Years ago I was in the hospital and the nurse said they were going to move me to ICU. As she was getting me ready she says "sir, are you an organ donor?" .... I couldn't really talk, but in my head I was thinking, that's not a good question to be asked in a hospital.
Dude... those organ donar groups are VULTURES!!! If they even smell a chance you might not make it, you best believe paperwork is being filed in advance...just in case... My ex-girlfriends aunt suffered a massive stroke and was presumed braindead. Before the grandparents even came to grips with what happened to their daughter, two young women with binders that said "the gift of life" were in the room asking to speak with the next of kin. It was brutal.
@@ralphralpherson9441 Because every moment that they wait, the organs are dying and someone's life depends on them. They're not doing it to be mean. They're doing it to save someone. I'm sure it is brutal to have to consider that kind of thing when you're still reeling from loss, but frankly that's why everyone should make sure their preferences are known ahead of time, so their family doesn't have to make that choice.
@@YourXavier Oh no, I mean, she wasn't even dead yet, they were still doing tests to confirm brain death. I think that's a LITTLE too anxious yknow? give the people SOME hope maybe. You might give off the wrong idea y'know? I know the people I mentioned were worried they wouldn't do EVERYTHING to save their daughter because they wanted the organs. In the end, it turned out she was indeed braindead and she passed and did donate several organs. And I understand the rationale. It's just...I dunno, sometimes they seem a little TOO anxious to get those guts.
I used to work with an ex-army surgeon...who's callsign was "Old Shakey" He'd finish every patient assessment with his standard "Son.....I'm pretty sure you're going to die.... But probably not today And certainly not from this" Then as he'd write his orders in the chart "Well...lets see if we can find a new way to poison some patients today..." Or "You know...money may make the world go round....but this (med) will make it spin" I don't know how he kept his licence...but he sure make those shifts interesting
@@NorthernLynx13 you come to after hitting a bridge head on. They ask you where you right leg is. And you don't know cause you can't feel your leg. Then 30 min later they find your right leg still attached to you. The truck motor was in the median.
In fairness, it is not considered professional for EMTs, if not paramedics to diagnose the patient or tell them how it will turn out. It's not within our scope of practice. What we can say is something like "We are seeing X, Y, and Z. We reccomend immediate transportation to the hospital, your doctor can tell you more. We will do A, B, and C." If they repeat the question, I'd just outright tell them it is outside of our training to tell the patient under any condition how it will turn out, but that we will get them to the hospital and do everything we can to make sure the doctor has the best background information to work off of. I am still a student, so I may be recommended better responses.
“That can’t be right. I’ve never seen someone with that low of a blood pressure and still be conscious.” I laughed so hard cause I’ve made a ride like that! I didn’t say that btw but we all thought it.
That actually happened to me. I went to the doctor for a checkup and the nurse couldn't hear my heart beat. For some reason it took her a minute to figure out the stethoscope was broken.
It's usually the opposite. using the regular sized cuff on a bariatric patient gives false high numbers, so when I don't have the right size cuff handy I end up doing a pulse pressure on the forearm to confirm the patient's systolic isn't really 230. Our company buys the cheapest pulse-ox readers and I've said to plenty of patients, "don't worry, if your blood oxygen was actually that low you wouldn't be talking to me."
@@sunil_de6856 They're quite a bit more than an ambulance, as Shaun said they're basically a mobile operating theatre. Saw one once on standby next to a tower block someone was threatening to jump from.
True story about the paramedic not saying anything! I was in a motorcycle accident and I thought my leg was broken, but I had blood coming from my mouth and nose. When I was in the ambulance, I asked the paramedic to take me a specific hospital. He informed me they had to take me to a Level one trauma center. I made the joke saying “Well it ain’t like I’m gonna die.” He just sat there with a stone cold face and said nothing. And I was like “ ummm…right?” And then informed me I had deep bruising on my chest and blood was coming from my nose and mouth which could be a sign of internal bleeding and told me to stop talking. 😂 my whole positive demeanor changed in a second.
"OK potato is not a number" Or lord the flashbacks lmfao "Ma'am are you feeling any better?" "Well I yellow blue dog bike........tree?" ".......I see....Hey Mike? Wanna drive a bit faster?"
@@ObservingLibertarian yeah, I can have aphasia-like symptoms when my migraine is really bad. The reactions I get to this can be very interesting. The concern is 100% warranted, refusing to listen to my partner trying to explain my medical problems is when it just gets annoying.
Our department once had a large industry fire and our chief just told dispatch "keep sending vehicles with blue lights on the roof until he says stop". I think we ended up having something like 550 FFs, EMTs and other personnell on scene.
Yup. And usually when we hear you say that? It's not good...and the ED is so silent you could hear a pin drop, until you bang through the bay doors....
Swan Song, We usually try to fix the hot mess on the way to you, but that’s not always possible. And thank you for answering the radio! Which I understand is not always possible. 😉
I didn't actually ask for it, but about a month ago I had a patient with cool skin and a pulse of 40 and there was a person waiting at the door and 6 other people waiting at the door of the room they told me to take her to.
the "low blood pressure but still conscious" person is me every time I go to a hospital & they need to do the routine checks, & they look at me like "how tf are you awake" 😂
My father had some zen skill where his pulse would be like 35 and he was having his blood pressure done and closed his eyes and the nurse called his name because she was genuinely concerned if he was alive.
Ha ha ha !!!!! Yeah, when I was much younger, and jumping from airplanes for fun and work (Rangers and 82nd), my resting heart rate was 42 (and lower sometimes), and my BP was so low that whenever I went for a physical, the docs and nurses would freak out and wonder how I was still conscious. Our battalion medics just thought I was weird and got used to it, the old Vietnam SF Medic just laughed and said hey, this just shows you that how much you think you know, you really don’t!! Absolute RockStar!!! Doc Rod (Rodriguez), HHC 505 PIR 87-90 Happiest person I have ever met, 5’ 6” tall, 4’ wide, absolute muscle. Could not March for nothing, best man you ever want to have around when anything goes sideways.
My dad was in the hospital after a heart attack, turns out he had heart issues (he’s healthy now), including one that made his blood pressure much lower than normal. The monitors would frequently trip causing the nurses to get an alarm that he was in trouble, they’d all come piling into his room panicking ready to revive him, only for him to look up from his book and ask: “is there a problem?”
A few years back, I fell off a bicycle while wearing a helmet. Ended up at the hospital, and I needed to be transported to neurological ICU at another hospital . While in the ambulance, the paramedics asked the driver how many more minutes till we get there? The driver responded 10 minutes. The paramedic responded, “That’s too long, take the shoulder.” I did not want to hear those words. (But all ended okay 😊)
@@aylakitsune2675 The shoulder of the highway/freeway. This is normally used to stop if your car breaks down, gets a flat tire, or you're pulled over by police. It is illegal to drive on the shoulder unless you're in an emergency vehicle.
My dad drank, smoked and was way overweight. He went to the doctor and his blood pressure was something like 180/130. (Or maybe it was 240/180.) The doctor about freaked out. My dad: What's the problem? The gauge goes to 300. Dad quit drinking and smoking, got his weight down to about 220 and lived to 87.
At the risk of coming across as massively insensitive, isnt that kinda like asking 'whats the problem, the gage goes all the way to 260?' after being pulled over for speeding?
@@marcusreading3783 It's closer to "What's the problem? The gauge goes all the way to 320." when you just got into a car accident and miraculously came out with only a scratch.
"Did you say 2mg or 0.2mg ..." My son had to have 0.5mg of clonidine and his health care worker gave him 5.0mg. He slept for 2 days. An absolute mess that ordeal was.
@@themudpit621 Just did, "highest cause of death USA" leads to the CDC's official numbers for 2021 (definitive 2022 statistics aren't out yet) none of which are medical error (Heart disease, cancer, covid-19, accidents, stroke are the top five). Then I googled "highest cause of death USA medical error?" and found one 2016 study based on older data that involved extrapolations and rough estimates because as the study itself stated there aren't precise indicators of medical error on death certificates. That study concluded that medical error contributed to a number of deaths greater than the then-third-ranked cause (_not_ second or first, as you stated). This study then had quite a few rebuttals including a later study that had conflicting results (finding among other things that medical error has been steadily declining since the '90s), and additionally a writer talking about the subject (can't vouch for the author) pointed out that considering other numbers related to the US healthcare system, a third of hospital deaths would have to be caused by medical errors which really doesn''t even pass the instinctive plausibility test. Please, before spreading rumor and telling people to look stuff up, make sure to look it up yourself.
Had that happen in a car accident, was still on site when I got told, yep not even going to the local hospital, straight by air to the closest Level 1.....
I actually heard a nurse say over me “I can’t get a blood pressure but I don’t think she’s dead!” I said she could have just asked. Then projectile vomited on her. The hospital had really poor bp machines.
When my brother had kidney stones his BP was up to 200, the rookie Paramedic thought he was having a heart attack, the veteran Paramedic looked at him and said "You have never had a kidney stone have you." Then he pumped my brother full of morphine and his BP came back down.
@@LadyAnuB I ended up the ER with Kidney stones and the nice intern gave me 800 MG of Motrin. As I was still writhing in pain the head of the ER came over and gave me a shot of morphine and just looked at the intern like "Motrin, really."
@@johnharris6655 I got the lovely prize of no pain relief until after an ultrasound to determined if my left testicle had twisted up. After the ultrasound, I was holding myself back to keep myself from puking again. I made it to my ER room and then found the sink. Then I was given a shot of something that only drove my pain down two notches, 7.5 from 9.5. WTF?
True story. I had a large kidney stone that needed to be removed and during the day of the surgery my doctor came in and marked the area of the stone with a pen on my side. A little while later a couple nurses came in to prepare me for the surgery. "Did the surgeon come talk to you yet?" "Yeah, and he already marked my side.". I adjusted my hospital gown to show them. The nurses laughed. "He must be new! He still marks the patient!". My jaw hung for a moment. Before I knew what I was saying I said, "Just put me under. I don't want to know what happens next."
They marked my mum's leg when she surgery to remove metal hardware they put in to fix her broken leg. The hardware was on the outside of her leg, and went from mid shin to mid thigh...
My mom got knee surgery a few months ago. Surgeon circled the knee to be replaced and put an X on the other one. The surgeon, a nurse, and my mom all had to initial under the circle before they would even think of wheeling the bed into the OR.
I had temporary work where the instruction manual for medication was misprinted. It was printed as 1mg when it should have been .1mg. My job was to add the period.
Reminds me when my dentist botched a wisdom tooth extraction. It was supposed to be an "easy" case. I wasn't supposed to have to take days off or need meds. As soon as I was sitting after he was done picking out all of the tooth fragments (it exploded), his assistant nervously asked him "Soo.. do we prescribe her anything?" and he replied "Everything" then ran away to lock himself into his office. I got a few days off work and very fun meds.
@@toradrow777 probably by gripping it too hard with the pliers. On a somewhat related note, there’s a video out there of a vet removing a tooth from a crocodile where there was something like two dozen fragments in the socket that needed to be dug out.
@@toradrow777had it happen to me. The pill they gave me that was supposed to, basically, dope me up like a bag of magic mushrooms didn't kick in fast enough so I'm in the chair still fully mentally awake (though I guess luckily physically I was doped up) I hear the one the guy was working on crack something real fierce and he paused for a second and I just hear him mutter "damn"
I’ve literally asked a patient their name and they responded with “Potato”. Not really sure why that’s a word of choice. Regardless, that was a stroke team activation.
