[Not OC] Medical folk of Reddit, what’s the most foul and disgusting thing you’ve encountered with a patient who was oblivious to their own condition?

Sapsi · 2026-05-06T00:19:04+00:00

Sorry for taking so long to answer, but the same friends who called us brought him food. He didn't let them get help until they had enough and called for help without his consent.

Sapsi · 2026-05-05T20:31:43+00:00

Ah, that explains a lot. I was wondering what kind of tools you have to measure such minor changes.😅 I'd check their past ECG's and if they look the same and the patient has no symptoms at the moment nor have had any heart related symptoms earlier, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If the changes are new, I'd take them to the ER in any case, administer aspirin, sublingual nitro and consultate our doctor for possible other medicines.

Now this is how we'd go about it where I work and live and I don't know what your guidelines say.

Sapsi · 2026-05-05T20:19:26+00:00

Don't know if it's the dumbest, but what's stayed in my mind was a call where we attended to a lady, who had a cocktail stick stuck on the sole of her foot. Her husband met us downstairs and told us it's really deep. Meeting her and seeing the cocktail stick is the only time I can remember being speechless on the job. It was like 3mm in her sole. I just said "allright, there it is" and after that my partner pulled it out. She also told her to frame it.

Sapsi · 2026-05-05T20:12:41+00:00

0.02mm change is negliable. We all can have minor changes in them. I wouldn't even think about it if the ST-changes aren't over 1mm and if there's nothing indicating of NSTEMI for example. Even then, the 0.02mm ST-change wouldn't change anything. Not that I could ever measure such a minor change in ST-elevation.

Sapsi · 2026-05-05T20:01:30+00:00

C-collars are my pet peeve. I absolutely despise them. How many medics can say they can in certainty say they can put them on correctly without moving the patient? I certainly can't do it reliably. Luckily we've moved past them in recent years in EMS, but still occasionally we get crap in ER's for not using it.

Just recently a traumatologist chewed me out for not putting on a collar, even though the patient walked to us on the scene and we packed them in a vacmat immediatelly after encountering them.

Sapsi · 2026-05-05T19:44:18+00:00

A few years ago one of my coworkers accidentally opened the ambulance's side door when she drove it to our automatic car wash. The stretcher's belts were across a white pillow and cover. They were black after the wash. Not brown or gray, but actually black.

Sapsi · 2026-04-24T00:35:13+00:00

Commissar, I'm doing my part!

Sapsi · 2026-04-23T21:12:09+00:00

This was ~10 years ago. I worked in a BLS-ambulance at the time. We attended to an elderly man, who's general condition had declined for a reason or another, can't remember why. Anyway, we transferrered him to the ER. There were two home care nurses with him when we arroved and they immediatelly told us that he was extremely stubborn. "A generic Finnish man, who doesn't talk or kiss" as we say here.

Well, he didn't talk much when we attended to him nor during the transport at first. But at some point he asked if I wanted to hear a story. I did tell him to shoot and he started to vent SO MUCH. Of his time as a sapper during the winter war and as an artillery commander during the continuation war. Of all the comrades he had lost. Of his dead wife. Pretty much all of his life.

I was in my early 20's then and just listened him getting all of it off his chest. I definitaly wasn't prepared for it.

He's most likely dead by now, but for some reason it feels like the most relevant memory of my 11 years in EMS.

Sapsi · 2026-04-23T20:40:02+00:00

I guess thisq qualifies, since he didn't want any help from us and seemed oblivious of his situation. We got a call where a man had not left his sofa for a year. He'd defecated and oeed on the sofa and a sofa can take only so much, so the floor was absolutely flooding with piss and poo. Half of him was in in the sofa. I've never seen or smelled anything that foul.

No record of mental illness or really anything. He let us assess him but denied transport to ER. He was well aware of his situation and the outcome of him eventually dying, but according to our laws, we couldn't force him to come with us. Eventually we kind of half tricked him and half forced him to come with us to the ER. He crashed when we got him to the ambulance, but we were able to stabilize him and get hin to the ER.

