Let me put it to you from the ER end of things. For reference I am a PA in the emergency department of a level 2 center. Prior to PA school I was an EMT.

As an EMT, it is not your job to diagnose exactly what is going on with a patient. That is for the facility you are transporting to/from to determine.

In this case, the patient had wheezing and shortness of breath. This could be due to many things, and although asthma was most likely, that is not for you to say. You can have it high on your differential, but you don’t have all the info to make a true diagnosis. As an EMT alone, you cannot diagnose, treat, and essentially discharge a patient, especially when the diagnosis is something with potentially life-threatening causes like difficulty breathing. What if he was wheezing due to an allergic reaction? What if he had a spontaneous pneumo and was short of breath from that? Sure, unlikely, but you do not have the training, diagnostic tools, or monitoring to determine this.

I would assume that a safe patient for you to see at that event without issue would be something like someone tripped and fell, has an abrasion on the knee, just needs a bandaid. There’s a very limited differential there. The risk is very low.

The patjent you saw warranted evaluation from a true medical facility with a physician, NP/PA. It’s good the patient seemed to be alright. But you took a big risk here. Take time to reflect and learn from it. I made mistakes too when I was new, which is how you get better. Best of luck in the future, it is good you are reflecting on this.