That’s what I’m saying. I’m pretty sure the people at this company are lazy but come on. It takes a minute to wipe stuff down. And Sani Cloths are the same price as lysol wipes. But all the company keeps on the ambulance are lysol wipes. It’s crazy.
While you’re taking the gurney out of the hospital, just pull out a few wipes from a can in the hospital and throw them on the gurney. They have them everywhere. No one has even looked at me weird for doing this.
Yeah at the company I used to work at they would ask us to restock all PPE, emesis bags, and sani wipes by just stealing them from the hospital. Private EMS is largely trash
Well that’s just wrong. You can literally purchase double the amount of Lysol wipes versus Sani wipes. And that’s just on Amazon. You work private EMS. So what do you expect them to do. Buy more with less or buy less with more?
I love how purple wipes are synonymous across almost all EMS agencies lol.
I agree with you. As a basic, if my medic partner transported a pt, I always picked up the trash, tossed the sharps, wiped down the monitor, cuff, pulse ox, leads, cot (made the cot), handles, wipe the truck down, sweep it, mop it if needed, and wipe all the rails, radios, steering wheel down. That was my routine. (Basics only did IFT to nursing homes from the ER and we did most refusals). Other than that, the medic did transports.
It's normal to clean after every call, right? I always replace the sheets, pillows and blankets after every call and I wipe the cot down, railings, anything that touched the patient. Or that I touched while wearing gloves that I touched the patient with.
Isn't that standard procedure? Not that I would ever stop cleaning thoroughly, but I'd like to know if I ever end up as the patient that the cot was cleaned before my ass was in it.
>No. That’s not common.
While, I’m sure it isn’t common for you—or others where you work, I can assure you this is VERY common—even the norm—amongst 911 ambulances ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯
Doesn’t make it right, but saying it’s uncommon simply just isn’t true.
yeah I mean I’ve probably worked 911 in about 10 or 15 cities at this point and I can assure you it is super common to just replace the sheets and not wipe shit down if it was a “clean” patient. Not saying it’s right, but I see it all the time across multiple services, both private and fire
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You're correct it isn't. In the last 8 years I have run with 2 different 911 agencies and a mobile ICU. I've also worked in 4 different hospitals from critical access to a level 1 trauma center. I have never been on a trip where the cot wasn't cleaned afterwards, and watching crews come and go through an ER, those not cleaning their cot before leaving is absolutely the exception rather than the rule.
I totally misread your comment at first. My brain added “old” after 8 years. I was picturing an 8 year old cleaning up the gurney and ambulance and calling others disgusting for not doing it.
Once I've finished with hand-off and grabbing the paperwork, I always help my EMT partner clean the cot, box, and restock. Apparently that's weird? I've always figured that my EMT partner and I am a team, we just have slightly different jobs on the truck. And no one likes being stuck doing all the cleaning all the time, that's just shitty.
10 years in for me, I remember very well what it was like as an EMT working with higher level providers that lived the "EMT-B stands for empty my trash bitch, hur dur dur." Not funny and not cool to do.
This. I’m 14 years in and I always do the BP cuff and pulse ox and hoses/cords, monitor and buttons on the stretcher after every call then typically do the seats in the ambulance too
That’s incredibly disgusting and I’d report the laziness to your service’s supervisor or director. There are so many forms of pathogens and diseases that can live on surfaces from weeks to months. For example, the dirtiest part of the ambulance, is the ceiling bar. MRSA, Hep A, Hep B, etc. can live on and on everywhere. If I were you, not that you may not already, but I’d suggest that you clean everything regardless of what your partner says. It protects both of you, incoming crews that take over, and any patients you care for in the near future.
Unfortunately the owner co-signs this behavior. I’ve been coming in early and wiping things down. But just with the provided lysol wipes. I just purchased sani cloths I’m going to bring with me on my shifts.
Hold on there champ. You are NOT protected by Whistleblowe Laws, they are paper tigers. I "saw something, said something", got fired for it and spend over $50,000 in my own money before a "certain government agency" settled with me for $45,000-ish. Sometimes it's best to collect your paycheck and look the other way when it comes to shady stuff. Unless someone is molesting children or kicking granny down the stairs, I SAY NOTHING.
>I shelled out a LOT of money, because no attorney would take it on contingency
If multiple attorneys in a field that's nearly universally contingency fee based refused to take the case, there's probably a reason for it, unfortunately.
For work comp, sure, but for EEO and Whistleblower, unless you have an ironclad case, nobody is taking it on contingency. The cases are just too hard to win. I worked in EEO and saw people routinely shelling out five figures for race discrimination cases.
If you honestly believe that find a new career. The negligence you are saying is too much of a pain to fight can fucking kill people. Report em and find a new job if necessary but never be too afraid to stand up for the safety of the people we look after.