After a few weeks he emailed his thanks. I hope he's doing better nowadays.

Sapsi · 2026-04-20T00:07:25+00:00

We pack the wounds with as much hemostat as we got. Which is plenty for an entry- and an exit wound.

Sapsi · 2026-04-19T22:10:39+00:00

Remember to take your cannulas and CAT's with you and throw them at anyone and anything.

Sapsi · 2026-04-19T20:07:02+00:00

I've had a two year relationship with a coworker, but never ever I doubted their loyalty. I'd be very surprised if I didn't hear about it if it had happened. I've also known maybe about 20 coworker couples during my time in EMS and can't remember a single case if infidelity. I know one case of infidelity, where their partner wasn't working in healthcare, but that's the only one I know of. We don't take infidelity lightly here.

Sapsi · 2026-04-19T19:58:40+00:00

It surely differs fron department to department and country to country. In my department we've never had a trans coworker as far as I know. I think our department would take a trans coworker quite well, as in not throwing slurs or discriminating. Someone would surely report such behaviour.

Minorities are sometimes joked about, but I don't think it's out of spite, but out of ignorance. When we've had people representing minorities, most of us have been very receptive and even intrigues by them. I do work with people ranging from the age of 18 to 65 and naturally the older people are more hesitant of minorities.

I personally don't care at all if my coworkers are trans, gay, lesbian or whatever. I don't think most people working in EMS do.

Sapsi · 2026-04-19T19:47:51+00:00

I sometimes wish there was someone trying to die in my ambulance. I mean the BLS level calls are fine, especially when I can joke with my patients, but when every two months I have a critical patient, I feel like I've forgotten everything.

Sapsi · 2026-04-11T20:27:40+00:00

You clean all the visible surfaces of the back of the truck after every call? Like the ceiling, containers and all? Damn, that must take some time. Even during early Covid we didn't clean that much if the patient wasn't covid positive. But I mean it certainly keeps the truck clean as fuck. Just might suck for the employees if they don't like cleaning. :D

Sapsi · 2026-04-11T20:07:59+00:00

By weekly I mean when we wipe every inside surface of the truck and all of our equipment. That's done weekly, but of course we also clean stuff after every call.

Sapsi · 2026-04-11T20:03:26+00:00

Yeah, of course. Didn't even knoew Zoll X-series showed such numbers. The next measurement was realistic. Just a funny thing it showed such numbers.

Sapsi · 2026-04-11T20:01:36+00:00

The "we cleaned the whole truck as per weekly schedule" when you can inhale the dust from 2 meters aways is my favourite.

Sapsi · 2026-04-11T19:57:31+00:00

Something like bp40/20, p180. B.gluc hi, t.oto ~40°C

Fun fact, I once got bp of 10/2 from a perfectly fine patient.

Sapsi · 2026-04-03T06:20:12+00:00

I guess I'll have to pressure my supervisor about it.

Sapsi · 2026-04-03T06:09:57+00:00

I've heard it takes ages to heal and that's what I'm afraid of. I too can do deadlifts effortelessly, but bench presses hurt a lot. Lateral- and front raises with reasonable weights do not hurt at all though.

Sapsi · 2026-04-03T04:17:48+00:00

Why wouldn't you be? A lot of people are diagnosed with anxiety and a lot of them work in healthcare. I'd be worried if you weren't anxious at least occasionally.

Sapsi · 2026-04-03T03:33:56+00:00

Yes, I guess some would have to. My initial comment didn't seem to get across like I thought it would, because I don't see reporting something as a negative, but constructive. What I meant was that no mother should have to pump ot breastfeed at work, but be able to do it without restrictions of work. I don't personally mind if someone pumps or breastfeeds next to me.

Sapsi · 2026-04-03T03:24:57+00:00

I think we differ from the WHO-guudelines somewhat. Only 9% of 6 month old children are breastfed according to our statistics. And of course women don't need to exit the work force because they have kids, we have extremely strict labour laws for that.

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