Friday, August 13, 2004
After the reality comes the reality
   Negative transport

Get out of bed, throw on just enough clothes, drive fast, do an assessment, laugh at the forlorn jokes, get a release form signed, wait to be sure traffic control is adequate, go home, look at the stars, go back to bed. . .

Incidents like the Polson balcony collapse put people in touch with why they stay in EMS: it’s exciting to meet challenges for a good cause. The adrenaline, concentration, and skill needed to turn chaos into something manageable is similar to that needed to compete in an important football game. People like the feeling of giving a lot for something worthwhile.

And then it’s back to the routines: people calling an amublance because the excitement feels like meaning in impoverished lives, people drinking too much then faking seizures to get attention, people drinking too much and slamming windows on their fingers, people drinking too much and falling off their front steps, and people drinking too much and banging their car (or somebody’s car) into guard rails.

The hardest challenge in EMS may not be dealing with horrific injuries. It may be staying committed to the patient’s good treatment even when the patient seems unable to take his or her own side effectively. We pick up after people far more often than we save lives.