119
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by MedicPigBabySaver@sopuli.xyz to c/youshouldknow@lemmy.world

Why YSK: If you're injured or ill but it's not life or limb threatening and you decide to call an ambulance thinking it'll be faster and you'll be seen first... WRONG. Ambulance crews very frequently will advise the hospital staff that you "can wait". Then we'll plop you into a wheel chair and push you into the waiting room with everyone else.

top 35 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] hyperyog@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Can you add "Why YSK:" to the start of your text body as stated in Rule 2? Thanks!

[-] misterundercoat@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

Don't worry. As an American, I don't entertain the thought of calling an ambulance for anything less than life threatening.

[-] CrazyEddie041@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago

If it's merely life-threatening, then I'll wait for an Uber.

[-] demonicbullet@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah I gotta actively be on the way out before I'm gonna hop in the ambulance willingly.

[-] Kaiser@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

A lot of places are moving to “soft billing” where you’ll be sent a bill but if you don’t pay it’s written off; or no billing for residents. (Assuming you habe government run EMS and not private)

As an volunteer EMT I hate hearing that a pt doesn’t want to be transported because of the price. Life saving care shouldn’t be cost prohibitive, I’m glad my jurisdiction changed as this became more common.

[-] DarkTides@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

American healthcare sounds fun... It's like they always have to be on their toes and learning new tips and tricks to save money on it.

[-] medicsofanarchy@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

This is quite true, with one exception: It would be very wrong for any medic or EMT to tell a receiving nurse "that you can wait". I am a paramedic in Virgina, USA, and that's not how we do things. We deliver the patient to the ER, tell the nurse the patient's chief complaint, our findings, and any other pertinent information. We do not presume to diagnose the patient or suggest treatment modalities or strategies. The nurse passes our information and any new findings to the doctor. It is ALWAYS the doctor who tells the nurse to find a staff member to wheel a non-emergent patient out of the emergency room. very often, as you point out.

[-] MedicPigBabySaver@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

When hubby & wife meet you at end of driveway. Hubby has "flu like symptoms" and wifey follows the ambulance for the 2.5 minute ride to the ER... you better believe the first words out of my mouth to the triage nurse will be: "This guy can wait."

[-] TheRealBoner@lemm.ee 22 points 1 year ago

Also.. In the US a lot of people don’t want to call an ambulance because of the cost, BUT it doesn’t cost anything for them to show up and assess whether you need to go in an ambulance or not. So if you are in a potentially life threatening situation, you should call 911. They can show up, potentially save your life, and then have a friend transport you.

[-] Sjy@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

It isn’t common but some places do charge for an “assessment” in the US. It’s relatively cheap compared to a transport, like $50-75 at least that’s what I know from my experience and I’ve only ever worked at one place that did that.

[-] demonicbullet@lemmy.fmhy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Huh, seen this bug on Reddit and now Lemmy, weird.

[-] Sjy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

It isn’t common but some places do charge for an “assessment” in the US. It’s relatively cheap compared to a transport, like $50-75 at least that’s what I know from my experience and I’ve only ever worked at one place that did that.

[-] Sjy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

It isn’t common but some places do charge for an “assessment” in the US. It’s relatively cheap compared to a transport, like $50-75 at least that’s what I know from my experience and I’ve only ever worked at one place that did that.

[-] webghost0101@lemmy.fmhy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

Lemmy just upvote all three of these just because i am also new.

[-] Evono@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

Comes up to the country.

In Germany if you think you have something serious CALL 112 and ask for an ambulance ASAP you will be put in the next hospital with space put instantly in and get care ASAP

While going on feet / yourself to emergency care can take literarily hours.

[-] koorool@feddit.de 8 points 1 year ago

And it will either be free or cost almost nothing.

Why it's important to know? There was a question from American student in Germany on r/germany. They had an abdomen pain and roommate called an ambulance without asking. Student was terrified as they thought it won't be able to pay the bill afterwards. American health system sucks :(

[-] Evono@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

ye it will cost you in worst case 40 euro for the ambulance and 10 € per day for max 24 days per year if you need to stay in hospital. thats it.

[-] notacat@lemmy.fmhy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

10€ per day for a hospital stay just absolutely blows my mind. A quick google says the average cost in the U.S. is around $2800 per day. So 28,000% higher. This is why two thirds of bankruptcies in the US are from medical debt. U.S. #1!

