How do paramedics attend to car crashes?
Safety first! When you’re coming up to a car crash in your ambulance, you always make sure to park in a safe spot, and see if there’s anything that might hurt you or your partner (traffic, explosions, crazy guys with weapons, etc.). Triage! How many patients do you have and who’s hurt the worst? Then ask yourself, “Do I have all the help I need?” (fire department, law enforcement, more ambulances, what about a helicopter?) “First of all do no harm.” Your patient may have injuries that require them to be kept perfectly still. One of the first things we do in a car crash is to help hold a person’s head still in case of a neck injury. Check the basics! See if your patient is awake and can answer questions appropriately (do you know where you are? do you know what day it is?). See if your patient is breathing ok. If not, gotta’ fix it. Is your patient bleeding? If so, gotta’ fix it. Make a decision! How stable is my patient? In other words: can they wait for us to take our time and provide
