Diagnostic Experts in the Field

It is common and downright entertaining to have self-proclaimed experts doing diagnostic work in the field. Sometimes this is the crowd gathered around some hapless old lady who happened to slip and stumble over a curb. The crowd usually insists that the victim must lie down on the cold ground until we arrive because of a broken hip, heart attack, paralysis, hyperglycemia, etc., never mind that the victim usually bounces to their feet and dust themselves off, given half a chance. This same process is a purveyor of sinister and worst-case scenario predictions. Kind of like the kid that thinks a headache MUST be a tumor.

Within the last week, we have had two calls that fall into the above mention category. One was nursing home request for transport for a guy recuperating from back surgery. When the nurse decided he was in pain (note that the patient wasn't the one making decision about calling 911) we got called to haul him back to the hospital. Of course we were dispatched code 3 (lights and siren) and on our arrival the patient was resting as comfortably as you can with recent back surgery and really did not have a complaint. It was then that the nurse quietly announced that we were called because of a possible DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis), which does occasionally happen, but is very unlikely and would rarely be considered an emergency.

And just today...we were dispatched to a not breathing, unconscious older lady. After making the best speed possible, we arrived to find the husband on the porch saying that his wife was in a coma. As soon as I entered the bedroom, I found the wife chatting on the telephone - obviously NOT in a coma. Apparently, she had been asleep, and with the sleep medication she took, was a bit hard to wake. On the return to the station, we decided that technically the old man's diagnosis of a coma was correct, but the sleeping was a very common type of coma with a rather short duration.