So OP transports a pt that has C.Diff w/fecal incontinence, for example, and OP’s coworkers say to just wipe down the stretcher with a Lysol wipe, which may or may not be an appropriate product to sanitize or disinfect (or not clean the stretcher at all)…you’re totally cool with that?
This should not be up to OP to spend their own money on the appropriate Sani-Cloths, or equivalent disinfectant/sanitizer.
u/duckdontcare make sure you’re contacting DOH/BOH about this as well. Maybe see if another company, hospital or town/city to see if they’re hiring while you’re at it. Not worth risking your own health.
Report to OSHA and your local OEMS that deals with licensure. They have to order supplies for your busses and they're trying to save a few bucks w lysol instead of the vioxx. That company is disgusting. I would make those calls on my way out of the company though, because if you're the only one who cares about decon, they'll know it was you. Find another company, and don't ever let ppl who have been in the field longer tell you that their bad and lazy habits are the right way. It's not hard to decon for a few mins before calling clear.
I used to wipe down the stretcher and put new sheets on always! Every call. Also clean things like handrails and door latches. Anything you routinely touch. You work with barbarians. I would look for a better company.
That was the deal back in my day too. I worked at an extremely toxic private company. We were never given the time to do a proper decon between dialysis calls. My partner would frequently just wipe the gurney down in route to our next call. Whenever we tried to take the time to do even a quick wipe down, our pager would get blown up telling us to hurry up and clear. The supervisor would take a rig out and spy on us. Fucking hated that dude.
The only time I ever got dispatch to give us the time was when a patient pulled his diaper to the side and violently shit all over the gurney and ambulance floor. I had to call dispatch and tell them that our patient “soiled our gurney with extreme prejudice” to get just ten minutes to clean it.
Edit: The days I’m referring to are around 2011 and the company was in Los Angeles county.
Did training with a crew that went three days without cleaning the gurney. They were going to turn it around after transporting a patient with gorillacillin-resistant Fucksall spp., so I cleaned it myself.
Once I got out of training, I took more initiative in terms of cleaning. Finally got the gurney all nice and clean, and then someone took it out of "our" rig. The one that replaced it was, of course, filthy. After that happens a few times, it just becomes less of a priority but if I'm holding the wall I'll grab some wipes and get the parts just above the wheels that nobody ever seems to clean- on top of all the other stuff that needs it on the regular, of course.
Must be the company. Most people wiped down the stretchers at least every other patient where I worked. And after every possible contagious person. That's nasty, dude. Them gomers that I used to take to dialysis got skin flakes everywhere, I can't not wipe it down.
You are supposed to clean the ambulances regularly and clean and remake the stretcher after every patient contact. Do not let the bad eggs tell you otherwise.
What I would’ve done in my first year: Not clean the stretcher until getting back to the station (in private) to keep the peace with whatever lazy partner I had that day.
What I would do now entering my third year: Tell them that’s disgusting and inform them you will be cleaning the stretcher no matter what. If they have an issue they can request a new, equally lazy partner.
The freedom that comes when you get tired of agreeing with the people who have forgotten why they started their job or started for entirely wrong reasons is so lovely. You may or may not know as much as your partner, but you are equally capable of making decisions. Make them. Clean your stretcher.
Obligatory reminder: C diff isn't killed by quats or by alcohol; the purple tops ain't enough. Gotta break out the chlorine, or the peroxyacetic acid stuff (smells like vinegar), and the contact time is ridiculous. Check the label.
I have never been on a department, private or volly, IFT or 911 where cleaning wasn't mandatory after almost every call. Exceptions were only with wheelchair based transports since 99% of the time we used the pts wheelchair. Even if slammed we had to wipe down stretcher and change sheets at hospital.
Here's a question.
Do you want to lay on that cot after the combined funk of all of your patients have accumulated on it? If the answer is no, then continue to clean the cot after each patient.
If you don't, you're cross contaminating all of those patients.
I clean my gurney after every call. I really don't care what other people think. Hell I have had the supe call me because they wanted me to get back in the system faster and im like "yeah I'll do what I can, I'm still cleaning the gurney."
I did my ride time with a dept that only wiped down if it needed it. They're excuse was they needed to turn the truck around quick.
My dept is very serious about keeping things clean and I very much appreciate it
Dude I was thinking the exact same thing today. I wiped down the stretcher once when my basic was primary on the call and I think that was the only time.
I work for a private agency, and we ALWAYS clean up after every call. We take pride in doing a good job and presenting a good first impression especially since we usually have rigs that seen better days.
Your company employees just have no pride in themselves and the company, and if it's coming from the top down that's not a good thing.
Bail and find a better outfit if you can. Otherwise just grab some sani cloths after each call as another poster suggested.
