Questions to Ask an EMT
For the moment an ambulance crew is in your home or at the roadside: twenty questions to ask the EMT treating you or someone you are with, covering what they are finding, where they are taking the patient, what to bring, and what to do once they leave.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Do you need me out of the way, or is there something I can do?
Why ask it
Asked first, this settles the thing that gets in a crew's way most: three relatives in a small room. Common jobs they will hand you are holding the door, shutting the dog away, finding medications and clearing a path to the stretcher.
What is your name, and which service are you with?
Why ask it
Write both down. If you later need the patient care report, want to send thanks, or have to raise a concern, the service name and crew are what make that possible.
What are you finding, and what is worrying you most right now?
Why ask it
Crews will not give a diagnosis, and cannot, but they will tell you what they are treating and what they are watching. The second half is the part that tells you how serious this is.
What are you giving her, and what is it for?
Why ask it
You are entitled to know what is going into someone you are responsible for, and hearing the drug name lets you flag an allergy or an interaction before it becomes a problem. Repeat the answer back if you will need to tell the hospital.
What numbers are you getting, and are they moving in the right direction?
Why ask it
Blood pressure, oxygen saturation, heart rate and blood sugar are the ones spoken aloud in the back of an ambulance. Trend matters more than any single figure, and asking about the trend gets you a clearer answer than asking whether it is normal.
Do you want his medication list and allergies now, or will the hospital take them?
Why ask it
Crews will usually take a photograph of the list or the bottles, because reconstructing it later wastes an hour of emergency department time. If you have nothing written, bring the actual boxes.
She has an advance directive and a do-not-resuscitate order. Where should the paperwork go so it travels with her?
Why ask it
A directive that stays in a drawer will not be followed, and rules about which document a crew can act on vary by state and province. Say this early and hand over the original or a clear copy rather than describing it.
Does this need the emergency department, or is there another route?
Why ask it
Some systems can treat and release, refer to urgent care, or arrange a follow-up visit, and some cannot. Asking gives you the options that exist locally rather than assuming a hospital is the only destination.
Which hospital are you taking him to, and why that one?
Why ask it
The choice usually reflects distance, diversion status and whether the patient needs a specialist centre for stroke, cardiac care or trauma. Hearing the reason tells you whether this is a routine transport or a time-critical one.
Can you take her to the hospital that holds her records and her specialists?
Why ask it
Sometimes yes, sometimes not: service boundaries, capability and how sick the patient is all limit it. Ask rather than assume, and give the name of her cardiologist or oncologist so it reaches the receiving team either way.
Can I ride with you? If not, where should I go when I arrive?
Why ask it
Many services allow one relative in the front, and many do not, particularly for children or unstable patients. Get the department name and entrance now, because finding someone in a large hospital at night is harder than it sounds.
What should I bring: medicines, glasses, hearing aids, a phone charger, insurance card?
Why ask it
Glasses and hearing aids are the ones people forget, and without them an older patient in a noisy department can look far more confused than they are. Leave valuables at home and take the wallet only if it holds identification and insurance.
How long is the drive, and should I follow you or lock up here first?
Why ask it
Following an ambulance is a bad idea and crews will say so. Better to take a minute to lock the house, turn the stove off and secure pets, then drive calmly with the address written down.
Is there anything from here you want me to make sure the hospital hears?
Why ask it
You are often the only person who knows how the day started, what changed, or that this happened last month too. Crews hand over verbally in about a minute, so give them the one detail you would not want lost.
What happens in the first few minutes after you hand over?
Why ask it
Knowing that the patient may be assessed, triaged and then wait tells you what is normal, which stops the wait feeling like neglect. It also tells you when someone will next speak to you.
Is there a run number or a report I should ask for later?
Why ask it
The patient care report is the record of everything found and given before hospital, and it is useful for follow-up appointments, insurance and any dispute. Ask now for the number, because tracing a call afterwards is much slower.
Was there anything I should have done before you got here?
Why ask it
Asked while they are packing up, this gets you practical corrections for next time: unlocking the door, moving furniture, having the medication list ready, starting compressions sooner. Most crews answer it generously.
If this happens again tonight, what should make me call again?
Why ask it
You want a specific threshold, not reassurance: a level of confusion, a temperature, a breathing pattern, a pain that returns. Write the answer down, because at three in the morning you will not remember it.
If we decide not to go to hospital, what are we accepting, and what would you tell your own family?
Why ask it
An adult who understands the situation can refuse transport, and crews will document that refusal. Asking the second half tends to produce the plainest answer you will get about the risk.
Will there be a bill for this, and who sends it?
Why ask it
Ambulance billing is often separate from the hospital bill and separate again from your insurance, and coverage differs sharply between services and countries. Crews will not know your specific costs, but they can tell you who bills and roughly how it works where you live.
When the Ambulance Arrives
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
While the crew is working
- Answer their questions before you ask yours. The first two minutes belong to them, and interrupting an assessment delays care.
- Have one person talk to the crew. If three relatives are answering at once, important detail gets lost.
- Stand out of the doorway and where they can see you, not behind them. They will be moving equipment through the space.
- Put pets in another room and turn the porch light on. Both are small things crews mention constantly.
- Do not move a patient who has fallen unless they are in danger. Wait and let the crew lift, for their sake and yours.
- Say plainly if you are the health care proxy or hold power of attorney, and have the document if you can.
What to have ready by the door
- A current medication list with doses, including inhalers, patches, injections and anything over the counter.
- Allergies, and what the reaction actually was.
- A short problem list: diagnoses, surgeries, recent hospital stays, whether they have a pacemaker or take blood thinners.
- Names of the main doctors and the hospital that holds their records.
- Any advance directive, do-not-resuscitate order or portable medical order form, kept where it can be handed over quickly.
- Insurance and identification, glasses, hearing aids and phone charger in one bag.
- A note of who to call, with the numbers written down rather than only stored in a locked phone.
What a crew cannot do
They cannot give you a diagnosis
They will tell you what they are treating and what they are concerned about. Anything more definite has to wait for tests at the hospital, and pressing for a prognosis puts them in an impossible position.
Destination is not always a free choice
Service area, hospital capability, diversion when a department is full, and how sick the patient is all constrain it. A request is worth making, but a refusal is usually protocol rather than reluctance.
Scope is set by protocol, not preference
Some drugs and procedures are paramedic-only, and a basic crew may be waiting for a second unit rather than delaying. Asking what level of crew is on scene is a fair question.
Privacy rules limit what they tell you
If you are not next of kin or the named proxy, there are things they will not discuss, including in front of neighbours. Do not take it personally.
If the patient does not want to go
- An adult who understands the risks can refuse transport, and the crew will ask them to sign to that effect.
- Ask the crew to state the risk out loud in plain words. People often change their mind when they hear it rather than when a relative argues.
- Ask what would change their assessment: a symptom returning, a number drifting, the patient becoming harder to rouse.
- Agree who will stay with them and for how long, and write down the threshold for calling back.
- Call the family doctor or an advice line the same day rather than treating a refusal as the end of it.
- If they are confused, drowsy or you doubt they understand, say so to the crew. Capacity is their assessment to make, and your observation is part of it.
Afterwards
- Ask the emergency department whether the EMS report has arrived, and request a copy of the patient care report from the ambulance service if you need the detail.
- Keep the run number, date, time and crew names with the hospital paperwork.
- Expect a separate ambulance bill, and check it against your insurance rather than paying it unread.
- If care concerned you, complaints go to the service's quality or clinical governance office, and the run number is what makes an investigation possible.
- If the crew did well, tell the service in writing. It reaches supervisors, and it is rarer than complaints.