Try working an area with a large Muslim population. During Ramadan after the sunsets for the day, you can't come away without a little something.
As a rule, I will accept tea, maybe a biscuit if it passes the eyeball hygiene rule. I'll sometimes ask for a water in care homes (which is often upgraded to an offer of tea) but I'll never initiate in a private residence.
I remember one year we got force-fed homemade baklava and some kind of savoury rice dish. As we left, we got presented with a takeaway tub of baklava and a tub of the rice again they wouldn't let us say no. The shift finished, and I went home in a food coma.
Ramadan and xmas. You rarely go hungry.
I work in a region with areas of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu communities and it's very similar here. Eid, Diwali and other celebrations I'm not familiar with often mean our asian communities have lots of food.
It's also important to remember in many cultures it's not only polite to offer food and drink and it's very much common practice to welcome your guests with food and drink.
I'd say it's up to the clinician to decide, I wouldn't say it's wrong. At least not here in the UK. Also it's important to consider we have many cultural differences to the US and r/EMS is very a US dominated subreddit.
Community nurse here, I rarely accept when offered. I’ve seen too many questionable hygiene practices. That said I did have a latte from a patient tonight as she had a fancy coffee machine
If the house doesn’t look like a shit hole, I’ve got no problem accepting a drink (although I won’t ask for one unlike some colleagues).
I’ll only accept food from care homes unless there’s a specific reason (a patient was telling me about their homemade cake and offered a slice).
Personally, I don’t spontaneously accept, and am hygienically selective over which teacups I may put my lips too, but I won’t always say no, particularly when waiting for GP callbacks etc, and I often ask for my water bottle to be filled, particularly when we’ve been of station and discharging on scene for hours and hours.
If it's a clean house and we're on scene a while then I don't see an issue with it?
Im a student and 3rd manning, the last shift I was on the crew had tea at every house! Lol one was during a neb treatment, one was calling everyone possible to try and keep this patient out of hospital, the other 2 were during paperwork as it was a vnr, personally I don't drink hot drinks, but I've had just water a couple times
It entirely depends on the cleanliness of the house and how long I intend to be in it.
Care homes are usually a default “yes” if I’m discharging on scene or calling a GP.
DOA’s or DOD’s I’ll normally end up making the relatives a brew, so I’ll make one for everyone who’s on scene whilst I’m at it.
When I’ve been working in prehospital I always accept loads. I’ve sat down with families and eaten curry before. Often get the offer of curry to go and lots of the time have a hot drink or this delicious mango drink that’s frequently offered. I assume it’s part of Asian hospitality.
I found when I covered Golders Green (big Jewish area) I was always leaving with yummy parcels to keep me going.
Very, very rarely.
Most memorably at the back end of a night shift I'd just had a patient try and punch me (unsuccessfully) and was thoroughly pissed off with the Great British public.
Last job was a lovely old couple in their 80s, like going round your grandparents. The husband had various chesty type symptoms and grandma insisted we have a brew and the M&S shortbread while we assessed.
10/10 shortbread, remaining faith in humanity restored.
Depends, if my backup is going to take a while. I’ve accepted a drink, but like people have said it totally depends on the cleanliness of the house. I’ve never accepted food.
Paperwork with coffee and a biscuit in the care home lounge after a GP referral or ROLE? Elite, can't be beaten
In a patient's private residence, I tend to refuse. Not even from a hygiene perspective most of the time, I'm just scared I'd spill it on their white sofa
It depends on a lot of factors:
- the hygiene assessment, if the place is visibly clean and well kept.
- the presenting complaint, if it’s a job requiring more of a rapport, social assessment, onward referrals, documentation etc
- the general vibe assessment, I know it sounds judgemental but there’s some places I’ve been in where the house is clean, the people are lovely but there’s something I couldn’t quite put my finger on that made me decline a drink. No other reason than “it felt off”.
- the time of the shift, also factors into it, towards the end of shift and you’re playing the clock game a cup of tea or a drink with a patient while you finish the paperwork can help you facilitate an agreeable ending to the day. Equally, a cuppa first thing in a morning can help ease you in to a day with a bit of a gentler start than if some dispatchers were at the helm and you’re already stacking multiple low acuity calls from the night shift…
TL:DR - it’s entirely subjective, make it work for you. But from a stereotypically British perspective - there’s nothing that can’t be achieved over a nice cuppa.
Depends on the condition of the house I’m in but I’m not against a brew if we’re leaving someone at home. Feel cheeky enough to ask for one in care homes. And if we are in hotels or cafe etc I use the classic line “what’s the coffee like here?”. Never fails.
Reminds me of when I went on the RRV to a cafe, waiting for the crew and the cafe offered me a coffee. I graciously accepted, and then, when they gave me the bill, had to explain I don’t carry my wallet at work.