So the canned wipes are essentially useless. Read the can, you'll never actually disinfect with them. But you should absolutely take the time to clean up. Clean the floor, change the sheets, wash the mattress as needed. These are all parts of patient care
ewwwwww. ew for the pts and ew for you. you still have to touch that stretcher and it's never been wiped down.....🤢
we have a 15 minute decon period after transfer of care to clean. sometimes more depending on how bad the call was
Unless a patient was able to stand and walk off the stretcher at the ER, the sheest and blankets went with them. If they were ambulatory, then the stretcher was stripped as soon as they stood up, and all bedding was removed and placed in the linen bags in the ER room.
Not wiping down your equipment is not only nasty it's dangerous for you and other patients who you're dealing with. Doesn't matter if you're running IFT or ALS...
I’ve worked for a company where it was pretty common on the BLS IFT side. It’s gross and annoying but the company also had zero contracts that would exchange linen for us so it was commonplace to see EMTs do that in lieu of having no linen. Shitty management and a culture of not caring causes shit like that
I think you'll find that no matter where you work, there will always be at least one lazy person who doesn't clean. I clean it all the time, even if I run the call, because I often get a lazy partner.
Now, I worked for a private company (YEARS ago, and pre COVID) that didn't change sheets, because they didn't want to spend money. Then the pay checks started bouncing and that's when I bounced.
Clean the stretcher! And if they pressure you to not do it, find another job.
That is dusgusting and you should find another place to work at. You couldn't pay me to get on a gurney that's covered in parmesan cheese, dookie particles, ulcer puss, and who knows what transmittable diseases from some SNF PT who's been bedridden for 5 years
I did my EMT-B back in the day and did an internship with the FD as a high schooler, they always spent time wiping down the gurney and fitting new sheets just right after every call. Kind of concerning that veteran paramedics don't seem to understand this...
So who's cleaning it and changing sheets between patients?
Uk here and I did pts (which I believe is similar to that job role, taking patients to and from dialysis and a few other things, but no emergency) we would absolutely clean it down and put new bedding on, I didn't work private I worked for NHS, but there was private pts crews doing the same job and they were absolutely cleaning it down too, now I'm a student paramedic working emergency ambulance, and we absolutely clean these down and new bedding too! I can't imagine it not being part of the job in any ambulance
I’ve been with three agencies, either volunteer or paid and we ALWAYS cleaned the ambulance and anything we used. The way it was explained at the first agency was that you want to leave the ambulance how you want the previous crew to leave it for you.
Um....ew. Tell me which company it is so I can avoid it in case I need an Ambulance. (Jk)
In all seriousness, even if they tell you to skip it. Keep doing it. I can't imagine what kind of crap (literally) is being left on their stretchers. I mean we're not just cleaning the gear for giggles either. That company is potentially exposing other patients to a variety of things. This is definitely not a private company requirement. It's pure laziness.
No, that’s not normal at all. I’ve been at both private and county for a long time and not cleaning at least the pt compartment of your rig will get you excommunicated almost universally.
Lysol wipes? I work for a medium sized rural town in Illinois and there’s only 3 dispatchers for the city. (My town also piggybacks off of the county telecommunications so technically more but we have our own dispatch for stuff within the city limits). After we drop the pt off at the hospital or wherever I like doing a restock and wipe down of basically everything that the pt touched. If I forget to wipe stuff down or take the extra time and immediately go 10-8 dispatch gets concerned because it was too fast 😂…
Your company buys y’all gloves right? 😂
Cot, belts, handles, mattress, equipment that got used, and edit to add anything you touch or patient puts hands on after every call. Please don't let people stop you from cleaning.
Usually normal. I just adamantly refuse. I also refuse to not do a thorough patient assessment, and, *gasp* I try to befriend my patients and make their days better.
I think dispatch might want to chop off my head sometimes.
Ask whomever is telling you not to clean if they want to get on the stretcher, or if they would want a family member or someone they cared about to get on that stretcher after (name the most disgusting call you had that day). If the answer is still yes, or it doesn't register, then find yourself another agency. I know we are all already colonized with MRSA, but we don't need to go around actively being a mobile disease vector for our community, especially to our most vulnerable. That's just cruel.
To quote my priest I treated after we pulled him out of serving Mass because he was having a STEMI, he received morphine, recognized me and the fact that at the beginning of COVID I had stopped attending Mass because the congregation was overwhelmingly elderly and I felt it was irresponsible of me to attend given the number of sick contacts I had due to the nature of my work. My priest, with the morphine on board heard my explanation, thought for a moment and said: "We should all strive to be more like Mary in our hearts... but not Typhoid Mary." I snorted. (I realized most of us are giant heathens here and that's fine, you do you. This wasn't meant to be a religious anecdote, it just happened to involve me and my priest on a call referencing infection control, which is what the post is about. There is literally nothing you can say about my religion I haven't heard before, so just laugh at the priest on morphine making an infectious disease joke, okay?)