@@scoutsdad5831 Baywatch was a good show 👌 not like station 19. With baywatch you got what it was supposed to be about a bunch of women in swimsuit running slowly on the beach. Teen bait. Station 19 is well at best what not to do as a medic, wait let me answer this call 😀😄
The blood pressure one actually happened to me 😂 So I was 8 months pregnant and in a car wreck. In the ambulance and my blood pressure tanks (we found out later that baby was manuvering himself to where he'd cut off circulation back from my leg, but we didn't know this at the time). We're on the way to the ER and I hear paramedic #1 tell paramedic #2 that he doesn't understand how I'm still concious because my bp was 42/23, and he was about to have to give me an IO. Now, I understood *exactly* what an IO was, and somehow the thought of having that happen while I was still concious was enough to raise my bp back up 🤣 End of story everything was fine, I had no major injuries, just a fetus that found the off button 😂😂😂
@@lunarwavegaming285 IO is an intraosseous device: a plastic device with a port and needle that can be used in lieu of IV access in emergency situations. It is placed with a small handheld drill into the top of the shin just below the knee, or in the top of the bone in the upper arm (humerus). Once it's placed, you can hook it up just like a regular IV, and meds circulate quickly because bone is filled with blood vessels. Some patients do not have good veins, and in a time-sensitive situation like a person down in cardiac arrest, you need access to give medication quickly. It's a fantastic device , but not really intended for everyday use. I do not recommend having to use it on a conscious patient, personally. Did it once in medic school when we had a patient bleeding out, and few viable places for IV access due to a suicide attempt. He was moving ALOT and my paramedic preceptor didn't want to run the risk to try for the carotid area, so we had to drill him awake. Not fun. 😕
@@ashleysmith2109 Thanks for the really thorough and clear response! Never realized there was a drilling alternative to standard IV methods. Can definitely understand wanting to avoid it when conscious.
My mom has extremely low blood pressure, but that's her normal. She used to be in the medical field, and while helping the newbies take blood pressure, she just about scared them to death. They asked her 'how are you alive?!' Lol. It's hereditary. It can cause problems sometimes... She had to go to the hospital for a medical issue and they said she had 'normal blood pressure' and 'nothing was wrong'. Took a lot of time to get them to realize that It was way too high for her. (P.S. she's ok.)
Had a call where the patient had a pressure of 80/50. I mistakenly just asked the nurse if his pressure was normally low and she said it was. When I realized the mistake and asked her to be more specific, she said usually around 110 systolic. Below average, but definitely not what qualifies as 'low' for me.
I've got a relative with consistent hbp, not related to a lethal illness per say, but a standard outcome of a medical procedure they have had done to treat something else. They go to the Doctor and everyone panics till they tell them it's (usually) normal and they check their records.
@@neuralmute Also a Zebra. “Yes, my blood pressure is this low. Do you want to see all the hand things?” Because I often get asked to show the hand things.
I have actually had one of these moments happen to me. I had a post surgical infection after an orthoscopic hysterectomy that was causing my kidneys to fail. The paramedics asked me for my weight (because they were about to give me morphine) and I said 114 lbs.; They heard 140 lbs. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur... 😅
i think i'd feel safer with an emergency responder with a solid sense of humour and good sarcastic whip; means they've seen it all, been thru it all, felt it all, and still care enough to stick with it.
Sarcasm in the medical field is pretty much a necessity, if you want to keep your sanity. We see the most insane things every day! If you don’t have a dry sense of humor, you will lose your sanity. We have to see the humor in most everything, because if we don’t we will burn out or be unable to focus and do our jobs. I have seen people (usually nurses) who “care too much” and get inconsolable upset if they can’t save a person (either because they don’t/won’t take care of themselves, or because their condition is too bad). You can’t survive with that attitude.
@@fastsnake1 Don´t think so. New hospital (I think they opened a month earlier) and they were doing some work on the road, so the ambulance probably tried to get around the stop in traffic.
i was the have everyone ready, motorcycle accident. 20 broken bone, 15 scars, 7 surgeries, 3 metal plates, 1 disconnected nerve, 1 partially amputated foot (put back on.) Happened on june 25th 2022 just recently got cleared to learn to walk again. stay safe out there
One day while “enjoying” a bout of MRSA from a recent back surgery, my wife took me to the ER because the pain was unimaginably excruciating to the point I was blacking out and nearing vomiting. Apparently when the ER doc asked my pain level (standard 1-10) I said “163”. He asked “not 162 or 164” I guess I said “no, 163 is about right”. I don’t remember a thing about this but this is what my wife said. I finally came to after about 30 mins of getting a strong dose hydromorphone. I remember after that.
not a paramedic, but a surgeon: one time I had to get a tendon repair in my wrist. A couple months had passed after the surgery and I was in a post-op appointment with my surgeon explaining how now that my wrist had healed, it still felt the same as it did before. he grabbed my arm and moved my wirst around some and went "shit"
@@DeathnoteBB still not sure what he did (or didnt do) any time I asked he would just say he went in and "cleaned it up." ended up wearing a brace (which was more like a cast that could be removed to shower) for 3 months with no improvement. then I saw a new surgeon who gave me a steroid shot (something my first surgeon had also done) in what was apparently a slightly different spot and it was all better. new surgeon told me it didnt require surgery
I'm an EMT-A, and my girlfriend would tell you I make a lot of jokes about wanting to go to the station with a keg so we have something to do in our off time, make the echo unit drive.
I mean, "what do you consider bad?" is a pretty fair question seeing how what a paramedic thinks of as "bad" and what non-paramedics think of as "bad" is probably wildly different.
Reminds me of those "On a scale of 1-10, how bad is the pain?" questions. By my personal scale, anything above a 7 you should be completely incapable of answering. An 8 you're too busy whimpering, a 9 is uncontrollable screaming agony, and 10 is just straight up unconscious from the pain.
@@Just_A_Dude that scale works for most people, however for people like me wit a high pain tolerance 1-5 are non existent and range from nearly cutting my thumb off being a 2 and having cactus spines all over my body being a 5... 6-10 10 being when I had my legs snapped in half and even that I was laughing and making jokes from the second I woke up in the middle of the road to the day I was released from the hospital... when people like me go in we need to exaggerate our scale because a paper cut and having bones sticking out of our legs all feels the same
@@Just_A_Dude very true However if I said I was at a 3 when I had my legs broken i would have been on a much lower dose of pain meds and likely would have been released sooner. I've had to deal with my pain tolerance most of my life and I've learned that I can't do things just because they don't hurt. I knew if I had been released sooner with my broken legs I would have broken them again therefore I raised my numbers to make sure that doctors wouldn't sign off until the point they would have signed off on the average person
“When the patient woke up, his skeleton was gone, and the Doctor was never seen again!” “Hahahahahahahah!” “Heh, anyway, that’s how I lost my medical license.”
the 'everyone' call couldn't be more true. i remember a covid patient who was in such a horrendous state that i directly called the ICU before even leaving the guy's bedroom... when we got to the ER, my colleague was standing right next to the door with the tube already in his hand (spoiler alert : patient survived)
Ngl, if I heard a paramedic get on the radio and say "get everybody ready" in regards to me, I'd immediately relax and start feeling safer. One time I was severely anemic (like 2% away from transfusion anemic) and super dehydrated from throwing up and tearing the lining of my esophagus. I couldn't stand upright for more than 20 seconds before my vision would start to black out. Was scared for my life until I was in that hospital bed surrounded by the team there while they took care of me. Safest I've ever felt in my life was surrounded by a team of doctors/nurses like that. I still have a scar on the inside of my left elbow from the size of the "not a needle, plastic tube at this point" IV line they had in me. They had two, but the other one didn't scar for whatever reason. They would've put at least one of them NOT in my elbow, but the scar tissue on my forearms from a decade of severe eczema was making putting a line in there next to impossible. It was... quite the ride.
I am an EMT in Austria. Some weeks ago, during an emergency I did not know what to do, so I told my colleague (he also did not know) to stay with the patient. In the meanwhile I went outside to google what to do now. 😂
Hah! We had to do that in emerg a few weeks ago when everyone was prepping to put a chest tube in for a pneumothorax and the nurses suddenly realized the wet suction device was a slightly different model than ones they'd used before. Mad scramble on multiple cell phones to get the UA-cam video to make sure the it was set up right before the chest tube went in.
Several years ago I was admitted to the hospital for fainting. Upon waking up, I remember the paramedic saying essentially "Your BP is so low, I'm amazed you're still conscious." Turns out I developed a massive internal hemorrhage and lost about half my blood supply. I was surprisingly ecstatic when, after extensive testing, the doctor was able to say, "You lost a lot of blood, but the good news is that we found it."
Once I regained consciousness after hemorrhaging I asked the nurse (who was manually squeezing saline bags into my arm) “did I almost just die!?” And she looked at me and just smiled reassuringly which was just confirmation that I almost died and so I said “oh my god I did almost die…” to which I got the response “everything’s going to be ok!” 😅 it was not very confidence-inspiring
I have had a nure say “That can’t be right. I’ve never seen someone with that low of a blood pressure and still be conscious.” to me before, 2014, at a hospital ... she tried three different machines, then took it manually and then called in the head nurse..... it was quite entertaining.
My only call to 911 cause I was bleeding so bad from a saw "accident" . Emt shows up, takes a look at my arm and tells me " that's not so bad -- it is still attached" LOL
To get a little serious, this is especially egregious because it’s well known one’s ears are one of the last senses to shut down. Don’t bad talk a guy on the ground, he may hold it against you if he pulls through. Very funny, enjoyed this.
My Mom was admitted to local hospital psych ward with nervous breakdown. (It's called something else now ... extreme depression?) Two nurses stood by her door and one said "She's gone, she's never coming back." A few years later Mom was a house keeping supervisor in same hospital. She told the story to the head nurse, and asked her to tell everyone "Never assume the patient can't hear you." It might have made some people give up; it made Mom more determined to recover.
@@veramae4098 yep, I had surgery and my post op nurse insisted I do something, which I refused stating I would pass out. She proceeded to do it anyway and *shocker* I passed out landing neck first on the bedrail. At this point she started talking to my partner and asking questions, which I proceeded to answer as I came to. I knew where she'd be standing from the direction of her voice, and where I'd be on the bed (which my partner did, not the nurse).
i did once chew out an intern over that. I was still semi conscious during surgery and one of the few things i heard after my breathing stopped was "carefully, your sitting on his face". Couldnt see, feel, smell, or taste anything but i heard it.
I had a severe panic attack once at college, I was hyperventilating. Paramedics were called. The guy was like "Hey! You need to start breathing right or I'mma have to shove a tube down your throat!" Which freaked me out more. Like WTF man!? 🤦🏻♀️
My personal favorite: "Woah her heart rate is like 243, she should be dead." I remember looking at the monitor and being like, "oh is that why it feels like I'm having a heart attack AT 13 YEARS OLD???"💀
“This EKG has to be broken. You can’t be this calm with a pulse of 173.” “Happens all the time with severe PTSD. Trust me, I’m very upset.” She went through 3 EKG machines and finally got the head nurse in, who immediately took over when I told her what was going on. 😂
I got allergy tested and my heart rate was 165 and dropped to 130 in about a minute because I was scared and calmed down lol needless to say that was q nice nap
Can attest to the "theres no way you can ___", a tornado hit my house and i freaked a couple people out because of how calm i was meanwhile everyone around me were in hysterics. This is an actual conversation i had with an EMT "How are you so calm, you went through a tornado?!" Me: "I have an unusual fascination with severe weather dispite being terrified of it" "But you should be in shock right now!" Me: "Oh dont worry, that will come soon enough" (It never did) "Well... ok then. you seem fine, no cuts or any visible injures" Me: "Ok... so... now what?" "You go sit in the refuge commons, near the entrance so someone can keep an eye on you" Me: "Ok, you have a good night" To this day i wonder what they were thinking about my reaction to the situation.
