Can't we all just get along?

This post is something I struggled with for a long time in terms of how to go about writing it. It involves two organisations, both of whom are involved in emergency health care, one on a professional level and the other on a voluntary level. Let's call these organisations St Peter Ambulance and City Ambulance Services to ensure that you realise I'm talking on a hypothetical scenario ;)

Now I'm well aware that there are members of St Peter Ambulance (StP) who probably shouldn't be allowed within a 100m radius of a patient. Still, they somehow slip through the cracks of screening (a problem associated with volunteer organisations) and end up on the wrong end of a pair of nitrile gloves. The wearing end, that is. Still, overall I would say that the members of StP are competent and professional in their conduct, are highly trained and motivated people giving up their time for a good cause.

I could understand, however, why some members of City Ambulance Services (CAS for short) might have some problems with some of StP's members and their conduct in potentially dangerous scenarios (such as extrication with severe trauma, certain drug episodes and other events requiring extensive medical knowledge). Sometimes this gets taken to an extreme, and unfortunately everyone suffers.

At a major music event somewhere in Australia some time ago, the members of StP's were informed by CAS that they were under any circumstance allowed to move a patient, and that this must be done by CAS. In addition, the StP's 'acute trauma unit' staffed by Doctors and Nurses wasn't to be used if the patient couldn't walk to it unassisted - they would be taken directly to hospital again by CAS. The event had multiple performance sites with crowds in the thousands, StP's in the dozens and CAS's by the handful. Unfortunately, CAS were under equipped and were forced to borrow StP's gear and had insufficient 'buggies' to move patients from site to site.

Two conflicts were (hypothetically) created from this scenario - the StP's were, for the most part, unable to perform their duties fully with the restrictions in place, and the CAS members were run off their feet trying to move people from site to site or to hospital for things that the StP's and the StP trauma unit could have treated.

I won't comment on the origins of this hypothetical situation, but I will say this: the day was made significantly harder than it needed to be because two organisations couldn't play nicely. Blame lies on both hypothetical ends and, unfortunately, it's the patients who suffer because of it.

Situations like this - and it's not the first one I've hypothesized - are one of the many things that are wrong when various health care organisations don't play nicely.

I know we might not always like each other, but come on people - can't we all just get along?