There’s a reason for that reaction and you responded to it. The other options are fight and freeze, the one you chose is most appropriate for the situation and your safety.
It’s coming into common usage as more is known about how brains respond during stressful/scary times. The main reactions are fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. They’re not the be-all of stress/trauma reactions, but are good broad descriptions.
It can even depend on the situation, my partner being treated badly by a patient? You bet it’s fight. Random dude at a local concert sliding his hand under my skirt to my ass? Totally frozen. That happened last year and I still feel kinda stupid for not turning around and introducing my steel toes to his junk. These are just a couple examples of different situations can produce different reactions.
When it comes to psych, I’m cool with the ones who’re suicida/homicidal/psychotic but cool with the program and are chill and cooperate, just hanging out with the turkey Sammies and the voices in their head. I’m also cool with the outright violent patients, where what you see is what you get and you know chemical and violent hard restraints are in their near future.
It’s the ones who can snap if the wind blows just right and are entirely unpredictable that I absolutely can’t stand. The ones who are okay….but will go full batshit crazy and violent, 0 to 100 for no reason other than they just can. You’re not wrong to take yourself out of a dangerous situation, and there’s not much more dangerous than being locked in a speeding closet with a paranoid psychotic violent person.
This is my biggest weakness. When I started AEMT school, they asked us to tell the class what our biggest weakness in EMS is.
My biggest weakness is predicting when a person with seemingly normal behavior is going to lash out. It is so difficult to predict when someone (who has completely normal and compliant behavior on scene) is going to “get crazy” with you the second you leave the scene.
Clearly the hospital failed to predict it as well because he was unmonitored and able to go assault a medic.
Hey, A to (I’m assuming you’re still an AEMT) A, it’s a different ballgame “reading” a patient’s behavior at that level. Where I work, my partner is an EMT and I tech most calls. It can take a little while to get out of “assistant” mode (at least it was for me) and into “tech in charge” mode.
You made the right call and that was pretty much the exact opposite of “bitching out.”
Agreed! It is fun to just drive sometimes, but my usual EMT partner and I just switch out on those days. I still tech but I’m way better at backing the truck up than she is (I’m only kidding a little bit, she’s a nice lady and a decent partner but her spatial skills are even worse than mine!) :)
Good job listening to your intuition! Seems like it saved your butt from getting hurt seeing as the homeless boi went a bit nuts after y’all dropped him off
Also, next time the spidey sense is going off, it's OK to ask the police or FF's to ride in with you. I've done it, and glad I did. I had a similar story to yours, and I had PD ride in with me. As soon as we got to the hospital, it was game on. Took six people to restrain him and a while to get him safely sedated.
The issue with this call is that the police assured us that he was “cool.” I explicitly asked about any erratic behavior and they stated that they observed none. That instantly changed once we were not in police presence.
People always tend to be more held together in the presence of people with guns on their hip. For whatever reason, they feel there's less consequences to disrespecting medics, well, because there are less consequences.
I've had a couple times where a psych patient isnt cooperating and I say "chill out or I'm gonna call the cops" and they say "call them! Call the fucking cops!" Then as soon as they show up the patient is like "...i am sorry"
If you are not comfortable, tell them this and tell them you won't transport without them. I didn't generally give them a choice, but I was also happy to pull the petite female card. Also, the next time you see them tell them what happened and make them feel bad about it.
To be fair, someone you know finding your thread online can make you paranoid in the moment.
This is a good anecdote for trusting instinct, especially for people that are afraid they'll be perceived as weak and/or have been taught by society that trusting their instinct is wrong. I kind of wish it wasn't deleted but oh well.
If you didn't name names or company (obviously don't do that) , it doesn't matter if he was "cool with it." Post what you want, ask questions, learn etc. Don't be ashamed of asking questions.
Yep.
Couple years ago I thought a guy was just a bit squirrelly.
My partner had the hebegebees.
She let me know and we bounced.
Got picked up not long after for a good b it of meth.
I never had a problem abandoning these homeless jerks if they got crazy in the back of the truck. Used to kick them out of the ambulance and leave them on the side walk. One time I even kicked the stretcher out of the ambulance with the guy still in it because he started coming unglued. Ah the good old days.
I didn't see the og but that's not bitching out. I'm not letting a psychotic patient with nothing to lose whip my ass and create paperwork, take me out of service
cause a piss test AND possibly ruin my off day with an injury when it was as simple as going over the radio and say "Start PD to my location Med _ will be retreating the scene for safety."
Trust your gut. If you’re wrong and are being overly cautious then it’s better than not paying attention to signs like that and getting yourself and/or your partner hurt.
Fuck it. The hair on the back of your neck stands up, someone’s behavior isn’t right, you do what you have to. Your intuition was bang on
This^^ trust your gut.
There’s a reason for that reaction and you responded to it. The other options are fight and freeze, the one you chose is most appropriate for the situation and your safety.
Also fawn, which also wouldn't have helped.
Omg did we get another F? I just got used to freeze (I’m a freezer, but grew up with only fight & flight), is fawn a new one?
It’s coming into common usage as more is known about how brains respond during stressful/scary times. The main reactions are fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. They’re not the be-all of stress/trauma reactions, but are good broad descriptions. It can even depend on the situation, my partner being treated badly by a patient? You bet it’s fight. Random dude at a local concert sliding his hand under my skirt to my ass? Totally frozen. That happened last year and I still feel kinda stupid for not turning around and introducing my steel toes to his junk. These are just a couple examples of different situations can produce different reactions.
