Calls That Catch Us Off Guard

In this episode, Steve presents two trauma case studies for the group to discuss. While patient care in both of these calls went well, and these scenarios provide an overview of successful extrication and patient management following both an MVA and significant blunt force trauma, the distinguishing factor in each is a particular element that caught Steve “off guard” and forced him to revisit the call days or weeks later. As first responders, we often arrive on scenes that we assume will be “routine” or similar to calls we have been to before; however, it is essential to understand that sometimes there are elements of a call that, while on scene, may not affect our patient care or ability to perform, but later they stick with us and prevent us from adequately processing the call. The element that sticks or “catches us off guard” will vary, but the result is often the same...the memory refuses to file itself into our mental Rolodex of calls properly. It is like a page of a book that has folded and torn, catching on the pages around it and preventing the book from closing properly. For these calls, we hope to recognize these “sticking points” and seek help from a trusted mental health professional to prevent these points from gumming up the surrounding mental space and preventing us from processing all incoming information and future calls.

This episode provides an interesting insight into trauma patient assessment, management, and transport. However, it also emphasizes the work we, as healthcare providers and first responders, must do to maintain pique mental health and continue to provide a high level of care to patients in unpredictable and ever-changing scenarios.