(Credit: Austin-Travis County EMS)
First responders face numerous hazards from day-to-day, and a recent survey of Austin-Travis County EMS employees found 92-percent had been assaulted by a patient at least once within the past two years. It’s a growing issue for ATCEMS, which has now prompted the Austin-Travis County EMS Association to seek help from city leaders in hopes of increasing the safety and preparedness of medics while dealing with violent patients.
Most of the assaults are said to happen in the back of an ambulance. EMS Association President Selena Xie told of one medic who was attacked after trying to prevent a patient from rifling through the ambulance drawers while being transported to the hospital.
“The patient started trying to dig into the drawers where we have our scalpels, where we have our IV kits,” Xie told the Public Safety Commission. “And so the medic told the patient not go there and started closing the drawers, and the patient just completely flipped. Took off all of his restraints, his seatbelts, and just started pounding on the medic. Broken glasses, black eye, busted lip.”
That was one of several stories the commission heard on Tuesday.
“They showed up on scene, and the person that they were called for actually side-swiped her legs, and so they knocked her down. She has bruises all up and down one side of her body. And then, that person started crawling up her legs, grabbing and biting her,” Xie said.
To address the problem, the Association has asked for three key changes:
- Better self-defense training
- A better system for tracking and reporting assaults
- A “Medic in Distress” radio call which would immediately dispatch an officer to the scene
63-percent of medics surveyed said they do not feel adequately trained in de-escalation. 64-percent said they do not feel adequately trained to break free and escape an assault.
Because the survey only included 47-percent of field personnel and 52-percent of communications personnel, Xie believes the number of medics who have been assaulted is much higher.
“I think that in any medic’s lifetime, they will be assaulted,” she said.
ATCEMS and the Austin Police Department are expected to meet again with the Public Safety Commission next month to discuss those recommendations further.
