Monday, November 14, 2005

I can't sleep!

I love my job as an Ambulance Paramedic....but sometimes it's hard..very hard. Not because of the trauma, and not because you see people at their lowest ebb, but because sometimes you get called out for the most ridiculous things.
Mr 'X' called 000 about three am one night. He told our communications centre that he wasn't well, but he refused to be more specific.
We took of and arrived at the house about 20 minutes later.
We were met at the door by a middle aged man. He looked fine so I asked him where the patient was.
"It's me" he said.
"Well what's wrong" I replied.
"I've had a nightmare".
I quickly looked around the room trying to see what may have caused his catastrophic event. But everything looked fine. No blood on floor/walls.
I asked him again what had happened and again he replied.
"I'VE HAD A NIGHTMARE!"
Then it dawned on me...he actualy had had a bad dream.
I was gob smacked.
I asked him why he needed to call an ambulance and he replied that he could't get back to sleep.
I thought he may have psychological problems so I took a punt and asked him if he had taken his medications.
"What medications?" he said.
I saw red.
"Come here" I yelled "What is that!"
"It's an Ambulance" he replied looking puzzled.
"That's right! It's an EMERGENCY vehicle! So where's the emergency here!"
He then said that we were a public service and when he calls us we are obliged to attend.
As you could imagine, the conversation went downhill from there.
Suffice it to say we left.
On the way back to our depot, my partner said that I forgot to tuck him in and give him a kiss goodnight.
Like I said previously...sometimes it's hard...very hard. Especially when you don't get a choice in which partner you are going to be working with!

1 comment:

James Bancroft said...

I agree.. I am a student paramedic in the UK. I have had similar experiences. A patient used the fact that we couldn't decline to take him to hospital, and we knew that he lived opposite the hospital. As soon as we arrived he walk out of the other door in the Emergency Department down the path home. I will be glad when I become an Emergency Care Practitioner because I will be able to discharge patients