It’s cause the ambulance is 1100$ without any treatment on you at least in my state. Now imagine not having insurance in low wage areas cause insurance is to expensive or even if you have insurance it doesn’t cover the ambulance bill.
Who the heck has the extra few thousand dollars to abuse this service anyway? Thank you, EMS, Firefighters, nurses, and anyone else in the healthcare field for still working during this, and I am sincerely sorry you have to deal with idiots like this.
It's because the ems cannot leave you on the scene if you tell them you want to go to the hospital. they have to take you - legally and ethically. unlike the taxi where you have to pay them upon arrival, the bill for a ride in an ambulance comes months later. that's why.
because EMS cannot refuse to take someone who has called 911 for an supposed emergency and in the end, all the department can do to collect the bill is turn it over to a collections agency
Oh make no mistake...that bill isn't getting paid, at least not by that point. That bill is one that will be written off by the municipality. Private ambulance companies can take legal action.
I cannot express how grateful I am for EMS. My dad falls on his butt routinely and cannot get up on his own. Local EMS comes to the rescue, gets him up, and then they head out to their next call, all without judgement. Thanks to people like you, my dad gets to continue living at home a few more years.
Triage anecdote: Last time I was in the ER waiting room and described what was going on, I was very relieved they told me it might be an hour. Because that meant they didn't think I had something that was gonna kill me! (Other part of the anecdote: Man came in, saying his wife was in the car. She was experiencing signs of a possible heart attack, and was five months pregnant. You better believe she got front of the line treatment!)
This. So many people just don't understand, if you're waiting around it's not that big of a deal. Having said that, if your symptoms worsen whilst you're waiting for pities sake go back to the triage nurse and tell them
@Karl Dubhe Ouch. Not what I'd call minor, but okay, compared to the second one....I too would rather wait a while, but not when I have chest pain or part of my digit in my hand for reattachment (did those, thanks, didn't like the wait without a reasonable exam for triage). These days, if I'm able to wait, I'll wait. I know what's going on back there well enough to not even go in the first place unless I REALLY need to be there.
I once watched a nurse, who was clearly so done with everyone's crap, tear into a guy who had taken an ambulance because he didn't want to pay for a cab. That's when he learned that you have to pay for the ambulance anyway ($35 at the time, Ontario, Canada) and he would be charged even more for knowingly calling the ambulance for a non-emergency ($2-300). At least it took my mind off my reason for being there (stomach pains, turned out to be food poisoning, much fun).
I've literally told a patient once that I'd like to see her ambulance bill! After literally being brought in at least twice a week for several months for pseudoseizures. If you don't know, that means fake seizures! Our fire service charges $750 a pop for in town teansports... YOU can do the math!
@@thecman26 I used to be an ER tech and we had a patient exactly like that. She was a local college student, a frequent flier for almost a year. Everyone was really sick of her. Until a new resident stuck some EEG leads on her, and OMG I didn't know the lines could go that high or cross each other. He caught 8 severe partial seizures in 3 hours. She finally got referred got the right medications and although it wasn't perfect (when I left for school we still saw her about every other month). I have learned to take people seriously; something that most of my colleagues could still learn. Psycogenic disorders are actually extremely rare, and most people diagonsed with Psycogenic disorders are actually misdiagnosed. Everyone is always amazed when I dig just a little bit deeper and find a physiological cause to a patients symptoms but the only think I do differently is the one thing everyone else refuses to do. I listen.
@@leahs.1480 wow, that's cool! But when you see a person peek an eye open to make sure somebody is looking, then fakes a seizure... Its pretty obvious! Sorry no Ativan for you! You shall get the medicine that starts with a D. Discharge!
I worked in a hospital in my youth. Only time I’ve gotten “concerned” when using the ER is the time I drive myself because I was having trouble breathing and my tongue felt numb. I was taken straight back ahead of folks sitting in the waiting room with bandaged limbs or moans. That’s when I knew “this ain’t good”. Turns out if it lives in the sea and has legs and a shell I’m quite allergic.
Now imagine being allergic to iodine (usually the crustation part that gets you), not knowing it and getting tested for kidney stones... to this day I can't get the records of my "experience" from the hospital, I was "Never There".
HAHA! That's exactly what people who've worked in a Hospital will do because they are witness to the flagrant abuse Hospitals face on a DAILY basis. My parents worked in a Hospital for 30+ years and when I "complained" (I like to say brought to their attention because I don't complain; that's their wording HAHA!) of sore testicles 12 yrs ago, they told me my 🍒 were fine, rather emphatically and suggested a variety of alternative treatment options other than the ER visit (e.g. Heating Pad, Going Commando, Sleeping without Underwear), which I tried only for the pain to get progressively worse and by 2AM feel like someone was taking a can opener to my Nuts! Only saying that I couldn't sleep because of the pain is what FINALLY convinced my Mother to drive me to the ER (And even then, I'm not sure she bought my concern as legitimate until I vomited on our arrival at the Hospital). Only then, did we learn that what I was experiencing was not normal, but one of my jewels had twisted until it was no longer getting blood and I ended up losing it. I remember my Mom remarked to me after "Wow, you have a very high pain tolerance." and I said to her "Well, I WISH I didn't because now you may NOT be getting any grandchildren!" Looking back, that response was a little snarky, but hey, I was 16. You guys haven't even heard the best (or worst) part of the story: It wouldn't have COST my parents a CENT because our FREE Canadian Healthcare. (Yeah, you read that right; I'm one of your neighbours to the North. Moral of the story: Healthcare workers have to be DYING before they'll use the Hospitals resources. Shame though, because I could have had TWO testicles had my parents paid better attention to the signs.
Let’s add to the list: - AC isn’t working - I coughed yesterday - stubbed toe - my neighbor has covid and I want a test (they were completely asymptotic and never were in contact with the neighbor) - I have bed bugs - all I want is a GI cocktail (like this is a restaurant) (once a week for 2 months) - temp of 98.9 All this after only working in the ER for a year.
When I called 911: If I tried to stand up, I'd get that lightheaded feeling you get when you stand up too fast, but it never went away. Not that it mattered really because I would throw up any time I moved. Turned out to be a massive peptic ulcer, I nearly died from internal bleeding. Did you know that a peptic ulcer can refer to pain to the other side of your body? I didn't. That's how it got so bad.
I hate when people are too embarrassed or just don't care and say, only after you've had extremely close contact with them, I have bed bugs/scabies etc. I wish people knew, I don't care if you have these things just tell me up front so me and my partner can take the proper precautions, PPE and decon afterwards.
You guys are so spoiled. Try gypsies coming with an ambulance at 3 a.m blind drunk, to have the stitches removed from their 6 year old (1 month later than they should have had them removed) and then beating you up because stitch removal hurts*edit:(slighty hurts). No security in the hospital ....
I had an asthma attack at work, I kept saying I was fine and just needed fresh air, and the next thing I knew there was a paramedic giving me oxygen, I kept telling him I was fine and he holds my hand up to my face and says "are your fingers usually this color?" He had a point. They were not usually that color. Then he said I had to go to the ER. I kept saying I was fine and didn't need to go and he said, "you're going in the ambulance or someone is driving you but either way you are going. The ambulance is just more expensive." or something like that, my dumb ass had to be shown my own blue hand to admit I needed oxygen. I agreed to be driven to the ER in a regular car and I don't remember waiting very long that time.
You should have gone in the ambulance. They can administer O2 and use CPAP along with various meds like albuterol to keep your lungs open. Never turn down an ambulance when you have a true medical emergency. If your fingers were blue, your body wasn't being properly oxygenated and you could have gone into cardiac arrest.
I've been transported by EMS twice, once for a migraine so bad I couldn't move, and once for a psychiatric emergency. I am eternally grateful to those first responders, EMS are amazing.
I have literally spent 5 hours sitting on a wall waiting for the nurse to accept the pt, a cardiac pt who was unconcious when we got to them at that. I finally had to call our medical director and have him contact the attending to get a damned bed for our pt. All the while, the ED beds were filled with all these people who were afraid to die because they MIGHT have covid and HAD to be seen and tested in the ER because they had coughed once that morning.
@@appollonia1191 It was Navicent Medical Center in Macon where I sat for so long last year. Most hospitals now are limiting the testing they do, but will test pt's if they are symptomatic
Hospitals in south Texas are severely understaffed. They claimed they were at full capacity but the reality was that they didn’t have enough staff. I work fire/ems and run emergencies/transfers and hospitals would have empty rooms with beds all the time.
Bruh, its like a mass casualty at urgent care with everyone wanting a tests. Then when you tell them it's covid they go down the conspiracy theory of it being fake.
The only times I've ever called 911 for myself, was chest pain so severe that I could not breathe, this occurred while driving, I pulled over, and called emergency services, the only other time, was have a manic episode, had been up several days was driving, and started hallucinating. Pulled over, called emergency services. Note that both of these, the critical part, They hit the point I needed intervention, while I was driving, and operating a 2 ton weapon, while having a severe medical issue is not ideal, also driving while hallucinating is a really damn bad idea. The second one that is the product of my bipolar disorder, actually got a police ride to the hospital rather than an ambulance, because people that are manic, can be unpredictable and can become easily agitated, or violent, so the police go first, then if needed, they'll get an ambulance, but in this case, They gave me the ride to the ER, because at least in the town I was in, if the police take you, there isn't a massive bill for the ambulance, they were also kind enough to move my truck to a safe parking location, informed the business owner of the lot they parked it in, that someone would be by within 2 weeks to get it, and took the keys to a family member of my choice so they could collect my vehicle.
this channel was a big part in convincing me to take the step to join my local volunteer fire dept. I had always considered it but I finally pulled the trigger. Come May I will get my interior and exterior certifications. Thanks man for inspiring me.
@notme2day It has been going very well for me. Since joining a little over 2 years ago I have found quite the passion for the fire service. Through attending night and weekend classes I have logged over 500 certified training hours these past 2 years. I obtained my EMT certificate and just recently been elected a lieutenant in my dept. My new goal is to go career. Currently I'm on a candidate list for one paid dept and will take the test to get on the lists for four more depts next month. All in all it has been one of the greatest choices I have made in life joining my volunteer fire dept.
@@vincereed9634 That's awesome and great to hear. I'm a retired paramedic. I also started out as a volunteer. I continued to volunteer even while I worked full time as a medic. I wish you all the best of luck on your path and getting onto a paid department. Best thing I ever did. It never felt like a job since it was more like a calling. Come back and post an update ... be nice to hear you got your dream "job" career going.
With a spouse that works in the medical field. This hits hard because the hardships she has to face as a medical professional. People like this should get some kinda higher charge or penalties against them for wasting these people's time.
As an emergency medical doc myself I see this ALL THE DAMN TIME!!!! and the UK's NHS is overstretched as it is, its unreal that some people waste the service like this. A therapeutic wait is what these people then receive. (And deserve)
Some trusts send a taxi when there is no ambulance available! Must say, one difference between many US and UK services is that in UK paramedics can advise own transportation if appropriate, yet many don’t!
@@mlx39996 111 is crap, they send everything into ED as theyre not health trained so mega low threshold. I’ve anecodatally never seen a 111 referal in a&e that needs to be in a&e
Fact is we oughta be able to refuse to transport, and not only that but call PD to come and issue a ticket for misuse of 911. Not sure if that's worded right but I'm just a firefighter. I'm not a smart man. Something along the lines of "Oh you called me at 3am for an ingrown toe nail that's been like that for 2 weeks? Well have a nice night" walk out the door and have Dispatch send an unit to write a ticket for misuse. Guarantee within a week most of the BS 911 calls would seize to come in, and we can focus on actual emergencies *Edit* I just wanted to edit this to say, there's a difference between calling 911 for an ambulance to check you out because you're concerned about your well being, you do not always need to be transported the er is an Emergency room for a reason, but its a different story calling an ambulance just because you want a ride to the ER, or calling at a ridiculous time for a minor or even non existence injury or pain. Calling because of nightmares or calling 7 times in 2 days for the same "back pain" only to sign a refusal, you just wanted medics to give you pain medication. This is the kinda crap that needs to be addressed and come down on severely. Most people in an er don't need to be there, which keeps the beds open for actual emergencies like cardiac, traffic collisions, trauma, broken bones etc. By just sending a bill, you can simply just avoid it. By giving a ticket with a summons, you can make sure they own up to it and curb it. Truthfully, it should be on a case by case basis where a local fire dept or ems organization can make a judgement call if this person is being a nuisance with 911 or blatantly misused it, where they can make a call to PD to come out and issue the ticket. The fd or ems writes up a report for the call, stating why they made the call to save there butts. We can call PD for psychs, elder abuse, welfare of children, suicidal victims, etc why can't we call em for those who misuse our services? If you swat someone, you can get arrested for that, so why can't we do the same?