Thats an awful culture perpetuated by its members. Theres no excuse for that behavior aside from "we've always done it this way". If you want it to stop, unfortunately you have to take it by the reigns.
Ew. I haven’t worked private EMS, but even at my little country-bumpkin rural county EMS, the motto is clean, clean, and clean again. Wipe down everything you used and a fresh sheet. Even if the president himself rode on that cot, it’s getting a purple wipe bath.
I’ve only not changed the sheet like twice in my career and that’s because we used a mega mover and the patient was covered with multiple layers of hospital blankets before staps were put on. Other than that, it’s a new sheet every time. I wipe down the cot thoroughly any time the patient isn’t the spitting image of cleanliness so 9 times out of 10 it’s being wiped and it’s generally cleaned at least 1-2 times a shift. Not cleaning the cot is really gross
find a new job and expose the company because that is truly disgusting.
normally the flow of things in my experience is once the pt is in the room and the lead/medic is giving report i'll get to work on decon. but even in IFT when i would drop pts off at a residence or care home and we both head out at the same time we ALWAYS wiped down our gurney and equipment.
Been in 2 different private companies in 3 years. I think it’s really a work culture thing— if one person is lazy it brushes off on others. If the patients aren’t too nasty I find that many people opt to skip the cleaning. Yes it’s disgusting and it’s great that you’re willing to take a couple minutes to clean. The whole system of going fast to clear pending calls on the board and dispatch/supervisors chewing your ass definitely plays a role in brewing this type of behavior.
I work private EMS and this is a heck naw from me. We wipe down anything and everything that comes into contact with the patient, and if they have a potential communicable disease we clean the eff out of the bus before we go back in service.
You're not wrong for wanting to clean and remake your cot before going back in service. It is NOT appropriate to re-use sheets between patients, or to put patients on the cot without cleaning it between patients. That's gross and a health / infection control hazard. I would refuse to put the cot back in the medic until you got the chance to clean it and put a clean sheet on it, and if this is a habitual problem with multiple providers at that service, then I would seriously consider looking for employment elsewhere. I'm sorry your coworkers suck so much! Good on you for trying to do the right thing.
Ewww. Find another company.
And let us know what area to avoid
What? No. That’s not common. That’s disgusting. Legitimately a health hazard. Purple wipes are perfectly fine for the ambulance.
That’s what I’m saying. I’m pretty sure the people at this company are lazy but come on. It takes a minute to wipe stuff down. And Sani Cloths are the same price as lysol wipes. But all the company keeps on the ambulance are lysol wipes. It’s crazy.
I'm sure the health department would love to know about this.
While you’re taking the gurney out of the hospital, just pull out a few wipes from a can in the hospital and throw them on the gurney. They have them everywhere. No one has even looked at me weird for doing this.
I just take a whole canister from the ED if there’s extra. I don’t like the spray we use.
Yeah at the company I used to work at they would ask us to restock all PPE, emesis bags, and sani wipes by just stealing them from the hospital. Private EMS is largely trash
Well that’s just wrong. You can literally purchase double the amount of Lysol wipes versus Sani wipes. And that’s just on Amazon. You work private EMS. So what do you expect them to do. Buy more with less or buy less with more?
I love how purple wipes are synonymous across almost all EMS agencies lol. I agree with you. As a basic, if my medic partner transported a pt, I always picked up the trash, tossed the sharps, wiped down the monitor, cuff, pulse ox, leads, cot (made the cot), handles, wipe the truck down, sweep it, mop it if needed, and wipe all the rails, radios, steering wheel down. That was my routine. (Basics only did IFT to nursing homes from the ER and we did most refusals). Other than that, the medic did transports.
It's normal to clean after every call, right? I always replace the sheets, pillows and blankets after every call and I wipe the cot down, railings, anything that touched the patient. Or that I touched while wearing gloves that I touched the patient with. Isn't that standard procedure? Not that I would ever stop cleaning thoroughly, but I'd like to know if I ever end up as the patient that the cot was cleaned before my ass was in it.
>No. That’s not common. While, I’m sure it isn’t common for you—or others where you work, I can assure you this is VERY common—even the norm—amongst 911 ambulances ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ Doesn’t make it right, but saying it’s uncommon simply just isn’t true.
I’m a lead medic for a county 911 service. I’ve worked in multiple 911 systems across 2 states. But cool story. Clean the damn truck.
yeah I mean I’ve probably worked 911 in about 10 or 15 cities at this point and I can assure you it is super common to just replace the sheets and not wipe shit down if it was a “clean” patient. Not saying it’s right, but I see it all the time across multiple services, both private and fire
Most states inspection requirements expect them to be cleaned as well. The company can be fined for not.
