I have to learn, when the first words out of a doctors mouth when asked to do a transport is "the patient is stable" QUESTION that statement. At 10 am Saturday morning I was asked to get ready to go on a transport, at 1pm one of the docs called me out of church for the "stable" patient transport.... HAH, when you walk into the room and they are bagging the patient SHE IS NOT STABLE.
[I have to say that I am very proud of our soon to graduate EMT students (they are the 3rd group of EMT students to graduate in all of Haiti). As we were walking into the ER she immediately went to the patient's bedside to assist.]
We bagged the patient all during the transport to General Hospital. I have to thank our driver Michael who was awesome, almost killed us several times but he made a 2 to 3 hour trip (because of traffic) in 1 hour.
When we arrived she coded twice, Every time we stabilized her our (awesome) doc tried to leave. I was like heck no, you are not leaving me with this patient, ( I think the man was trying to kill me).
We continued to bag the patient for 2 hours after we arrived at General , finally we stabilized her enough to get her on dialysis.
Lesson for the day
1. Always assume a patient is unstable until you have verified for yourself
2. Make sure the your spare oxygen tank is not locked (forgot to tell you they placed a locked O2 tank in the truck).
3. An awesome team can make or break a code
4. NEVER let the doctor leave the room after he says "she is stable now" !!!!
5. Take a candy or granola bar (I was so hungry).
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