I see evidence of LGB in your profile picture. Last comment doesn't seem accurate based on that, smarter than quite a few. I agree with you, they should be issued a ticket. No penalty means they will just continue to abuse it
Honestly, I'd not want that liability. Say that ingrown toenail has been like that for 2 weeks and they seem fine so you refuse transport and call PD to issue a citation. Well after you left, they fall unconscious because they were actually septic and die. That's a lawsuit and I'd not want to be on the end of that. Better to transport them and have them punished later. I do agree there should be consequences for these people, but these things are not best fought on the streets.
A small tweak: you still would have to transport, but the supervising responder should be able to file a complaint that results in a fine if it's determined you abused 911.
@@MNNski it's not refusing them access to the hospital it's refusing them an unsafe emergency response transport. Big difference. If they are concerned, and they are perfectly capable, they can and should drive themselves to the hospital
This needs to be played on loop in every ER waiting room in the nation. Along with a PSA telling people the Good News about Urgent Care Clinics- namely, that they exist.
Urgent cares are perfect for things like stitches. If you show up to an urgent care just needing stitches, you’re near the front of the line because there’s no diagnostics, just someone coming in to check how bad it is and close it up. It’s even quicker if they’re from a knock on the head. As long as there’s no concussion, you’ll be in and out in no time.
I had a job a long time ago that tried to pull mandatory overtime on me. I let it slide a couple times, then it seemed like they were going to keep doing it every day. My shift would be over and I'd say I'm leaving, they'd say I needed to stay, and I'd say "My shift is over or I'm just quitting, which one is it? Either way, I'm leaving now. If you have a worker tomorrow, is up to you."
Praise the truth he speaks! Seriously, my squad actually strait up tells non emergency line jumpers whats waiting for them at the ED ad how long they will be expected to wait. We're not allowed to refuse, but we CAN gently nudge them into refusing transport.
In NJ, we have "Danielle's Law" which states that if something happens to a patient in a group home or nursing home, they MUST call 911 or the people working there (not the corporation) get fined if anything goes wrong. Many of the patients have figured this out and have learned the magic words. Whenever they want to get out for a while, they know all they have to do is point to their heart and say, "Got chest pain." That starts a chain of events that, legally, cannot be stopped and they get the evening in the hospital instead of looking at their own walls. Sigh...
It looks like Danielle's Law says that you have to call only if it's a life-threatening emergency because some shitty nursing home ignored a lady who couldn't breathe and had a high fever. It doesn't have to be called for everything. But it even considers a mild burn an emergency because of the risk of infection. It sounds like the residents need to be taught not to abuse 911.
@@slook7094 The way that it's written, there's absolutely no disincentive to calling 911 for everything, no matter how small. Thank you NJ legislature for dumping your problem in our laps!
@@rieaweer7459 I don't blame them for wanting a change of scenery. I would if I were in their position. What I object to is the legislature creating a "solution" that takes a BLS ambulance and crew plus a medic unit out of service to accomplish it.
I love when I call in a report to the hospital and I get the question, "can this patient sit in a wheelchair?" Why yes they can. "Triage on arrival." The looks on their face when I wheel them into the waiting room and they ask if they have to wait....priceless
Retired paramedic here. My favorite calls were people with a toothache at 3am ... because after an *entire week of pain* the orajel was no longer working.
I once tried to drive myself to the ER with an extremely broken right ankle because I didn’t want to bother the EMT crews and couldn’t afford the ambulance bill. My neighbor was an EMT and when I asked him to help me get to my car so I could drive he laughed and said there was no way I’d even make it out of the driveway. He called the ambulance for me.
There was once a time we (Me and another sober buddy) called 911 on a HEAVILY inebriated person. They were vomiting repeatedly, had a weak almost bradycardic pulse, in and out of consciousness and was breathing weird. We decided to call 911 and they took some vitals, checked the airway, put them in a recovery position and took blood glucose and blood alcohol. Not much more was done, so they just left after telling us to supply water when the person becomes responsive and attend to the person until fully conscious or definitely stable. I wasn't exactly sure if we did the right thing, but in the end, I realized that the person was almost critical, and a medical professional was needed to ensure the safety of the person. I'm glad we made the decision we did.
I am an EMT in Washington state, and this is true as ever. Both our trauma centers are on divert 24/7. My department got rid of mandatory overtime because it was becoming dangerous to work for 72 hours straight.
Thank you for saying it's okay to call 911 even if you're not 100% sure (so long as you're not abusing the system). I once didn't even go to the hospital because I felt bad about taking up their time with what later turned out to be a series of seizures, and it's a relief to hear that I can call even when I'm not 100% sure.
The only time I ever called for EMS was years ago on my first day in college. I woke up in my new room, and literally couldn't stand. It was wild because I hadn't even actually met my two roommates yet and had to be rushed to the hospital. One hazy trip later, I found out I had pneumonia! What a great first week that was.
Jason this video was fantastic! I had 25 years on the job before I got diagnosed with stage IV non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Took 21 months to beat it and they retired me because they cancer history and plus it took 40% of my lung capacity. With the shortages hell I’d come back to work just to drive the ambulance for the paramedics and triage these stupid people for them take a taxi back to the station If they got a legitimate emergency while I was dealing with one of these “my knee hurts” idiots. I wasn’t ready to retire
A lot of us aren't, regardless of the field we were in (mine was veterinary) and we'd kill to be able to go back and help even in small ways. Guess you just can't fix the 'old firehorse' syndrome. :)
I learned a three word phrase from a paramedic: "Suitable for Triage" it lets the ER know they are bringing in a line jumper, and the line jumper will go straight to the waiting room.
In the midst of a debilitating cyclic vomiting episode, on a cot in a hall. Throwing up, crying, my mother holding my limp hand. A dr finally approaches! He tells me to stop screaming and immediately moves on. Not everyone is as dedicated as you. Thank you for all you do.
Thank god for you making this statement. Last night i had three calls where this exact thing happened! One in particular apparently drove themselves to the ER, waited for four hours, drove back, and THEN called 911 because they thought they would get in sooner.
Appreciate the vid man. I work in an ED, and I can't tell you how many times per shift I hear the intercom say "ambulance to triage in 10 minutes". For those of you that don't know, this means that the ambulance goes to the triage nurse instead of a room because the patient didn't have a medical emergency.
I had a coworker this past year that had a seizure while at work. They ended up being okay but we where all grateful when the firefighters and EMS crews arrived. They where awesome and took amazing care of my work friend. Please do not abuse their skills, time, and resources they are always over worked but especially now.
I started watching this and thought my call to the ambulance would totally be called out here (I collapsed, lost control of bladder, and was at a 9.5/10 of pain due to an apparent ruptured disc), and I felt terrible and was apologizing the entire ride that they had to carry me down three patio stairs.
Thank you, your videos are awesome. I been a paramedic firefighter 25 years, also...previously a volunteer ff/EMT 5 years. Also worked in an Emergency Room trauma center in the 80's. What you share in your videos hit home. You speak for all of us. Keep it up!
War Story Alert: My partner and I once took a woman, claiming to have chest pain, and her fiancé (front seat passenger) to a hospital in a neighboring community. We pulled up to the ER and the woman starts yelling "let me up...let me up" she unfastens the cot straps and she and her fiancé take off running down the road.... My partner and I headed on into the hospital and told the staff to disregard our encode. There was a local PD officer there who didn't seem too concerned about it. We just loaded up and went back to the station. Oh, and of course did the report, all for nothing. We were literally a Taxi....
And when the company running the ambulance service put in the charge for that ride, it was the tax payer who foots the bill. Makes you wonder if a nationalised health service might be better because the tax payer is paying for the bills anyway.
After 30 years as a Paramedic, this is 💯correct. I love taking people to the waiting room and telling the triage nurse to make them wait as long as possible. 90% of our calls are non emergency.
I have been medically transport once in college due to a vaccine reaction and I have autism, this leads to possible communication issues and meltdowns. The EMS staff who were assigned to me did a great job. Now when ever I see them whether it was the team that helped me or not I thank them.
I had sepsis last year. All ERs were on diversion except the level 1 trauma center. I was critically ill and the paramedic had to place an IV in my neck on the ambulance and put me on higher flow oxygen than my concentrator at home could handle. My BP was something like 70/40. You'd think I'd be brought straight to a room right? Wrong. Between covid and people who abuse the emergency room (plus a complicated history with these two local hospitals close to each other where one decided to remove their ER and merge into the only lvl 1 trauma center in downtown) I had to be taken to the waiting room on the ambulance gurney and wait ~15 minutes with the paramedics still having to take care of me. They WANTED the paramedics to transfer me to a wheelchair and leave, the paramedics refused to leave and kept me on a stretcher till they got a room for me, which ended up being one of those mega equipped trauma rooms because I was in such bad shape. 15 minutes is a long time when you're critically ill. Stop fucking going to the ER for a possible broken toe. stop going to the ER for basic testing like STDs, covid/flu/strep, pregnancy, etc and stop going for minor issues that can wait 12-36 hours for a doctor's appointment or urgent care. Most sprains, broken fingers/toes and even broken arms can be treated at urgent care. At least where I am, they pretty much all have imaging equipment (at least x-rays) and are fully equipped to even handle moderate asthma attacks. Any sort of virus or bacterial infection can be treated at urgent care (sinus infections, URIs, UTIs, colds, etc) when you are able to breathe. Honestly hospitals, especially at this time where everything is at it's breaking point, should be able to refuse to see patients with minor shit and send them to the nearest urgent care. Might end up with more waiting IF the hospital triage was wrong, but if it's minor enough they can wait an extra two hours. Minutes and seconds matter when it comes to extremely unwell people. I barely was able to get stabilized when I made it to the trauma bay. Those 15 minutes could have easily cost me my life or limb if I didn't get super lucky. And don't forget the time I waited 8 hours in the ER waiting room puking my guts out with my feeding tube stoma closing up. And that's not even the worst part. A very old lady who had fallen and hit her head so hard that it bled all over her got there 30min before me and was called to go back AT THE SAME TIME AS ME. An elderly person with a fall, who has clearly had a good amount of blood loss and split their scalp open pretty widely should not be waiting 9 hours. I almost felt bad that I got to go back at the same time as her...
The only time ive needed an ambulance transport was when i got into a motorcycle accident. I felt bad because i could still walk and talk, knowing there were probably people who needed that medic more than i did. But their professionalism, honesty, and knowledge was humbling to me. That medic Inspired me to become one myself. Of course now im equiped with the knowledge to know why they wanted me to go so bad, even though i was lucky enough to only have some road rash on my hip. But i hope that i can inspire more to pick up the career like that medic did for me.
Worked as a Hospital Guard and am now a Volunteer Fire Fighter in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and this couldn’t be more accurate, our ER is constantly down 6-10 nurses and 3-5 physicians, 16 hour shifts are borderline the norm and the amount of physical assaults on triage nurses has gone up exponentially because of people getting upset over 20h long wait times caused by these issues. There’s a 2 truck bay at our hospital and on a regular basis you can drive past the bays and see both filled with 3-8 other trucks parked up and down the main road since they need to drop a PT off but there’s just no room in the bays left. The province of Nova Scotia is Code Critical more often than its not (there’s no ambulances across the whole province available to respond to calls) something clearly needs to change and as much as I want to give constructive feedback I really don’t know how to fix these issues
Wow. Just....wow. maybe people need a 'therapeutic wait time' explained to them as a consequence of their actions? ARE there really that many ill people in the area, though? hard to suggest without knowing the data, but our thoughts are with you!
And yet us experienced ER RNs and MDs who refused the jab preferring daily testing, have never been approached about being hired back. Sad days across Canada.
The saddest part is how it's all been portrayed over the last two years, from "HEROES TO RIVAL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE" to "how dare you even suggest it's not a perfect world where you get to obey us as you cry in the corner because of what our decisions as beurocrats have done to you."
This adds to retention problems with Volunteer services also. It's alot easier to get up in the middle of the night, or miss a family dinner or child's program for a true emergency.