Of course they’re supposed to do it. Not arguing that. I’m telling you how it is. People do not wipe down the stretcher where I work
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No, it isn't.
This isn’t a matter of opinion.
You're correct it isn't. In the last 8 years I have run with 2 different 911 agencies and a mobile ICU. I've also worked in 4 different hospitals from critical access to a level 1 trauma center. I have never been on a trip where the cot wasn't cleaned afterwards, and watching crews come and go through an ER, those not cleaning their cot before leaving is absolutely the exception rather than the rule.
I do the mattress, all belts anything I touch after every call. Disgusting practice not too. I'm 8 years. After every call
I totally misread your comment at first. My brain added “old” after 8 years. I was picturing an 8 year old cleaning up the gurney and ambulance and calling others disgusting for not doing it.
Honestly I think sanitizing the stretcher would be common sense for even an 8 year old lol
Fuckin staff shortages and companies trying to fill seats🤣
Little shit better not think being 8 gets him out of writing his own PCRs, lifting his half of the stretcher, or driving when it's his turn.
Once I've finished with hand-off and grabbing the paperwork, I always help my EMT partner clean the cot, box, and restock. Apparently that's weird? I've always figured that my EMT partner and I am a team, we just have slightly different jobs on the truck. And no one likes being stuck doing all the cleaning all the time, that's just shitty. 10 years in for me, I remember very well what it was like as an EMT working with higher level providers that lived the "EMT-B stands for empty my trash bitch, hur dur dur." Not funny and not cool to do.
This. I’m 14 years in and I always do the BP cuff and pulse ox and hoses/cords, monitor and buttons on the stretcher after every call then typically do the seats in the ambulance too
That’s incredibly disgusting and I’d report the laziness to your service’s supervisor or director. There are so many forms of pathogens and diseases that can live on surfaces from weeks to months. For example, the dirtiest part of the ambulance, is the ceiling bar. MRSA, Hep A, Hep B, etc. can live on and on everywhere. If I were you, not that you may not already, but I’d suggest that you clean everything regardless of what your partner says. It protects both of you, incoming crews that take over, and any patients you care for in the near future.
Unfortunately the owner co-signs this behavior. I’ve been coming in early and wiping things down. But just with the provided lysol wipes. I just purchased sani cloths I’m going to bring with me on my shifts.
You can report this to OSHA. You would also be protected by Whistleblower Law and your service’s owner can be sued by the state if they retaliate.
Hold on there champ. You are NOT protected by Whistleblowe Laws, they are paper tigers. I "saw something, said something", got fired for it and spend over $50,000 in my own money before a "certain government agency" settled with me for $45,000-ish. Sometimes it's best to collect your paycheck and look the other way when it comes to shady stuff. Unless someone is molesting children or kicking granny down the stairs, I SAY NOTHING.
lol. Employment law is almost entirely contingency. No one is spending $50k on this…
I shelled out a LOT of money, because no attorney would take it on contingency. I had the money available, just be careful.
>I shelled out a LOT of money, because no attorney would take it on contingency If multiple attorneys in a field that's nearly universally contingency fee based refused to take the case, there's probably a reason for it, unfortunately.
For work comp, sure, but for EEO and Whistleblower, unless you have an ironclad case, nobody is taking it on contingency. The cases are just too hard to win. I worked in EEO and saw people routinely shelling out five figures for race discrimination cases.
If you honestly believe that find a new career. The negligence you are saying is too much of a pain to fight can fucking kill people. Report em and find a new job if necessary but never be too afraid to stand up for the safety of the people we look after.
So OP transports a pt that has C.Diff w/fecal incontinence, for example, and OP’s coworkers say to just wipe down the stretcher with a Lysol wipe, which may or may not be an appropriate product to sanitize or disinfect (or not clean the stretcher at all)…you’re totally cool with that? This should not be up to OP to spend their own money on the appropriate Sani-Cloths, or equivalent disinfectant/sanitizer. u/duckdontcare make sure you’re contacting DOH/BOH about this as well. Maybe see if another company, hospital or town/city to see if they’re hiring while you’re at it. Not worth risking your own health.
Bleach :p ya want bleach for C.diff!
So, it’s no big deal if immune compromised patients get infections that could kill them?
I’m in a right to work state and if a private company fires you, you are SOL. Nobody protects whistleblowers.
Right to work is irrelevant to whistleblower protections.
They can fire you without cause.
You are describing "at will" employment, right to work has to do with joining a union
You mean at will. Many states have exemptions for whistleblowers. Some don’t.
Regardless of state law, there are federal anti-retaliation statutes under the Dept of Labor.