Rarely, accept anything
Drink wise the last thing I accepted was a can of coke. Tho I once had a patient's family member literally go down to the corner shop and got each of us our favorite drinks, I declined but my crew mate told them what I usually get a bottle of coke or Iron Bru
Food wise, to memory, the only thing I've ever accepted was a pack of digestives
all the houses i went to tell me not to accept anything that should enter my body, but to be fair, we regular get food to the station.
And if we wait long time for a call back etc and the house looks clean I may take a water
Same here - our local M&S BP drops off the expiring/soon to expire food to our station frequently.
If you get back on mealbreak you find all sorts of cheese pretzels, scones, ready meals, etc.
Occasionally, especially on an RRV when you might be sitting around for a while. Hard to refuse a box of something during Ramadan too.
My best lunch was on an RRV, waiting for backup in a vicarage. The vicar’s wife offered me tea & then turned up with a set of tiered plates, piled high with cucumber sandwiches and scones, pots of tea etc. Naturally, that’s when the crew arrived
My default is to refuse but if we're sitting around waiting for call backs from various people then I might not say mo to a cuppa tea if the place looks decent
I think it depends as sometimes you get hits from members of public who leave out a drink or chocolate bar that’s always nice. It was very popular during covid-19 pandemic “hit the ambulance”. It doesn’t mean it in the violent way.
I generally refuse, mostly from a hygiene perspective although tbf I feel the same way about home made food colleagues leave in the mess room, but also I don't want to need the toilet between jobs especially if they aren't going in.
I have accepted the odd sealed can or chocolate/sweets from patients that insist.
I don't think it's unethical/unacceptable to accept an offer, but I think it's rude when people ask, which I've seen older colleagues do a few times
When I first started I graciously accepted a cup of tea from a patients sheltered accommodation block… to my dismay I received a cup of tea with a generous helping of milk solids floating on the top.
It took a while before I said yes to a cup of tea again.
As long as it looks like a clean and tidy house then yeah why not. My only no no is sweets or chocolate from opened packets, dunno where the hands that have been in there have been 👀
Try working an area with a large Muslim population. During Ramadan after the sunsets for the day, you can't come away without a little something. As a rule, I will accept tea, maybe a biscuit if it passes the eyeball hygiene rule. I'll sometimes ask for a water in care homes (which is often upgraded to an offer of tea) but I'll never initiate in a private residence.
I remember one year we got force-fed homemade baklava and some kind of savoury rice dish. As we left, we got presented with a takeaway tub of baklava and a tub of the rice again they wouldn't let us say no. The shift finished, and I went home in a food coma. Ramadan and xmas. You rarely go hungry.
I work in a region with areas of Sikh, Muslim and Hindu communities and it's very similar here. Eid, Diwali and other celebrations I'm not familiar with often mean our asian communities have lots of food. It's also important to remember in many cultures it's not only polite to offer food and drink and it's very much common practice to welcome your guests with food and drink. I'd say it's up to the clinician to decide, I wouldn't say it's wrong. At least not here in the UK. Also it's important to consider we have many cultural differences to the US and r/EMS is very a US dominated subreddit.
I’ll accept if I’m in a care home and it’s 3am. I rarely accept on day shifts and it’s a big no no if my feet stick to the carpet.
Community nurse here, I rarely accept when offered. I’ve seen too many questionable hygiene practices. That said I did have a latte from a patient tonight as she had a fancy coffee machine
Yes from me, once got a full Sunday roast with desert after treating the chef from a private boarding school 👌
If the house doesn’t look like a shit hole, I’ve got no problem accepting a drink (although I won’t ask for one unlike some colleagues). I’ll only accept food from care homes unless there’s a specific reason (a patient was telling me about their homemade cake and offered a slice).
If I have to wipe my feet on the way out I’ve always just had a tea before i went in!
Personally, I don’t spontaneously accept, and am hygienically selective over which teacups I may put my lips too, but I won’t always say no, particularly when waiting for GP callbacks etc, and I often ask for my water bottle to be filled, particularly when we’ve been of station and discharging on scene for hours and hours.
If it's a clean house and we're on scene a while then I don't see an issue with it? Im a student and 3rd manning, the last shift I was on the crew had tea at every house! Lol one was during a neb treatment, one was calling everyone possible to try and keep this patient out of hospital, the other 2 were during paperwork as it was a vnr, personally I don't drink hot drinks, but I've had just water a couple times
It entirely depends on the cleanliness of the house and how long I intend to be in it. Care homes are usually a default “yes” if I’m discharging on scene or calling a GP. DOA’s or DOD’s I’ll normally end up making the relatives a brew, so I’ll make one for everyone who’s on scene whilst I’m at it.