Thank you for this public service announcement. As a paramedic in an extremely busy county who is equally as understaffed, and exhausted, we face people who abuse the system multiple times daily!! (I WISH I could exaggerate that but we have people whole call 3-5times a day. And depending on what they say when they call 911 dispatch determines if we come emergency or routine traffic. People who abuse the system know this and say those necessary things to get fd and ems to them "sooner" this puts an increased strain on crews who already over worked, and hospitals who are already splitting at the seams. When most NOT all of the time, the complaints the person calls 911 for can in actuality can be addressed and treated faster than the Eemergency Room. Primary Care Providers (PCP) are more familiar with their patients, hx, and overall health. A pcp is more controlled i.e. less people less possibility for exposure. EMERGENCY ROOMS ARE FOR LIFE THREATENING ILLNESSES / INJURIES. NOT sniffles, sneeze, low fever, aches, body pains, cough, sore throat. Thank you again for addressing this issue 😀
If you're in the continental USA, there is a free number you can call to help you decide whether you need 911, an emergency room trip, urgent care, or an ordinary doctor's visit. The number varies a bit by area, but I know they exist. I've used them. I was raised to "not tie up the system" so I once had them talk me into going to the ER because I didn't think I was having a heart attack or stroke. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly thinking straight as there are tons of other serious things that can go wrong. It was an emergency (I didn't go by ambulance, still didn't want to tie up the system). The triage nurse looked at me, my symptoms, and I FLEW through that ER. I don't think the wheels on my gurney stopped until surgery. I'm very thankful to the woman answering that phone that day, and I LOVE that such a service exists to help.
in the netherlands we have this fun system where even if you are insurred you pay for the ambulance ride. which will cost you between 320-900+ something euros(depending on your insurrance) to make sure people who dont really need it, dont get it. taxi is always cheaper.
In the US, we have this nice system where an ambulance ride costs $3,000, which your insurance will cover, but if you don't have insurance, you still have to pay. In fact, our system is so nice they charge you $500 just for sitting in the waiting room, even if you never get seen by doctor after waiting for 5 hours.
Thank you to all fire, ems, nurses, doctors, dispatchers and cleaning personnel. I can't even imagine calling an ambulance at the cost! My Dad had a devastating stroke and we couldn't load him into a car for the 1 block trip to the hospital. We called an ambulance and they charged $2,000 to put him on a gurney and drop him at the hospital.
Jason, dude! Thank you for making this video. Peeps in the non-medical world need to see this video and understand how their actions can lead to major issues throughout an EMS system. Keep up the great work!!!
I go through the ER many times when i have had advanced MAI infections, TB etc. Its amazing how many people are in the ER with Coughs and colds. reminds me 1 year I was pale, O2 was 83% and slowly going down, HR was 160, my nails when pressed were not getting color back, fever 102.7. The ER staff got oxygen on me, when my O2 hit 75 an I Was alert but slow to respond and losing color vison they Called some code. ER was full and waiting room was full, an i remember some Woman was saying in the back "I been here for 8 hours why you taking him first and this Short Nurse yells. Shut up, Your not a emergency!(she got put on administrative leave for yelling at a patient in the ER, which I ended up writing a letter to the Hospital explaining what happened and she was allowed back to work) The US healthcare system isnt bad, its just abused heavy by people who want cheap drugs, fast care and lazy
THANK YOU for this! As a nurse and a mom of an asthma child who has had to take the ride in the rig x2 for sats at 88! Too many are using EMT/EMS and Paramedics as transport.
We've had frequent fliers for years.....when I first got my EMT in 1990...we were taught to flip over the PCR to sign off non emergent calls!! Somewhere along the way the training changed to transport EVERYONE!!! Lawsuits played a roll I'm sure but, the head EMT, AEMT, EMT-CC or Paramedic should make that call. As Chief I would respond to calls from reoccurring addresses to observe.....and I noticed that these calls a number of family members would jump on board the rig.....I'd kick them off and suddenly the patient would no longer want to go to the hospital. Didn't solve all of the "taxi" callers though...but helped!!!
Oh I worked in the far north of Canada. A volunteer ambulance would be called to the nearby Indian reserve. Then when they drove back to us at the hospital itvwas like they opened a clown car! The primary parient on a stretcher was usually elderly. The rest wanted to see tne Dr for infections, stitches, or school vaccinations or to go shop at the bigger town grocery store. So as th ER Nurse I just triage them all, gave them time estimates, so off they go do errands and return when I'd estimated the Dr would be ready. It was a wild thing for a Nurse from the big city. But at least a bunch of people got treated, set up with birth control, and so on. Then for going home reserve drivers would head over at tne 10.00 pm clinic closing in tne ER. And the ER was only open tne rest of the might for real emergencies.
Got first-hand experience with the ambulance thing. My grandfather passed out at the store a few weeks ago, but by the time the ambulance got him to the hospital, he was stable and not in any immediate danger. They took him back, but he waited in a wheelchair (and then a gurney when one became available) for 14 hours before they had a room ready for him (this is a relatively small, rural hospital with not a lot of beds). I'm sure there were many people that had to be seen before him for more serious conditions.
I feel really bad for y'all. I had a medical episode pre-pandemic the doctor at the hospital thought was a stroke. Due to a medical implant I had, they didn't have the proper equipment to deal with me and sent me to a larger hospital. After an hour long ambulance ride ride and 4 hours in an ER room panicking, my mom finally drove me home. Thankfully, it wasn't a stroke, just an addition to already preexisting medical condition. Everyone there had been so understanding and patient, even when I probably wasn't easy (couldn't form a cohesive thought and any time I opened my eyes I immediately became nauseous). A+ people, even at 1 in the morning. I'm still in college and know some nurses and EMS peeps in training, and they are the loveliest people. Y'all deserve way more than the world gives you.
Thank you to all the emergency staff out there right now. I know this means... not a whole lot... but hopefully this video brings to light the major sacrifices you all are making, right up to your actual lives.
I came across you by random on Shorts, and I’ve been hooked on your videos man! I’ve gained so much knowledge, entertainment and respect for you guys (and I already had so much before hand), and I appreciate you for that! Sending love from Toronto 🇨🇦
I work inpatient behavioral health. I've been pulled to the ED to assist during one of the many times where it has been overflowing. I can't count the times my job has been to say, "No, you have to wait here. Coming by ambulance doesn't mean you get automatically get a bed," as the nurses deal with the actual emergencies. So AMEN!
Not sure how it works in the US, however EMS here in UK very frequently discharge at scene. So those not calling for an actual emergency (most of them) are left at home. Gread video, J!
My grandmother did this. She claimed she had a cough for a few days, though none of us heard her cough once, and she called 911 claiming she couldn't breathe, but the EMTs took her oxygen and it was 95% or somewhere around that. Her reasoning was if she went by ambulance she wouldn't have to wait. We tried to tell her that's not how it works, but she still insisted on going by ambulance where she spent most of the day waiting around. She did have a mild case of pneumonia, but she could've gone to a regular doctor or urgent care like we said in the first place, but no, she had to go to the hospital. Not the first time she's insisted on going to a hospital when she didn't need to, but it was the first time she insisted on the ambulance taxi service.
I've definitely seen this happen and I don't even work in a hospital. Through clinical rotations to become EMT, watched lots of people come in the back in ambulances with non emergencies, while other folks sat out in the waiting room for hours until a bed to opened up.
Love explaining to people that get dropped off in the waiting room at the ER that they are not getting a room till all the ACTUALLY sick/injured people get them. :)
Do a video on "the magical vitals check". When people are in accidents and ask for a pulse check that makes them practically go "I can see colors again!!"
Thank you, I wish we could really use this as a commercial. Might need to add as a bonus point while waiting in the crowded ER . You get checked out doing good even got a turkey sandwich then two days later you wake up with a high fever, cough, cold, and Headache or GI stuff, throwing up, diarrhea well you just got dealt what is the ER playing tonight. Not everyone has a sprained ankle some are actually sick. Probably could have waited until morning and called their Family Doctor and not shared it with everyone along with all the other sharers but now you are sick. Please call your family doctor or visit your local Urgent care center and they will help you out and see you quicker to quarantine you from everyone else and you didn’t have to use the ultra expensive ambulance ride.
I once was in a hospital with really strong neck pain and restricted neck movement and got told, that I should have called an ambulance, as it was common practice at that place and everybody else would have to wait several hours if they don't bleed all over the floor. It was completely calm in the ER and the girl that walked past me for a routine control for her broken leg (she took an ambulance with her mom) got treated instantly. So that hospital was actually encouraging people to call an ambulance with non emergencies. Germany btw
It is hard not laughing at some of these when after talking to the ER nurse we just wheel the stretcher into the waiting room and get them to sit there anyway.
When I was younger a guest speaker mentioned there were people calling for an ambulance, and then suddenly decided they were okay half way through just so they could go shopping/get mc donalds. It's wild to hear of so many people do this shit and think it's normal to do.
Oh, that became a thing there too? This damn shit happens way top often here in Brazil and is infuriating. Makes me mad to hear this level of selfishness also found its way into your country.
@@turinmormegil7715 it’s not just young people doing it. That it even happens in the US, where even a necessary ambulance ride costs over $1,000 even with health insurance shows just how paranoid, lazy, selfish, and/or stupid some people are.
Had to call an ambulance back in september, i was in a rollover accident on the freeway. I didnt think i needed a trip to the hospital, but with the shock of it all, figured id better be safe than sorry. They showed up, looked me over, asked if i hit my head and when i said no, said they agreed that a visit to my primary doc would be fine a ckuple hours later, and then provided a warm place to stay until my family showed up in a different car. Will always be grateful for them for that. Oh, and they gave me a bottle of water.
This again is simply highlighting issues that have plagued EMS and ERs since day 1. But now the work load has gotten to the point that we CANNOT keep sustaining the BS and the patients that really need to be examined. Every first responder, ER nurse, ER tech and every other staff type that supports the ER (and now a lot of the other parts of a hospital), that I know are burnt out. Now it has gotten to the point where it's not simply stupid choices from hospital administrators on staffing or the fact that most EMS departments cannot refuse to transport a non emergent patient. Please remember, those who become first responders and medical staff, most often feel a calling to help others in their worst moments. It can hurt more than I can use words to explain to feel like that very thing is killing you and you have to step away to survive. I am a strong supporter of the concept that 911 services should be able to triage between emergent and non-emergent calls and take appropriate action such as saying "No, we will not be transporting you to the ER via the ambulance because your toe hurts after you accidentally kicked a rock." (Yes, I have had calls like that) Also yes, mistakes will be made. Some patients that do have a true emergency will be overlooked. That is a statistical fact. But overall, cutting a lot of the non emergent transports out will lower response times for those that really need it. It can also help reduce the work stress on the ones who are responsible to try to save those in trouble which will help reduce burnout and turnover in the first responder field. There are several departments I have heard of supposedly doing very similar concepts to cut down on frequent flyers abusing systems. Hopefully changes will be made.
They need to have their insurance not cover it and be forced to pay the $2k bill.... as someone who's had to take my wife 3x to the hospital for actual emergencies in the last couple of months... "a stubbed toe" is crazy asf .. I will admit to one of two times I've called 911 for medical (the other being a police matter) could have probably been handled without them if I had been in full frame if mind. My wife woke up screaming bloody murder with blood coming out of her ear saying it felt like a bug was in there. We were moving out of the house and had our mattresses on the floor. Had no idea wtf to do. Looked in her ear and only saw blood - called 911 and had an awkward panicked voice on both ends. The EMTs arrived within like 2 minutes and shot a shit ton of saline into her ear and lo and behold. A tiny carpenter ant. Bit her eardrum. I could be done the water myself ... no idea why it didn't cross my mind ...
@@MrAB-fo7zk honestly thats a symptom to call 911 for. As a EMT, I would be happy to show up to that and find what they did. Unexpected blood especially from an orifice where blood doesn't normally come out of, is a good reason to get checked out.
One thing I've seen help is putting more BLS trucks with two EMTs on the road so they can take more of the BS calls and free up more of the ALS trucks with medics on them.
It’s so true lol, my company had a contract with a shitty nursing home here and I thought I was gonna get a good call for COPD exasperation, so we run code and get there and they called us for a second patient and tried to tell us the first patient was down the covid hall which was a lie because the covid unit was blocked off with plastic. So we get to the first patient and she come out of the bathroom and say “oh you’re here” grabs her shit and promptly walks onto the stretcher. We argue with the head nurse and she was like “oh well she’s positive for covid.” Well great no reason to put on extra ppe now. The patient claims they said she was negative and the nurse has the audacity to tell her she’s confused. Bitch she’s playing a puzzle game on her phone she isn’t confused. We get it cleared up and it’s negative, the nurse tells us to take the patient anyway and we do. We sat in the er for a good 50 min and during that time we were asked what problem the patient had more than 5 times. After we offloaded the patient the hospital had called a fire marshal I believe and the nursing home got into huge trouble and almost killed another one of my patients a few weeks ago but that’s a story for a different time, just worse lol. I have a few more stories about nursing homes and their bs.
