Table 2 High Acuity Calls Quotes

At the house someone came out and said there were three people inside. It instantly throws your whole plan out the window. Now you are going to have to triage as you find the people. Who are you going to treat first and how many more resources are you going to need. The first pt. was apneic with a pulse. I told my partner (EMT) to give him Narcan and protect the airway. Then I went looking for the others. I found two other patients with agonal resps at 4–6/min. Again with the minimal amount of hands and the fire department not being familiar with where we store our meds I made the decision to have them protect their airways while I went out to the truck to get our equipment and Narcan. Meanwhile I had already called for back-up and the fire captain was trying to organize back-up too. (Participant #9)

There is nothing that rips us more than having someone at the hospital not appreciate the busy environment we were in. Having someone hone in on why did you not do this or that. I am sorry we were busy intubating (becomes very animated), doing CPR, giving drugs. You are lucky you got a patch. (Participant #7)

The call came in as someone unconscious in a vehicle. There was an off duty Dr there and a male who had been with her in the car. He thought she had used Fentanyl and heroin. You could tell by looking at her, her breathing was like 4/min. So we got a stretcher, dragged her out, ventilated her, there was another ambulance nearby, they drove. We gave her Narcan. I don’t think I even got an IV. We were at the hospital in like a minute. I patched. Our scene time was like 4 min.

We could maybe have taken the time at the scene, but it was a respiratory problem as opposed to a cardiac problem. She needed definitive care at the hospital, which was like a 100 ft away. It made no sense to stay when help was so close by. We did minimal amount to keep her alive. (Participant #13)