I get crap from my family when I have these kind of reactions. I'm definitely a freak-out-later, if-at-all reactor. When everyone else is distressed and I'm _at least_ less so, I get considered heartless and mean. I now work in a level 2 trauma center, and I love it.
see i have GAD and C-PTSD. and my heart rate is always...fast. one nurse told me that i needed to calm own so my heart rate would got down. i looked her dead in the eye and was like 'This is as calm as i'm getting without medical intervention.' i was given Ativan. could suddenly breath and my chest stopped hurting so bad. it still hurt like i had pulled all the muscles or something but i no longer felt like i was dying. ended up taking a nap a little while later they let me sleep and took me up to my room for my stay. had pleurisy and a pretty bad case of bronchitis.
I was a graduate nurse and had a heart situation in front of some students which ended with me in the floor in the urine analysis room (I am still convinced one of the hospital ghosts kicked me in the chest, because that is what it felt like, complete with being shoved against the cupboards). They did a BP: super low (I can’t remember what it was off the top of my head). They got another nurse and another machine: still super low. Doctor came in and didn’t believe them and said that the machines must be broken because with a no that low I should be unconscious. Got me into the ED, and he did the test himself: still super low, and I was still conscious. Nothing wrong with my heart apparently, it just likes to do that some times. I maintain it was one of the ghosts… I just don’t know which one.
The "I've never seen a person with blood pressure that low and still be conscious." I didn't quite hear that but a version of it when I had my tachycardia years ago and almost died. My version was the heartbeat of 230 bpm and almost no blood pressure. I was defibbed 4 times the third my heart stopped and my o2 levels were so low the EMTs had to do CPR for 8 minutes. I was airlifted to Boston children's hospital. I am grateful I got to thank the EMTs that saved me a year later in person. It made them tear up thanking them, please try to thank them if you can.
My paramedics said "OMG EEEEEW!!!" and "Oh jesus, I can't look! I feel faint!" after I had twisted my ankle out of the socket. Like fully out, it was just hanging in skin and tendons. Luckily I am on blood thinners so it was also violently bleeding internally as well. I genuinely thought I would be a mild case of the day, I even waited a bit before I called the ambulance, I was in shock and was hoping it would 'sort itself out'.
You were 'shocked' *In* shock is an actual medical condition, which means your body is too busy shutting down your organs to uphold blood pressure, trying to prevent you from dying, to pay attention
"Bad news: You've lost a lot of blood. Good news: WE FOUND IT :D" There is a PALPABLE amount of chaotic energy there and I love it. It also conjures up an incredible mental image of what the hell "We found it" actually means XD
Blood pressure one happened to me. I have low blood pressure and get lightheaded very easily when I change positions, and am also a blood donner. I got my wisdom teeth out during COVID lockdowns (and had to be under general anesthesia because they were in complicated positions). I somehow wrote down the wrong date for my surgery and wound up donating blood 2 days before, where I passed out after and spent about 2 hours on a gurney in front of fans trying to stay awake. When the surgeon called me the next day to remind me of the surgery, I told them what happened and they said it would be fine (I also told the surgeon and anesthesiologist in person before the surgery). From this point on the story is largely filled in by my dad who was waiting for me in recovery. I wake up in recovery and am continuously on the verge of falling unconscious, and the blood pressure cuff takes a reading every couple minutes. After several minutes I am still struggling to keep my eyes open and only seeing that black fuzzy tunnel that comes with low blood pressure, and the cuff beeps again. The nurse in training looks at it, calls over her supervisor, and the supervisor just says “that can’t be right, if it’s that low she wouldn’t be awake, I wonder if it’s broken”. They look at me for a few seconds, than the supervisor just says “huh” and leans the bed back some more before walking away, leaving me internally freaking out in my delirious state thinking I’m going to die lol. Every thing worked out in the end though, I was just in recovery for longer.
So glad I got to ride with friendly nice EMTs when I went to the ER like a year ago. They were friendly and kept me talking and stuff when I was scared and in a ton of pain. Really helped me. Thank you everyone who's an EMT, firefighter, or other first responders
Two of those were giving me flashbacks to when I had my myocardial infarction. I started feeling a bit AMS in the ambulance, which I communicated to the EMTs. They were a bit dismissive, but it prompted them to take my BP … 79/50. (a/k/a barely conscious … despite my ability to communicate intelligibly to the EMTs.) EMT 1: "Push some atropine." EMT 2: "5 mL?" EMT 1: "POINT 5mL." Me: "*****. Let's not make any decimal point errors with the atropine. I don't want my heart to explode out of my chest."
The last one happened to me. They were like don’t be scared but as soon as we pull up to the hospital people are going to come running And I was like: 😅😅😅😅
“Oh if your back was broken you wouldn’t be able to walk” *presses lightly on L-1 vertebrae* Jesus get this kid strapped on the stretcher it’s definitely broken. That was scary.
At 2 different times, years apart, I've had DOCTORS essentially say TWO of you're "11 things you never want to hear a paramedic say" list, and I'll add a bonus third... 1. In 2014, I had a doctor say, "Your iron levels are so low... How are you alive?" 2. In 2020, I had a stitch in my right side that wouldn't go away. Go to the hospital, they say likely UTI, prescribe STRONG antibiotics & send me home. I finish the course of treatment, I'm feeling better, but I still have some pain in my right side. Call telecare, they send me back to the ER. All blood tests come back normal. Culture for the UTI came back negative... Doc is ready to send me home. ACTUALLY SAYS THE WORDS: "You can go home... Actually... I want to run a CT scan to check your appendix before you go." I get the CT scan, go back to my cubicle, and the next thing I know, a nurse charges in saying I'm going to be dealing with at least FIVE specialists, from gynecology to nephrology to hematology... I have MASSIVE blood clots on my kidneys, one leading up to my lungs... Spent a week in the hospital, no history of clots, talking to every intern about every aspect of my health history. They said it was exceedingly rare to form blood clots on kidneys and that it's usually pretty painful. (The doc that sent me to CT came to see me during my stay to "check up on me"... looked at me like I was a miracle. 🤷🏻♀️) BONUS #3... 1998, went to the ER in the middle of the night, extreme pain just below my right ribs. Sent for an ultrasound. The tech says: "Looks like you'll be around a bit & talking to a surgeon." Sent back to my cubicle & given a shot of Demerol - which usually knocks me out flat! This time, I'm sitting, talking to the nurses, surgeon checks me out, says: "Go home. If you have any more problems, call my office." The next day, I nibble on an unsalted saltine cracker, and in short order, I'm doubled over in pain. Call the surgeon, he says: "OK, on Friday, go back to the ER first thing in the morning. Tell them you called my office & that I told you to meet me there. I'll operate then." This is Tuesday mid-morning, and I have 2 babies who want to crawl all over me & feed them, and I can barely move from the pain, much less look at food... Friday morning comes, I do as I'm instructed. I haven't eaten since that saltine cracker... I spend the day waiting. At 5pm, I'm called to go back & meet the surgeon again, who quickly explains the procedure... laparoscopic, smaller incisions, faster healing, but if things don't go well, he might have to do a full incision, but he'll get that angry gallbladder out. No problem. Get prepped for surgery, wheeled to the OR, they do their thing... As I'm waking up, I hear the surgeon say to me: "I'm sorry... We caught it in time." Turned out my gallbladder was the size of a football and could have burst on me at any moment that week! They debated if they should continue with the scope or not. Decided to give it a try. Thankfully, they didn't have to do the "big" operation. But yeah... Hearing your surgeon say: "I'm sorry" in a truly apologetic way is REALLY freaky! (Though I did appreciate the apology, I would have much preferred having been believed on Monday night.🤦🏻♀️)
On 2: A friend was about 20, when she went to the ER for bad abdominal pain. She was told it was just cramps, go home. Her father came to the hospital soon after that, & raised a fuss. So, the started an ultrasound of the abdomen. Part way through, the ultrasound tech dropped the wand a,d ran out to rally all the help he could get. It was an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy! She had bruise marks from the loss of blood, but they got it before disaster.
I had that happen, in regards to gallbladders. I wasn’t told to go home the first time I was in pain. Second time it seems they all believed that something was wrong. I had tests, though the nurse said ‘we know it’s your gallbladder’. Admitted to the hospital, on strong painkillers (which I loved! I never felt better!) and the next day they operated. I was only told that my gallbladder was disgusting, and that was by the doctor.
i've heard similar before. there are few things funnier than a doctor asking you things like "how are you still alive?" or "did you get a gypsy curse or something?"
0:12 oh my god just yesterday somebody at work didn't know the difference between kilograms and grams and wrote down instructions for me to mix 50kg seasoning with 350 kg sunflower oil. You do realize I'd need a forklift for that, not a pyrex cup?!
As a person that had a blood pressure of 75/50 and still living normally, I had a doctor say that to me. "Huh, you should be in that bed with that BP, I'm really impressed you're still alive." I tell the doctor "Uh, doc, you're telling me I should be fainting right now?, but I'm here because of too much earwax"
If I'm asking someone how many fingers I'm holding up and they say "potato", I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face. Okay buddy, you're going to hospital.
In 2011 I had a paramedic look at my injuries (specifically areas with protruding bone) and grimace. I was pretty messed up, but all I felt was a burning sensation on the surface and mild dislocation at the joints
Does that mean they've found it on the floor somewhere or inside their body from internal bleading? Either way not good, but the later makes more sense from that meaning of lost.
I went to urgent care after a utility blade incident involving my thumb. I was calm so the nurse assumed it wasn't actually as bad as I was saying. I just kept saying "It's REALLY bad. I need stitches." because...yeah it needed stitches. Several. When she removed my makeshift tourniquet all hell broke loose. She went into a blind panic and started running around looking for the doctor. She couldn't even be in the room because she was so frightened by the severity of my injury. Poor girl 😅 The nurse disappeared for a while but eventually came back to assist with the stitching procedure. She was calmed down by then so I think she was just caught off guard. It happens to the best of us.
Had a little tumble on the bike, banged up a leg pretty good and decided to get it checked just in case. Guy tells me its his first time running an IV in a moving ambulance. For some reason, my subsequent blood pressure reading was really really high.
When I dislocated a bone in my foot, it didn't break skin. Paramedics were taking pictures, cause they didn't see that before. Thanks I'm special now :)
My only "Well that can't be right" has happened multiple times and it's always my temperature. "93.2? Well you're not dead (yet) so that can't be right."
Having a fun paramedic working on you and not panicking about the fact that you're crashing and still somehow doing all the things that need to happen to minimize the chase that you'll die before you get to the hospital is actually reassuring. Serious is scary when you already confused.
My mom has all kinds of weird chronic health issues and oh boy she's had her fair share of "wait, how are you conscious?" moments. it's funny when it's not actively threatening her life :'D
There's also what the triage nurse in the emergency room said when they took off the bandage covering an infected brown recluse bite on my hand: "Hey, come over here, you've gotta see this!" You never want to be the "you've gotta see this" patient. (Oh, it turned out that my primary care physician is well known in the local medical community for having dermatophobia (fear of touching skin) and he had neglected to look under the bandage, check for infection, or clean the wound, resulting in staph bacteria running amok in the dissolved tissue left behind by the spider bite. It is interesting to be able to see your bones when you look in the hole after it's been flushed with iodine, and I luckily didn't get blood poisoning, so, hey, could have been worse.)
