I went out on an ambulance for the first time as an ETA last weekend. 2 night shifts were ahead of me and I remember hoping that nothing bad would happen. Luckily for me, nothing did on the first night. We had a steady stream on granny runs mixed in with 'so you called us to help you into bed?' type jobs.
The difficult night was on Saturday when I was working with a crew who were, shall we say, a little difficult. I was banished to third manning which was not the original plan and then only called upon when the patient was particularly difficult. By difficult I mean smelly or incontinent. This infuriates me because does anyone really like doing those jobs? I will be forward enough to say No but surely we are not there to judge but to help and support them in the best possible way? Dirty or not these people need our help.
The young lady I was working with also felt the need to talk over me at every god given opportunity whilst I was assessing the patient. She then proceeded to discharge the patient from our care without consulting me or control. Then when I challenged her on this once the patient had left she just simply said 'she doesn't deserve it'...
There are thousands of ambulance staff on our roads doing a fantastic job, I dread to think how many of those road staff share this kind of attitude!