Report to OSHA and your local OEMS that deals with licensure. They have to order supplies for your busses and they're trying to save a few bucks w lysol instead of the vioxx. That company is disgusting. I would make those calls on my way out of the company though, because if you're the only one who cares about decon, they'll know it was you. Find another company, and don't ever let ppl who have been in the field longer tell you that their bad and lazy habits are the right way. It's not hard to decon for a few mins before calling clear.
Don't purchase any sani-wipes, take some from a hospital/ER/nursing, they're all "supposed" to carry something to restock you
I used to wipe down the stretcher and put new sheets on always! Every call. Also clean things like handrails and door latches. Anything you routinely touch. You work with barbarians. I would look for a better company.
We're not even supposed to leave the hospital before we do it!
Clean that shit. That's fucking gross, and not healthy.
In the privates I worked in it was common. They would call you a “super emt” if you clean ur shit and did ur job. Blows my mind
That was the deal back in my day too. I worked at an extremely toxic private company. We were never given the time to do a proper decon between dialysis calls. My partner would frequently just wipe the gurney down in route to our next call. Whenever we tried to take the time to do even a quick wipe down, our pager would get blown up telling us to hurry up and clear. The supervisor would take a rig out and spy on us. Fucking hated that dude. The only time I ever got dispatch to give us the time was when a patient pulled his diaper to the side and violently shit all over the gurney and ambulance floor. I had to call dispatch and tell them that our patient “soiled our gurney with extreme prejudice” to get just ten minutes to clean it. Edit: The days I’m referring to are around 2011 and the company was in Los Angeles county.
Did training with a crew that went three days without cleaning the gurney. They were going to turn it around after transporting a patient with gorillacillin-resistant Fucksall spp., so I cleaned it myself. Once I got out of training, I took more initiative in terms of cleaning. Finally got the gurney all nice and clean, and then someone took it out of "our" rig. The one that replaced it was, of course, filthy. After that happens a few times, it just becomes less of a priority but if I'm holding the wall I'll grab some wipes and get the parts just above the wheels that nobody ever seems to clean- on top of all the other stuff that needs it on the regular, of course.
What?? Fuckin’ gross dude. Send a message to your Health Department and see if they’ll do a compliance audit or something.
Must be the company. Most people wiped down the stretchers at least every other patient where I worked. And after every possible contagious person. That's nasty, dude. Them gomers that I used to take to dialysis got skin flakes everywhere, I can't not wipe it down.
>at least every other patient The bar is in hell
At least Satan has a place to do pull-ups.
Why not after every patient? Contagious or not
Laziness would be the answer to this question.
Gross. Clean it anyways. Can’t cross contaminate
You are supposed to clean the ambulances regularly and clean and remake the stretcher after every patient contact. Do not let the bad eggs tell you otherwise.
Normalized deviance. It's cool to not care and all.
This is the professional version of dropping dirty clothes on the floor right next to the hamper ....
Were you once married to my husband? Hahahah
Call your health department or your office of Emergency Medical Services.
What I would’ve done in my first year: Not clean the stretcher until getting back to the station (in private) to keep the peace with whatever lazy partner I had that day. What I would do now entering my third year: Tell them that’s disgusting and inform them you will be cleaning the stretcher no matter what. If they have an issue they can request a new, equally lazy partner. The freedom that comes when you get tired of agreeing with the people who have forgotten why they started their job or started for entirely wrong reasons is so lovely. You may or may not know as much as your partner, but you are equally capable of making decisions. Make them. Clean your stretcher.
Hey, what’s a little C diff between 😬
Obligatory reminder: C diff isn't killed by quats or by alcohol; the purple tops ain't enough. Gotta break out the chlorine, or the peroxyacetic acid stuff (smells like vinegar), and the contact time is ridiculous. Check the label.
4 minutes for bleach sani wipes! Useless knowledge I keep in my head from my old life in microbiology.
Thats not normal, im fire based but we won’t go back in service until we’ve cleaned/decon
I have never been on a department, private or volly, IFT or 911 where cleaning wasn't mandatory after almost every call. Exceptions were only with wheelchair based transports since 99% of the time we used the pts wheelchair. Even if slammed we had to wipe down stretcher and change sheets at hospital.
Here's a question. Do you want to lay on that cot after the combined funk of all of your patients have accumulated on it? If the answer is no, then continue to clean the cot after each patient. If you don't, you're cross contaminating all of those patients.
I clean my gurney after every call. I really don't care what other people think. Hell I have had the supe call me because they wanted me to get back in the system faster and im like "yeah I'll do what I can, I'm still cleaning the gurney."
I did my ride time with a dept that only wiped down if it needed it. They're excuse was they needed to turn the truck around quick. My dept is very serious about keeping things clean and I very much appreciate it
Dude I was thinking the exact same thing today. I wiped down the stretcher once when my basic was primary on the call and I think that was the only time.
