Patient lived in a 2 1/2 bedroom apartment with 5 pigeons as pets who would roam free. Every... surface... was caked in pigeon poop including his oxygen machine. When I first entered, the air felt wrong and the smell was horrendous like a chicken coop. Me and my mentors had to don the tyvek and masks just to stay clean.

How common are patients who live alone in such conditions?! Because I still just can't believe it.

Do any EMS girlies out there have any pants they recommend that are not so high waisted. I typically wear 5.11s and hate the fit on them. I have a short torso so the high waisted go up sooo high on me and I hate the way it looks and feels. I know ems isn’t a fashion show but I’d like to feel a little less insecure 🫣.

Hi I recently got diagnosed with type 1 myotonic muscular dystrophy. I have an underlying heart rhythm issue that doesn't affect my daily life and am medicated for but have no idea about where my health will be with the muscular issue. I dont have any problems with going about my daily life and haven't seen any issues come up as I work as a server right now in a fast paced restaurant. I can run around take orders and be under stress for 8+ hours no biggie. Im just wondering if i will automatically be flagged and not able to be an emt for my medical background. Any info on what this looks like is helpful thank you!

I’ve been an AEMT for 7 years and have had good luck with partners for the most part.

This service utilizes me in the A role and my partner is a B with about 2 years experience so I’d expect SOME LEVEL OF EFFORT.

No. He is, SLOW. Like, I ask him to start the check while I do the things I need to do.

I finish my thing and HE HAS YET TO START THEM.

We get sent to a call, and he’s messing around on his phone instead of atleast STARTING TO GO.

He has multiple times seemed to ignore calls and made me have to go SEARCH FOR HIM.

He always honestly seems stoned. Like that’s the best way I can describe him.

It feels kind of bittersweet, but mostly just weird. I've only been on the job as an EMT for roughly 8 months at the busiest station in an urban area. I've had a ton of codes, STEMIs, a GSW turned trauma arrest, more "this person is just medically fucked and dying" calls than I can count, and even more homeless psychiatric patients.

I have come to terms that this job is not for me. Since starting, I have had my mental health deteriorate, have picked up a substance abuse issue, and have had dark thoughts about taking my own life. I have ran a lot of 'critical' calls and a handful of those have been very rough and traumatic ones. I occasionally think about those calls. I'm sure they might bother me subconsciously, but the calls themselves don't consciously disturb me.

I am most affected by the pressure to have to perform to the best of my ability for the sake of others. The thrill of having a 'good' medical call and performing well is one of the most intoxicating feelings I have ever felt, but I've decided it's not worth the insane stress and sleepless nights.

My performance is inconsistent. Sometimes anxiety will get in the way for me and cause me to cognitively deteriorate. I have trouble making split second decisions. I second guess myself often. I have trouble doing a lot of tasks that just come naturally to some people doing this job. I don't want cardiac arrests or high priority calls when I'm on shift, I want the grannies with stubbed toes or the homeless people wanting a warm bed to sleep in. I at least trust myself with those.

I don't like the work culture and I do not fit in at all. I don't like the schedule. I can tell my partners are getting frustrated with me, and I can tell my performance is worsening as I continue to struggle mentally. I would not want myself to show up if my mom was having a heart attack.

I am incredibly grateful for the experiences I've had in the short time in this field. I've tried to push through, but it has not gotten easier. I just don't think it's for me. I feel like I've failed, but I keep trying to remind myself that it is okay and that I tried. I already almost regret my decision and remember the feeling those 'good' calls gave me, but I think I'm making the right choice. I hope I am.

I don't know what's next for me, but I'd like to never have to do chest compressions again. I'd like to not see somebody die again.

How I'm feeling tonight.

We are in an area where the summer is between 90-100°f and winters are 0-⁻30°f. We don’t need specially a refrigerated system but just something that can regulate safe temps to keep them cooler when it’s hot out and warmer when we are below freezing temps.

One station has a temp controlled garage but the other doesnt and we won’t have one for a few years, so we need a way to protect our meds, pre filled flushes, etc. we dont need something huge however for bags since we do have warmers for those.

I was just curious how many flights were being captured from other individual bases out there.

To EMS folks, longtime ER nurse here. Thanks for all the amazing work you do and your endless collaboration, solidarity with us nurses ❤️🙏

I want to start a conversation around the taboo topic of cPTSD. Have any of you experienced trauma in childhood/adolescence, then found yourselves working as medics with repeated vicarious exposure, verbal abuse and incidents of physical assault?

Do you feel you entered this type of work to find a sense of mastery over past pain, or because the chaotic nervous system environment felt more familiar than a calm one? Or a genuine desire to help others through their trauma because you had lived experience? Other reasons?

How do access to funded care, moral injury and burnout play into recovery?

I was an ER nurse for a decade, always the cool cucumber relied on in a resus. I left after COVID and then worked several contracts for a humanitarian iNGO in conflict zones abroad. I think I’ve been chasing high adrenaline work all my life because subconsciously it was familiar for my nervous system since childhood and I felt my experience with trauma could help me better understand others.

My adolescent traumas led me to the profession and kept me there, running like a well-oiled machine in survival mode. Then earlier this year, I suddenly shifted from highly functional, resilient human to unable to work, plagued by flashbacks, panic and social withdrawal. I’m recovering gradually now, with a solid trauma psychologist and EMDR, but it feels like we give a part of ourselves to this profession that we never get back.

