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In this week’s Inside EMS podcast quick clip, hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson discuss a Utah medic who police say was suspected in connection to a rash of thefts, and was allowed to resign without their knowledge before an investigation could be conducted.
Cebollero said that that regardless of where you’ve been in your EMS career, you have probably been in a situation where someone has tampered with, lost, or failed to secure narcotics. EMTs are operating under a medical director’s license, and this puts them at risk.
“I don’t know that we really take this charge with as much responsibility as we need to,” Cebollero said.
Cebollero said there needs to be major changes in terms of securing narcotics, making sure medics are not taking them home at the end of a shift, and even making sure EMTs are giving narcotics when they need to be given.
“There really has to be an overhaul of how we deal with narcotics,” Cebollero said.
Grayson agreed.
“I think it was unconscionable that this guy was allowed to resign without further investigating,” Grayson said.
He added that there’s also something to be said for self-reporting. If a medic has a substance abuse problem, an EMS agency should have a program in place to help them, he said.
“If someone is caught before he self-reports,” Grayson said, “he needs to be put in jail and prosecuted.”