[-] Evono@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

And you know what 10 per day is any station doesn't matter if normal ems or intensive care, surgery's or whatever and for max 24 days per year. I just was at the hospital with my mother she had a grade 1 burn that was close to 2 and no doctors had open so yeah she didn't pay a cent and got enough stuff for the weekend to go on Monday to a normal doctor.

[-] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago

If you want to be treated sooner, arrive with a more serious injury.

spoilerI do not recommend this.

[-] _MoveSwiftly@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

Thus is the first use of a spoiler I've seen on Lemmy, and I like it.

[-] vaseline@lemmy.fmhy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Does jerboa support spoilers?

[-] _MoveSwiftly@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Could you please add a "Why YSK:"? Thank you. :)

[-] bloubz@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 year ago

this seems quite country specific. Care sharing which one?

[-] derf82@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago

Triage is common throughout the world. I don’t believe anywhere will ambulance service automatically get you seen sooner.

[-] bloubz@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

i think you could be surprised how different things can function in a country different than the US. Especially the medical system. So it could be interesting to have that conversation. I work in the medical field but nowhere near a hospital so can't bring much

[-] Maven 4 points 1 year ago

I've had to take ambulances many times in my country, and it's the same here. Triage is triage, I would be shocked if it worked differently... anywhere. If ambulances got you seen faster, it would be at the expense of someone who needed treatment more, and that's bad from both a healthcare perspective (you will save fewer patients) and a financial perspective (dead patients don't pay).

[-] bloubz@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 year ago

That's fair and logical arguments. But I guess you are already kind of treated in the ambulance, and if it's not long to finish treating you fully after that, would they do it so they can dismiss you and focus on the rest of the patients?

[-] Maven 2 points 1 year ago

Ambulances don't really "treat" you, except in the simplest of cases. A paramedic/EMT is not a doctor. Their training is largely in stabilizing you, that is, making sure you don't die before you get to the hospital, where you enter the triage system. They haven't treated you, they've only done their best to keep the problem from getting worse. (I'm not saying this isn't a valuable skill, just that it's not the same as "kind of treating" you)

[-] TheAmishMan@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

At the same point though, isn't that like the ambulance crew acting like a first step of triage? Like it sounds like they're doing their job, assessing your security and prioritizing those that do need it? I mean if you have a broken arm or feeling not well and called an ambulance, i want to be taking care of the guy that came in coding and needing CPR not focusing on someone who will likely be alive in the next minute, compared to the guy who isn't breathing

[-] Rohbtc@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Oh? Here in Canada the paramedics actually stay with you until you get admitted.

[-] MuskX@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that's what they did with me when I went in a couple of weeks ago here in Australia (non-critical car accident). The paramedics hung around and I stayed on their ambulance stretcher until I went into an Emergency bed.

[-] surewhynotlem@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Congratulations! You actually just learned about triage.

When we called an ambulance for my wife, they were able to diagnose her on the way in and she went straight into a room for immediate care. It was urgent.

Ambulances are not a Fast Pass to be seen. They're medical care on the way to the hospital.

[-] Kaiser@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

In my jurisdiction this is false. (USA near DC). This realt depends on the hospital system. If you come in on an ambulance (with a legitimate illness or injury) you will get placed in a room by EMS and EMS will transfer your care to hospital staff (either a RN or MD) before leaving you. On the rare instance that I have moved a patient to the waiting room at thr request of hospital staff is with a patients that did not need present with any need to be seen.

I have never recommended that a patient can wait, that is outside of my scope of practice and is not advocating for my pt. The extent of my interaction with the hospital is laying out the facts of the pt conditions (vitals,  pertinent medical information, and history)

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 17 Jun 2023
119 points (91.6% liked)

You Should Know

32152 readers
6 users here now

YSK - for all the things that can make your life easier!

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with YSK.

All posts must begin with YSK. If you're a Mastodon user, then include YSK after @youshouldknow. This is a community to share tips and tricks that will help you improve your life.



Rule 2- Your post body text must include the reason "Why" YSK:

**In your post's text body, you must include the reason "Why" YSK: It’s helpful for readability, and informs readers about the importance of the content. **



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-YSK posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-YSK posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

If you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- The majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities:

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

Credits

Our icon(masterpiece) was made by @clen15!

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS