Grand Mal

Picked up a young patient today from the local hospital to transfer her to a specialist neurological unit, as she suffered from uncontrolable Epilepsy.

The good news was, I was due to attend and have not met an epileptic patient yet and also we were due to have a nurse travel with us.

Now nurses always seem to be impressed about travelling in the Ambulance as they think we rush everywhere on blue lights! and there is nothing wrong with impressing the odd nurse here and there. This particular nurse was going to be very disappointed as we were going to be travelling the whole under 'normal' driving conditions.

Even the odd flurtatious request to turn the lights and sirens on from her did not get the required result from my crew mate who was driving. If we use the lights and sirens whilst not on an emergency call, then this can be a sackable offence.

The patient seemed happy and relaxed, mind you I would be given the quantity of sedative they had pumped into her to control the fits.

Patient was secured on the stretcher and the nurse was strapped into her seat, while we set off and I hooked the patient up to the array of monitoring equipment we have in the back and settled in for a leisurely trip down the motorway with ample time for once to do all the paperwork and fill every single box in!!

After about 20mins, the nurse got her wish! I was chatting with her, telling the usual war stories (those I have after two weeks in the job!) keeping an eye on the monitor to check the patients vitals, I leaned forward to ask if she was Ok and got no response and she looked all blank.

The nurse also picked up on this and got out of her seat to try and rouse the patient, after a few seconds, it was quite obvious she was having an absence episode and this would more than likely lead to a full Grand Mal fit soon, and soon came 15secs later!

I moved to the chair at the patients head and ensured her airway was open while the nurse put the O2 mask on her. I leaned back to my crewmate and said the fateful words 'progress please mate' I then turned to the nurse, who was now standing over the patient and advised her she may want to hang on and get used to treating someone, one handed (one hand being used to hang onto the grab rails). We lit up like a Christmas tree and off we shot, off shot the nurse to the back of the truck and landed on her butt!

We then came into the centre of town, with all the roundabouts and traffic lights and it became like those fair grounds rides where you have to try and stand in a padded room whilst it moves in all directions, only without the padding.

I got the odd evil stare, quickly superimposed by a look of terror, quickly distorting into a look of pain as I advised that the nurse that she should really hold onto something secure!

We arrived 8 minutes later at A&E with the patient post ictal but recovering nicely and the nurse on the floor, also recovering nicely!

Despite the bruises and mishapen hair do, the nurse emerged from the Ambulance with a big grin on her face and a little more respect for the Ambulance service.

A little more respect was more than welcome last night, as the staff in MAU had been downright rude that evening, I know they were busy but we get enough crap from the public without getting it from our fellow healthcare workers.