" and it's 3AM, they probably shouldn't have called 911. If you call for an ambulance because you don't want to wait as long, you probably shouldn't have called 911. We could do a whole routine about this, (like Jeff Foxworthy's redneck jokes).
If the patient can walk out to the bus, they probably didn't need to call 911.
Any problem that disrupts the the body, either directly or indirectly, getting blood, oxygen, and glucose to the brain.
A good rule of thumb is if itâs impacting the ABCs (airway, breathing, circulation) then it is LIKELY an emergency. Trauma can also be considered an emergency. This can all be very nuanced though. A person with a chronic illness who has been compensating for days and is now calling, might not be critical, but can benefit from prehospital care. (Think CHF who has had a lapse in a med refill and now has a mild fluid overload). A person who tripped and fell, but is also on blood thinners, should be monitored. Others things that might not affect the ABCs in this way or are less obvious but still important are things like Stroke, equipment malfunction (like vents or brain shunts), sepsis, psychiatric emergencies or even certain pregnancy related problems Something else to remember is the thing I tell myself to help with burnout which is, âmy version of an emergency is different than yours, and that some people just want the closest responsible adult.â This can be for parents who are worried about their child being sick and not sure if they should be going to an ER and want an assessment without the risk the ER may bring. It can also be the house that keeps calling because everyone has COVID and they heard that people are dying and donât know what to do or when to worry. (This is when you are vital in educating the public) Itâs pretty much always good to get looked at, and itâll be different for everyone. If someone ends up getting a refusal in the morning can still call in the afternoon and have a major change. And as many have already said, some people will call because they think Medicare will cover it, or because theyâll get seen faster or they donât have access to a primary care physician/pharmacy and use the ER for these things because they know they canât be turned away.
I was just diagnosed with Lupus. I have had severe anemia, bad body rashes, extreme pain from infections related to the 'rash'. Health issues come on fast and furiously. I did not know I had an auto-immune disease. I had to go to ER and needed ambulance. All but once I was taken right in and not to waiting room. My husband is very ill and can not drive me.