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Warning
Got my first verbal warning yesturday. Stupid black boxes on the rigs. Our ambulance department is broke up into 3 groups. We have critical care, ALS, BLS. We have 12 rigs total. We always have 2 critical care units staffed which do nothing but transports from the local hospital to more specialized hospitals..IE trauma centers stuff like that. Then we have 4 ALS rigs, 2 are manned 24/7 and do 911 calls the rest are BLS and do all the basic stuff during the day.
To get back to my story. Our director installed the boxes on all the rigs. If you go faster than 80mph it sends a message to the director. Well last night I was taking a gun shot wound to head to the trauma center. It was a true critical transport, he was on a vent, sedated, all the fun stuff. I was on the interstate and was running lights so I got to 80mph which is only 10 over on the interstate. Well I got called into the office. I explained the call the director agreed it was a critical call and he still said he had to give me the warning. I am a EVOC instructor and have a clean driving history.
Sorry I just really needed to vent my frustrations.
To get back to my story. Our director installed the boxes on all the rigs. If you go faster than 80mph it sends a message to the director. Well last night I was taking a gun shot wound to head to the trauma center. It was a true critical transport, he was on a vent, sedated, all the fun stuff. I was on the interstate and was running lights so I got to 80mph which is only 10 over on the interstate. Well I got called into the office. I explained the call the director agreed it was a critical call and he still said he had to give me the warning. I am a EVOC instructor and have a clean driving history.
Sorry I just really needed to vent my frustrations.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on
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1)...faster than 80mph it sends a message to the director.
2)I got to 80mph
3) if your director got a message...you were doing more than 80
4)Got my first verbal warning yesturday.
5) Could be just me but...seems the rules are clear and your director fair.
6)Stupid black boxes on the rigs. Did the black box make a mistake? Did it screw up? Was it somehow in error?
7)'It's a poor carpenter who blames his tools.' (old carpenter saying)
8) If you don't speed (exceed your SOP's) you won't get in trouble.
9) The only thing stupid here is...well, I think you know where I'm going...
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Permalink Reply by Eric Gregory on
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I'm curious here. What do your SOP's and state laws set as speed limites. If you're outside the rules you can't blame the blackbox. If the speed you were traveling was within the rules it would be another story altogether.
The rules are written with the knowledge that you will have Critical transports. I would guess your organization still expects you to follow them in critcal cases.
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Permalink Reply by Michael A on
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Its mostly frustration and embarrassment on my part. I knew I was in the wrong shoot I point this out to new guys when I'm teaching driving. I guess the call got me to add the diesel bolus. The guy was going downhill fast and needed the trauma center. But I also know that speeding and wrecking out won't help anyone. Again this is more of a pride thing. I've never been in trouble for my driving and I messed up. I take my spankings when deserved.
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Permalink Reply by Fireman Larry on
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It's like the old saying, you need to experience it to teach it... Now you can tell your classes how easy it was to make the mistake. Learn from it and move on.
Oh, and if you feel, even in the slightest, that you were right, sit down, pull out your calculator, enter the speed you were driving + your braking distance + the fact that if someone pulled out in front of you and stopped... Answer = "TRAGEDY"
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Permalink Reply by Just Plain Craig Moyer on
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Theres laws and policies. Law are made to be broken but you don't F with policy.
I used to get suspended from the firehouse at least every other year. I used to get suspended when I worked at 9-1-1. I learned to call them vacations. Less stress that way. To piss off the bosses I would get suspended on day shift and work a night. Took them 5 years to change the rules.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Michael, I tend to read into things a little more than the average FFN.
I take it that you were "transferring" a trauma patient, from one hospital to another. For which, is done under the care and authorization of a physician. The patient was sedated and on a ventilator, for which are not protocol for a paramedic to do in the field. So he must have been stabilized before the physcian allowed the transfer to leave the first medical facility. Therefore, whether lying in the ER bed at hospital XYZ or in the back of your ambulance, a lawyer would argue that he had been stabilized enough to be transferred and it was not an emergency like a 911 transport to the nearest medical facility. You see around here, by the law, your case would have to be transferred with the flow of traffic, no lights, no sirens because it is not considered an emergency transport it is a transfer. If speed was critical and warranted, that patient would go by helicopter instead of ground transport.
Pretty sure, speeding in this case and being involved in an accident would end your career. BTW: I think the black boxes are great for accountability. The director could have been harder on you. Around here, witnessed without a seat belt on, you go home.
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The problem we have here is our hospital is not equipped to handle a gun shot wound to the head. Our rig is equipped and manned with critical care medics, the same thing that they use in helicopters. I admit it is rare you run lights/siren but this case was one of the exceptions. And I guess I'm not actually mad or upset that I was warned, it was more of a crap busted. The reason I was warned is it was my first offense and first complaint against me. There was disappointment on both sides of the desks. Like I said I admit when I'm wrong and this time I was wrong. The main reason your reading this is I just needed a bit of venting and sharing for others to learn.
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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Do you guys use helicopters to transport critical patients to places where the facilities are qualified to handle those types of emergencies? If the birds weren't flying that's probably an even better reason not to drive so fast -- the weather.
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Oh no they will go faster. I did 80 and it still had more. Not to make excuses but I was on the interstate where the speed limit was 70. Does it make it more right? NO Would I ever go that fast on a 2 lane highway? NO Am I upset at people spanking me here? No I deserve it. I made the mistake. This is a good thread for the juniors to learn from. That even the old farts still make mistakes.
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Alright Ralph, calm down now... Take a few deep breaths... Okay, are you calmed down a bit now... I wasn't even a part of that incident, and your comment has scared me straight...
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Permalink Reply by Derek R. on
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You know, Ralph, I agree with a comment that was mentioned in another post about your college escapades, you should write a book. However, with this particular comment, I find it very difficult to decipher what you are trying to say to Michael. LOL....too funny.
Good on you, Mike, for owning up to your mistakes and manning up. Other's might have deleted this by now.
Just get there and back safely, so you can make the next one.
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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on
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It will go 80 - right before you roll it
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