Friday The 13th - part three: Burns

Sometimes we get dispatched to an area instead of an address. This time we were toned out to Highway 62 on the Yucca grade. We were looking for a blue Ford Taurus. One of the occupants had reportedly been burned by opening the radiator. As we responded we talked about possible complications. The patient could have facial/airway burns, circumferential burns or third degree burns. We talked about treatment, hospital destination (Arrowhead Regional Medical Center is our burn center) and the possibility of flying the patient out.

When we arrived on scene we found that the passenger in the front seat had first and second degree burns to her right arm. I asked her to rate the pain from 1-10 and she answered, "I could rip your f***ing head off!" I took that to mean a 10. I decided against the chopper since it was only second degree burns to the top of her forearm. At this point had had to yell at the other occupants in the vehicle because they were starting to fight. Nothing like a little concern over a friends burned arm huh?! I quickly started an IV and was getting ready for to give her some morphine when the ambulance showed up. We loaded her up and sent her on her way. They ended up giving her 10 milligrams of morphine before the pain went away. Not that much really.