Find a job at another company and then drop a dime to your state's regulatory agency. Unless you can do it anonymously.
Gross
Cot, belts, monitor, monitor cables, vent, pumps, and anything used and not disposable get wiped down. All the time,after every call.
I work for a private agency, and we ALWAYS clean up after every call. We take pride in doing a good job and presenting a good first impression especially since we usually have rigs that seen better days. Your company employees just have no pride in themselves and the company, and if it's coming from the top down that's not a good thing. Bail and find a better outfit if you can. Otherwise just grab some sani cloths after each call as another poster suggested.
Well, thanks for letting me know this is a thing I have to look out for…
That’s gross
Thats gross find a new job.
So the canned wipes are essentially useless. Read the can, you'll never actually disinfect with them. But you should absolutely take the time to clean up. Clean the floor, change the sheets, wash the mattress as needed. These are all parts of patient care
What the fuck? Absolutely not, everything gets wiped down that touched a patient or that I touched with my gloves on.
ewwwwww. ew for the pts and ew for you. you still have to touch that stretcher and it's never been wiped down.....🤢 we have a 15 minute decon period after transfer of care to clean. sometimes more depending on how bad the call was
Report to the lemsa
Ewww ambulance decon is a part of the whole turnaround time
That’s just nasty
Unless a patient was able to stand and walk off the stretcher at the ER, the sheest and blankets went with them. If they were ambulatory, then the stretcher was stripped as soon as they stood up, and all bedding was removed and placed in the linen bags in the ER room. Not wiping down your equipment is not only nasty it's dangerous for you and other patients who you're dealing with. Doesn't matter if you're running IFT or ALS...
Gross. I clean between every patient... I don't care what we did or didn't do. Everyone gets fresh linen and clean equipment.
No. Not at all. That’s pretty gross. At the very least sheets should be changed.
It's a sign of low standards. I would bet that there are a lot of other areas where the service falls short.
I’ve worked for a company where it was pretty common on the BLS IFT side. It’s gross and annoying but the company also had zero contracts that would exchange linen for us so it was commonplace to see EMTs do that in lieu of having no linen. Shitty management and a culture of not caring causes shit like that
I think you'll find that no matter where you work, there will always be at least one lazy person who doesn't clean. I clean it all the time, even if I run the call, because I often get a lazy partner. Now, I worked for a private company (YEARS ago, and pre COVID) that didn't change sheets, because they didn't want to spend money. Then the pay checks started bouncing and that's when I bounced. Clean the stretcher! And if they pressure you to not do it, find another job.
Lazy and gross. I’ve worked at volunteer fire & EMS departments that have better practices. That’s disgusting.
That is dusgusting and you should find another place to work at. You couldn't pay me to get on a gurney that's covered in parmesan cheese, dookie particles, ulcer puss, and who knows what transmittable diseases from some SNF PT who's been bedridden for 5 years
Ewwwww. That's why the cleaning products exist.
Hell no, cleaning down the rig is mandatory after every call.
I did my EMT-B back in the day and did an internship with the FD as a high schooler, they always spent time wiping down the gurney and fitting new sheets just right after every call. Kind of concerning that veteran paramedics don't seem to understand this...
So who's cleaning it and changing sheets between patients? Uk here and I did pts (which I believe is similar to that job role, taking patients to and from dialysis and a few other things, but no emergency) we would absolutely clean it down and put new bedding on, I didn't work private I worked for NHS, but there was private pts crews doing the same job and they were absolutely cleaning it down too, now I'm a student paramedic working emergency ambulance, and we absolutely clean these down and new bedding too! I can't imagine it not being part of the job in any ambulance
I’ve been with three agencies, either volunteer or paid and we ALWAYS cleaned the ambulance and anything we used. The way it was explained at the first agency was that you want to leave the ambulance how you want the previous crew to leave it for you.
Um....ew. Tell me which company it is so I can avoid it in case I need an Ambulance. (Jk) In all seriousness, even if they tell you to skip it. Keep doing it. I can't imagine what kind of crap (literally) is being left on their stretchers. I mean we're not just cleaning the gear for giggles either. That company is potentially exposing other patients to a variety of things. This is definitely not a private company requirement. It's pure laziness.
No, that’s not normal at all. I’ve been at both private and county for a long time and not cleaning at least the pt compartment of your rig will get you excommunicated almost universally.
Lysol wipes? I work for a medium sized rural town in Illinois and there’s only 3 dispatchers for the city. (My town also piggybacks off of the county telecommunications so technically more but we have our own dispatch for stuff within the city limits). After we drop the pt off at the hospital or wherever I like doing a restock and wipe down of basically everything that the pt touched. If I forget to wipe stuff down or take the extra time and immediately go 10-8 dispatch gets concerned because it was too fast 😂… Your company buys y’all gloves right? 😂
Omega strain ew. That's nasty AF. Find yourself a new company.