When I was around 19 I was having chest pains so my dad gave me a ride up to the fire station to get checked out. They said alright to sit down we'll check your blood pressure, about as soon as they released the pressure on the arm cuff they yanked it off and said okay we're taking you to the hospital, let's get him in the ambulance. I go to stand up and they stop me and tell me to sit back down they're going to lift me int, and to stay calm. I don't remember what my blood pressure was, some insanely high number, dehydration, and potassium deficiency.
I've been responsive, if fuzzy, with a blood sugar of 20. I think it freaked out a few nurses. - My brother was flatlining when he got to the ER and grabbed the defibrillator from the doctor and told him to stop hurting him after the first shock. About 10-15 seconds of gasping hospital staff later, his heart started back up. (Hereditary) cocaine allergy is no joke.
I remember last year having to go to the ER because of my gallbladder, and the fact I almost passed out, nurse asked me what my pain level is, I'm like oh it's not that bad maybe a two max, she's like you're dripping with sweat right now, I'm like yeah but I'm good. Later the doctor comes in starts poking me, the nurse was doing something else at this time in the room, he hits me just wrong, I react, and go nurse I'd like to retract that make that about a six and a half, everyone in the room started laughing.
"On a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 is the worst pain you can imagine, how bad is it?" "The worst I can imagine? Then this is obviously a 1, 2 at most." "Sir, your arm has been crushed up to the elbow." "Yeah, and I have a sick imagination."
Honestly, if a paramedic said that to me about severe blood loss as a joke I'd feel a bit better about the situation. I think that would really break me out of any shock I was in.
"you _probably_ don't have appendicitis, you don't have enough symptoms...and you don't need an ultrasound" _2 days later_ "I mean...you still probably don't have it but we'll do an ultrasound just in case" "yeah, we really couldn't tell where your appendix was. But we'll do the surgery" _does the surgery_ "well, you're appendix had started to rupture. you'll be staying in the hospital for the next 3-5 days"
Yeah... I was one of the "I need everybody ready" calls. Ahhhhhh, the memories. I was also on Trauma, Live in the ER! I was actually ok, no one thought anyone could live through flipping a car off a cliff but... hey walk out of a bad wreck and you get accused of two things! Being drunk, (I was NOT drunk) or you're a walking miracle! These poor EMS's.
Got in a motorcycle accident didn’t think it was that bad. Paramedic cut off my sock came up to my head and first thing he said was; “so I’m looking at your bone”
A few years ago my son who is on the spectrum was in the emergency room. They were trying to sedate him so he would hold still doing the CT scan. The dose originally given should have been enough to keep him knocked out for at least a half an hour but it didn't work. Next thing I know I hear the doctor say, "well I'm going to have to give him the highest dose pull the crash cart make sure it's ready!" Yeah I was like oh okay that's not good. My son popped up three minutes after the sedation was given. No crash cart needed. He's Superboy I guess 🤷
People on the spectrum have weird times with sedatives. Takes a disturbing amount to put me out - well, other than Propofol. Even then the recovery room nurses were... worried... at how quickly I came out of it.
@@jnelson4765 yep, if I'm given a med that has drowsiness, sleepiness, etc as a side effect my body only does one of two things. Either I'm knocked out for two days straight on a pediatric dose of a med that "might" cause slight drowsiness, or the max adult dose does absolutely nothing. Yeah, I make doctors start me on the lowest dose possible, and give me tapering instructions for every med I'm put on. I can easily call in and ask for a dose increase.
“Nah… that can’t be right. I’ve never seen a person with a blood pressure that low and still be conscious.” That should so be me. My blood pressure was literally half of what it should have been one time. I couldn’t move and was sweating like crazy, but I was DEFINITELY still conscious. Barely though… lol
I had a heart surgery a couple years ago. When talking to my cardiologist, I was nervously joking a little bit and said oh, so I shouldn’t make any long-term plans. He said yes.
My mother's cardiologist said something similar to me in a followup appt after she had 6-bypass heart surgery. 15 years ago. I think she has outlived him at this point.
Posterio orthotatic tacardioa syndrome or POTS yes my blood pressure has been that low. It's fun to see the face if there is a new medical assistance face at the doctors.
Fellow POTSie here. Always love that. One time my doctor brought in a whole group of medical students without mentioning it. He asked me to stand for it then had a student take the pressure. It would read because it was dropping so fast so he tried again. The kid went ghost white heart rate was 147 and BP 62/47. He immediately goes "Ma'am are you okay?! You need to lay down! What's going on?!" Me and my doc high five and he explains my condition. Always a good time. Everytime I'm inpatient for something he gathers up some students for me to freak out. My other "party trick" is dislocated various joints and popping them back in like it's no big deal (I've got a genetic condition called cEDS that let me do that). The horror when they see me dislocate my thumb like it's nothing is priceless
Cop asked a guy I know what his birthday was after he had a siezer and he said 7/14/garlic. Me and the cop where like wait what and he repeated himself 7/14/garlic and said yeah that’s right. Me and the cop laughed because it was so odd and unexpected lol. He is ok now that he got sober from booze.
Talking with the ems in the back of an ambulance after my truck got totaled, dude pulls out “oh shit, my shirts on backwards. Look at that” that one made me feel great lmao
Years ago I was in the hospital and the nurse said they were going to move me to ICU. As she was getting me ready she says "sir, are you an organ donor?" .... I couldn't really talk, but in my head I was thinking, that's not a good question to be asked in a hospital.
better asked in hospital than in the pub/bar ;)
@@webrosc hahaha.... true
Dude... those organ donar groups are VULTURES!!! If they even smell a chance you might not make it, you best believe paperwork is being filed in advance...just in case... My ex-girlfriends aunt suffered a massive stroke and was presumed braindead. Before the grandparents even came to grips with what happened to their daughter, two young women with binders that said "the gift of life" were in the room asking to speak with the next of kin. It was brutal.
@@ralphralpherson9441 Because every moment that they wait, the organs are dying and someone's life depends on them. They're not doing it to be mean. They're doing it to save someone.
I'm sure it is brutal to have to consider that kind of thing when you're still reeling from loss, but frankly that's why everyone should make sure their preferences are known ahead of time, so their family doesn't have to make that choice.
@@YourXavier Oh no, I mean, she wasn't even dead yet, they were still doing tests to confirm brain death. I think that's a LITTLE too anxious yknow? give the people SOME hope maybe. You might give off the wrong idea y'know? I know the people I mentioned were worried they wouldn't do EVERYTHING to save their daughter because they wanted the organs. In the end, it turned out she was indeed braindead and she passed and did donate several organs. And I understand the rationale. It's just...I dunno, sometimes they seem a little TOO anxious to get those guts.
I’m gonna start using that for the pain scale “on a scale of 0-10 how up to date is your will” 😂
If the paramedic says that you know your already dead.
The pain scale I use is “on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being no pain and 10 being unconscious after being attacked by ninjas or a bear how bad is it?”
@@Michael_Rega for me it will be
On a scale of 0-10 how much feeling is there in your brain?
From a scale of 1 to the hospital bill you'll be recieving, how would you rate your pain?
I will use this in normal conversation
#12: "Are you OK with a Catholic priest, or do you have another preference?"
Lmao that should been featured too
#13 Uh....should we just gonna go ahead and contact the morgue now or wait until its official?
you forgot to mention the patient is a minor
Oh that's gold
#13 “We need to get fluids in now and I can’t get IV access…bump it up to a 1.”
I used to work with an ex-army surgeon...who's callsign was "Old Shakey"
He'd finish every patient assessment with his standard
"Son.....I'm pretty sure you're going to die....
But probably not today
And certainly not from this"
Then as he'd write his orders in the chart
"Well...lets see if we can find a new way to poison some patients today..."
Or
"You know...money may make the world go round....but this (med) will make it spin"
I don't know how he kept his licence...but he sure make those shifts interesting
I had the anesthetics guy show me all his prison tattoos while they were shaving and sterilizing the area once. That was... weird.
He sounds like a hoot!!!
I like him. I like doctors like that.
I'm always thankful for a doctor like that. It demonstrates experience.
Pure. Gold. I'm screenshotting this comment just to show it to everyone I know (because my boyfriend is a combat medic 😂).
Personal one:
"How bad is it?"
"Ive seen A LOT worse..."
"Ok but how BAD IS IT"
"You don't need to worry about that"
"THAT WASNT THE QUESTION!"
Yeah, deflection is never a good sign.
@@NorthernLynx13 you come to after hitting a bridge head on. They ask you where you right leg is. And you don't know cause you can't feel your leg.
Then 30 min later they find your right leg still attached to you. The truck motor was in the median.
"Again, sir, this is not for you to worry about anymore. We're beyond that point."
Lmao😂
In fairness, it is not considered professional for EMTs, if not paramedics to diagnose the patient or tell them how it will turn out. It's not within our scope of practice.
What we can say is something like "We are seeing X, Y, and Z. We reccomend immediate transportation to the hospital, your doctor can tell you more. We will do A, B, and C."
If they repeat the question, I'd just outright tell them it is outside of our training to tell the patient under any condition how it will turn out, but that we will get them to the hospital and do everything we can to make sure the doctor has the best background information to work off of.
I am still a student, so I may be recommended better responses.
“That can’t be right. I’ve never seen someone with that low of a blood pressure and still be conscious.” I laughed so hard cause I’ve made a ride like that! I didn’t say that btw but we all thought it.
I'm a weakling so I'd have thrown up long before that blood pressure level, so thankfully there'd be some other sign that something ain't right
Me too^^
That actually happened to me. I went to the doctor for a checkup and the nurse couldn't hear my heart beat. For some reason it took her a minute to figure out the stethoscope was broken.
I have said this...more than once.
It's usually the opposite. using the regular sized cuff on a bariatric patient gives false high numbers, so when I don't have the right size cuff handy I end up doing a pulse pressure on the forearm to confirm the patient's systolic isn't really 230.
Our company buys the cheapest pulse-ox readers and I've said to plenty of patients, "don't worry, if your blood oxygen was actually that low you wouldn't be talking to me."
Heard this gem over the radio once:
“This is 14 you might as well bring the ER and meet us halfway”
I think some cities can actually do that; they’ve got semi trucks with what is essentially a mobile ICU.
@@Shaun_Jones That they park right? It's not a game of surgeon simulator with that bitch moving, right?
@@Shaun_JonesAka Ambulances
@@sunil_de6856 They're quite a bit more than an ambulance, as Shaun said they're basically a mobile operating theatre.
Saw one once on standby next to a tower block someone was threatening to jump from.
That's gold
True story about the paramedic not saying anything! I was in a motorcycle accident and I thought my leg was broken, but I had blood coming from my mouth and nose. When I was in the ambulance, I asked the paramedic to take me a specific hospital. He informed me they had to take me to a Level one trauma center. I made the joke saying “Well it ain’t like I’m gonna die.” He just sat there with a stone cold face and said nothing. And I was like “ ummm…right?” And then informed me I had deep bruising on my chest and blood was coming from my nose and mouth which could be a sign of internal bleeding and told me to stop talking. 😂 my whole positive demeanor changed in a second.
@@josegordo488 4 years ago. Yep I was very lucky, I only had a small leg fracture, broken nose, and bruises! Appreciate the well wishes.
@@mikehancho2082 Thank God you only had those injuries, and not worse.
Did you survive?
@@tonyth9240 nope. I died.
@@mikehancho2082 sorry to hear that, hope you feel better now.
"OK potato is not a number"
Or lord the flashbacks lmfao
"Ma'am are you feeling any better?"
"Well I yellow blue dog bike........tree?"
