Unfiltered Story #101658

(*Keep in mind this story does not violate HIPPA regulations as none of the patients personal or health information is stated.* I am an EMT currently working in an ambulance company doing interfacility transport, taking patients from nursing homes or care centers to hospitals, from hospitals back home, etc. My partner and I are dispatched to a nursing home we have been to before where we don’t like the nursing staff as they seem to not care about their patients much, this call is no exception to that. We arrive and ask the nurse some basic questions about the patient, who they want to send to a hospital a few miles down the road instead of the one just down the road, less than a quarter mile away, and who has severely swollen legs, which they suspect might be DVT, blood clots formed in the legs that could break loose and cause blocks throughout the body in places like lungs, heart, or other organs.)
Us: How long has this been going on?
Nurse: I have no idea, the other nurse said they were swollen when I got here at 3 (it is now 5) and I’ve been on vacation for 3 days so I don’t know anything about it. Do you have any more questions or?
Us: You don’t have a timeframe? Did it start this Morning? Yesterday? Why do you want her to go to (farther hospital) instead (closer hospital)?
Nurse: Our doctor wants her sent there so that’s where we want her to go.
Us: But this could get serious quickly and we aren’t comfortable taking her to the farther hospital.
Nurse: You need to take her to (farther hospital) because last time the paramedics (meaning they called 911 not interfacility transport) took her to (closer hospital) and her family was angry because we told them (farther hospital) and they almost pulled her from our care.
(At this point I’m steaming because this nurse doesn’t seem to have any regard for what’s best for the patient and wants to blindly follow doctors orders and not only gave family what may have later been false information but didnt call to tell them afterwards and is now trying to blame what they did wrong on the paramedics. We let her walk away and continue assessing the patient and discussing which hospital we should go to when another nurse comes over and peeks through the doorway to the room.)
Nurse #2: *nicely* Oh, you guys are here to take her to (farther hospital)?
Us: Well we are more comfortable taking her to (closer hospital) because of her condition, we were just discussing this.
Nurse #2: *now a little angrily* No, she needs to go to (farther hospital) because our doctor works out of that hospital, this is something we can handle in-house but he wantrs the better equipment in the full hospital and to be able to oversee her care.
(Keep in mind it is entirely our decision where to take her, if a patient is stable enough we can take them to a requested hospital instead of closest but we feel this patient has enough risk of extra complications she needs to be seen as soon as possible, especially since we don’t have a timeframe for when the swelling started, and she had some concerning vitals along with it. After that nurse leaves we discuss it for a few minutes and ultimately decide to go to (closer hospital) and head out with the patient.)
My partner: *on the way out, to the patients nurse* You may want to call her family and tell them we are taking her to (closer hospital), we feel that is in her best interest as she needs quicker care. Have a good day.
(We left quickly with the patient and luckily didn’t encounter Nurse #2 again, and we made it to the hospital and got her into a bed without any complications, but still, the gal of the nurses still angers me and my partner to think about it!)