Nice writeup! Spontaneous pneumothorax in tall, skinny guys is one of those things they teach in EMT school. Frankly I’m surprised that an ambulance crew didn’t notice something wrong if they listened to your lung sounds, like they’re supposed to do as part of the secondary assessment?
Also, for suspected cardiac, the ambulance should have stuck sticky wires all over your chest (typically 3, 4, or 12 of them) as soon as they arrived. If you’re hooked up to one of those machines and a paramedic is looking at its readout without getting worried, and there are no alarms going off, that’s a good sign your heart is doing ok.
Good job on the self-advocacy—it really is essential in navigating any medical system. This kind of advocacy is also something that a friend or family member can provide if you’re not in a good enough condition to do it for yourself. Before I even had any medical training, when a dear friend was hospitalized, his IV site was getting red and itchy, and he didn’t want to bother the nurses with it… I happened to be there and made sure to point it out very clearly to the nursing staff as a “hey I don’t think it’s supposed to be that color” thing and they fixed it promptly. When nursing staff is working long shifts and spread between a lot of patients, it genuinely does help them to be clear and specific about exactly what needs their attention.
My wife and I are pretty sure the paramedic checked w/ a stethascope, and so did the doctor when we arrived. But they didn’t mention anything until the x-ray.
The paramedics might not’ve done the pads due to being a few minutes ride from the hospital (I’m literally on the same block as the hospital), but I did recieve them at the hospital (I’ve still got some glue-residue on me actually).
When nursing staff is working long shifts and spread between a lot of patients,
Ya, mine were working 12 hour shifts, 3 days/nights in a row.
Nice writeup! Spontaneous pneumothorax in tall, skinny guys is one of those things they teach in EMT school. Frankly I’m surprised that an ambulance crew didn’t notice something wrong if they listened to your lung sounds, like they’re supposed to do as part of the secondary assessment?
Also, for suspected cardiac, the ambulance should have stuck sticky wires all over your chest (typically 3, 4, or 12 of them) as soon as they arrived. If you’re hooked up to one of those machines and a paramedic is looking at its readout without getting worried, and there are no alarms going off, that’s a good sign your heart is doing ok.
Good job on the self-advocacy—it really is essential in navigating any medical system. This kind of advocacy is also something that a friend or family member can provide if you’re not in a good enough condition to do it for yourself. Before I even had any medical training, when a dear friend was hospitalized, his IV site was getting red and itchy, and he didn’t want to bother the nurses with it… I happened to be there and made sure to point it out very clearly to the nursing staff as a “hey I don’t think it’s supposed to be that color” thing and they fixed it promptly. When nursing staff is working long shifts and spread between a lot of patients, it genuinely does help them to be clear and specific about exactly what needs their attention.
My wife and I are pretty sure the paramedic checked w/ a stethascope, and so did the doctor when we arrived. But they didn’t mention anything until the x-ray.
The paramedics might not’ve done the pads due to being a few minutes ride from the hospital (I’m literally on the same block as the hospital), but I did recieve them at the hospital (I’ve still got some glue-residue on me actually).
Ya, mine were working 12 hour shifts, 3 days/nights in a row.