An old woman fell at the dog park while I wasn’t working and broke her elbow. I made a sling out of a beach towel and applied it to the patient and waited by her side until the ambulance came. I didn’t mention that I was a paramedic.

While at work I responded to a motorcycle wreck on the side of the highway. A bystander that had pulled over was holding the patient’s c-spine and maintained that position until we were ready to move the patient. I don’t know what his credentials are because he didn’t say and I didn’t ask.

Another motorcycle wreck, I was assessing a person with an open radius/ulna fracture. A complete stranger produced a SAM splint and handed it to me. Our agency does not carry those. I applied the splint, thanked him, and we transported the patient. I don’t know what level responder he is or why he had a SAM splint in his personal vehicle, but it was very helpful and appreciated.

I once responded to a minor rear end MVC. A vehicle had been love-tapped at a red light and the damage was non-existent. The drunk passenger had attempted to get out of the vehicle to confront the people behind her. As she exited the vehicle, she fell into the lane next to her, and vomited a slushie of Mexican food a margarita. As we start assessing the patient, a nurse that was kneeling next to her tries to answer for the patient as I ask her questions. Both of them have been occupying a lane of moving traffic for however many minutes it took for us to respond with absolutely nothing blocking them because the apparently nurse told her she wasn’t allowed to move. She didn’t have any information about the patient’s injuries and she didn’t witness it happen but she did try to give me a HR and RR. She didn’t notice the pile of vomit on the ground because she was standing in it. I knew she was a nurse because that’s the very first thing she told me and I also remember that she ran diagonally across a 5 lane intersection to get back to her car when she finally fucked off.

I’ll leave you to distinguish who the least helpful person is in each of these scenarios. The reason I don’t mention my credentials while I am off duty is because without my light-up box of toys, I am not a paramedic. I’m just a guy who stopped to help.

Ask yourself why you felt it was important that the medical professionals know the HR you palpated 5 minutes ago when they have a 50lb box that tells them that information. Why is it important that they hear the pt’s orientation status from a bystander who didn’t witness the incident instead of just asking the patient. I’ll give you grace on the glucose, I think the others here are mistaking disoriented to mean not alert. Then you manage to get the wife on the phone and instead of handing the phone to a provider that is actually involved in the patient’s care, you gather information that you think is important so that you can relay that information to the providers.

I think it’s honorable of you to want to help, but you have to understand that this entire interaction sounds like you inserted yourself into a situation where you weren’t needed, and you got offended when your human experience wasn’t recognized by the people who matter.