What it’s like to start the day off on an ambulance. Like most jobs everyone has their role to makes sure stuff is clean and in working order. On an ambulance it’s pretty much the same except there is no room for error. There is nothing like showing up on scene to an emergency and something is missing or doesn’t work.
At the start of the day
You start your shift off by checking out your ambulance and all the equipment. One thing to remember is that you are responsible for having everything you need to handle an emergency call. Anything that is missing or broken is your responsibility to get it replaced or restocked on the ambulance.
We check everything from making sure everything on the ambulance works like onboard suction, lights, sirens, tires and make sure the engine is running smoothly. When we check all the equipment, we want to make sure everything is working, and we want to make sure we have enough stock to last us throughout the day.
What happens when we use supplies throughout the day?
We can stock the supplies we use at our local hospitals. There are times when we will use supplies and the hospital will not have them which means we will need to restock them at our ambulance station. For example, AED pads or monitor CPR pads at the hospital are usually not compatible with our equipment on the ambulance.
If we do need to come back to the ambulance station to stock supplies, we will let our dispatch know we are out of service (meaning we cannot take any calls) due to equipment. Then dispatch can pull us out of service so we do not get any emergency calls and we can restock any supplies we need at the ambulance station.
What happens if something isn’t stocked or working properly?
Let’s say we are on an emergency call; you have a broken arm, and we are missing splints. While this falls back on the crew for not having the proper supplies the crew will have to make do. In the EMS field we make lots of things work because nothing is ever perfect on an emergency call or in an ambulance. If it was something serious that we are missing, then we will have to call for another unit. For example, if we are missing a drug box and we have patient who is having a severe allergic reaction and needs epinephrine. We will call for another unit to assist us.
While I have never personally gone on the road (or on an emergency call with missing equipment or supplies) it happens sometimes.
Some stuff EMS has left at a hospital (or scene) or has forgotten to make sure was stocked.
I knew someone that left an open drug box at a scene where they picked up a patient. The crew didn’t realize until 4 emergency calls later. (Not all calls do we need to use the drug box)
Stretchers (gurney or cot) being left at the hospital. This use to be a thing that happened a lot at my first EMS job. One partner would think the other partner would load the stretcher back into the ambulance. When they both just left without and never checked in the back of the ambulance to make sure the stretcher was there.
Not having enough bandages. We all like to imagine that a handful of bandages are good enough. When I check out my ambulance I always try to prepare for the worst. Sometimes can never have too many supplies.
I know crews that left tablets or computers at patients’ houses or at the hospital. I don’t know how you didn’t realize you left something so important.
The most common place EMS personnel leave handheld radios are, in the bathroom at a fast-food place. Its always funny because some random person will find it, key it up (push to talk) and “say we found your walkie talkie in the Wendys bathroom.”
Oxygen is sometimes overlooked by some EMS personnel. I had to personally intercept a call from a crew because they didn’t have enough oxygen onboard.
This is a cool short story. We had one of our crews transport a patient that was on a lot of oxygen from one hospital to another. The crew was going through so much oxygen that every 15 minutes they would need to pull over and get more oxygen tanks from another crew. Dispatch set up small check points where the transporting crew could get off the expressway and change oxygen tanks with another crew and jump right back on. My partner and I blocked off an intersection (it was at night) to exchange 10 oxygen tanks with this crew so they could make it 15 minutes down the road to do it again. Sometimes we get those calls we can never have enough supplies, but we make it work.
At the end of the day
At the end of our shift its the crew’s responsibility to clean the ambulance and restock what was used. If you get the ambulance ready for the next shift its less work and worries for the next crew. Plus, there’s less chance the next crew will be missing something on their shift. We try to leave the ambulance the way we want the next crew to leave it for us. Fully stocked, fueled and ready to go. Treat the next crew the way you want to be treated!
If you have any questions or comments post below.
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