Yellow

20080614 0149-24hrs Urgences Sante, Montreal, Quebec. Photo by John Jantak
Originally uploaded by johnjan99ca

Why the ambulance crew doesn't wear their seatbelts

This is another one on risk:

It used to strike me as strange that EMTs and paramedics typically don't wear their seatbelts. I don't mean in the back of the ambulance during a call. It's hard to be belted in and still treat the patient (though there are some harness systems designed to meet this purpose). But up front, or in the back when there's no patient (say, on the way to a call) - no seatbelt. I have also seen a lot of orthopedic surgeons who ride motorcycles, and almost every respiratory tech that I've ever met smokes.

My theory on this? I think that these people are brought face to face with human misery, and with the frailty of the human body, much more often than is healthy. Eventually, one of two things happens. Either they recognize those human frailties in themselves, and either change careers or go mad with it; or they decide that they're immune. "I won't get COPD or lung cancer from cigarettes, and I'll prove it by smoking them and not getting sick." "My body is not fragile, and I'll prove it by riding a motorcycle, not wearing my seatbelt, etc." "I'm too good a driver to get in an accident," etc, etc. "I am imune."

Which brings me to another point. If I'm putting on my seatbelt when I get into your car, don't be offended. It isn't necessarily your driving that I'm worried about. It's every other driver on the road.

Or be offended, if you want. Because maybe it is your driving that I'm worried about.

[Risk link added 28 Nov 2007]

The siren song of the ambulance

Driving with the lights and siren is some of the most exhilarating and some of the most stressful driving I do. On the one hand, I get to drive fast; proceed through a red light; drive around slow, stopped traffic by crossing over the double-yellow, and of course there's all of the excitement of the call. On the other hand, I need to maneuver around drivers who drive erratically on my approach, who fail to yield because they don't hear me or simply don't care, and I'm worried about arriving too late. Oh, and the ambulance handles like a pig. A top-heavy pig.

All of this makes the driving more complex, and more demanding, but there's also the two-way radios (we've got four in each ambulance, each with several channels to chose from) the Nextel, the airhorn, and the siren. I can switch the siren over to hands-free, but then I lose my electronic airhorn (although really, it's the real airhorn that clears traffic - that thing sounds like a freight train). There's also the PA. Thank God the ambulance has an automatic transmission.

So, why do I do it? Well, there are a few reasons:
* I get to drive fast, proceed through red lights, etc
* I get to turn on the flashing lights and the siren
* I occasionally get to use the God microphone PA: "Please move to the right" (the PA is an often overlooked asset that few drivers use, and even fewer use well, but more on that in another post)
* I get to save lives, treat the injured, etc, but...
* ... if the patient throws up, he doesn't do so on me

Dutch deploy special ambulances for fat people

Reuters reports that the Dutch are asking ambulance patients what their weight is, and deploying special ambulances with built-in lifts to handle patients over 220 lbs. I remember from when I was in Leeds two or three summers back that all of their ambulances were fitted with either ramps or lifts for the same reason. They thought it strange that here in the US we are still lifting our patients into our ambulances manually, and I have to agree.

The problem may be that we're just too fat. Manhandling an 800 lb patient into an ambulance isn't easy, no matter how many people you get for a lift assist or how long your ramp is. The 750 lber wasn't easy, either. I suggested we use a Ryder truck.

They thought I was joking.