I nearly forgot to post a blog for today. Yesterday due to the lack of calls I finished around 4pm and went back to one of the paramedics homes, along with some of the others. Of course, being in Mexico, the home of tequila, I had to try some of the real stuff. I can certainly say its not like the stuff we have at home, much smoother. Anyway, that is my reason for not posting yesterday, moving on.
This morning started with back to back calls, the first call was to a motorcycle vs lorry accident. As you can imagine, there was no injury to the lorry driver and the motorcyclist wasn't in the best of shape. He had an open fracture to the right radius (lower forearm) and also c-spine tenderness. We splinted and covered the arm, and collared him before log rolling him onto the spinal board. I gained IV access and administered fluids on route to the hospital, as well as giving him some pain relief.
Just after dropping the patient off, we had another call come in. This time, the description of the patient was "Enfermo" which translates to sick. The trouble is, the information given to us on route is often very vague. Every cardiac arrest I have been to whilst over here has been to an "Enfermo" patient, with the exception of those where a motorcycle paramedic was already in attendance. The general population know very little or no first aid and CPR is not widely taught like in the UK. Anyway, I digress, we showed up on scene and after 20 minutes of looking for the patient, we couldn't find them and decided to head back to the ED.
The next patient was a transfer for palliative care, to a home just down the road. The only thing I would say about this patient, is that it took a lot of us to lift him, and we were unable to put the sides up on the stretcher.
The final call of the morning was to an elderly woman with abdominal pain. After doing some obs, her oxygen sats and blood pressure were a little low and she was certainly hyperglycemic. I cannulated, started some fluids and then asked to see any medications she was on.... I was taken to another room where the daughter practically showed me a pharmacy. I think there were two drugs I knew out of 20 or so, It is a little more difficult because it is all in Spanish too. We transferred her to hospital, unfortunately for her almost all of the roads between there and the hospital were old and bumpy.
Throughout the afternoon we had a couple of transfers and not a lot more. I got to see another couple of really nice hospitals that were really well equipped and modern. Whilst waiting around for a call we looked for ways to entertain ourselves, and even came up with an alternative for when you forget your headphones.
(shown below, and yes I know I need a hair cut...)
Nice to know you listen to me!
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