I fucked up. I'm an EMT and a new emergency vehicle operater, driver. Tonight on my duty shift I am driving for my partner. We just had a CPR in progress from a vehicle roll over. Crushed the guy. He was dead dead and pronounced on scene. En route to the call I passed the driveway the address was corrected to. Delayed us about 4 minutes. Should I be driving? If this was a cpr where time mattered I cost 4 minutes. I'm a good EMT. Now I'm unsure about driving.
>tl;dr new at emergency driving and made a mistake.
>should I be driving? Time matters and I wasted 4 possibly critical minutes
>>17239918
You have a responsibility on the street aswell so i would say don't give it much thought and just try to improve by learning.
Here in germany no one has ever died in a emergency vehicle, officially ofcourse, because otherwise they would have to fully clean the vehicle afterwards so they just say the person died in the hospital.
>>17239918
Fellow EMT and oldfag. You're fine. Quit freaking out. Mvc head crush injury? Cpr in progress ? Guy was gone before you'd get there or be pronounced in the ER and you know it.
I once had to do cpr on a fat fuck who had 10 minutes of cpr in progress at his home. Me, the station chief, and 5 other paramedics had to get this poor bastard down 2 flights of stairs. He was already cyanosis when we got there. I had to ride in the back with my paramedic partner and do compressions for 15 minutes while she bagged and pushed meds. Guy was dead and it was called 5 minutes after the ER, but by law we had to do what we did. You know this. My arms were heavy as fuck afterwards
Here EMT can pronounce patients dead on the scene. As was the case here. It's just I can't stop thinking what if this guy needed us. That hangs on me. If there ever was a cpr to mess up on it guess this was best case. I'm timid to drive now. I won't make that same mistake but how do I lose this timid feeling?
>>17239982
Point is, dead is dead and 4 minutes of cpr on scene vs in your ride wouldn't have made a difference in this case.
>>17239987
Your EVOC training won't help you shake nerves OP. You're gunshy. It's understandable. You'll see shit that's going to rattle you over time. Just regroup and keep driving. You'll be hyper aware of info comming across on the call from now on. Learn from it
>9999
>>17240000
Almost a good, faggott
>>17239987
>>17239997
I understand. Thank you. I guess I just need to jump in the driver seat regardless and just get to the scene. I'm going to try and make sure I don't make that mistake again.
>>17240034
Np man. It just takes time. You'll adapt
sorry I don't know/understand shit about the area, but...
get a GPS?
also, get used to it? I bet this happens to everyone... you aren't some sort of god that can do everything well all the time
>>17240085
We use GPS, but not everything in my area lines up well/right on back roads. I don't think I'm a God. That would be idiotic. I understand I'll make mistakes. I'm human. That is just a big mistake at a really bad time. It is a huge gut check. Also dispatch didn't push the new address to our GPS.
>>17239982
See
>>17240034
I'm really tired and tagged my post. Thank you.
>>17239982
Also how did you know I'm an oldfag?
>>17239918
Former EMT and aspiring medfag here: I don't think you made much difference in this guy's lifespan one way or the other. The percentage chance for long term survival with any cardiac arrest is in the low single digits. If this guy was crushed by a car and without a pulse, the odds are overwhelming that he was already dead bag of donor organs whether or not you were there to press on his chest.
I think your beating yourself up over this shows that your heart is in the right place; you want to be there to save people and that's good because that's the core of your job. HOWEVER, you also need to understand that as healers and physicians and ambulance technicians we WILL fuck up as we learn, and that WILL get people killed. You have the luxury of your mistakes only "killing" someone who was already dead. Consider yourself lucky, and focus on how you'll avoid the same problem when it's time to save someone who has a chance.
>>17240128
Internet 4chan voodoo
>>17240174
I >tl;dr nobody does it anymore.
>>17240108
>Also dispatch didn't push the new address to our GPS.
so, it was not (only?) your fault?
guess the real question you wanted to ask us is not really what you asked.
>>17240190
No, I was at fault. I should of payed more attention to the road signs and less on the gps. Technology will fail you. I did get redispatched to that same address. Someone having anxiety attack about the death. I guess I got a little chance at redemption. Did not miss the address this time.