".......I see....Hey Mike? Wanna drive a bit faster?"
For real, patient starts exhibiting aphasia: drive faster. That's very much a "oohhhh, that's not good" moment.
@@ObservingLibertarian yeah, I can have aphasia-like symptoms when my migraine is really bad. The reactions I get to this can be very interesting. The concern is 100% warranted, refusing to listen to my partner trying to explain my medical problems is when it just gets annoying.
sounds like a stroke, hurrrryyy.
@@ObservingLibertarianYup. That can mean:
1: Brain bleed
2: Stroke
3: Cerebral edema
4: Meningitis
medic: it's ok John, you're going to get through this, you're gonna be ok
patient: thanks but that's not my name, who's John?
Paramedic: I'm John
Lolol sorry, but I'm laughing pretty hard.
🤣 🤣 🤣
Literally me as an ER nurse everyday.
That's how you're first call as a medic goes though 😂😂😂
@@ashleysmith2109 I'm going to find that out on may 5th 🥴
First day as a paramedic
I’ve definitely called my radio report in and asked for “everyone” at the door. 😂
Our department once had a large industry fire and our chief just told dispatch "keep sending vehicles with blue lights on the roof until he says stop". I think we ended up having something like 550 FFs, EMTs and other personnell on scene.
Yup. And usually when we hear you say that? It's not good...and the ED is so silent you could hear a pin drop, until you bang through the bay doors....
Swan Song, We usually try to fix the hot mess on the way to you, but that’s not always possible. And thank you for answering the radio! Which I understand is not always possible. 😉
Along with a medical biller!!! (that's me btw.. lol)
I didn't actually ask for it, but about a month ago I had a patient with cool skin and a pulse of 40 and there was a person waiting at the door and 6 other people waiting at the door of the room they told me to take her to.
In case anyone is confused, "Give him sux" is short for succinylcholine - it's used to paralyze patients when they're put under anaesthesia.
I'm glad you explained that.
Thank you!
Ohhhhhhhh. Thanks!
oh, thank you!
I've always been partial to rocuronium
Actual conversation from when I got a concussion:
Doctor: "How many fingers am I holding up?"
Me: "two"
Doctor: "How about we try that one again?"
How many Was he actually Holding up?
From now on I'm answering "potato".
@@ladripper47874 perhaps it was 2 and a half?
@@12369janah, he wasn't holding up men
@@veramae4098🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
the "low blood pressure but still conscious" person is me every time I go to a hospital & they need to do the routine checks, & they look at me like "how tf are you awake" 😂
My father had some zen skill where his pulse would be like 35 and he was having his blood pressure done and closed his eyes and the nurse called his name because she was genuinely concerned if he was alive.
Ha ha ha !!!!! Yeah, when I was much younger, and jumping from airplanes for fun and work (Rangers and 82nd), my resting heart rate was 42 (and lower sometimes), and my BP was so low that whenever I went for a physical, the docs and nurses would freak out and wonder how I was still conscious. Our battalion medics just thought I was weird and got used to it, the old Vietnam SF Medic just laughed and said hey, this just shows you that how much you think you know, you really don’t!! Absolute RockStar!!! Doc Rod (Rodriguez), HHC 505 PIR 87-90 Happiest person I have ever met, 5’ 6” tall, 4’ wide, absolute muscle. Could not March for nothing, best man you ever want to have around when anything goes sideways.
@@claytonwhitman1608 AATW!
Got a friend with really high blood pressure and they question how his heart is still in one piece.
My dad was in the hospital after a heart attack, turns out he had heart issues (he’s healthy now), including one that made his blood pressure much lower than normal. The monitors would frequently trip causing the nurses to get an alarm that he was in trouble, they’d all come piling into his room panicking ready to revive him, only for him to look up from his book and ask: “is there a problem?”
A few years back, I fell off a bicycle while wearing a helmet. Ended up at the hospital, and I needed to be transported to neurological ICU at another hospital . While in the ambulance, the paramedics asked the driver how many more minutes till we get there? The driver responded 10 minutes. The paramedic responded, “That’s too long, take the shoulder.” I did not want to hear those words. (But all ended okay 😊)
What does “take the shoulder” mean?
@@aylakitsune2675i think it was to keep him tight in order to speed up the ambulance lol
@@aylakitsune2675 The shoulder of the highway/freeway. This is normally used to stop if your car breaks down, gets a flat tire, or you're pulled over by police. It is illegal to drive on the shoulder unless you're in an emergency vehicle.
@@martabachynsky8545 ooh yeah that! I didn’t know the word in English. In my language it’s basically called the ‘bad-luck-strip’.
@@aylakitsune2675 What an amusing name. I fits; "bad luck strip" because you only use it if you're having bad luck. 😅
My dad drank, smoked and was way overweight. He went to the doctor and his blood pressure was something like 180/130. (Or maybe it was 240/180.) The doctor about freaked out.
My dad: What's the problem? The gauge goes to 300.
Dad quit drinking and smoking, got his weight down to about 220 and lived to 87.
I paid for the whole sphygmomanometer, I'm gonna use the whole sphygmomanometer
Absolute madman, may he Rest In Peace
At the risk of coming across as massively insensitive, isnt that kinda like asking 'whats the problem, the gage goes all the way to 260?' after being pulled over for speeding?
@@marcusreading3783 That's the joke
@@marcusreading3783 It's closer to "What's the problem? The gauge goes all the way to 320." when you just got into a car accident and miraculously came out with only a scratch.
"Did you say 2mg or 0.2mg ..."
My son had to have 0.5mg of clonidine and his health care worker gave him 5.0mg. He slept for 2 days. An absolute mess that ordeal was.
Oy.
highest or second highest (depends on when) cause of death in America is medical error, google it.
That's why you should always say ZERO point two!
@@themudpit621 Just did, "highest cause of death USA" leads to the CDC's official numbers for 2021 (definitive 2022 statistics aren't out yet) none of which are medical error (Heart disease, cancer, covid-19, accidents, stroke are the top five). Then I googled "highest cause of death USA medical error?" and found one 2016 study based on older data that involved extrapolations and rough estimates because as the study itself stated there aren't precise indicators of medical error on death certificates. That study concluded that medical error contributed to a number of deaths greater than the then-third-ranked cause (_not_ second or first, as you stated). This study then had quite a few rebuttals including a later study that had conflicting results (finding among other things that medical error has been steadily declining since the '90s), and additionally a writer talking about the subject (can't vouch for the author) pointed out that considering other numbers related to the US healthcare system, a third of hospital deaths would have to be caused by medical errors which really doesn''t even pass the instinctive plausibility test.
Please, before spreading rumor and telling people to look stuff up, make sure to look it up yourself.
@@themudpit621250,000+ deaths annually... yea shit's scary.
I would be more nervous when they say: you're in luck! You are gonna get a helicopter ride!
I'm an EMT student and that's a clear You're in really bad situation
#13
Had that happen in a car accident, was still on site when I got told, yep not even going to the local hospital, straight by air to the closest Level 1.....
@@Erudite512 I hope you are doing well after that bad of a accident.
@@bostonrailfan2427 my "point" is base on what I have been told in class, so it's just the rule of "In case of A do/use B"
I actually heard a nurse say over me “I can’t get a blood pressure but I don’t think she’s dead!” I said she could have just asked. Then projectile vomited on her.
The hospital had really poor bp machines.
Im sorry but thats so funny
When it gets low the machine won’t take it so it has to be manual.
vomit aggressively to assert dominance
@@looksfineforme9471 I prefer to shit aggressively, but vomit aggressively works better in certain cases.
that's hilarious
When my brother had kidney stones his BP was up to 200, the rookie Paramedic thought he was having a heart attack, the veteran Paramedic looked at him and said "You have never had a kidney stone have you." Then he pumped my brother full of morphine and his BP came back down.
I agree with morphine for a kidney stone. They freakin' HURT! 🤮
@@LadyAnuB I ended up the ER with Kidney stones and the nice intern gave me 800 MG of Motrin. As I was still writhing in pain the head of the ER came over and gave me a shot of morphine and just looked at the intern like "Motrin, really."
@@johnharris6655 I got the lovely prize of no pain relief until after an ultrasound to determined if my left testicle had twisted up. After the ultrasound, I was holding myself back to keep myself from puking again. I made it to my ER room and then found the sink. Then I was given a shot of something that only drove my pain down two notches, 7.5 from 9.5. WTF?
@@LadyAnuB Kidney stones, cure me or kill me.
“Oh god fucking damn it put a bullet in me already FUCK!”
Quote from my father when his appendix popped like an over ripe tomato
True story.
I had a large kidney stone that needed to be removed and during the day of the surgery my doctor came in and marked the area of the stone with a pen on my side. A little while later a couple nurses came in to prepare me for the surgery.
"Did the surgeon come talk to you yet?"
"Yeah, and he already marked my side.". I adjusted my hospital gown to show them.
The nurses laughed. "He must be new! He still marks the patient!". My jaw hung for a moment. Before I knew what I was saying I said, "Just put me under. I don't want to know what happens next."
They marked my mum's leg when she surgery to remove metal hardware they put in to fix her broken leg.
The hardware was on the outside of her leg, and went from mid shin to mid thigh...
@@trouty7947 It's good that they're thorough, I guess?
My mom got knee surgery a few months ago. Surgeon circled the knee to be replaced and put an X on the other one. The surgeon, a nurse, and my mom all had to initial under the circle before they would even think of wheeling the bed into the OR.
you really really want that, it's more common than you would want it to be that operations are done on the wrong part of the body.
@@jacobhinger5039 that is how it should be. I'd probably be writing, "no the other one" next to the X too lol lest somebody think X marks the spot
"Wait, did you say 2 milligrams or .2 milligrams?"
As someone with ADHD and doesn't pay attention very well, this is my goddamn nightmare.
I had temporary work where the instruction manual for medication was misprinted. It was printed as 1mg when it should have been .1mg. My job was to add the period.
Me: uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh *sweats* HELP
The key is to double check *before* you push the plunger lol
me too!!! i may have been working with animals, but trying to remember the point is still important!!!
@@orlock20 who knew a single decimal could be the difference between life and death 🤣
Reminds me when my dentist botched a wisdom tooth extraction. It was supposed to be an "easy" case. I wasn't supposed to have to take days off or need meds. As soon as I was sitting after he was done picking out all of the tooth fragments (it exploded), his assistant nervously asked him "Soo.. do we prescribe her anything?" and he replied "Everything" then ran away to lock himself into his office.
I got a few days off work and very fun meds.
Oh no. They did your wisdom teeth awake!?!
I am most likely going to regret asking this, but how does a tooth explode?
@@toradrow777 probably by gripping it too hard with the pliers.
On a somewhat related note, there’s a video out there of a vet removing a tooth from a crocodile where there was something like two dozen fragments in the socket that needed to be dug out.
@@toradrow777had it happen to me. The pill they gave me that was supposed to, basically, dope me up like a bag of magic mushrooms didn't kick in fast enough so I'm in the chair still fully mentally awake (though I guess luckily physically I was doped up) I hear the one the guy was working on crack something real fierce and he paused for a second and I just hear him mutter "damn"
@@sweetcinnamonpnchkin That's not that weird, I was awake for my wisdom teeth extraction too
Potato isn't a number! I love it!
I’ve literally asked a patient their name and they responded with “Potato”. Not really sure why that’s a word of choice. Regardless, that was a stroke team activation.
This one got me
Private potato from angry cops would like a word with you 🥔
Wait, it's not? No wonder I had a hard time with math in high school
I've asked how much fingers...
Answer: Green
Ok, driver, hurry up!!!
