This is no regular glove, it is a magic glove. Not too many hours ago, I donned a pair of non Latex, powder free, genuine nitrile gloves just like this one as we were responding to a call.

Generally, I don’t put gloves on until we reach the scene. I’m not like some EMTs and medics, who I swear put on gloves to answer their radio! In fact, sometimes, I won’t put gloves on for the entire call. Shocking, I know but the truth is often I won’t be doing any invasive techniques nor does the patient have an fluids in places that he or she shouldn’t. Thus, if I’m interviewing a patient and my touching is limited to feeling a radial pulse and listening to breath sounds, I won’t put on gloves. Amazingly, patients don’t seem to feel threatened by this and some even seem to appreciate the human touch. That’s a trade off I can live with.

Sometimes though, especially on a “street call” I will put on gloves on the way to the call. Mainly that’s because on a street call, the patient and bystanders expect the EMS crew to leap from the ambulance and begin immediate treatment. I don’t to a whole lot of leaping any more, but I do try to get to the patient as quickly as possible, thus the pre arrival donning.

We received a call for a shooting outside at an intersection. Given the area and time of day, it seemed likely that this was a valid call. If it was in fact a shooting there would likely be an agitated crowd and taking the extra few seconds to put on gloves while the crowd watched would not be a popular move. So, as my partner du jour semi skillfully drove to the call, I donned my gloves. We arrived to find that it was fireworks, not firearms that had caused the explosions. So, we canceled everyone else and cleared.

Then it was a report of a person struck by a car. Again, taking the likely crowd reaction into account I put on a fresh pair of magic gloves and like THAT!, another unit reported they were closer, so again we were canceled.

A third time we were dispatched, this time for a cardiac arrest outside. Once more the magic gloves came on and once more we were canceled because it was a drunk, not a cardiac arrest.

Apparently, this is a box of magic gloves. Take a call, put on the gloves and you are guaranteed a cancellation.

It’s like magic. I seem to have come across a box of genuine “Cancellation Gloves”. Sorry, I can’t send any out, but you know how rare they are.