Exactly, this has always been a problem, or at very least it isn't new, but we used to have some slack in the system, some wiggle room. Now we are stretched so thin just on real emergencies that everything breaks when you add in this nonsense. I had a grandma rushed to the hospital for stroke like symptoms last month, over an hour from the call to when she got to the hospital, and then she didn't have a room for 4 days and was sleeping in the hallway. Because of that she got covid (luckily we made her get fully vaxxed, so she was thankfully asymptomatic). Because of the covid she was put on quarantine when she got to rehab to be able to go back home. That pushed back when she could go home as they did not do PT with her while she was quarantined. These delays don't just affect the first or second step, they affect everything.
emergeny ambulances used as a taxi is a common thing in Belgium it's a pain in the ass and certainly older people seem not to understand that a emergency ambulance is not for a planned visit to the hospital
I disagree with your blanket statement regarding "older people;" I'm in my 70th year, and I most certainly know that by no means is an ambulance meant for a ride to the hospital for any kind of "planned" visit (and what kind is planned, for heaven's sake???) I'm a retired healthcare employee, so maybe I have a better understanding of hospitals, but that kind of statement is what makes all of us older people utterly dislike anyone under 50!
@@jb6712 i am a EMT in Belgium, i know hospitals and ER's better then you lot's of "emergency calls" i get are just plain taxi rides, a lot of calls come from old people planned visits = planned hospitalization or even for a appointment in the hospital I once had an elderly couple whose wife said right off the bat that we could take her husband to room XYZ. when we first refused, she got mad, because how was her husband supposed to get to the hospital? she did not want to take a taxi (to be paid immediately) and not urgent patient transport via the health fund cost "too much". (an emergengy ambulance is dirt cheap compared to the Netherlands in Belgium and for the last 3 years it has even been a fixed amount of 63 euros (indexation every year)) the fact that she knowingly misuses an emergency ambulance is a crime (here at least) that could have cost her much more. her unnecessary call left a gap of about 25km² in the coverage of my zone for which I was responsible
@@TOFMDrone My Father in 60's brags about not paying for healthcare, at the same time his takes advantage of universal health care for cancer/heart problems and medicine that mainly payed for the by the state. he thinks anyone paying for medical healthcare are fool's. He still bitches about how much tax he has to pay, even though without those taxes be dead.
@@pizzaki582 using healthcare is 1 thing, certainly when it's "free". but "abusing" emergency ambulances is frustrating, certainly when it opens a big gap increasing response time for another ambulance
Happens in Australia too, they think it'll get them to the front of the line faster or they're guaranteed to see an emergency doc - not the case 🙄 our resources are stretched thin as it is, and ramping is an issue here as well. Love your videos man, big fan!
Yep, and people complain about the hospital system being stretched but will still take a packed lunch to the emergency room for their kids sniffles instead of going to the GP in the morning (or calling an after hours one)
Thank you!!!! When I worked the ER I hated when people would call like that. Many would call for the dumbest stuff or because they didn’t have their own car and didn’t want to phone a friend
I got Salamenila and the ambulance did everything they can even waited until I stopped puking and shitting myself thank you Jason and everyone who works with you
"An ambulance stabilises you and gets you to the ER alive" this needs to be more widely known. A friend of mines wife choked one day and he bundled her into his car and raced her to the hospital and proceeded to call me after and tell me how he got her to the hospital faster than any ambulance could have. I may have blown up on him and informed him in no uncertain terms that yes it took him 8 minutes to get to the hospital but it would only have taken 3 minutes for an Ambulance to get to his house (I knew exactly where the nearest station was) and make sure that a, she survived long enough to reach the hospital and b, that they didn't wind up a stain on the side of the highway because he thought he could drive to the hospital at 180kph.
After 3 years working in health insurance, I tell everyone I know to NEVER get into an ambulance. Insurance companies will do everything in their power to deny your claim and say it wasn’t necessary. Unless you are literally DYING, do not get into an ambulance. All you’re getting is a really fancy $1,300 Uber to the ER
Depends on what you are getting into it for. You may not know you're dying, especially under the stress of an accident, for instance. Be very careful with your advice.
Where do you live? Never heard of anything like that before. Hospitals must serve you though you might get a lot of charges which are usually marked way down from insurance prices and if you still can't pay it they work with you and often have charity pay.
@@GoodPersonTestWebsite I live in a town of about 100K in AZ. and you must carry what is called “Metro Rural Insurance” I actually called the non-emergency number to ask about my carbon monoxide detector going off and they refused to talk to me without giving a policy number. My son was just in the ER 2 weeks ago for 4 hours and was handed a bill of $15,000 😳 Due to no insurance
Thank you, for explicitly mentioning that calling emergency services is always the right thing to do if you actually think you might be in an emergency. While I agree with the sentiment of the video, that calling emergency services for non-emergencies as mentioned is abhorrent abuse of the system, I think it's really important to remind people that it's always alright to call emergency services if you think you're in an emergency even if it later turns out that your situation isn't as dire as originally thought.
I've thought about this issue for a while. So much of it depends on the integrity of the patient. If we start dealing transport judgments, we'd need to base it on HIGHLY SPECIFIC criteria or someone's going to get hurt or worse.
Having been in an Emergency room before this is hilarious and ridiculous that people do this. Great explanation of triage, hopefully some people can understand a little more
When I was working a police dispatcher, we had an individual with dementia go missing. The family happened to be in a foreign country at the time. Was able to make contact with the foreign officers, and was trying to lash them up with my officers on scene. I asked my officers to call the landline into the station so I could switch the call over. Bear in mind, this is before we had trunked or encrypted radio systems. Back in the dark ages, when anybody or their kid sister with could monitor our radio traffic with a scanner from RadioShack. Not 90 seconds later, the Red Phone rings. Oh shit, incoming 911 call. I already had all my guys tied up, and we're already using mutual aid from neighboring agencies. What fresh hell is this? Turned out to be one of the local news stations, asking what the last transmission was about. On the fucking 911 line. Said, "no comment", and hung up. Had two other local news stations call the 911 line while I had all other lines tied up with the foreign officers, state police officers with canines, state police officers in two states offering helicopters with FLIR, the Chief of Police, and officers on scene. They were even talking about activating the local boy scout camp, 1800 kids and adults, to look for this person. Everyone went full on bananas. We got the dementia person back, a little dehydrated, but otherwise ok.
What a bunch of idiots we have now and then.....! Be glad you have FB groups now who help out with stuff like that, getting people to understand what is happening without interfering with official actions.....
I work as hospital security and I see this crap so much. We have a regular that will drive herself to the ER, get triaged, and sent back to the waiting room. Always complains of chest pain and shortness of breath, but she's also 300+ pounds, so... Anyhow, if she doesn't get treatment fast enough, she'll leave, call 911 to have an ambulance bring her back, and end up right back in the waiting room.
I've been to the ER with minor injuries several times. Drove myself there and just accepted the many hour wait before I could get stitched up or whatever. It's just how it works. Once they get you in the care is A+.
Shit, same exact problems here in Stockholm, Sweden (and prolly everywhere else in Sweden). No staff, no brain in patients and no balls on the people in charge to say stop.
It’s absolutely amazing how stupid people really are. Common sense isn’t common. Thank you again to our first responders. They truly don’t get enough credit.
Would you count shattering your collarbone in a car accident an emergency and needing a room right away…I had to wait for 45 minutes in pure agony and eventually puked and passed out. Came back around 5 minutes later and put back in the waiting room Edit: by shattered I meant my right collarbone was broken in 2 different places with the middle section was sticking straight up and down almost breaking through the skin. When I went to the bone specialist a week later they were so worried and was in surgery the next day as they called the hospital asking why I wasn’t rushed to surgery sooner
It never would’ve occurred to me to do this. I’ve had 911 called on my behalf for fainting (due to dehydration and/or low blood sugar) and always felt terrible for using these resources when I didn’t feel like it was a true emergency. There was one time I felt I did need hospital from severe dehydration, and still didn’t call 911 on myself, but instead took myself to the nearest ER. TBH, I’m surprised I managed to make it without passing out.
Love this! As a Vol in Southern IL we have to pick sleeping in the bunk or sleeping with our Family.....Love this mission, but also Love my kids! If you are in a small community, SIGN UP, we need you and we appreciate your support!
Exactly! The people that actually need an ambulance often end up calling a cab because they don't want to tie up the 911 system.
Or because they know perfectly well that the cab is cheaper....something the line jumpers seem blissfully unaware of.
@@calliarcale never done it myself but just putting it out there people that are on Medicaid get that stuff for free.
@@calliarcale here in the UK an ambulance is definitely cheaper. I suppose it depends on where you are in America but some ambulances are free
@@hardwirecars Well, free-to-them, yeah.
It’s cause the ambulance is 1100$ without any treatment on you at least in my state. Now imagine not having insurance in low wage areas cause insurance is to expensive or even if you have insurance it doesn’t cover the ambulance bill.
Who the heck has the extra few thousand dollars to abuse this service anyway? Thank you, EMS, Firefighters, nurses, and anyone else in the healthcare field for still working during this, and I am sincerely sorry you have to deal with idiots like this.
Those living off the government by having none stop kids. Drug heads and so on.
It's because the ems cannot leave you on the scene if you tell them you want to go to the hospital. they have to take you - legally and ethically. unlike the taxi where you have to pay them upon arrival, the bill for a ride in an ambulance comes months later. that's why.
because EMS cannot refuse to take someone who has called 911 for an supposed emergency and in the end, all the department can do to collect the bill is turn it over to a collections agency
Oh make no mistake...that bill isn't getting paid, at least not by that point. That bill is one that will be written off by the municipality. Private ambulance companies can take legal action.
Taxpayers pay for this someway or another.
$3500 taxi. Nice
I do not think they have to personally pay for it, right? Their insurance would? Thereby offloading increased insurance rates to everyone?
Which bill will never be paid.
Thus, insurance rates through the fskn' roof.
Majority of people who are doing this crap have free healthcare through the government. Which means that taxpayers are the ones paying for it.
Their insurance surely aren't going to cover that if so stoopid as to use the ambulance as a personal Uber, right?
Those bills never get paid.
I cannot express how grateful I am for EMS. My dad falls on his butt routinely and cannot get up on his own. Local EMS comes to the rescue, gets him up, and then they head out to their next call, all without judgement. Thanks to people like you, my dad gets to continue living at home a few more years.
Triage anecdote: Last time I was in the ER waiting room and described what was going on, I was very relieved they told me it might be an hour. Because that meant they didn't think I had something that was gonna kill me! (Other part of the anecdote: Man came in, saying his wife was in the car. She was experiencing signs of a possible heart attack, and was five months pregnant. You better believe she got front of the line treatment!)
This. So many people just don't understand, if you're waiting around it's not that big of a deal. Having said that, if your symptoms worsen whilst you're waiting for pities sake go back to the triage nurse and tell them
@Karl Dubhe Ouch. Not what I'd call minor, but okay, compared to the second one....I too would rather wait a while, but not when I have chest pain or part of my digit in my hand for reattachment (did those, thanks, didn't like the wait without a reasonable exam for triage).
These days, if I'm able to wait, I'll wait. I know what's going on back there well enough to not even go in the first place unless I REALLY need to be there.
@Karl Dubhe I hope you sold that dam bike! LOL
@@Ailieorzyou can’t just go back to the nurse, triage is on the other side of the locked doors, you would have to go back to the checkin desk.
I once watched a nurse, who was clearly so done with everyone's crap, tear into a guy who had taken an ambulance because he didn't want to pay for a cab. That's when he learned that you have to pay for the ambulance anyway ($35 at the time, Ontario, Canada) and he would be charged even more for knowingly calling the ambulance for a non-emergency ($2-300). At least it took my mind off my reason for being there (stomach pains, turned out to be food poisoning, much fun).
Bless those nurses who lay it out plain. It's a hospital, not a hotel, ffs.
In the US, add a zero to the non-emergency price and make it cost the same for real and fake emergencies.
