It’s Okay To Take Extra Supplies Home; They Would Be Wasted Anyway

Note: If you’re an EMT-B, this post isn’t really for you. Check out Minecraft videos on YouTube instead. They’re more your style.

But for all my medics out there, let me ask you a question: have you ever been at the end of your shift and looking over your truck and seen all the unused supplies that you brought out to use on that critical patient but never got around to? The liters of saline, the capped 24g needles, and the bottles of Versed that were never used? I know I have.

And what happens to these things at the end of shift? They’re thrown out, trashed, and placed in a landfill somewhere. An absolute waste. So really, there’s no harm in taking a little home with you. After all, we’re hardly paid anything at all. And if you’re like me, you turn down the health insurance because hospitals are a scam.

So every day to work I bring an extra backpack and take a few things with me before I leave. Now my cozy apartment is lined with barely used IVs, stacks of lactated ringers, and even a few ventilators in case I need a CPAP to help me sleep at night. And there’s nothing wrong with this.

Sure, sometimes your partners will try to stop you, but a little threat goes a long way. “Say anything and I’ll tell the supervisors that you hit a bicyclist again.” That single line has earned me so much leeway that it’s incredible what I can do.

Lately I’ve even started bringing home excess narcs that we never used. After all, are they really going to miss a little extra fentanyl? Valium? Ketamine? Just say you gave them to the homeless chest pain patient! Nobody will question you. And heck, maybe you even do give a little to that homeless patient and keep the ‘waste’ for yourself. After all, it makes their life easier. And yours!

Now, I know some of you are scared of the DEA and log investigations, but there’s ways around that. Take me, for example. I’m a 10/10 white girl. We’re basically immune from the justice system. All you have to do is find your niche and you’re golden.

So take it from me: you deserve it. After all, if you don’t use it, no one will.

Make sure to check back often for more ways to improve your practice as a paramedic. Next up! Using your vape pen to deliver levophed doses to patients.