If you need to call an ambulance: 4 most common mistakes made by patients and their loved ones

A person can get sick literally anywhere: at home, on a walk with a dog, at a friendly dinner. And the restoration of his health directly depends on the actions of others (and the patient himself). and in some cases even life. Emergency physicians warn against the following actions.

If you (or someone around you) feel bad, you don’t need to waste time on correspondence and phone calls with relatives and friends. The only sound advice they can give under these conditions is to also advise you to dial 112 (or 03 from a landline). The emergency medical operator has received special training, he is trained to recognize the seriousness of the situation and will advise what to do while waiting for the team. Friends and relatives, if necessary, you can call or write, having already called an ambulance.

In films, we often see how relatives and friends take the patient in their own car or taxi, and break into the emergency room carrying him in their arms. In ordinary life, such a situation is impossible: you will only waste time trying to enter the territory of the ambulance substation, even if it is a stone’s throw from the scene.

It is important that the ambulances are equipped with sophisticated equipment and that first aid and treatment already begins on board. In addition, in some cases, special transport is necessary, which can only be carried out by a medical team.

In the event of collective emergencies or other exceptional situations, the use of your own vehicles may be justified. But in any case, you need to call for help: the operator will give you instructions and tell you where you can take the victim in order to get guaranteed and quick help.

If you are accompanying a sick person, your role does not stop at the emergency threshold. Be sure to wait for hospitalization or other actions. The patient may need help from a close relative and at the stage of registration for treatment and, for example, if doctors consider that he can be helped on the spot and sent home or to another medical institution.

Be sure to take a wire with a plug, and ideally a power bank. Communication is necessary for both patient and caregiver. No one can predict when and where the ambulance journey will end, or what the patient might need. Therefore, the billing of communication equipment is as important as the documents, even if the phone shows a full battery at the time of the call to the doctors.