I've literally told a patient once that I'd like to see her ambulance bill! After literally being brought in at least twice a week for several months for pseudoseizures. If you don't know, that means fake seizures! Our fire service charges $750 a pop for in town teansports... YOU can do the math!
@@thecman26 I used to be an ER tech and we had a patient exactly like that. She was a local college student, a frequent flier for almost a year. Everyone was really sick of her. Until a new resident stuck some EEG leads on her, and OMG I didn't know the lines could go that high or cross each other. He caught 8 severe partial seizures in 3 hours. She finally got referred got the right medications and although it wasn't perfect (when I left for school we still saw her about every other month). I have learned to take people seriously; something that most of my colleagues could still learn. Psycogenic disorders are actually extremely rare, and most people diagonsed with Psycogenic disorders are actually misdiagnosed. Everyone is always amazed when I dig just a little bit deeper and find a physiological cause to a patients symptoms but the only think I do differently is the one thing everyone else refuses to do. I listen.
@@leahs.1480 wow, that's cool! But when you see a person peek an eye open to make sure somebody is looking, then fakes a seizure... Its pretty obvious! Sorry no Ativan for you! You shall get the medicine that starts with a D. Discharge!
I worked in a hospital in my youth. Only time I’ve gotten “concerned” when using the ER is the time I drive myself because I was having trouble breathing and my tongue felt numb. I was taken straight back ahead of folks sitting in the waiting room with bandaged limbs or moans. That’s when I knew “this ain’t good”. Turns out if it lives in the sea and has legs and a shell I’m quite allergic.
Sounds like anaphylaxis to me. Fatal if not treated quickly. Basically, if they made you wait, it wouldn't be the doctor you'd be seeing.
@@Cookiofshadows2 his ancestors
Now imagine being allergic to iodine (usually the crustation part that gets you), not knowing it and getting tested for kidney stones... to this day I can't get the records of my "experience" from the hospital, I was "Never There".
As said in one of the more recent FDC shorts, "breathing air is good"
HAHA! That's exactly what people who've worked in a Hospital will do because they are witness to the flagrant abuse Hospitals face on a DAILY basis. My parents worked in a Hospital for 30+ years and when I "complained" (I like to say brought to their attention because I don't complain; that's their wording HAHA!) of sore testicles 12 yrs ago, they told me my 🍒 were fine, rather emphatically and suggested a variety of alternative treatment options other than the ER visit (e.g. Heating Pad, Going Commando, Sleeping without Underwear), which I tried only for the pain to get progressively worse and by 2AM feel like someone was taking a can opener to my Nuts! Only saying that I couldn't sleep because of the pain is what FINALLY convinced my Mother to drive me to the ER (And even then, I'm not sure she bought my concern as legitimate until I vomited on our arrival at the Hospital). Only then, did we learn that what I was experiencing was not normal, but one of my jewels had twisted until it was no longer getting blood and I ended up losing it. I remember my Mom remarked to me after "Wow, you have a very high pain tolerance." and I said to her "Well, I WISH I didn't because now you may NOT be getting any grandchildren!" Looking back, that response was a little snarky, but hey, I was 16. You guys haven't even heard the best (or worst) part of the story: It wouldn't have COST my parents a CENT because our FREE Canadian Healthcare. (Yeah, you read that right; I'm one of your neighbours to the North. Moral of the story: Healthcare workers have to be DYING before they'll use the Hospitals resources. Shame though, because I could have had TWO testicles had my parents paid better attention to the signs.
Let’s add to the list:
- AC isn’t working
- I coughed yesterday
- stubbed toe
- my neighbor has covid and I want a test (they were completely asymptotic and never were in contact with the neighbor)
- I have bed bugs
- all I want is a GI cocktail (like this is a restaurant) (once a week for 2 months)
- temp of 98.9
All this after only working in the ER for a year.
When I called 911: If I tried to stand up, I'd get that lightheaded feeling you get when you stand up too fast, but it never went away. Not that it mattered really because I would throw up any time I moved. Turned out to be a massive peptic ulcer, I nearly died from internal bleeding. Did you know that a peptic ulcer can refer to pain to the other side of your body? I didn't. That's how it got so bad.
Oh you've just started... Wait till you have 6 or 7 years under your belt! You could write a book!
Also add "my son was stung by a bee".
I hate when people are too embarrassed or just don't care and say, only after you've had extremely close contact with them, I have bed bugs/scabies etc.
I wish people knew, I don't care if you have these things just tell me up front so me and my partner can take the proper precautions, PPE and decon afterwards.
You guys are so spoiled. Try gypsies coming with an ambulance at 3 a.m blind drunk, to have the stitches removed from their 6 year old (1 month later than they should have had them removed) and then beating you up because stitch removal hurts*edit:(slighty hurts). No security in the hospital ....
I had an asthma attack at work, I kept saying I was fine and just needed fresh air, and the next thing I knew there was a paramedic giving me oxygen, I kept telling him I was fine and he holds my hand up to my face and says "are your fingers usually this color?" He had a point. They were not usually that color. Then he said I had to go to the ER. I kept saying I was fine and didn't need to go and he said, "you're going in the ambulance or someone is driving you but either way you are going. The ambulance is just more expensive." or something like that, my dumb ass had to be shown my own blue hand to admit I needed oxygen. I agreed to be driven to the ER in a regular car and I don't remember waiting very long that time.
You should have gone in the ambulance. They can administer O2 and use CPAP along with various meds like albuterol to keep your lungs open. Never turn down an ambulance when you have a true medical emergency. If your fingers were blue, your body wasn't being properly oxygenated and you could have gone into cardiac arrest.
Funny thing qbout the oxygen deprived brain, it makes REALLY bad decisions.
Yeah well that's a case where you really should've let them take you my guy
I've been transported by EMS twice, once for a migraine so bad I couldn't move, and once for a psychiatric emergency. I am eternally grateful to those first responders, EMS are amazing.
I have literally spent 5 hours sitting on a wall waiting for the nurse to accept the pt, a cardiac pt who was unconcious when we got to them at that. I finally had to call our medical director and have him contact the attending to get a damned bed for our pt. All the while, the ED beds were filled with all these people who were afraid to die because they MIGHT have covid and HAD to be seen and tested in the ER because they had coughed once that morning.
That’s the very reason our hospitals in Georgia will NOT test for COVID in the ED.
@@appollonia1191 It was Navicent Medical Center in Macon where I sat for so long last year. Most hospitals now are limiting the testing they do, but will test pt's if they are symptomatic
Hospitals in south Texas are severely understaffed. They claimed they were at full capacity but the reality was that they didn’t have enough staff. I work fire/ems and run emergencies/transfers and hospitals would have empty rooms with beds all the time.
Oh wow, here is the statistics causation.
Bruh, its like a mass casualty at urgent care with everyone wanting a tests. Then when you tell them it's covid they go down the conspiracy theory of it being fake.
Such an act represents a level of despicable behavior that transcends time and space!
Mathew McConahay couldn’t have said it better
Frrr
🤣🤣🤣 what’s up dude!
Yeah, I missed the last 2 EMW premiers
his name is spelled matthew mcconaughey
@@connorg.3381 Hello! 😄At least there will be plenty more EPW premieres to join in the future! 👍
The only times I've ever called 911 for myself, was chest pain so severe that I could not breathe, this occurred while driving, I pulled over, and called emergency services, the only other time, was have a manic episode, had been up several days was driving, and started hallucinating. Pulled over, called emergency services. Note that both of these, the critical part, They hit the point I needed intervention, while I was driving, and operating a 2 ton weapon, while having a severe medical issue is not ideal, also driving while hallucinating is a really damn bad idea. The second one that is the product of my bipolar disorder, actually got a police ride to the hospital rather than an ambulance, because people that are manic, can be unpredictable and can become easily agitated, or violent, so the police go first, then if needed, they'll get an ambulance, but in this case, They gave me the ride to the ER, because at least in the town I was in, if the police take you, there isn't a massive bill for the ambulance, they were also kind enough to move my truck to a safe parking location, informed the business owner of the lot they parked it in, that someone would be by within 2 weeks to get it, and took the keys to a family member of my choice so they could collect my vehicle.
Wowers. That's about the best treatment someone having a manic episode could possibly hope for from emergency services.
Cops actually protecting and serving? Props to them!
I've called it for a live power line at midnight coming loose, wrecks, or cattle loose on a highway in fog at night.
Holy cheez, dude. I'm glad you made it OK. That sounds *horrible.*
Sounds like a regular day of an lgbt community member.
this channel was a big part in convincing me to take the step to join my local volunteer fire dept. I had always considered it but I finally pulled the trigger. Come May I will get my interior and exterior certifications. Thanks man for inspiring me.
Congratulations! Good luck and God be with you. Thank you, lots of respect to you.
Way to go!! Hope it's as satisfying long term for you!
CONGRATS!
It's been over a year now ... how's it going for you?
@notme2day It has been going very well for me. Since joining a little over 2 years ago I have found quite the passion for the fire service. Through attending night and weekend classes I have logged over 500 certified training hours these past 2 years. I obtained my EMT certificate and just recently been elected a lieutenant in my dept. My new goal is to go career. Currently I'm on a candidate list for one paid dept and will take the test to get on the lists for four more depts next month. All in all it has been one of the greatest choices I have made in life joining my volunteer fire dept.
@@vincereed9634 That's awesome and great to hear. I'm a retired paramedic. I also started out as a volunteer. I continued to volunteer even while I worked full time as a medic.
I wish you all the best of luck on your path and getting onto a paid department. Best thing I ever did. It never felt like a job since it was more like a calling.
Come back and post an update ... be nice to hear you got your dream "job" career going.
With a spouse that works in the medical field. This hits hard because the hardships she has to face as a medical professional. People like this should get some kinda higher charge or penalties against them for wasting these people's time.
As an emergency medical doc myself I see this ALL THE DAMN TIME!!!! and the UK's NHS is overstretched as it is, its unreal that some people waste the service like this. A therapeutic wait is what these people then receive. (And deserve)
Until they throw themselves on the floor in the waiting room and then get the undivided attention they crave
A LONG therapeutic wait.
Yep.. paramedic in the UK... just finished a 12 hour shift, saw 9 patients and all 9 did not require an ambulance
Some trusts send a taxi when there is no ambulance available!
Must say, one difference between many US and UK services is that in UK paramedics can advise own transportation if appropriate, yet many don’t!
@@mlx39996 111 is crap, they send everything into ED as theyre not health trained so mega low threshold. I’ve anecodatally never seen a 111 referal in a&e that needs to be in a&e
Fact is we oughta be able to refuse to transport, and not only that but call PD to come and issue a ticket for misuse of 911. Not sure if that's worded right but I'm just a firefighter. I'm not a smart man. Something along the lines of "Oh you called me at 3am for an ingrown toe nail that's been like that for 2 weeks? Well have a nice night" walk out the door and have Dispatch send an unit to write a ticket for misuse. Guarantee within a week most of the BS 911 calls would seize to come in, and we can focus on actual emergencies
*Edit*
I just wanted to edit this to say, there's a difference between calling 911 for an ambulance to check you out because you're concerned about your well being, you do not always need to be transported the er is an Emergency room for a reason, but its a different story calling an ambulance just because you want a ride to the ER, or calling at a ridiculous time for a minor or even non existence injury or pain. Calling because of nightmares or calling 7 times in 2 days for the same "back pain" only to sign a refusal, you just wanted medics to give you pain medication. This is the kinda crap that needs to be addressed and come down on severely. Most people in an er don't need to be there, which keeps the beds open for actual emergencies like cardiac, traffic collisions, trauma, broken bones etc. By just sending a bill, you can simply just avoid it. By giving a ticket with a summons, you can make sure they own up to it and curb it. Truthfully, it should be on a case by case basis where a local fire dept or ems organization can make a judgement call if this person is being a nuisance with 911 or blatantly misused it, where they can make a call to PD to come out and issue the ticket. The fd or ems writes up a report for the call, stating why they made the call to save there butts. We can call PD for psychs, elder abuse, welfare of children, suicidal victims, etc why can't we call em for those who misuse our services? If you swat someone, you can get arrested for that, so why can't we do the same?
I see evidence of LGB in your profile picture. Last comment doesn't seem accurate based on that, smarter than quite a few. I agree with you, they should be issued a ticket. No penalty means they will just continue to abuse it
Or folks would refuse to call. Better to just send them a bill for the service
Honestly, I'd not want that liability. Say that ingrown toenail has been like that for 2 weeks and they seem fine so you refuse transport and call PD to issue a citation. Well after you left, they fall unconscious because they were actually septic and die. That's a lawsuit and I'd not want to be on the end of that. Better to transport them and have them punished later. I do agree there should be consequences for these people, but these things are not best fought on the streets.