The dig at Station 19 made me laugh so hard I missed the subsequent ones.
Look at how many people know about the rare condition amnesia from TV and movie troupes.
It truly is a pathetically bad show - so, so, so bad. But then again, so is 911, SWAT, 911 Lonestar, et al….
@@Ofthe7thSon Thank goodness there are documetaries like Emergency!
@Andy I can’t watch any of those. So so horrible. Like Baywatch bad.
@@scoutsdad5831 Baywatch was a good show 👌 not like station 19. With baywatch you got what it was supposed to be about a bunch of women in swimsuit running slowly on the beach. Teen bait. Station 19 is well at best what not to do as a medic, wait let me answer this call 😀😄
The blood pressure one actually happened to me 😂 So I was 8 months pregnant and in a car wreck. In the ambulance and my blood pressure tanks (we found out later that baby was manuvering himself to where he'd cut off circulation back from my leg, but we didn't know this at the time). We're on the way to the ER and I hear paramedic #1 tell paramedic #2 that he doesn't understand how I'm still concious because my bp was 42/23, and he was about to have to give me an IO. Now, I understood *exactly* what an IO was, and somehow the thought of having that happen while I was still concious was enough to raise my bp back up 🤣 End of story everything was fine, I had no major injuries, just a fetus that found the off button 😂😂😂
I now know how to instantly get a BP back up.
Gonna have to get those numbers higher or we gotta drill you.
And women complain when baby finds their bladder.😉
What is an IO?
@@lunarwavegaming285 IO is an intraosseous device: a plastic device with a port and needle that can be used in lieu of IV access in emergency situations. It is placed with a small handheld drill into the top of the shin just below the knee, or in the top of the bone in the upper arm (humerus). Once it's placed, you can hook it up just like a regular IV, and meds circulate quickly because bone is filled with blood vessels. Some patients do not have good veins, and in a time-sensitive situation like a person down in cardiac arrest, you need access to give medication quickly. It's a fantastic device , but not really intended for everyday use. I do not recommend having to use it on a conscious patient, personally. Did it once in medic school when we had a patient bleeding out, and few viable places for IV access due to a suicide attempt. He was moving ALOT and my paramedic preceptor didn't want to run the risk to try for the carotid area, so we had to drill him awake.
Not fun. 😕
@@ashleysmith2109 Thanks for the really thorough and clear response! Never realized there was a drilling alternative to standard IV methods. Can definitely understand wanting to avoid it when conscious.
My mom has extremely low blood pressure, but that's her normal. She used to be in the medical field, and while helping the newbies take blood pressure, she just about scared them to death. They asked her 'how are you alive?!' Lol. It's hereditary. It can cause problems sometimes... She had to go to the hospital for a medical issue and they said she had 'normal blood pressure' and 'nothing was wrong'. Took a lot of time to get them to realize that It was way too high for her. (P.S. she's ok.)
"lol its hereditary" *laughs in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome*
Had a call where the patient had a pressure of 80/50. I mistakenly just asked the nurse if his pressure was normally low and she said it was. When I realized the mistake and asked her to be more specific, she said usually around 110 systolic. Below average, but definitely not what qualifies as 'low' for me.
I've got a relative with consistent hbp, not related to a lethal illness per say, but a standard outcome of a medical procedure they have had done to treat something else.
They go to the Doctor and everyone panics till they tell them it's (usually) normal and they check their records.
@@0xEmmy *laughs along in Ehlers-Danlos*
"Yes, my BP really is usually this low! Want to watch me dislocate my shoulders now?"
@@neuralmute Also a Zebra. “Yes, my blood pressure is this low. Do you want to see all the hand things?” Because I often get asked to show the hand things.
I have actually had one of these moments happen to me. I had a post surgical infection after an orthoscopic hysterectomy that was causing my kidneys to fail. The paramedics asked me for my weight (because they were about to give me morphine) and I said 114 lbs.; They heard 140 lbs.
The rest of the day was a bit of a blur... 😅
That’s what’s called a Mr. Sandman
Let me guess, you'd like to thank the anesthesiologist, but you can't remember his name.
To be fair, the way we pronounce numbers in the teens is kind of stupid. The last number should not go first. SMH.
I think that was a supposed to be laparoscopic hysterectomy? Ortho means bone, I have no idea what an orthoscopic hysterectomy would be lol
Now imagine the opposite. 😑😐🤐
This guy is so sarcastic yet I somehow feel sure that in a real emergency he would be a complete professional.
i think i'd feel safer with an emergency responder with a solid sense of humour and good sarcastic whip; means they've seen it all, been thru it all, felt it all, and still care enough to stick with it.
Sarcasm in the medical field is pretty much a necessity, if you want to keep your sanity. We see the most insane things every day! If you don’t have a dry sense of humor, you will lose your sanity. We have to see the humor in most everything, because if we don’t we will burn out or be unable to focus and do our jobs. I have seen people (usually nurses) who “care too much” and get inconsolable upset if they can’t save a person (either because they don’t/won’t take care of themselves, or because their condition is too bad). You can’t survive with that attitude.
Just described my brother.
When they thought I was unconscious one of them said to the other: "We can´t tell them we´re lost! We will found the right road eventually!"
I think they might have been pranking you, but I'm not in the field so IDK.
@@fastsnake1 Don´t think so. New hospital (I think they opened a month earlier) and they were doing some work on the road, so the ambulance probably tried to get around the stop in traffic.
i was the have everyone ready, motorcycle accident. 20 broken bone, 15 scars, 7 surgeries, 3 metal plates, 1 disconnected nerve, 1 partially amputated foot (put back on.) Happened on june 25th 2022 just recently got cleared to learn to walk again. stay safe out there
Glad you made it! Hope you live the rest of your life without anything that crazy again!
One day while “enjoying” a bout of MRSA from a recent back surgery, my wife took me to the ER because the pain was unimaginably excruciating to the point I was blacking out and nearing vomiting. Apparently when the ER doc asked my pain level (standard 1-10) I said “163”. He asked “not 162 or 164” I guess I said “no, 163 is about right”. I don’t remember a thing about this but this is what my wife said. I finally came to after about 30 mins of getting a strong dose hydromorphone. I remember after that.
Hydromorphene works pretty well.
Of all the funny things on this video and comments, this made me laugh the hardest 😂
I recommend looking up Allie Brosh's modified pain scale, should be on her website hyperboleandahalf.blogspot. Good for a laugh and a wince.
#12: "aren't you the guy who my sister used to date?"
@Lenia Carter they usually already know the answer.
not a paramedic, but a surgeon: one time I had to get a tendon repair in my wrist. A couple months had passed after the surgery and I was in a post-op appointment with my surgeon explaining how now that my wrist had healed, it still felt the same as it did before. he grabbed my arm and moved my wirst around some and went "shit"
Sounds like two sentence horror story
What happened? The surgery didn’t take or it was botched?
@@shortkyuu7390 thank you
@@DeathnoteBB still not sure what he did (or didnt do) any time I asked he would just say he went in and "cleaned it up." ended up wearing a brace (which was more like a cast that could be removed to shower) for 3 months with no improvement. then I saw a new surgeon who gave me a steroid shot (something my first surgeon had also done) in what was apparently a slightly different spot and it was all better. new surgeon told me it didnt require surgery
@@ryanleecastillo4070 Huh. Weird. I’m glad it got better eventually, at least, even though you had to see someone else for it
We need his fiance to do a "Things Paramedics say off duty"
@@MiGujack3 Why did that firefighter in [INSERT SHOW] just do that?
Son of a firefighter, have heard this before
YES!!!!!
@@bostonrailfan2427 can't find the one on off duty
I'm an EMT-A, and my girlfriend would tell you I make a lot of jokes about wanting to go to the station with a keg so we have something to do in our off time, make the echo unit drive.
I mean, "what do you consider bad?" is a pretty fair question seeing how what a paramedic thinks of as "bad" and what non-paramedics think of as "bad" is probably wildly different.
Reminds me of those "On a scale of 1-10, how bad is the pain?" questions. By my personal scale, anything above a 7 you should be completely incapable of answering. An 8 you're too busy whimpering, a 9 is uncontrollable screaming agony, and 10 is just straight up unconscious from the pain.
@@Just_A_Dude that scale works for most people, however for people like me wit a high pain tolerance 1-5 are non existent and range from nearly cutting my thumb off being a 2 and having cactus spines all over my body being a 5... 6-10 10 being when I had my legs snapped in half and even that I was laughing and making jokes from the second I woke up in the middle of the road to the day I was released from the hospital... when people like me go in we need to exaggerate our scale because a paper cut and having bones sticking out of our legs all feels the same
@@VAATX That's why it's a "pain" scale not a "damage" scale. People can experience different levels of pain from the same injury.
@@Just_A_Dude very true However if I said I was at a 3 when I had my legs broken i would have been on a much lower dose of pain meds and likely would have been released sooner. I've had to deal with my pain tolerance most of my life and I've learned that I can't do things just because they don't hurt. I knew if I had been released sooner with my broken legs I would have broken them again therefore I raised my numbers to make sure that doctors wouldn't sign off until the point they would have signed off on the average person
@@Just_A_Dude Sure but pain is treated as universal with he scale. One patient’s 3 is another patient’s 7, and some say 8 or 9 when most say 10
“If he doesn’t die in the next ten seconds, he’ll live forever.”
“When the patient woke up, his skeleton was gone, and the Doctor was never seen again!”
“Hahahahahahahah!”
“Heh, anyway, that’s how I lost my medical license.”
"should I be awake for this?"
"Well,no,but since you are could you hold your rib cage open a bit?"
"I can't seem to.."
"Ribs grow back"
*turns to birds* "no they don't"
"Archimedes! No! It's filthy in there."
"birds"
the 'everyone' call couldn't be more true. i remember a covid patient who was in such a horrendous state that i directly called the ICU before even leaving the guy's bedroom... when we got to the ER, my colleague was standing right next to the door with the tube already in his hand
(spoiler alert : patient survived)
Ngl, if I heard a paramedic get on the radio and say "get everybody ready" in regards to me, I'd immediately relax and start feeling safer. One time I was severely anemic (like 2% away from transfusion anemic) and super dehydrated from throwing up and tearing the lining of my esophagus. I couldn't stand upright for more than 20 seconds before my vision would start to black out. Was scared for my life until I was in that hospital bed surrounded by the team there while they took care of me. Safest I've ever felt in my life was surrounded by a team of doctors/nurses like that. I still have a scar on the inside of my left elbow from the size of the "not a needle, plastic tube at this point" IV line they had in me. They had two, but the other one didn't scar for whatever reason. They would've put at least one of them NOT in my elbow, but the scar tissue on my forearms from a decade of severe eczema was making putting a line in there next to impossible. It was... quite the ride.
I am an EMT in Austria. Some weeks ago, during an emergency I did not know what to do, so I told my colleague (he also did not know) to stay with the patient. In the meanwhile I went outside to google what to do now. 😂
was the answer "drive faster"?
Let's hope you had a good loading speed.
Hah! We had to do that in emerg a few weeks ago when everyone was prepping to put a chest tube in for a pneumothorax and the nurses suddenly realized the wet suction device was a slightly different model than ones they'd used before. Mad scramble on multiple cell phones to get the UA-cam video to make sure the it was set up right before the chest tube went in.
Several years ago I was admitted to the hospital for fainting. Upon waking up, I remember the paramedic saying essentially "Your BP is so low, I'm amazed you're still conscious." Turns out I developed a massive internal hemorrhage and lost about half my blood supply. I was surprisingly ecstatic when, after extensive testing, the doctor was able to say, "You lost a lot of blood, but the good news is that we found it."