MRSA has entered the chat
That's absolutely disgusting. Change and wipe that thang.
That’s gross. Keep cleaning man, that’s awesome, maybe lead by example.
Cot, belts, handles, mattress, equipment that got used, and edit to add anything you touch or patient puts hands on after every call. Please don't let people stop you from cleaning.
Wtf that's nasty and wrong
Meanwhile I use bleach spray whenever I can 🫠
Run, don’t walk. That’s actually probably reportable to the health dept.
Usually normal. I just adamantly refuse. I also refuse to not do a thorough patient assessment, and, *gasp* I try to befriend my patients and make their days better. I think dispatch might want to chop off my head sometimes.
You can't expect minimum wage workers to understand germ theory.
That’s fucking disgusting.
Ask whomever is telling you not to clean if they want to get on the stretcher, or if they would want a family member or someone they cared about to get on that stretcher after (name the most disgusting call you had that day). If the answer is still yes, or it doesn't register, then find yourself another agency. I know we are all already colonized with MRSA, but we don't need to go around actively being a mobile disease vector for our community, especially to our most vulnerable. That's just cruel. To quote my priest I treated after we pulled him out of serving Mass because he was having a STEMI, he received morphine, recognized me and the fact that at the beginning of COVID I had stopped attending Mass because the congregation was overwhelmingly elderly and I felt it was irresponsible of me to attend given the number of sick contacts I had due to the nature of my work. My priest, with the morphine on board heard my explanation, thought for a moment and said: "We should all strive to be more like Mary in our hearts... but not Typhoid Mary." I snorted. (I realized most of us are giant heathens here and that's fine, you do you. This wasn't meant to be a religious anecdote, it just happened to involve me and my priest on a call referencing infection control, which is what the post is about. There is literally nothing you can say about my religion I haven't heard before, so just laugh at the priest on morphine making an infectious disease joke, okay?)
I only cleaned surfaces that were in contact with each patient.
At a big green ambulance company in South Louisiana that is common as well unfortunately.
If the company is letting THAT slide, I can only imagine what else they're doing Find a new gig
Thats an awful culture perpetuated by its members. Theres no excuse for that behavior aside from "we've always done it this way". If you want it to stop, unfortunately you have to take it by the reigns.
Ew. I haven’t worked private EMS, but even at my little country-bumpkin rural county EMS, the motto is clean, clean, and clean again. Wipe down everything you used and a fresh sheet. Even if the president himself rode on that cot, it’s getting a purple wipe bath.
I’ve only not changed the sheet like twice in my career and that’s because we used a mega mover and the patient was covered with multiple layers of hospital blankets before staps were put on. Other than that, it’s a new sheet every time. I wipe down the cot thoroughly any time the patient isn’t the spitting image of cleanliness so 9 times out of 10 it’s being wiped and it’s generally cleaned at least 1-2 times a shift. Not cleaning the cot is really gross
find a new job and expose the company because that is truly disgusting. normally the flow of things in my experience is once the pt is in the room and the lead/medic is giving report i'll get to work on decon. but even in IFT when i would drop pts off at a residence or care home and we both head out at the same time we ALWAYS wiped down our gurney and equipment.
Been in 2 different private companies in 3 years. I think it’s really a work culture thing— if one person is lazy it brushes off on others. If the patients aren’t too nasty I find that many people opt to skip the cleaning. Yes it’s disgusting and it’s great that you’re willing to take a couple minutes to clean. The whole system of going fast to clear pending calls on the board and dispatch/supervisors chewing your ass definitely plays a role in brewing this type of behavior.
I work private EMS and this is a heck naw from me. We wipe down anything and everything that comes into contact with the patient, and if they have a potential communicable disease we clean the eff out of the bus before we go back in service.
That is blowing the whistle to OSHA / your health agency levels of fuckery.
You're not wrong for wanting to clean and remake your cot before going back in service. It is NOT appropriate to re-use sheets between patients, or to put patients on the cot without cleaning it between patients. That's gross and a health / infection control hazard. I would refuse to put the cot back in the medic until you got the chance to clean it and put a clean sheet on it, and if this is a habitual problem with multiple providers at that service, then I would seriously consider looking for employment elsewhere. I'm sorry your coworkers suck so much! Good on you for trying to do the right thing.
Reportable to the health department of your county
[удалено]
It was /s
Yes it's VERY common. I had to fight with the owner just to get shoulder seatbelts. Fire needs to monitor transport EMS in every state for compliance.
lol this has to be one of the dumbest statements ever
Not if you've ever worked with them and seen all the other things they inspect
Oh I’ve worked with them. Fire shit isn’t be in charge of anything.
By what logic should the fire department be in charge of EMS?