A small tweak: you still would have to transport, but the supervising responder should be able to file a complaint that results in a fine if it's determined you abused 911.
@@MNNski it's not refusing them access to the hospital it's refusing them an unsafe emergency response transport. Big difference. If they are concerned, and they are perfectly capable, they can and should drive themselves to the hospital
This needs to be played on loop in every ER waiting room in the nation. Along with a PSA telling people the Good News about Urgent Care Clinics- namely, that they exist.
Seriously. If you can walk yourself literally anywhere, including urgent care, you don't need a damn ambulance.
Urgent cares are great! You would still have to drag me there, but they're great. 😁
Urgent cares are perfect for things like stitches. If you show up to an urgent care just needing stitches, you’re near the front of the line because there’s no diagnostics, just someone coming in to check how bad it is and close it up. It’s even quicker if they’re from a knock on the head. As long as there’s no concussion, you’ll be in and out in no time.
Amen!
@@liesdamnlies3372 If I'm not dying I'm not going to the E.R.
As a Firefighter I completely agree with this!
The sad thing is, the people who do this shit are so egotistical they literally don't care that someone else has to die for their convenience.
As a EMT can confirm that 100 percent agreement is in affect
I had a job a long time ago that tried to pull mandatory overtime on me. I let it slide a couple times, then it seemed like they were going to keep doing it every day. My shift would be over and I'd say I'm leaving, they'd say I needed to stay, and I'd say "My shift is over or I'm just quitting, which one is it? Either way, I'm leaving now. If you have a worker tomorrow, is up to you."
Praise the truth he speaks! Seriously, my squad actually strait up tells non emergency line jumpers whats waiting for them at the ED ad how long they will be expected to wait. We're not allowed to refuse, but we CAN gently nudge them into refusing transport.
In NJ, we have "Danielle's Law" which states that if something happens to a patient in a group home or nursing home, they MUST call 911 or the people working there (not the corporation) get fined if anything goes wrong. Many of the patients have figured this out and have learned the magic words. Whenever they want to get out for a while, they know all they have to do is point to their heart and say, "Got chest pain." That starts a chain of events that, legally, cannot be stopped and they get the evening in the hospital instead of looking at their own walls. Sigh...
It looks like Danielle's Law says that you have to call only if it's a life-threatening emergency because some shitty nursing home ignored a lady who couldn't breathe and had a high fever. It doesn't have to be called for everything. But it even considers a mild burn an emergency because of the risk of infection. It sounds like the residents need to be taught not to abuse 911.
@@slook7094 The way that it's written, there's absolutely no disincentive to calling 911 for everything, no matter how small. Thank you NJ legislature for dumping your problem in our laps!
Do you not let them interact with each other and like, play cards or something?
@@rieaweer7459 I don't blame them for wanting a change of scenery. I would if I were in their position. What I object to is the legislature creating a "solution" that takes a BLS ambulance and crew plus a medic unit out of service to accomplish it.
I love when I call in a report to the hospital and I get the question, "can this patient sit in a wheelchair?" Why yes they can. "Triage on arrival." The looks on their face when I wheel them into the waiting room and they ask if they have to wait....priceless
yeah, always great to have an immobile woman be in so much pain shes in tears forced to sit in a wheelchair in the waiting room for three hours
Retired paramedic here. My favorite calls were people with a toothache at 3am ... because after an *entire week of pain* the orajel was no longer working.
I once tried to drive myself to the ER with an extremely broken right ankle because I didn’t want to bother the EMT crews and couldn’t afford the ambulance bill. My neighbor was an EMT and when I asked him to help me get to my car so I could drive he laughed and said there was no way I’d even make it out of the driveway. He called the ambulance for me.
There was once a time we (Me and another sober buddy) called 911 on a HEAVILY inebriated person. They were vomiting repeatedly, had a weak almost bradycardic pulse, in and out of consciousness and was breathing weird. We decided to call 911 and they took some vitals, checked the airway, put them in a recovery position and took blood glucose and blood alcohol. Not much more was done, so they just left after telling us to supply water when the person becomes responsive and attend to the person until fully conscious or definitely stable. I wasn't exactly sure if we did the right thing, but in the end, I realized that the person was almost critical, and a medical professional was needed to ensure the safety of the person. I'm glad we made the decision we did.
Meanwhile, me, actively bleeding: “No no, I’ll drive myself, I don’t wanna bother anybody.”
This should be a misdemeanor charge. If they do it repeatedly, a felony.
Screw repeatedly, if you do it once with no actual cause, book em
@@Ailieorz So somebody who makes a bad choice once deserves to lose his or her voting rights, right to bear arms, and more? That's extreme...
I believe in some states there are measures to prevent swatting, but that seems hard to enforce.
I am an EMT in Washington state, and this is true as ever. Both our trauma centers are on divert 24/7. My department got rid of mandatory overtime because it was becoming dangerous to work for 72 hours straight.
Thank you for saying it's okay to call 911 even if you're not 100% sure (so long as you're not abusing the system). I once didn't even go to the hospital because I felt bad about taking up their time with what later turned out to be a series of seizures, and it's a relief to hear that I can call even when I'm not 100% sure.
The only time I ever called for EMS was years ago on my first day in college. I woke up in my new room, and literally couldn't stand. It was wild because I hadn't even actually met my two roommates yet and had to be rushed to the hospital. One hazy trip later, I found out I had pneumonia! What a great first week that was.
To all of you who are EMS, police, fire & ER staff: thank you for everything you do for us! God bless you!
Jason this video was fantastic! I had 25 years on the job before I got diagnosed with stage IV non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Took 21 months to beat it and they retired me because they cancer history and plus it took 40% of my lung capacity. With the shortages hell I’d come back to work just to drive the ambulance for the paramedics and triage these stupid people for them take a taxi back to the station If they got a legitimate emergency while I was dealing with one of these “my knee hurts” idiots. I wasn’t ready to retire
A lot of us aren't, regardless of the field we were in (mine was veterinary) and we'd kill to be able to go back and help even in small ways. Guess you just can't fix the 'old firehorse' syndrome. :)
I learned a three word phrase from a paramedic: "Suitable for Triage"
it lets the ER know they are bringing in a line jumper, and the line jumper will go straight to the waiting room.
In the midst of a debilitating cyclic vomiting episode, on a cot in a hall. Throwing up, crying, my mother holding my limp hand. A dr finally approaches! He tells me to stop screaming and immediately moves on.
Not everyone is as dedicated as you. Thank you for all you do.
Biggest mistake I ever made was telling the nurse "It doesn't hurt that bad"
Thank god for you making this statement. Last night i had three calls where this exact thing happened! One in particular apparently drove themselves to the ER, waited for four hours, drove back, and THEN called 911 because they thought they would get in sooner.
I don't think I could contain my facial expressions, or sarcasm for some of the craziness you all have to deal with.
Same on that one. Maybe to keep the staff motivated we should make bingo cards...
Was it for a stubbed toe?
Appreciate the vid man. I work in an ED, and I can't tell you how many times per shift I hear the intercom say "ambulance to triage in 10 minutes". For those of you that don't know, this means that the ambulance goes to the triage nurse instead of a room because the patient didn't have a medical emergency.
I had a coworker this past year that had a seizure while at work. They ended up being okay but we where all grateful when the firefighters and EMS crews arrived. They where awesome and took amazing care of my work friend. Please do not abuse their skills, time, and resources they are always over worked but especially now.
I started watching this and thought my call to the ambulance would totally be called out here (I collapsed, lost control of bladder, and was at a 9.5/10 of pain due to an apparent ruptured disc), and I felt terrible and was apologizing the entire ride that they had to carry me down three patio stairs.
Thank you, your videos are awesome. I been a paramedic firefighter 25 years, also...previously a volunteer ff/EMT 5 years. Also worked in an Emergency Room trauma center in the 80's. What you share in your videos hit home. You speak for all of us. Keep it up!
War Story Alert: My partner and I once took a woman, claiming to have chest pain, and her fiancé (front seat passenger) to a hospital in a neighboring community. We pulled up to the ER and the woman starts yelling "let me up...let me up" she unfastens the cot straps and she and her fiancé take off running down the road.... My partner and I headed on into the hospital and told the staff to disregard our encode. There was a local PD officer there who didn't seem too concerned about it. We just loaded up and went back to the station. Oh, and of course did the report, all for nothing. We were literally a Taxi....
@@TamiWeiss Yes I actually know this. No she was not experiencing a mental crisis.
And when the company running the ambulance service put in the charge for that ride, it was the tax payer who foots the bill. Makes you wonder if a nationalised health service might be better because the tax payer is paying for the bills anyway.
After 30 years as a Paramedic, this is 💯correct. I love taking people to the waiting room and telling the triage nurse to make them wait as long as possible. 90% of our calls are non emergency.
I have been medically transport once in college due to a vaccine reaction and I have autism, this leads to possible communication issues and meltdowns. The EMS staff who were assigned to me did a great job. Now when ever I see them whether it was the team that helped me or not I thank them.
Nice. Even after 30 years, people make mistakes though...hope you are REALLY SURE those folks can wait.
I applaud you for your service to our community!
From all FD’s, ambulance services, ER nurses and doctors: Thank you so much for this post. Hopefully those “special” few out there will listen.
They won’t. They still think their minor tickles or inconveniences are more important than other people’s lives.
I had sepsis last year. All ERs were on diversion except the level 1 trauma center. I was critically ill and the paramedic had to place an IV in my neck on the ambulance and put me on higher flow oxygen than my concentrator at home could handle. My BP was something like 70/40. You'd think I'd be brought straight to a room right? Wrong. Between covid and people who abuse the emergency room (plus a complicated history with these two local hospitals close to each other where one decided to remove their ER and merge into the only lvl 1 trauma center in downtown) I had to be taken to the waiting room on the ambulance gurney and wait ~15 minutes with the paramedics still having to take care of me. They WANTED the paramedics to transfer me to a wheelchair and leave, the paramedics refused to leave and kept me on a stretcher till they got a room for me, which ended up being one of those mega equipped trauma rooms because I was in such bad shape. 15 minutes is a long time when you're critically ill. Stop fucking going to the ER for a possible broken toe. stop going to the ER for basic testing like STDs, covid/flu/strep, pregnancy, etc and stop going for minor issues that can wait 12-36 hours for a doctor's appointment or urgent care. Most sprains, broken fingers/toes and even broken arms can be treated at urgent care. At least where I am, they pretty much all have imaging equipment (at least x-rays) and are fully equipped to even handle moderate asthma attacks. Any sort of virus or bacterial infection can be treated at urgent care (sinus infections, URIs, UTIs, colds, etc) when you are able to breathe. Honestly hospitals, especially at this time where everything is at it's breaking point, should be able to refuse to see patients with minor shit and send them to the nearest urgent care. Might end up with more waiting IF the hospital triage was wrong, but if it's minor enough they can wait an extra two hours. Minutes and seconds matter when it comes to extremely unwell people. I barely was able to get stabilized when I made it to the trauma bay. Those 15 minutes could have easily cost me my life or limb if I didn't get super lucky.
And don't forget the time I waited 8 hours in the ER waiting room puking my guts out with my feeding tube stoma closing up. And that's not even the worst part. A very old lady who had fallen and hit her head so hard that it bled all over her got there 30min before me and was called to go back AT THE SAME TIME AS ME. An elderly person with a fall, who has clearly had a good amount of blood loss and split their scalp open pretty widely should not be waiting 9 hours. I almost felt bad that I got to go back at the same time as her...
The only time ive needed an ambulance transport was when i got into a motorcycle accident. I felt bad because i could still walk and talk, knowing there were probably people who needed that medic more than i did. But their professionalism, honesty, and knowledge was humbling to me. That medic Inspired me to become one myself. Of course now im equiped with the knowledge to know why they wanted me to go so bad, even though i was lucky enough to only have some road rash on my hip. But i hope that i can inspire more to pick up the career like that medic did for me.
