EMS then verses now

Recently I had to take an ambulance ride. The experience gave me flashbacks to the time when I was on the opposite side of the gurney. Wow...emergency medical services have come a long way from when I worked in the field.

Let's start with the start of the service. Today's ambulances are a far cry from the vehicles I worked in. My first unit was a converted suburban. I was 'fortunate' enough to get transferred to a Cadillac within a month, then shortly after to a low-top van. The goal of EMTs at our company was the high-top van.



EMS crews now have the advantage of gadgets we'd only dreamt of. One awesome piece of equipment is the gurney. Modern gurneys make the job of EMTs and paramedics easier. I didn't have a gurney that lifted up (by hydraulics) to make getting a patient in & out of the ambulance easier. 
We had to use our muscles. Modern crews have Toughbook computers to access patient charts and write reports. We had old fashioned paper. They have equipment to monitor oxygen saturation levels, light-weight cardiac monitors, and AEDs. We had oxygen tanks - medics had cumbersome ALS equipment.

They have cellular phones and portable radios. We had the vehicle radio. Once we left the ambulance, we were on our own. IF we were lucky, the patient had a land-line phone to call the hospital. If not, Dispatch had to call the hospital for us and relay information. They have GPS and CAD systems. We used paper map books.

Yes, technology has improved life for EMTs and paramedics but has it helped or hindered them? Without the modern gadgets, we had to rely on our skills and training. Substandard personnel never made it through the phase. Now, it is rare for a trainee to flunk out. So, which system was better? The patients were still cared for. Have response times improved? I have to wonder. EMS personnel won't move to an unsecured scene but we did. We went out to areas that law enforcement wouldn't go without back-up and did it without portable radios. Modern EMS workers won't touch a patient without PPD but we did (unless a patient was covered in gore). We managed to survive. Maybe our 'generation' of EMS personnel were just a little tougher. Maybe ignorance was bliss. Once HIV showed its head, we started wearing PPDs but we knew HepC was out  there.

I have to say the folks who took care of me were very nice. The man who started the heplock had a nice technique. His driving was smooth - I didn't feel like I was being flung around.

Times change.

Stay safe out there.