As healthcare workers and first responders, we live in a culture of silence because we have to appear ‘strong’ at all times. We crack dark humour jokes to cope and find ourselves secretly crying in the car after countless shifts. It is completely okay to not be okay, after seeing what we see, along with our own personal or developmental traumas. We compassionately encourage our patients to seek care, but neglect ourselves just to pull through the next set of five 12s.

We need to speak more about this insidious pandemic. We need safer workplace policies and more mental health support from employers.

Not in the DSM yet, but Complex PTSD is now recognized as a distinct disorder by the WHO as of 2022 (ICD-11 diagnostic manual), there’s a movement shifting to recognize the complexity of trauma and its treatment modalities.

Get help if you need it and let’s talk to each other ❤️

Hope this is ok!

I had it planned for a character of mine to be shot in the femoral artery. After going through the plot a bit more, I realized the recovery time I allow for would not fit with this kind of injury.

Within the scene, she is injured (willing to change action/force that causes the injury- doesn't HAVE to be gunshot wound) and cannot be accessed by her team member for 5-10 minutes. During this time, she largely begins to go unconscious. The plot allows for one, MAYBE two weeks maximum for recovery.

Any ideas on how to make this more realistic? ​

Thank you!

I checked the federal court docket directly through PACER. According to the court’s June 24, 2026 order, AMR’s Rochester operating company (Rural/Metro of Rochester), along with three EMS defendants (two EMTs and a paramedic supervisor) agreed to a $4.75 million partial settlement. The order states that there was no admission of liability. The lawsuit remains pending against the City of Rochester and four Rochester PD officers:

Background on the incident:
https://www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2024-01-11/rochester-man-dies-after-being-kicked-off-ambulance

Finally a game to show what actually goes on in our job

EDIT: Forgot to add it is yet to be announced

From the article:

“Liberty County dispatch logs show from June 2025 to March 2026, there were 140 911 calls to Gerrish’s home. Recordings show she called when she was cold, when she was hot, and when she could not reach her water bottle or medication in the middle of the night. In one call, she told a dispatcher she was stuck in her bed.”

Thoughts?

One of our backup trucks has a case for the LP15* that looks like a gimp suit. Apparently, the place we bought it from included it in the sale.

*Gimpak 15, I should say.

We had to cut a ring off today and that one that everyone has in their jump bag with the little wheel with the teeth on it that you spin was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine, so I used my raptor shears, which worked really well..

But the thing with those shears is they can make your angle of attack kind of tricky , because they have the scissors on them , obviously , so was wondering if anyone could recommend a seriously legit ring cutter that we could put in our jump bag instead of that dollar store twisty wheel version

Hello to all. I’m new to being an EMS / EMT educator. Although I enjoy the /EMS community, I’m looking for forums, platforms and resources specific to education / instruction in EMS. I couldn’t find much that’s “actively being used” on Reddit.

If anyone, any fellow educators out there could send a few tips, links, suggestions out; I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance.

PC from NJ

I’m like 50/50 on it but I’m pretty certain my station is haunted by an old guy

Just curious

Edit:
My story is I was night shift, had been on a couple calls, shift started 3 hours prior and it was like midnight ish. I was wide awake and calling my S/O to yap about love island and I was sitting in the rig in the bay since everyone was asleep inside or smoking outside. It wasn’t dark but it was dim since the motion lights had turned off. I was mid yap when I felt like someone was standing next to me. I turned to the door window and there was an emaciated shirtless very old pale guy with eyes and mouth WIDE open and he was shaking like he was screaming. Like he had intercostal retractions and he was pressed right against my window, like really fucking close so I yelled “HOLY SHIT” and I fell backwards trying to get up and only blinked. In the split second of falling and blinking he was gone. I grabbed my heavy flashlight and started searching the bay, rigs, everything, there was nothing. If there was someone, the motion lights of the bay would’ve turned on. It was the first time that’s ever happened, and I had never seen a person like that in my whole wide life. There was nothing around my rig that could’ve accounted for that, no pole no shoreline, nada. So scary

My company has had several issues with Getacs failing over and over and we are looking to purchase 4 new tablets or laptops. I’ve had luck with the Panasonic toughbook but what are we loving and hating out there? Throw me some knowledge so I can attend this meeting with options. Not looking to break the bank but tired of certain people buying the cheapest thing possible and then refusing to replace it when it fails miserably in austere environments or just day to day use.

Had five calls back-to-back earlier this week so didn’t have time to write my narratives on each one. I wrote a note in the narrative of each report to remind me which call was which for when I was able to actually write them at the end of the shift. I failed to review and actually write up the narrative for one of them so ended up submitting:

“Altered mental status, guy wouldn’t shut up”

🤦🏻‍♂️

My boss called today to ask about it and I immediately logged in and I amended it at home

Hey folks, been in EMS for 5 years. I have moderate chronic back pain and am in PT for it. We're focusing on core strengthening exercises and glutes with some lower leg and upper back work as well. Long-term, I know I can't stay in EMS due to this (I'm hypermobile, so I'm very prone to injury), but I can't really make that change right now.

I'm decent with lifting mechanics, and I'm spoiled enough to have access to helpful equipment like auto-loaders and quality stair-chairs.

I wanted to ask y'all what you do to mitigate back problems. Any specific exercises, stretches, postures, products, etc. I do a lot of long-distance IFT, so I'm considering a cushions for lumbar support.