Worked as a Hospital Guard and am now a Volunteer Fire Fighter in Sydney, Nova Scotia, and this couldn’t be more accurate, our ER is constantly down 6-10 nurses and 3-5 physicians, 16 hour shifts are borderline the norm and the amount of physical assaults on triage nurses has gone up exponentially because of people getting upset over 20h long wait times caused by these issues. There’s a 2 truck bay at our hospital and on a regular basis you can drive past the bays and see both filled with 3-8 other trucks parked up and down the main road since they need to drop a PT off but there’s just no room in the bays left. The province of Nova Scotia is Code Critical more often than its not (there’s no ambulances across the whole province available to respond to calls) something clearly needs to change and as much as I want to give constructive feedback I really don’t know how to fix these issues
Wow. Just....wow. maybe people need a 'therapeutic wait time' explained to them as a consequence of their actions? ARE there really that many ill people in the area, though? hard to suggest without knowing the data, but our thoughts are with you!
And yet us experienced ER RNs and MDs who refused the jab preferring daily testing, have never been approached about being hired back. Sad days across Canada.
The saddest part is how it's all been portrayed over the last two years, from "HEROES TO RIVAL THE JUSTICE LEAGUE" to "how dare you even suggest it's not a perfect world where you get to obey us as you cry in the corner because of what our decisions as beurocrats have done to you."
😖?????? That's so badly written, I can't figure out what in the world you're trying to say!
@@jb6712 Really? 2 years of "OMG, heroes, look at them, braving the pandemic" now anyone who dares question the status quo is vilified!
@@wanderingwonder111 yep then they complain no one will work
This adds to retention problems with Volunteer services also. It's alot easier to get up in the middle of the night, or miss a family dinner or child's program for a true emergency.
Thank you for this public service announcement. As a paramedic in an extremely busy county who is equally as understaffed, and exhausted, we face people who abuse the system multiple times daily!! (I WISH I could exaggerate that but we have people whole call 3-5times a day. And depending on what they say when they call 911 dispatch determines if we come emergency or routine traffic. People who abuse the system know this and say those necessary things to get fd and ems to them "sooner" this puts an increased strain on crews who already over worked, and hospitals who are already splitting at the seams. When most NOT all of the time, the complaints the person calls 911 for can in actuality can be addressed and treated faster than the Eemergency Room. Primary Care Providers (PCP) are more familiar with their patients, hx, and overall health. A pcp is more controlled i.e. less people less possibility for exposure. EMERGENCY ROOMS ARE FOR LIFE THREATENING ILLNESSES / INJURIES. NOT sniffles, sneeze, low fever, aches, body pains, cough, sore throat. Thank you again for addressing this issue 😀
If you're in the continental USA, there is a free number you can call to help you decide whether you need 911, an emergency room trip, urgent care, or an ordinary doctor's visit. The number varies a bit by area, but I know they exist. I've used them. I was raised to "not tie up the system" so I once had them talk me into going to the ER because I didn't think I was having a heart attack or stroke. Needless to say, I wasn't exactly thinking straight as there are tons of other serious things that can go wrong. It was an emergency (I didn't go by ambulance, still didn't want to tie up the system). The triage nurse looked at me, my symptoms, and I FLEW through that ER. I don't think the wheels on my gurney stopped until surgery. I'm very thankful to the woman answering that phone that day, and I LOVE that such a service exists to help.
in the netherlands we have this fun system where even if you are insurred you pay for the ambulance ride.
which will cost you between 320-900+ something euros(depending on your insurrance) to make sure people who dont really need it, dont get it. taxi is always cheaper.
In the US, we have this nice system where an ambulance ride costs $3,000, which your insurance will cover, but if you don't have insurance, you still have to pay. In fact, our system is so nice they charge you $500 just for sitting in the waiting room, even if you never get seen by doctor after waiting for 5 hours.
We do that in America too.
Thank you to all fire, ems, nurses, doctors, dispatchers and cleaning personnel. I can't even imagine calling an ambulance at the cost! My Dad had a devastating stroke and we couldn't load him into a car for the 1 block trip to the hospital. We called an ambulance and they charged $2,000 to put him on a gurney and drop him at the hospital.
Does make you wonder, doesn't it.... *sigh* I do hope we get some sense sooner than later.
Don’t blame the ambulance crew though, EMS often gets under 20$ per hour and never see a red cent of what the system charges.
Jason, dude! Thank you for making this video. Peeps in the non-medical world need to see this video and understand how their actions can lead to major issues throughout an EMS system. Keep up the great work!!!
I go through the ER many times when i have had advanced MAI infections, TB etc. Its amazing how many people are in the ER with Coughs and colds. reminds me 1 year I was pale, O2 was 83% and slowly going down, HR was 160, my nails when pressed were not getting color back, fever 102.7. The ER staff got oxygen on me, when my O2 hit 75 an I Was alert but slow to respond and losing color vison they Called some code. ER was full and waiting room was full, an i remember some Woman was saying in the back "I been here for 8 hours why you taking him first and this Short Nurse yells. Shut up, Your not a emergency!(she got put on administrative leave for yelling at a patient in the ER, which I ended up writing a letter to the Hospital explaining what happened and she was allowed back to work) The US healthcare system isnt bad, its just abused heavy by people who want cheap drugs, fast care and lazy
THANK YOU for this! As a nurse and a mom of an asthma child who has had to take the ride in the rig x2 for sats at 88! Too many are using EMT/EMS and Paramedics as transport.
We've had frequent fliers for years.....when I first got my EMT in 1990...we were taught to flip over the PCR to sign off non emergent calls!! Somewhere along the way the training changed to transport EVERYONE!!! Lawsuits played a roll I'm sure but, the head EMT, AEMT, EMT-CC or Paramedic should make that call. As Chief I would respond to calls from reoccurring addresses to observe.....and I noticed that these calls a number of family members would jump on board the rig.....I'd kick them off and suddenly the patient would no longer want to go to the hospital. Didn't solve all of the "taxi" callers though...but helped!!!
Oh I worked in the far north of Canada. A volunteer ambulance would be called to the nearby Indian reserve. Then when they drove back to us at the hospital itvwas like they opened a clown car! The primary parient on a stretcher was usually elderly. The rest wanted to see tne Dr for infections, stitches, or school vaccinations or to go shop at the bigger town grocery store. So as th ER Nurse I just triage them all, gave them time estimates, so off they go do errands and return when I'd estimated the Dr would be ready. It was a wild thing for a Nurse from the big city. But at least a bunch of people got treated, set up with birth control, and so on. Then for going home reserve drivers would head over at tne 10.00 pm clinic closing in tne ER. And the ER was only open tne rest of the might for real emergencies.
Having been working in a hospital for the last three or four years, Nurses truly are the gatekeepers of the Hospital. Thank God for them!
We need to play this hourly on all TV, radio, and streaming services.
Got first-hand experience with the ambulance thing. My grandfather passed out at the store a few weeks ago, but by the time the ambulance got him to the hospital, he was stable and not in any immediate danger. They took him back, but he waited in a wheelchair (and then a gurney when one became available) for 14 hours before they had a room ready for him (this is a relatively small, rural hospital with not a lot of beds). I'm sure there were many people that had to be seen before him for more serious conditions.
I feel really bad for y'all. I had a medical episode pre-pandemic the doctor at the hospital thought was a stroke. Due to a medical implant I had, they didn't have the proper equipment to deal with me and sent me to a larger hospital. After an hour long ambulance ride ride and 4 hours in an ER room panicking, my mom finally drove me home. Thankfully, it wasn't a stroke, just an addition to already preexisting medical condition. Everyone there had been so understanding and patient, even when I probably wasn't easy (couldn't form a cohesive thought and any time I opened my eyes I immediately became nauseous). A+ people, even at 1 in the morning.
I'm still in college and know some nurses and EMS peeps in training, and they are the loveliest people. Y'all deserve way more than the world gives you.
it’s -kinda- extremely sad that this even has to be said. people can sink so low just to “game the system”
As an EMS-RN, ER/Trauma nurse, I couldn't have said it better!!! Love your work!
Thank you to all the emergency staff out there right now. I know this means... not a whole lot... but hopefully this video brings to light the major sacrifices you all are making, right up to your actual lives.
Second the motion!
I came across you by random on Shorts, and I’ve been hooked on your videos man! I’ve gained so much knowledge, entertainment and respect for you guys (and I already had so much before hand), and I appreciate you for that! Sending love from Toronto 🇨🇦
I work inpatient behavioral health. I've been pulled to the ED to assist during one of the many times where it has been overflowing. I can't count the times my job has been to say, "No, you have to wait here. Coming by ambulance doesn't mean you get automatically get a bed," as the nurses deal with the actual emergencies. So AMEN!
Very well stated, sir. My prayers are with all of the healthcare workers trying to truly help people right now.
@@adolfomclovin7082 Heartfelt thanks to you and your coworkers!
Not sure how it works in the US, however EMS here in UK very frequently discharge at scene. So those not calling for an actual emergency (most of them) are left at home. Gread video, J!
Australia too has made that move since registration thankfully. Mostly still via treat and refer CPGs but can use clinical support and discretion too.
might be harder to sue in the UK for something like this? In the USA... this would be asking for a huge ass lawsuit.
@@fogdelm the USA is very litigious. Unfortunately I see Australia going the same route, which leads to arse covering rather than treating.
This actually happens so much in my area that the EMS crew that contracts directly with the hospital actually bought a non-emergency transport unit.
Now that's pathetic...and smart. Hope the non emergent transport was a bit more than an Uber....
My grandmother did this. She claimed she had a cough for a few days, though none of us heard her cough once, and she called 911 claiming she couldn't breathe, but the EMTs took her oxygen and it was 95% or somewhere around that. Her reasoning was if she went by ambulance she wouldn't have to wait. We tried to tell her that's not how it works, but she still insisted on going by ambulance where she spent most of the day waiting around. She did have a mild case of pneumonia, but she could've gone to a regular doctor or urgent care like we said in the first place, but no, she had to go to the hospital. Not the first time she's insisted on going to a hospital when she didn't need to, but it was the first time she insisted on the ambulance taxi service.
95% is low if not use to it i could see were it make you panic
I've definitely seen this happen and I don't even work in a hospital. Through clinical rotations to become EMT, watched lots of people come in the back in ambulances with non emergencies, while other folks sat out in the waiting room for hours until a bed to opened up.
Hard to imagine that people actually think using 911 as their personal limo is okay...
Love explaining to people that get dropped off in the waiting room at the ER that they are not getting a room till all the ACTUALLY sick/injured people get them. :)
Do a video on "the magical vitals check". When people are in accidents and ask for a pulse check that makes them practically go "I can see colors again!!"
Erm...I dun get it. Halp?
Thank you, I wish we could really use this as a commercial. Might need to add as a bonus point while waiting in the crowded ER . You get checked out doing good even got a turkey sandwich then two days later you wake up with a high fever, cough, cold, and Headache or GI stuff, throwing up, diarrhea well you just got dealt what is the ER playing tonight. Not everyone has a sprained ankle some are actually sick. Probably could have waited until morning and called their Family Doctor and not shared it with everyone along with all the other sharers but now you are sick. Please call your family doctor or visit your local Urgent care center and they will help you out and see you quicker to quarantine you from everyone else and you didn’t have to use the ultra expensive ambulance ride.
I once was in a hospital with really strong neck pain and restricted neck movement and got told, that I should have called an ambulance, as it was common practice at that place and everybody else would have to wait several hours if they don't bleed all over the floor. It was completely calm in the ER and the girl that walked past me for a routine control for her broken leg (she took an ambulance with her mom) got treated instantly.
So that hospital was actually encouraging people to call an ambulance with non emergencies.
Germany btw
It is hard not laughing at some of these when after talking to the ER nurse we just wheel the stretcher into the waiting room and get them to sit there anyway.
When I was younger a guest speaker mentioned there were people calling for an ambulance, and then suddenly decided they were okay half way through just so they could go shopping/get mc donalds. It's wild to hear of so many people do this shit and think it's normal to do.
That’s when the ambulance should drive them to the nearest police station.
Oh, that became a thing there too? This damn shit happens way top often here in Brazil and is infuriating. Makes me mad to hear this level of selfishness also found its way into your country.
I think it's everywhere, judging by the comments. :(
@@calliarcale really? Then God damn it, this whole generation is poisoned with excessive ego
@@turinmormegil7715 it’s not just young people doing it. That it even happens in the US, where even a necessary ambulance ride costs over $1,000 even with health insurance shows just how paranoid, lazy, selfish, and/or stupid some people are.
After a lengthy hospital stay, I have a huge new respect for nursing and hospital staff
Had to call an ambulance back in september, i was in a rollover accident on the freeway. I didnt think i needed a trip to the hospital, but with the shock of it all, figured id better be safe than sorry. They showed up, looked me over, asked if i hit my head and when i said no, said they agreed that a visit to my primary doc would be fine a ckuple hours later, and then provided a warm place to stay until my family showed up in a different car. Will always be grateful for them for that.
