What would you do?…..The answer

As you can appreciate the job of being an Ambulance dispatcher is sometimes a very difficult one, and it’s one you get zero praise for, making decisions is a key part of the job, if you cannot make decisions then you cannot do the job.

Below I set a question for you all to have a look at and decide what you would do in that situation, some readers asked if they could have more information, sometimes you just dont get given all the information and you have to work with the limited info you have been told. Another said that he would send to the trauma patient first because most 1 year olds with difficulty in breathing only have a cold, and yes he would be right most of the time, but I cant go on what “normally” happens, lets say for example that the trauma patient has a minor knock, and whilst I sent my ambulance to that patient, the other child had severe breathing difficulties and died, that raises two issues for me, the first issue is that I alone have to live with the fact that I let a child die because I thought it just had a cold, and the second issue is that when the coroner starts asking questions, what do I say to him??

“yes sir in my advanced medical opinion I thought the child had a cold”

“but the call card says breathing difficulties, so why did you ignore the life threatening information that was presented to you?”

I wouldnt be able to answer the coroner and I would be in serious trouble.

The correct answer to the question is that there is no correct answer, but you have to be able to justify the decision you made, so if you decided that because trauma victims go down hill rapidly that you would send that child the ambulance that would be fine, the same goes for the child with breathing difficulties.