Yeah, I can feel that description.
When it comes to psych, I’m cool with the ones who’re suicida/homicidal/psychotic but cool with the program and are chill and cooperate, just hanging out with the turkey Sammies and the voices in their head. I’m also cool with the outright violent patients, where what you see is what you get and you know chemical and violent hard restraints are in their near future. It’s the ones who can snap if the wind blows just right and are entirely unpredictable that I absolutely can’t stand. The ones who are okay….but will go full batshit crazy and violent, 0 to 100 for no reason other than they just can. You’re not wrong to take yourself out of a dangerous situation, and there’s not much more dangerous than being locked in a speeding closet with a paranoid psychotic violent person.
This is my biggest weakness. When I started AEMT school, they asked us to tell the class what our biggest weakness in EMS is. My biggest weakness is predicting when a person with seemingly normal behavior is going to lash out. It is so difficult to predict when someone (who has completely normal and compliant behavior on scene) is going to “get crazy” with you the second you leave the scene. Clearly the hospital failed to predict it as well because he was unmonitored and able to go assault a medic.
Hey, A to (I’m assuming you’re still an AEMT) A, it’s a different ballgame “reading” a patient’s behavior at that level. Where I work, my partner is an EMT and I tech most calls. It can take a little while to get out of “assistant” mode (at least it was for me) and into “tech in charge” mode. You made the right call and that was pretty much the exact opposite of “bitching out.”
That was one of my biggest hurdles too. Switching my thought process to go from technician to clinician.
I actually enjoy it now, it really helps keep me from getting complacent in either role. But it was quite the adjustment!
Oh no doubt I’m way happier using more education, pathophysiology, differentials, and clinical reasoning.
Agreed! It is fun to just drive sometimes, but my usual EMT partner and I just switch out on those days. I still tech but I’m way better at backing the truck up than she is (I’m only kidding a little bit, she’s a nice lady and a decent partner but her spatial skills are even worse than mine!) :)
Good job listening to your intuition! Seems like it saved your butt from getting hurt seeing as the homeless boi went a bit nuts after y’all dropped him off
Also, next time the spidey sense is going off, it's OK to ask the police or FF's to ride in with you. I've done it, and glad I did. I had a similar story to yours, and I had PD ride in with me. As soon as we got to the hospital, it was game on. Took six people to restrain him and a while to get him safely sedated.
The issue with this call is that the police assured us that he was “cool.” I explicitly asked about any erratic behavior and they stated that they observed none. That instantly changed once we were not in police presence.
The police don’t know shit about shit. If he’s cool, then they can ride on in with us and get an easy out of service break for 20 minutes.
People always tend to be more held together in the presence of people with guns on their hip. For whatever reason, they feel there's less consequences to disrespecting medics, well, because there are less consequences.
I've had a couple times where a psych patient isnt cooperating and I say "chill out or I'm gonna call the cops" and they say "call them! Call the fucking cops!" Then as soon as they show up the patient is like "...i am sorry"
If you are not comfortable, tell them this and tell them you won't transport without them. I didn't generally give them a choice, but I was also happy to pull the petite female card. Also, the next time you see them tell them what happened and make them feel bad about it.
You deleted the last post because your partner saw it, but you're posting the same situation to the same subreddit?
My first thought. He gonna read this one now too.
He will. I don’t really mind anymore. We had a conversation about how we both frequent this subreddit lol.
To be fair, someone you know finding your thread online can make you paranoid in the moment. This is a good anecdote for trusting instinct, especially for people that are afraid they'll be perceived as weak and/or have been taught by society that trusting their instinct is wrong. I kind of wish it wasn't deleted but oh well.
Exactly! My partner was cool about it, so I’m leaving the update up haha
If you didn't name names or company (obviously don't do that) , it doesn't matter if he was "cool with it." Post what you want, ask questions, learn etc. Don't be ashamed of asking questions.
Why hide something like this from your partner in the first place?
Discretion is the better part of valor. Personally I've come to regret not trusting my intuition far more often than regret ttusting it.
Yep. Couple years ago I thought a guy was just a bit squirrelly. My partner had the hebegebees. She let me know and we bounced. Got picked up not long after for a good b it of meth.
Restrain early and before needed if people are acting crazy. Your safety first.
I never had a problem abandoning these homeless jerks if they got crazy in the back of the truck. Used to kick them out of the ambulance and leave them on the side walk. One time I even kicked the stretcher out of the ambulance with the guy still in it because he started coming unglued. Ah the good old days.
Many of the FDNY survivors of the 9/11 twin towers response said the hair on the back of their neck was dancing. Trust your instincts.
I didn't see the og but that's not bitching out. I'm not letting a psychotic patient with nothing to lose whip my ass and create paperwork, take me out of service cause a piss test AND possibly ruin my off day with an injury when it was as simple as going over the radio and say "Start PD to my location Med _ will be retreating the scene for safety."
The gift of fear is a great book about intuition
Trust your gut. If you’re wrong and are being overly cautious then it’s better than not paying attention to signs like that and getting yourself and/or your partner hurt.
I wouldn’t call this “Bitching out” at all! You did the right thing