Oh, and they gave me a bottle of water.
This again is simply highlighting issues that have plagued EMS and ERs since day 1. But now the work load has gotten to the point that we CANNOT keep sustaining the BS and the patients that really need to be examined. Every first responder, ER nurse, ER tech and every other staff type that supports the ER (and now a lot of the other parts of a hospital), that I know are burnt out. Now it has gotten to the point where it's not simply stupid choices from hospital administrators on staffing or the fact that most EMS departments cannot refuse to transport a non emergent patient. Please remember, those who become first responders and medical staff, most often feel a calling to help others in their worst moments. It can hurt more than I can use words to explain to feel like that very thing is killing you and you have to step away to survive. I am a strong supporter of the concept that 911 services should be able to triage between emergent and non-emergent calls and take appropriate action such as saying "No, we will not be transporting you to the ER via the ambulance because your toe hurts after you accidentally kicked a rock." (Yes, I have had calls like that) Also yes, mistakes will be made. Some patients that do have a true emergency will be overlooked. That is a statistical fact. But overall, cutting a lot of the non emergent transports out will lower response times for those that really need it. It can also help reduce the work stress on the ones who are responsible to try to save those in trouble which will help reduce burnout and turnover in the first responder field. There are several departments I have heard of supposedly doing very similar concepts to cut down on frequent flyers abusing systems. Hopefully changes will be made.
They need to have their insurance not cover it and be forced to pay the $2k bill.... as someone who's had to take my wife 3x to the hospital for actual emergencies in the last couple of months... "a stubbed toe" is crazy asf ..
I will admit to one of two times I've called 911 for medical (the other being a police matter) could have probably been handled without them if I had been in full frame if mind. My wife woke up screaming bloody murder with blood coming out of her ear saying it felt like a bug was in there. We were moving out of the house and had our mattresses on the floor. Had no idea wtf to do. Looked in her ear and only saw blood - called 911 and had an awkward panicked voice on both ends. The EMTs arrived within like 2 minutes and shot a shit ton of saline into her ear and lo and behold. A tiny carpenter ant. Bit her eardrum. I could be done the water myself ... no idea why it didn't cross my mind ...
@@MrAB-fo7zk honestly thats a symptom to call 911 for. As a EMT, I would be happy to show up to that and find what they did. Unexpected blood especially from an orifice where blood doesn't normally come out of, is a good reason to get checked out.
One thing I've seen help is putting more BLS trucks with two EMTs on the road so they can take more of the BS calls and free up more of the ALS trucks with medics on them.
It’s so true lol, my company had a contract with a shitty nursing home here and I thought I was gonna get a good call for COPD exasperation, so we run code and get there and they called us for a second patient and tried to tell us the first patient was down the covid hall which was a lie because the covid unit was blocked off with plastic. So we get to the first patient and she come out of the bathroom and say “oh you’re here” grabs her shit and promptly walks onto the stretcher. We argue with the head nurse and she was like “oh well she’s positive for covid.” Well great no reason to put on extra ppe now. The patient claims they said she was negative and the nurse has the audacity to tell her she’s confused. Bitch she’s playing a puzzle game on her phone she isn’t confused. We get it cleared up and it’s negative, the nurse tells us to take the patient anyway and we do. We sat in the er for a good 50 min and during that time we were asked what problem the patient had more than 5 times. After we offloaded the patient the hospital had called a fire marshal I believe and the nursing home got into huge trouble and almost killed another one of my patients a few weeks ago but that’s a story for a different time, just worse lol. I have a few more stories about nursing homes and their bs.
Exactly, this has always been a problem, or at very least it isn't new, but we used to have some slack in the system, some wiggle room. Now we are stretched so thin just on real emergencies that everything breaks when you add in this nonsense.
I had a grandma rushed to the hospital for stroke like symptoms last month, over an hour from the call to when she got to the hospital, and then she didn't have a room for 4 days and was sleeping in the hallway. Because of that she got covid (luckily we made her get fully vaxxed, so she was thankfully asymptomatic). Because of the covid she was put on quarantine when she got to rehab to be able to go back home. That pushed back when she could go home as they did not do PT with her while she was quarantined.
These delays don't just affect the first or second step, they affect everything.
emergeny ambulances used as a taxi is a common thing in Belgium
it's a pain in the ass and certainly older people seem not to understand that a emergency ambulance is not for a planned visit to the hospital
I disagree with your blanket statement regarding "older people;" I'm in my 70th year, and I most certainly know that by no means is an ambulance meant for a ride to the hospital for any kind of "planned" visit (and what kind is planned, for heaven's sake???) I'm a retired healthcare employee, so maybe I have a better understanding of hospitals, but that kind of statement is what makes all of us older people utterly dislike anyone under 50!
@@jb6712
i am a EMT in Belgium, i know hospitals and ER's better then you
lot's of "emergency calls" i get are just plain taxi rides, a lot of calls come from old people
planned visits = planned hospitalization or even for a appointment in the hospital
I once had an elderly couple whose wife said right off the bat that we could take her husband to room XYZ.
when we first refused, she got mad, because how was her husband supposed to get to the hospital?
she did not want to take a taxi (to be paid immediately) and not urgent patient transport via the health fund cost "too much".
(an emergengy ambulance is dirt cheap compared to the Netherlands in Belgium and for the last 3 years it has even been a fixed amount of 63 euros (indexation every year))
the fact that she knowingly misuses an emergency ambulance is a crime (here at least) that could have cost her much more.
her unnecessary call left a gap of about 25km² in the coverage of my zone for which I was responsible
@@TOFMDrone
My Father in 60's brags about not paying for healthcare,
at the same time his takes advantage of universal health care for cancer/heart problems and medicine that mainly payed for the by the state. he thinks anyone paying for medical healthcare are fool's.
He still bitches about how much tax he has to pay, even though without those taxes be dead.
@@pizzaki582
using healthcare is 1 thing, certainly when it's "free".
but "abusing" emergency ambulances is frustrating, certainly when it opens a big gap increasing response time for another ambulance
Happens in Australia too, they think it'll get them to the front of the line faster or they're guaranteed to see an emergency doc - not the case 🙄 our resources are stretched thin as it is, and ramping is an issue here as well.
Love your videos man, big fan!
Yep, and people complain about the hospital system being stretched but will still take a packed lunch to the emergency room for their kids sniffles instead of going to the GP in the morning (or calling an after hours one)
Thank you!!!! When I worked the ER I hated when people would call like that. Many would call for the dumbest stuff or because they didn’t have their own car and didn’t want to phone a friend
I got Salamenila and the ambulance did everything they can even waited until I stopped puking and shitting myself thank you Jason and everyone who works with you
"An ambulance stabilises you and gets you to the ER alive" this needs to be more widely known. A friend of mines wife choked one day and he bundled her into his car and raced her to the hospital and proceeded to call me after and tell me how he got her to the hospital faster than any ambulance could have. I may have blown up on him and informed him in no uncertain terms that yes it took him 8 minutes to get to the hospital but it would only have taken 3 minutes for an Ambulance to get to his house (I knew exactly where the nearest station was) and make sure that a, she survived long enough to reach the hospital and b, that they didn't wind up a stain on the side of the highway because he thought he could drive to the hospital at 180kph.
After 3 years working in health insurance, I tell everyone I know to NEVER get into an ambulance. Insurance companies will do everything in their power to deny your claim and say it wasn’t necessary. Unless you are literally DYING, do not get into an ambulance. All you’re getting is a really fancy $1,300 Uber to the ER
Depends on what you are getting into it for. You may not know you're dying, especially under the stress of an accident, for instance. Be very careful with your advice.
@@RICDirector or for any other reasons are immobilized or have trouble moving. Say a broken leg or foot
I can’t even call 911 where I live unless you carry extra insurance specifically for emergencies
🤯🤯
I fail to understand how America can take itself seriously as a country when people live in the conditions you describe. What a joke.
@@Schm1dtstorm it’s all about the all mighty buck
Where do you live? Never heard of anything like that before. Hospitals must serve you though you might get a lot of charges which are usually marked way down from insurance prices and if you still can't pay it they work with you and often have charity pay.
@@GoodPersonTestWebsite I live in a town of about 100K in AZ. and you must carry what is called “Metro Rural Insurance” I actually called the non-emergency number to ask about my carbon monoxide detector going off and they refused to talk to me without giving a policy number.
My son was just in the ER 2 weeks ago for 4 hours and was handed a bill of $15,000 😳
Due to no insurance
@@tomboy5212 Wow.
Thank you, for explicitly mentioning that calling emergency services is always the right thing to do if you actually think you might be in an emergency. While I agree with the sentiment of the video, that calling emergency services for non-emergencies as mentioned is abhorrent abuse of the system, I think it's really important to remind people that it's always alright to call emergency services if you think you're in an emergency even if it later turns out that your situation isn't as dire as originally thought.
All ERs should play on a loop "When yo go Quick Care" "When to go Urgent Care" "When to be here"
I've thought about this issue for a while. So much of it depends on the integrity of the patient. If we start dealing transport judgments, we'd need to base it on HIGHLY SPECIFIC criteria or someone's going to get hurt or worse.
Having been in an Emergency room before this is hilarious and ridiculous that people do this. Great explanation of triage, hopefully some people can understand a little more
When I was working a police dispatcher, we had an individual with dementia go missing. The family happened to be in a foreign country at the time. Was able to make contact with the foreign officers, and was trying to lash them up with my officers on scene. I asked my officers to call the landline into the station so I could switch the call over.
Bear in mind, this is before we had trunked or encrypted radio systems. Back in the dark ages, when anybody or their kid sister with could monitor our radio traffic with a scanner from RadioShack.
Not 90 seconds later, the Red Phone rings. Oh shit, incoming 911 call. I already had all my guys tied up, and we're already using mutual aid from neighboring agencies. What fresh hell is this?
Turned out to be one of the local news stations, asking what the last transmission was about. On the fucking 911 line. Said, "no comment", and hung up. Had two other local news stations call the 911 line while I had all other lines tied up with the foreign officers, state police officers with canines, state police officers in two states offering helicopters with FLIR, the Chief of Police, and officers on scene.
They were even talking about activating the local boy scout camp, 1800 kids and adults, to look for this person. Everyone went full on bananas.
We got the dementia person back, a little dehydrated, but otherwise ok.
Because 911 is the right number to call when you want a soundbite for your breaking news...
What a bunch of idiots we have now and then.....! Be glad you have FB groups now who help out with stuff like that, getting people to understand what is happening without interfering with official actions.....
I work as hospital security and I see this crap so much. We have a regular that will drive herself to the ER, get triaged, and sent back to the waiting room. Always complains of chest pain and shortness of breath, but she's also 300+ pounds, so... Anyhow, if she doesn't get treatment fast enough, she'll leave, call 911 to have an ambulance bring her back, and end up right back in the waiting room.
I've been to the ER with minor injuries several times. Drove myself there and just accepted the many hour wait before I could get stitched up or whatever. It's just how it works. Once they get you in the care is A+.
Shit, same exact problems here in Stockholm, Sweden (and prolly everywhere else in Sweden).
No staff, no brain in patients and no balls on the people in charge to say stop.
It’s absolutely amazing how stupid people really are. Common sense isn’t common. Thank you again to our first responders. They truly don’t get enough credit.
Would you count shattering your collarbone in a car accident an emergency and needing a room right away…I had to wait for 45 minutes in pure agony and eventually puked and passed out. Came back around 5 minutes later and put back in the waiting room
Edit: by shattered I meant my right collarbone was broken in 2 different places with the middle section was sticking straight up and down almost breaking through the skin. When I went to the bone specialist a week later they were so worried and was in surgery the next day as they called the hospital asking why I wasn’t rushed to surgery sooner
It never would’ve occurred to me to do this. I’ve had 911 called on my behalf for fainting (due to dehydration and/or low blood sugar) and always felt terrible for using these resources when I didn’t feel like it was a true emergency. There was one time I felt I did need hospital from severe dehydration, and still didn’t call 911 on myself, but instead took myself to the nearest ER. TBH, I’m surprised I managed to make it without passing out.
Love this! As a Vol in Southern IL we have to pick sleeping in the bunk or sleeping with our Family.....Love this mission, but also Love my kids! If you are in a small community, SIGN UP, we need you and we appreciate your support!