EMT Paramedic Stories

In the state that I worked as a Paramedic, the state written and hands on exam is conducted by the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians. It is a fairly complex exam, and is enough to make any Paramedic student very nervous.

Towards the end of my Paramedic course, a group of us from class found out where a testing site was going to be, and decided we should go and observe it. We figured it would give us some great insight into what we were about to face and might help us prepare for the upcoming test for our class.

I was designated as the driver, since I owned a full size conversion van complete with VCR and enough seating for the whole group. The site was about 3 hours drive for us, so they guys brought along some old Johnny and Roy tapes to watch for fun.

One of the classmates that was going to the testing site with us was not able to ride in our vehicle. He had other plans after the test and decided to drive himself. That would be his undoing for the day, as you will soon find out.

About half way to the site, we managed to get pulled over by the police for speeding. Lucky for us, my front seat passenger, Mike, happened to be a local police officer and was able to do some talking and get me out of a hefty ticket fine. However, it did not go so well for the guy following behind us. Unfortunately for him, the officer riding with us also had a sense of humor.

Mike asked the officer to do us a favor. He asked if he would go back to our buddy following us, and give him a little trouble. So, being the good officer that he was, he complied. He went back with his hand on his gun and ordered our friend out of his car. Granted the officer did not take his gun out, it was still enough to put some fear into our pal and he did exactly as he was told. The officer then had him lay on the ground and proceeded to interrogate him. At the end of his interrogation, he told our friend that we had reported him as a maniac driver threatening us with a gun, and that is why we were driving so fast. After some stuttering and an attempt to plea his innocents, our friend noticed us all rolling around in the van laughing and caught on to the joke. He made a couple of gestures at us, and got into his car. The officer was laughing and waved good day to us, then walked back to his car. However, as he turned to get into his car, he noticed the expired license plates on our friend’s car, and made a quick turn around. Ten minutes later, our friend not only had egg on his face, he also had a nice warning to take him with him.

The story does not end there. After a couple of hours at the test site, the guy that had been following us there decided he wanted to go out to the van and catch up on a show while he took a short nap. He knew he would be up all night at the local river boat, so he wanted to get a just an hour or two of sleep before he left.

About an hour went by, when we all noticed a little bit of excitement going on outside. There seem to be a bit of an argument involving our friend and one of the people taking the test. As we when outside and interjected ourselves into the argument, we soon found out what was happening. It seem that following along behind us for 3 hours was not enough time to give our friend a clear view of what my van looked like. That poor sap had gone outside and gotten into the wrong van then fell asleep. Did I also mention it was only about 60 degrees that day? Guess what, the person taking the test had also left her keys in the ignition and our friend did not hesitate to start the van and turn on the heat. Now you might be thinking that this would have been all we needed to laugh at our friend for the rest of his life. It might have been, but more was coming.

While everyone was standing around to sort things out in the parking lot, the van that our friend had gotten in and started began to overheat. It had been running idle for over an hour and now steam was blowing out of the hood and water pouring onto the ground. Needless to say, a whole class full of Paramedic wannabes hit the ground laughing. All except our friend, who could do nothing but shake his head and stare at his upcoming financial debt.

Everyone has seen the various uniforms and scrubs that EMTs and other healthcare workers wear. Many hospitals no longer require their nurses to wear the old fashioned white uniforms and white hats these days, and most allow all of their employees wear clothes called “Scrubs.” If you do not know what scrubs and nurses uniforms look like, then here is a great website that sells them.
The same thing goes for EMTs and Paramedics. Most places have a standard uniform that their employees wear. Some places have their employees in somewhat formal attire, dark slacks and dress shirts, while others are a little more laid back and let their employees wear cargo or tech, pants and T-shirts. We were lucky enough to be allowed to wear the more comfortable of the two, and standard uniform was T-shirts and cargo pants.

While working a run one evening, my partner and I got somewhat dirty. Well, we got a lot dirty. The run was a car over an embankment and into a small creek. Both of us ended up covered in mud from head to toe, and neither were fit to go out on another run until we had cleaned up a bit.

I had enough experience to know that a person should ALWAYS bring a spare uniform with them to work at an ambulance service. However, my partner was not so lucky. She had not brought one, and was now having to find something to wear while her uniform was being washed.

The folks at the local hospital were kind enough to lend her some scrubs. Scrubs are very comfortable, and will fit almost anyone. Many of the EMTs and Paramedics I worked with often wore scrubs to sleep in at night while on station.

This just happened to be my partner’s very unlucky day. Shortly after putting on her scrubs and getting her work clothes in the wash, we got called on another run. It was to take someone from our local hospital to a large hospital about 50 miles away.

The transfer went smooth and uneventful, until after we dropped off our patient at the larger hospital. While looking for linens to make up our cot, one of the emergency room doctors walked up to my partner, and asked her to come with him. Not sure what he wanted, my partner looked at me, and I shrugged and nodded, then she went away with him.

I was getting a little impatient of waiting, so I went on out to the truck with our cot. I waited for about 30 minutes, and finally my partner comes walking out the door. She got in the truck, and I could tell something was wrong. When I asked her about it, she told me the funniest thing I had heard in ages.

Remember, I told you my partner was inexperienced? Well, apparently the doctor had seen her in her scrubs and mistakenly thought she was one of the nurses from the emergency room. He led her to a room to assist him, and my partner, not knowing any better, thought she had to do what the doctor was asking.

A rather large (over 400lbs) middle aged man lay on the table. His trip to the emergency room was brought on because he had been unable to have any bowel movements for a week or so. The doctor was about to perform a procedure to help relieve him of his problem. The reason he needed a nurse to assist was because someone had to help hold the man’s butt open for him to do his work. Yep, my partner had just spent half an hour in a room holding a patient’s cheeks apart, so a doctor could do a procedure on him.

My partner began telling me this story, and I almost fell out of the truck. Being so new, she didn’t know, nor did she have the courage to simply tell the doctor that she did not work at the hospital, until after the event. She just assumed he just have known, and she went along with it because she that, that was what she was supposed to do. It is a run that she never lived down, and she learned her lesson about not having spare uniforms.