Over 5 years ago, I was injured on the job as a part-time medic. I was in the back of an ambulance, being driven by a volunteer, that was to be going to the hospital, priority 3 which in our case is no lights, no sirens, and obey traffic laws.(I later found out she had the lights on, but nothing else and was stopping at traffic lights and sitting in traffic)(it was a misunderstanding on her part of what priority 3 meant). While on a straight stretch of road my patient complained that the automatic blood pressure cuff was bothering her arm. I moved from the bench seat to the CPR seat, removed the cuff and placed it back on the counter. The patient was sitting on the cot with the back in a full upright position. Once I finished with the patient, I stood to walk back to the bench seat. Just as I stood to walk around the stretcher, I was twisted at the waist and thrown over the top of the stretcher, with my right arm coming down on the pillow behind the patients head. I took the top corner of the cot in my right lower abdomen and my right knee struck the upright for the head of the cot. I asked what happened and the driver said that she hit a bridge joint (never got the truth, too much force involved for a bridge joint). We continued transport and turn over of the patient. After I got back to the station, I realized how much my knee hurt. By the time I got home my knee was quite swollen. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital that night and released to see an orthopedic. Long story short, I suffered a blunt trauma to my right lower abdomen forcing the SI joint out of wack. I had surgery to put pins in my pelvis to hold it in place with a bone graft about 1 1/2 years after the injury. I continued to have problems and had exploratory orthoscopic surgery on my knee after two clean MRI’s, to find out that I have a partially torn ACL (anterior cruxiate ligament). I had that surgery almost 4 years after the injury. I rarely wore a seat belt in the back of the unit. But after this incident ending my ability to be in the back on an ambulance, I have thought about alternative restraint systems that would allow patient care, including CPR compressions to be performed, while still protecting the EMS personnel. I have never put thought to paper though, an come up with a viable solution. I have been wanting to tell my story, more than just locally, because no one seems to notice the significance of the incident on EMS safety. I suffered a career ending injury in the back of an ambulance without it being involved in an automotive accident with a another vehicle or fixed object. It was purely driver error. I often wonder how many other people have suffered injuries from incidents such as this? You only hear about the crashes.
LESSONS LEARNED:
My lesson learned should have been to pick a seat and stay in it. However, if I had reached over the patient to take off the cuff, both the patient and myself could have been injuried.