Online comment of the week
In response to "Controversy surrounds 11 NOD transports" (Nov. 2 2012)
The primary blame here lies with the 10 students who drank to excess. They have definite potential to ruin everyone else's fun if the alcohol policy is adversely affected because of them. They remind me somewhat of the students who were transported to the hospital during the infamous Lacrosse team debacle of about six years ago.
Blame, if you want to call it that, also lies with Rice Emergency Medical Services for calling so many unnecessary transports. I don't have a problem with them transporting people in our own hired ambulances, but distracting Houston Fire Department ambulances from their duties is a bit over the top. The fact that all 10 students were back on campus the next morning is telling. I'd bet you money that none were really treated in the hospital ERs. At most, perhaps a bolus of IV saline and a blanket. I guarantee you they upset a lot of nurses that night who would have preferred to be taking care of other patients.
It is definitely true that REMS sends a lot of unnecessary transports, at least when it comes to alcohol-related problems. I worked for REMS back about seven years ago (and absolutely hated it, but that's another story), and it was true then as well. Part of this is because the student EMTs don't have any real medical experience and therefore exercise an abundance of caution. (Although I will note that no one has died on campus of alcohol poisoning recently, so kudos for that).
REMS needs to work out some deal in which it can transport patients itself to the emergency room, perhaps in its SUV. I think it is worth remembering that all of the ERs in the Texas Medical Center are within walking distance of Rice - five to 10 minutes at most. Transporting someone in the SUV would take only two or three minutes. Clearly, waiting for (and expending the resources on) an HFD ambulance is not a useful use of the city's resources.
P.S. - 10 transports means it must have been a hell of a party!
Anonymous
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