Once I regained consciousness after hemorrhaging I asked the nurse (who was manually squeezing saline bags into my arm) “did I almost just die!?” And she looked at me and just smiled reassuringly which was just confirmation that I almost died and so I said “oh my god I did almost die…” to which I got the response “everything’s going to be ok!” 😅 it was not very confidence-inspiring
I have had a nure say “That can’t be right. I’ve never seen someone with that low of a blood pressure and still be conscious.” to me before, 2014, at a hospital ... she tried three different machines, then took it manually and then called in the head nurse..... it was quite entertaining.
Head nurse: "ok are you sure she's actually alive or do we have a Night of the Living Dead situation here?"
My only call to 911 cause I was bleeding so bad from a saw "accident" . Emt shows up, takes a look at my arm and tells me " that's not so bad -- it is still attached" LOL
To get a little serious, this is especially egregious because it’s well known one’s ears are one of the last senses to shut down. Don’t bad talk a guy on the ground, he may hold it against you if he pulls through.
Very funny, enjoyed this.
My Mom was admitted to local hospital psych ward with nervous breakdown. (It's called something else now ... extreme depression?)
Two nurses stood by her door and one said "She's gone, she's never coming back."
A few years later Mom was a house keeping supervisor in same hospital. She told the story to the head nurse, and asked her to tell everyone "Never assume the patient can't hear you."
It might have made some people give up; it made Mom more determined to recover.
@@veramae4098 yep, I had surgery and my post op nurse insisted I do something, which I refused stating I would pass out. She proceeded to do it anyway and *shocker* I passed out landing neck first on the bedrail. At this point she started talking to my partner and asking questions, which I proceeded to answer as I came to. I knew where she'd be standing from the direction of her voice, and where I'd be on the bed (which my partner did, not the nurse).
i did once chew out an intern over that. I was still semi conscious during surgery and one of the few things i heard after my breathing stopped was "carefully, your sitting on his face". Couldnt see, feel, smell, or taste anything but i heard it.
I had a severe panic attack once at college, I was hyperventilating.
Paramedics were called. The guy was like "Hey! You need to start breathing right or I'mma have to shove a tube down your throat!"
Which freaked me out more. Like WTF man!? 🤦🏻♀️
People truly do not know how to deal with someone having a panic attack 😨
He didn‘t even try to hold up a finger and tell the patient to pretend he blow out a candle? :/
Well, you should've listened. Freaking out helps nobody.
@@DeathnoteBBNah. Just stick it in there.
@@NorthernNorthdude91749 oh right, because panic attacks listen to reason 🤬
My personal favorite:
"Woah her heart rate is like 243, she should be dead."
I remember looking at the monitor and being like, "oh is that why it feels like I'm having a heart attack AT 13 YEARS OLD???"💀
"Potato is not a number."
I'm inclined to disagree!
In fact, it is a president!
It’s 6
“This EKG has to be broken. You can’t be this calm with a pulse of 173.”
“Happens all the time with severe PTSD. Trust me, I’m very upset.”
She went through 3 EKG machines and finally got the head nurse in, who immediately took over when I told her what was going on. 😂
I got allergy tested and my heart rate was 165 and dropped to 130 in about a minute because I was scared and calmed down lol needless to say that was q nice nap
Can attest to the "theres no way you can ___", a tornado hit my house and i freaked a couple people out because of how calm i was meanwhile everyone around me were in hysterics.
This is an actual conversation i had with an EMT
"How are you so calm, you went through a tornado?!"
Me: "I have an unusual fascination with severe weather dispite being terrified of it"
"But you should be in shock right now!"
Me: "Oh dont worry, that will come soon enough"
(It never did)
"Well... ok then. you seem fine, no cuts or any visible injures"
Me: "Ok... so... now what?"
"You go sit in the refuge commons, near the entrance so someone can keep an eye on you"
Me: "Ok, you have a good night"
To this day i wonder what they were thinking about my reaction to the situation.
I get crap from my family when I have these kind of reactions. I'm definitely a freak-out-later, if-at-all reactor. When everyone else is distressed and I'm _at least_ less so, I get considered heartless and mean.
I now work in a level 2 trauma center, and I love it.
see i have GAD and C-PTSD. and my heart rate is always...fast. one nurse told me that i needed to calm own so my heart rate would got down. i looked her dead in the eye and was like 'This is as calm as i'm getting without medical intervention.' i was given Ativan. could suddenly breath and my chest stopped hurting so bad. it still hurt like i had pulled all the muscles or something but i no longer felt like i was dying.
ended up taking a nap a little while later they let me sleep and took me up to my room for my stay. had pleurisy and a pretty bad case of bronchitis.
Went in for a panic attack with a pulse of 180, took them a minute to realize I wasn't about to die of heart failure.
I was a graduate nurse and had a heart situation in front of some students which ended with me in the floor in the urine analysis room (I am still convinced one of the hospital ghosts kicked me in the chest, because that is what it felt like, complete with being shoved against the cupboards). They did a BP: super low (I can’t remember what it was off the top of my head). They got another nurse and another machine: still super low. Doctor came in and didn’t believe them and said that the machines must be broken because with a no that low I should be unconscious. Got me into the ED, and he did the test himself: still super low, and I was still conscious. Nothing wrong with my heart apparently, it just likes to do that some times. I maintain it was one of the ghosts… I just don’t know which one.
"how much air is lethal... i may have forgot to flush the line"
*seizing and foaming at the mouth currently having a stroke from the embolism
"I haven't seen this so bad outside a textbook" is my all time favorite.
The "I've never seen a person with blood pressure that low and still be conscious." I didn't quite hear that but a version of it when I had my tachycardia years ago and almost died. My version was the heartbeat of 230 bpm and almost no blood pressure. I was defibbed 4 times the third my heart stopped and my o2 levels were so low the EMTs had to do CPR for 8 minutes. I was airlifted to Boston children's hospital. I am grateful I got to thank the EMTs that saved me a year later in person. It made them tear up thanking them, please try to thank them if you can.
My paramedics said "OMG EEEEEW!!!" and "Oh jesus, I can't look! I feel faint!" after I had twisted my ankle out of the socket. Like fully out, it was just hanging in skin and tendons. Luckily I am on blood thinners so it was also violently bleeding internally as well.
I genuinely thought I would be a mild case of the day, I even waited a bit before I called the ambulance, I was in shock and was hoping it would 'sort itself out'.
You were 'shocked'
*In* shock is an actual medical condition, which means your body is too busy shutting down your organs to uphold blood pressure, trying to prevent you from dying, to pay attention
"Bad news: You've lost a lot of blood. Good news: WE FOUND IT :D"
There is a PALPABLE amount of chaotic energy there and I love it. It also conjures up an incredible mental image of what the hell "We found it" actually means XD
Just so he doesn't add, "And we're going to pump it right back into you now, after we run it through the coffee filter!"
All you have to do is breathe so don’t stop. Said too me as I was having a bad asthma attack
Blood pressure one happened to me. I have low blood pressure and get lightheaded very easily when I change positions, and am also a blood donner. I got my wisdom teeth out during COVID lockdowns (and had to be under general anesthesia because they were in complicated positions). I somehow wrote down the wrong date for my surgery and wound up donating blood 2 days before, where I passed out after and spent about 2 hours on a gurney in front of fans trying to stay awake. When the surgeon called me the next day to remind me of the surgery, I told them what happened and they said it would be fine (I also told the surgeon and anesthesiologist in person before the surgery). From this point on the story is largely filled in by my dad who was waiting for me in recovery. I wake up in recovery and am continuously on the verge of falling unconscious, and the blood pressure cuff takes a reading every couple minutes. After several minutes I am still struggling to keep my eyes open and only seeing that black fuzzy tunnel that comes with low blood pressure, and the cuff beeps again. The nurse in training looks at it, calls over her supervisor, and the supervisor just says “that can’t be right, if it’s that low she wouldn’t be awake, I wonder if it’s broken”. They look at me for a few seconds, than the supervisor just says “huh” and leans the bed back some more before walking away, leaving me internally freaking out in my delirious state thinking I’m going to die lol. Every thing worked out in the end though, I was just in recovery for longer.
I’m no doctor but maybe look into if you have POTS
So glad I got to ride with friendly nice EMTs when I went to the ER like a year ago. They were friendly and kept me talking and stuff when I was scared and in a ton of pain. Really helped me. Thank you everyone who's an EMT, firefighter, or other first responders
Two of those were giving me flashbacks to when I had my myocardial infarction. I started feeling a bit AMS in the ambulance, which I communicated to the EMTs. They were a bit dismissive, but it prompted them to take my BP … 79/50. (a/k/a barely conscious … despite my ability to communicate intelligibly to the EMTs.)
EMT 1: "Push some atropine."
EMT 2: "5 mL?"
EMT 1: "POINT 5mL."
Me: "*****. Let's not make any decimal point errors with the atropine. I don't want my heart to explode out of my chest."
Somebody give this guy a tv show already. He’s funnier than anything I’ve seen for years
The last one happened to me. They were like don’t be scared but as soon as we pull up to the hospital people are going to come running
And I was like: 😅😅😅😅
00:23 that moment when you actually heard this from your paramedic once.
Heard it once? I expect it.
“Oh if your back was broken you wouldn’t be able to walk” *presses lightly on L-1 vertebrae* Jesus get this kid strapped on the stretcher it’s definitely broken. That was scary.
So as a paramedic I definitely shouldn't say these things, got it.
One shift later: I said all 11 things.
Lol well now that you got that out of the way 😂
He passed the checklist!
🤣
The first one has TF2 medic vibes
“And that’s how I lost my medical license!”
At 2 different times, years apart, I've had DOCTORS essentially say TWO of you're "11 things you never want to hear a paramedic say" list, and I'll add a bonus third...
1. In 2014, I had a doctor say, "Your iron levels are so low... How are you alive?"
2. In 2020, I had a stitch in my right side that wouldn't go away. Go to the hospital, they say likely UTI, prescribe STRONG antibiotics & send me home. I finish the course of treatment, I'm feeling better, but I still have some pain in my right side. Call telecare, they send me back to the ER. All blood tests come back normal. Culture for the UTI came back negative... Doc is ready to send me home. ACTUALLY SAYS THE WORDS: "You can go home... Actually... I want to run a CT scan to check your appendix before you go." I get the CT scan, go back to my cubicle, and the next thing I know, a nurse charges in saying I'm going to be dealing with at least FIVE specialists, from gynecology to nephrology to hematology... I have MASSIVE blood clots on my kidneys, one leading up to my lungs... Spent a week in the hospital, no history of clots, talking to every intern about every aspect of my health history. They said it was exceedingly rare to form blood clots on kidneys and that it's usually pretty painful. (The doc that sent me to CT came to see me during my stay to "check up on me"... looked at me like I was a miracle. 🤷🏻♀️)
BONUS #3... 1998, went to the ER in the middle of the night, extreme pain just below my right ribs. Sent for an ultrasound. The tech says: "Looks like you'll be around a bit & talking to a surgeon." Sent back to my cubicle & given a shot of Demerol - which usually knocks me out flat! This time, I'm sitting, talking to the nurses, surgeon checks me out, says: "Go home. If you have any more problems, call my office." The next day, I nibble on an unsalted saltine cracker, and in short order, I'm doubled over in pain. Call the surgeon, he says: "OK, on Friday, go back to the ER first thing in the morning. Tell them you called my office & that I told you to meet me there. I'll operate then." This is Tuesday mid-morning, and I have 2 babies who want to crawl all over me & feed them, and I can barely move from the pain, much less look at food... Friday morning comes, I do as I'm instructed. I haven't eaten since that saltine cracker... I spend the day waiting. At 5pm, I'm called to go back & meet the surgeon again, who quickly explains the procedure... laparoscopic, smaller incisions, faster healing, but if things don't go well, he might have to do a full incision, but he'll get that angry gallbladder out. No problem. Get prepped for surgery, wheeled to the OR, they do their thing... As I'm waking up, I hear the surgeon say to me: "I'm sorry... We caught it in time." Turned out my gallbladder was the size of a football and could have burst on me at any moment that week! They debated if they should continue with the scope or not. Decided to give it a try. Thankfully, they didn't have to do the "big" operation. But yeah... Hearing your surgeon say: "I'm sorry" in a truly apologetic way is REALLY freaky! (Though I did appreciate the apology, I would have much preferred having been believed on Monday night.🤦🏻♀️)
On 2: A friend was about 20, when she went to the ER for bad abdominal pain. She was told it was just cramps, go home. Her father came to the hospital soon after that, & raised a fuss. So, the started an ultrasound of the abdomen. Part way through, the ultrasound tech dropped the wand a,d ran out to rally all the help he could get. It was an ectopic (tubal) pregnancy! She had bruise marks from the loss of blood, but they got it before disaster.
