[supwiggles]

One of my paramedic instructors told me a pretty funny story.

Apparently they were on shift one Saturday afternoon, when a call came through for a Code 2 (Cardiac Arrest) at a local racecourse.

Anyway, it was about 15 minutes away so they took off in a hurry, all the while receiving notes on their terminal regarding the job. Apparently it went along the lines of this:

Initial: Unknown Age, Cardiac Arrest, Racecourse etc Update: CPR in Progress Update: Doctor has self accounced at scene. Update: Doctor has called patient as deceased. CPR ceased.

It took another 5 minutes for the paramedics to get to the racecourse, and they still unloaded their gear and made their way to the patient. When asking for the doctor, they found that it was actually the racecourse veterinarian who had made the call.

[JshWright]

I'm assuming the patient wasn't a racehorse?

If I had a dollar for every time a dermatologist or podiatrist tried to be 'helpful' on an emergency scene... I could probably buy a coffee at Starbucks... The same goes for 'nurses.' If an ER nurse wants to help out, that's great. Invariably though, it's a nurse at a nursing home or dialysis center...

I don't mean to imply these folks aren't skilled professionals, but prehospital medical emergencies are generally well outside their experience, and the confusion that arises from that can be dangerous.

[stephencanon]

Unlike a podiatrist, a dermatologist went to medical school. If they're young, there's actually a good chance that they were among the very best medical students -- in the past few years, dermatology has become one of the more competitive fields in medicine because of the lifestyle (short predictable hours, high pay, minimal insurance hassles).

There are daft people in every field, but I would be delighted to have most of the derm residents and attendings I've met in an emergency (in fairness, I should note that this is a small sample, drawn from a couple top-tier hospitals, and biased towards people who do volunteer backcountry search and rescue).

[vacri]

On the other hand, it's good to have anyone step in to lend a hand, instead of standing back like sullen sheep.

[DanBC]

In the UK vets are pretty highly qualified. And, unlike most humans, horses can't tell you where the pain is or what it's like.

I think I'd be happy for a vet to do some doctoring.

[pyre]

Are you implying that the emergency call was for a horse/dog in cardiac arrest, or just that the racecourse vet was the 'doctor' performing on the human?

[supwiggles]

Sorry, I should have clarified. It's late here, and I am tired.

The call was for a human, the 'doctor' who called it was a vet at the racecourse.