Safety on Calls

Learners will not respond to calls known, or suspected, to involve:

• Cardiac arrest or CPR in progress
• Sexual assault or abuse
• Suicidal threats or attempts 
• Violence or the threat of violence
• Major trauma
• Mass casualties
• Domestic violence or abuse
• Pediatrics 
• Friends or family of the Learner 
• Calls located on a highway when the highway has not been 100% shut down

Tips for keeping Learners safe on calls: 

• Add to the above list any additional call types, locations, known patients, or other criteria unique to your service area that would make a call inappropriate for EMS Learners. 
• Each Learner will have different maturity, tolerance, and triggers. For every call, use your best judgment to determine if the call as dispatched is appropriate for the Learner who is with you that day. 
• Continuously reassess the safety and appropriateness of each scene for your Learner. 

Isolating Learners from inappropriate or unsafe calls: 

• Make, and practice, a plan for isolating your Learners before taking them on calls.
• Instruct your Learners to isolate by:
  
  • Sitting in the cab of the ambulance with the door locked and the windows closed;
  • Getting alternative transportation, such as with another crew, back to the station;
  • Arranging for a parent/guardian to pick the Learner up from a safe, neutral location that does not compromise the patient’s privacy. 
• Establish a code word that you can use to tell your Learner to go back to the ambulance and stay there, without others on scene being aware.

After any unusually stressful call, do an after-action review to check in with the Learner, answer their questions, and help them process the experience.