I had that happen, in regards to gallbladders. I wasn’t told to go home the first time I was in pain. Second time it seems they all believed that something was wrong. I had tests, though the nurse said ‘we know it’s your gallbladder’. Admitted to the hospital, on strong painkillers (which I loved! I never felt better!) and the next day they operated. I was only told that my gallbladder was disgusting, and that was by the doctor.
i've heard similar before. there are few things funnier than a doctor asking you things like "how are you still alive?" or "did you get a gypsy curse or something?"
0:12 oh my god just yesterday somebody at work didn't know the difference between kilograms and grams and wrote down instructions for me to mix 50kg seasoning with 350 kg sunflower oil. You do realize I'd need a forklift for that, not a pyrex cup?!
You just need 1k pyrex cups, its fine.
Making dinner for the whole damn department here.
As a person that had a blood pressure of 75/50 and still living normally, I had a doctor say that to me.
"Huh, you should be in that bed with that BP, I'm really impressed you're still alive."
I tell the doctor
"Uh, doc, you're telling me I should be fainting right now?, but I'm here because of too much earwax"
I’ve had the saying nothing one from doctors while all the blood drained out of their faces…
That was concerning.
If I'm asking someone how many fingers I'm holding up and they say "potato", I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face. Okay buddy, you're going to hospital.
In 2011 I had a paramedic look at my injuries (specifically areas with protruding bone) and grimace. I was pretty messed up, but all I felt was a burning sensation on the surface and mild dislocation at the joints
"The bad news is: you've lost a lot of blood. The good news is: we've found it!" Oh god I'm dead. 😂
So is the patient, probably
From the blood loss?
Does that mean they've found it on the floor somewhere or inside their body from internal bleading? Either way not good, but the later makes more sense from that meaning of lost.
0:15 -- I laughed out loud at this part. I wish my older brother were still around. He was an EMT for years and would have LOVED this.
I’m sorry he’s not; for your loss…
I went to urgent care after a utility blade incident involving my thumb. I was calm so the nurse assumed it wasn't actually as bad as I was saying. I just kept saying "It's REALLY bad. I need stitches." because...yeah it needed stitches. Several. When she removed my makeshift tourniquet all hell broke loose. She went into a blind panic and started running around looking for the doctor. She couldn't even be in the room because she was so frightened by the severity of my injury. Poor girl 😅
The nurse disappeared for a while but eventually came back to assist with the stitching procedure. She was calmed down by then so I think she was just caught off guard. It happens to the best of us.
Had a little tumble on the bike, banged up a leg pretty good and decided to get it checked just in case. Guy tells me its his first time running an IV in a moving ambulance. For some reason, my subsequent blood pressure reading was really really high.
When I dislocated a bone in my foot, it didn't break skin. Paramedics were taking pictures, cause they didn't see that before. Thanks I'm special now :)
These never get old 😂
Just like his patients!
My only "Well that can't be right" has happened multiple times and it's always my temperature.
"93.2? Well you're not dead (yet) so that can't be right."
Oh, yes. The last time I had a fever it was 97.something. That's high for me.
Having a fun paramedic working on you and not panicking about the fact that you're crashing and still somehow doing all the things that need to happen to minimize the chase that you'll die before you get to the hospital is actually reassuring. Serious is scary when you already confused.
Never good when you ask how bad and the paramedics eyes go wide
My mom has all kinds of weird chronic health issues and oh boy she's had her fair share of "wait, how are you conscious?" moments. it's funny when it's not actively threatening her life :'D
There's also what the triage nurse in the emergency room said when they took off the bandage covering an infected brown recluse bite on my hand: "Hey, come over here, you've gotta see this!"
You never want to be the "you've gotta see this" patient.
(Oh, it turned out that my primary care physician is well known in the local medical community for having dermatophobia (fear of touching skin) and he had neglected to look under the bandage, check for infection, or clean the wound, resulting in staph bacteria running amok in the dissolved tissue left behind by the spider bite. It is interesting to be able to see your bones when you look in the hole after it's been flushed with iodine, and I luckily didn't get blood poisoning, so, hey, could have been worse.)
Why would somebody with a fear of touching skin go into the medical field as a primary care physician???
@@Null-value how did they manage to pass medical school? Don’t you have to perform mock procedures on real people as part of the courses?
A primary care physician... with dermatophobia.
... How..?
No wonder it's well known. You can't have been his only neglect case.
Wow, I fainted from just seeing a doctor probe the fat cell on my finger, for a deep cut, much less from seeing bone.
When I was around 19 I was having chest pains so my dad gave me a ride up to the fire station to get checked out. They said alright to sit down we'll check your blood pressure, about as soon as they released the pressure on the arm cuff they yanked it off and said okay we're taking you to the hospital, let's get him in the ambulance. I go to stand up and they stop me and tell me to sit back down they're going to lift me int, and to stay calm. I don't remember what my blood pressure was, some insanely high number, dehydration, and potassium deficiency.
I've been responsive, if fuzzy, with a blood sugar of 20. I think it freaked out a few nurses.
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My brother was flatlining when he got to the ER and grabbed the defibrillator from the doctor and told him to stop hurting him after the first shock. About 10-15 seconds of gasping hospital staff later, his heart started back up. (Hereditary) cocaine allergy is no joke.
Huh
That's not.. how that works
Cocaine allergy? He was taking cocaine?
@@NebetSeta He was young and making bad choices.
He lived to make better ones.
I remember last year having to go to the ER because of my gallbladder, and the fact I almost passed out, nurse asked me what my pain level is, I'm like oh it's not that bad maybe a two max, she's like you're dripping with sweat right now, I'm like yeah but I'm good. Later the doctor comes in starts poking me, the nurse was doing something else at this time in the room, he hits me just wrong, I react, and go nurse I'd like to retract that make that about a six and a half, everyone in the room started laughing.
"On a scale from 1 to 10, where 10 is the worst pain you can imagine, how bad is it?"
"The worst I can imagine? Then this is obviously a 1, 2 at most."
"Sir, your arm has been crushed up to the elbow."
"Yeah, and I have a sick imagination."
Honestly, if a paramedic said that to me about severe blood loss as a joke I'd feel a bit better about the situation. I think that would really break me out of any shock I was in.
"you _probably_ don't have appendicitis, you don't have enough symptoms...and you don't need an ultrasound"
_2 days later_
"I mean...you still probably don't have it but we'll do an ultrasound just in case"
"yeah, we really couldn't tell where your appendix was. But we'll do the surgery"
_does the surgery_
"well, you're appendix had started to rupture. you'll be staying in the hospital for the next 3-5 days"
the last one happens when you have a fresh noobie take charge of the call
Lmao. Have everybody ready! "EVERYONE!". The Professional? No? Classic part.
Yeah... I was one of the "I need everybody ready" calls. Ahhhhhh, the memories. I was also on Trauma, Live in the ER! I was actually ok, no one thought anyone could live through flipping a car off a cliff but... hey walk out of a bad wreck and you get accused of two things! Being drunk, (I was NOT drunk) or you're a walking miracle! These poor EMS's.
This literally made me lol. I’m an RN in the cath/EP lab. You guys never fail to show up with disasters. “Everybody ready” 😂
Got in a motorcycle accident didn’t think it was that bad. Paramedic cut off my sock came up to my head and first thing he said was; “so I’m looking at your bone”
"I said, you suck, not give him sux!" LMAO!
A few years ago my son who is on the spectrum was in the emergency room. They were trying to sedate him so he would hold still doing the CT scan. The dose originally given should have been enough to keep him knocked out for at least a half an hour but it didn't work. Next thing I know I hear the doctor say, "well I'm going to have to give him the highest dose pull the crash cart make sure it's ready!" Yeah I was like oh okay that's not good.
My son popped up three minutes after the sedation was given. No crash cart needed.
He's Superboy I guess 🤷
People on the spectrum have weird times with sedatives. Takes a disturbing amount to put me out - well, other than Propofol. Even then the recovery room nurses were... worried... at how quickly I came out of it.
@@jnelson4765 yep, if I'm given a med that has drowsiness, sleepiness, etc as a side effect my body only does one of two things. Either I'm knocked out for two days straight on a pediatric dose of a med that "might" cause slight drowsiness, or the max adult dose does absolutely nothing. Yeah, I make doctors start me on the lowest dose possible, and give me tapering instructions for every med I'm put on. I can easily call in and ask for a dose increase.
As an ER nurse, my heartrate would definitely spike if I heard "Have EVERYONE ready" in that tone of voice.
“Nah… that can’t be right. I’ve never seen a person with a blood pressure that low and still be conscious.”
That should so be me. My blood pressure was literally half of what it should have been one time. I couldn’t move and was sweating like crazy, but I was DEFINITELY still conscious. Barely though… lol
I had a heart surgery a couple years ago. When talking to my cardiologist, I was nervously joking a little bit and said oh, so I shouldn’t make any long-term plans. He said yes.
My mother's cardiologist said something similar to me in a followup appt after she had 6-bypass heart surgery. 15 years ago. I think she has outlived him at this point.
Posterio orthotatic tacardioa syndrome or POTS yes my blood pressure has been that low. It's fun to see the face if there is a new medical assistance face at the doctors.
postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome* no hate, just thought youd like to know
@@brennasnyder I spell is wrong all the time. It is just to much to spell sometimes.
Fellow POTSie here. Always love that. One time my doctor brought in a whole group of medical students without mentioning it. He asked me to stand for it then had a student take the pressure. It would read because it was dropping so fast so he tried again. The kid went ghost white heart rate was 147 and BP 62/47. He immediately goes "Ma'am are you okay?! You need to lay down! What's going on?!" Me and my doc high five and he explains my condition. Always a good time. Everytime I'm inpatient for something he gathers up some students for me to freak out. My other "party trick" is dislocated various joints and popping them back in like it's no big deal (I've got a genetic condition called cEDS that let me do that). The horror when they see me dislocate my thumb like it's nothing is priceless
Cop asked a guy I know what his birthday was after he had a siezer and he said 7/14/garlic. Me and the cop where like wait what and he repeated himself 7/14/garlic and said yeah that’s right. Me and the cop laughed because it was so odd and unexpected lol. He is ok now that he got sober from booze.
Talking with the ems in the back of an ambulance after my truck got totaled, dude pulls out “oh shit, my shirts on backwards. Look at that” that one made me feel great lmao