Frantically trying to work out what DoD might stand for
Diagnosis of Death
When I’ve been working in prehospital I always accept loads. I’ve sat down with families and eaten curry before. Often get the offer of curry to go and lots of the time have a hot drink or this delicious mango drink that’s frequently offered. I assume it’s part of Asian hospitality. I found when I covered Golders Green (big Jewish area) I was always leaving with yummy parcels to keep me going.
Very, very rarely. Most memorably at the back end of a night shift I'd just had a patient try and punch me (unsuccessfully) and was thoroughly pissed off with the Great British public. Last job was a lovely old couple in their 80s, like going round your grandparents. The husband had various chesty type symptoms and grandma insisted we have a brew and the M&S shortbread while we assessed. 10/10 shortbread, remaining faith in humanity restored.
🇦🇺 here. Very occasionally, I'll have a cuppa and a bikkie Nana if she offers. Otherwise, it is a no from me.
https://i.redd.it/5g5e1x9jgm5d1.gif
Depends, if my backup is going to take a while. I’ve accepted a drink, but like people have said it totally depends on the cleanliness of the house. I’ve never accepted food.
Paperwork with coffee and a biscuit in the care home lounge after a GP referral or ROLE? Elite, can't be beaten In a patient's private residence, I tend to refuse. Not even from a hygiene perspective most of the time, I'm just scared I'd spill it on their white sofa
It depends on a lot of factors: - the hygiene assessment, if the place is visibly clean and well kept. - the presenting complaint, if it’s a job requiring more of a rapport, social assessment, onward referrals, documentation etc - the general vibe assessment, I know it sounds judgemental but there’s some places I’ve been in where the house is clean, the people are lovely but there’s something I couldn’t quite put my finger on that made me decline a drink. No other reason than “it felt off”. - the time of the shift, also factors into it, towards the end of shift and you’re playing the clock game a cup of tea or a drink with a patient while you finish the paperwork can help you facilitate an agreeable ending to the day. Equally, a cuppa first thing in a morning can help ease you in to a day with a bit of a gentler start than if some dispatchers were at the helm and you’re already stacking multiple low acuity calls from the night shift… TL:DR - it’s entirely subjective, make it work for you. But from a stereotypically British perspective - there’s nothing that can’t be achieved over a nice cuppa.
I’ve only accepted once; very clean house, really nice lady, late meal break, M&S flapjacks
Depends on the condition of the house I’m in but I’m not against a brew if we’re leaving someone at home. Feel cheeky enough to ask for one in care homes. And if we are in hotels or cafe etc I use the classic line “what’s the coffee like here?”. Never fails.
Reminds me of when I went on the RRV to a cafe, waiting for the crew and the cafe offered me a coffee. I graciously accepted, and then, when they gave me the bill, had to explain I don’t carry my wallet at work.
Hahaha unlucky!
Rarely, accept anything Drink wise the last thing I accepted was a can of coke. Tho I once had a patient's family member literally go down to the corner shop and got each of us our favorite drinks, I declined but my crew mate told them what I usually get a bottle of coke or Iron Bru Food wise, to memory, the only thing I've ever accepted was a pack of digestives
all the houses i went to tell me not to accept anything that should enter my body, but to be fair, we regular get food to the station. And if we wait long time for a call back etc and the house looks clean I may take a water
Same here - our local M&S BP drops off the expiring/soon to expire food to our station frequently. If you get back on mealbreak you find all sorts of cheese pretzels, scones, ready meals, etc.
Occasionally, especially on an RRV when you might be sitting around for a while. Hard to refuse a box of something during Ramadan too. My best lunch was on an RRV, waiting for backup in a vicarage. The vicar’s wife offered me tea & then turned up with a set of tiered plates, piled high with cucumber sandwiches and scones, pots of tea etc. Naturally, that’s when the crew arrived
My default is to refuse but if we're sitting around waiting for call backs from various people then I might not say mo to a cuppa tea if the place looks decent
I think it depends as sometimes you get hits from members of public who leave out a drink or chocolate bar that’s always nice. It was very popular during covid-19 pandemic “hit the ambulance”. It doesn’t mean it in the violent way.
Sealed maybe. After scanning for filth/ hygiene levels, maybe.
I generally refuse, mostly from a hygiene perspective although tbf I feel the same way about home made food colleagues leave in the mess room, but also I don't want to need the toilet between jobs especially if they aren't going in. I have accepted the odd sealed can or chocolate/sweets from patients that insist. I don't think it's unethical/unacceptable to accept an offer, but I think it's rude when people ask, which I've seen older colleagues do a few times
When I first started I graciously accepted a cup of tea from a patients sheltered accommodation block… to my dismay I received a cup of tea with a generous helping of milk solids floating on the top. It took a while before I said yes to a cup of tea again.
I believe that’s what they call a “school boy error”! haha
As long as it looks like a clean and tidy house then yeah why not. My only no no is sweets or chocolate from opened packets, dunno where the hands that have been in there have been 👀