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<p>You do if they are all yellow and red-tags (i.e. critical). Ambulances usually have two-person teams; one drives and one takes care of the patient in the back en-route to the hospital. One EMT or Paramedic cannot reasonably be expected to care for two critically ill patients at once.</p>
<p>I am an EMT working large suburban EMS (when not at school) and campus EMS. Critical is defined as a patient who is unresponsive and remains as such for more than 2 hours, or has life-threatening injuries. In all my work as an EMT, I have seen 4 maybe 5 critical intoxications out of several hundred. 60 critical patients would define an EMS mass casualty incident, calling for the response of regional units. These incidents make headlines. Also, the city of Philadelphia cannot handle 60 critical patients at once among its 7 level 1 trauma centers, so I doubt Syracuse can. Also, it would take at least 35 ambulances to transport those patients, with some staggered. No ambulance will EVER carry more than 1 critical patient.</p>
<p>Seriously, the DD/DS discussion was far more entertaining than this new discussion about how close to death a bunch drunk idiots are.</p>
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Perhaps not for a trauma, but I don’t see why this would be so difficult for an EtOH intoxication.</p>
<p>How many people could be transported also depends on the rate at which people showed up sick (ie, did all “60” pass out at once or was it over the course of a few hours?) and distance of transport (Are the hospitals 5-10 minutes away, or 15-30?)</p>
<p>edit: I see you said one EMT or medic; in that case you’d probably be right. But one team (2-3 people in the back) could take care of more than one EtOH intoxication.</p>
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<p>I’m going to have to agree with you here. I think a huge portion of the problem is students who have never been exposed to alcohol before, or worse, who have been forbidden to drink. Start giving kids a glass of wine early, and maybe let them get buzzed at a wedding. It really takes the “cool” edge off. So many kids these days are so sheltered it’s unbelievable - and not just in terms of alcohol. Heck, there are parents on these very boards who check their kids emails and Facebook pages. Wowza. I’d have some serious rebellion issues then. I’d be all over ****ing off mommy and daddy if that were the case.</p>
<p>^ I think that’s generally true. My parents allowed me to drink at a young age and because of that, I never had a desire to drink everything in sight and go crazy the minute I left their house. </p>
<p>Those hovering-type parents usually end up putting alcohol on a pedestal.</p>
<p>It’s pretty rare to have an EMS crew of more than two people. Additionally, you cannot transport more than one critical patient EVER. This is because if they are critical they are going to need to be on the EKG, likely will be intubated and receiving pharmaceuticals. The only way we can ever transport two patients (very rare) is if one is stable and can sit up and be buckled in. If that person is critical, that is not going to happen. </p>
<p>Plain and simple: 60 critical patients = 60 separate ambulance rides.</p>
<p>Thanks, charlie, for providing a valuable insider’s perspective on this sort of thing. I was enrolled in an EMT-B course last semester, but couldn’t manage that time commitment and all of my other classes as well. Needless to say, I’m very interested in signing up again once I can find the time. Its good to see someone on here who knows what they’re talking about, though.</p>
<p>The ambulances in my area have a bench for a second backboard. And I agree that 60 people probably didn’t all become unstable at the same time, unless they drank a stronger poison with their alcohol ;). Still, regardless, the need for 30+ ambulances for 60 patients is mass casualty.</p>
<p>Okay. Fine. There still could have easily been 60 different ambulance rides considering that there were ambulances all over campus from about 11pm to 3 or 4am, and most of the hospitals are 5-10 minutes away from the school. That’s about a 5 hour time span.</p>
<p>Average time for 1 patient transport from scene to hospital to scene again (factoring in distance to hospital) is roughly 45 minutes just so you know. We dont just pick 'em up and drop 'em off. Still, there is no way you sent 60 criticals in one night, that would be surprising for a span of multiple years. Remember, alcohol poisoning and being unconscious do not always mean critical, they rarely do actually. I doubt that 60 people had alcohol poisoning, were unconscious and had respirations at less than 8 per minute. That would have made news anywhere. Also, no way Syracuse hospitals can handle that many criticals in addition to their typical workload. I’m calling BS on the criticals.</p>
<p>My guess: 2-3 (maybe) criticals and 50+ simple intox.</p>
<p>Watch, next SDRL is gonna say that he forgot to mention that he’s a certified EMT and that his campus has more manpower than the city of Philadelphia.</p>
<p>SDRL once injected vodka into his neck with a syringe… </p>
<p>SDRL once ate an entire birthday cake before his friends could tell him there was a stripper inside…</p>
<p>Uh oh, shots fired.</p>
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I guess it depends on the area. I was with a volunteer corps for a few years and we regularly had 2-3 per call, not including a medic.</p>
<p>As for transporting multiple critical patients, I agree with you for the most part, but there are always caveats. Depending on the size of the incident, there may be instances where you scoop and go with multiple critical patients in one rig. Of course, that would be like, a bombing, not a school dance where people got too drunk.</p>
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Eh, depends on your definition of “pick up and drop off”, and transport times vary widely by location. If the hospital is a short 5-10 minutes away, and given that intoxicated patients don’t need to be boarded/collared (unless trauma is suspected), it would be easy to transport and return to the scene quickly (paperwork can be done either later or en route, and if you’re using PDAs/computers, it’s even more convenient to do later). Unless you’re a medic, you’re more or less just transporting in a scenario like this. There’s not much an EMT-B can or has to do in this kind of situation; give em oxygen, get vitals, maybe talk to them/get a history, and keep an emesis basin handy.</p>
<p>Why does everyone always think I’m a guy? HINT: I’m not.</p>
<p>Goldshadow: I was referring to transport times for critical patients (who would have a medic treating). They need to have EKG, and intubation, which takes a long time. In an MCI with non-criticals then yes the out of service time is about 25 minutes per patient, and multiple patients could be transported at once.</p>
<p>Typical ambulance service time per call: 45 minutes.</p>
<p>Notice how SDRL has not refuted my latest comment… hmmm.</p>
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<p>Dude, what are you talking about?</p>
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I would certainly hope not!</p>
<p>EKG, IVs, intubation, all should be done en route. Combined with lights and sirens, transport time for a critical patient should absolutely not be longer than the time for a non-critical patient. The whole purpose of emergent/urgent pre-hospital care is to get the patient to the hospital as fast as possible. In the case of a critical patient, it’s basically “keep them alive” until getting them to the hospital, where the real care can begin. There are few situations I can see where transporting a critical patient might take longer than a normal patient; for example, a heart attack where the rig has to be stopped to deliver a shock with the AED.</p>
<p>Cos most people who post on forums are guys, and you don’t exactly have anything that might indicate otherwise (a ‘girly’ username, a ‘girly’ avatar or signature), and most of us probably don’t know you.</p>
<p>I heard that a nuke went off in Syracuse too.</p>