
25. Emergency services are just as important as the doctors in the hospital.
“The USA here, former 911 medical dispatch. At the private ambulance agency where I worked, when a caller says they’re a doctor, we still have to follow our protocol and ask our standard questions. (NAEMD for the dispatch folks) “Tell me exactly what happened. How old is the patient? Is the patient conscious? Are they breathing? Is their breathing normal?”…and so on. This can lead to some very disgruntled doctors throwing medical jargon at me and yelling, “Just get here now!” This is understandable because they’re not used to dealing with emergencies in the field. Insertcaffeine actually describes a typical 911 call here, which is very insightful and interesting. “Doctor: JUST GET HERE NOW! Don’t you know what commotio cordis is?!
Me: No, sir. The ambulance is driving over from 38th & Wadsworth. Doctor: I DON’T KNOW WHERE THAT IS! Me: [feelin smug as #$%& but continuing the call with professionalism] The ambulance should be here within the next few minutes. Is there someone who can relieve the person doing CPR? Crew: On scene Me: [to radio] They’re on the baseball field, [timestamp] Me: [to phone] You should see the ambulance driving onto the field. Please wave them down.