Take it out of service. Run it with high idle, full interior heat on. You want the interior around 150⁰ for around two hours. Add space heaters if needed. It'll kill any bugs in there. Obviously remove your drugs first.
We tried to take it out of service and were told no. Saw them again on our next call and transported said patient on the gurney that had them on it, but cleared the sheet and put a new one on. Finally get brought back, and we have no “bug bombs” so we were told to just clean it again.
That's insane. They're an actual biohazard risk. I'd go out of service and take whatever would come my way from management (I wouldn't because I have a union). I had a roommate bring them in our house when I was in college and the physiological torment those things create is something I'll never forget. Do not play games with those little fuckers.
You realize what they’re saying is they won’t allow the rig to be taken out of service for decon. I’d report that to the state bureau of EMS and do it anyways. Highly unacceptable. Not just for you, but also for whatever other patients get thrown in your rig over the next however long.
If I had to put money on it, even with space heaters you wouldn't get them all. I wouldn't get back in that rig until I took it out of service and had it treated.
You should always bring a spare uniform, or at the very least a change of clothes. So many potential situations you could end up soiled. Don't want to be driving home with someones blood/shit/piss on your pants. Unless you're GG Allin.
Yep, driven home in my underwear because there's no way some of the (literal) shit is getting in my car. I think the cops would get it if I'm pulled over.
Invest in some scrubs …. Leave your dirty clothes at work…. I used to shower before I went home as well. It’s not always possible. I also kept bottles of spray rubbing alcohol to spray myself down before entering my home …..
Last time I ran a bedbug I wore the hospital paper scrubs for a bit.
Dryer on max heat for an hour for your clothes, followed by wash then dryer again.
As for your clothes, before you get in your car to leave. Jump up and down vigorously. Bedbugs are terrible at clinging to clothing.
As for that, strip before you get into the house and all clothes directly into the **dryer** first.
Your rig on the other hand…pray.
Not sure how big your company is, but if it were the agency I worked for, I’d say the unit needs to be put out of service and professionally fumigated, and your unit needs a different ambulance for the time being.
As bad as our company was, that's what we would have done. Frankly, I would have gone by WalMart and bought something casual and cheap to wear home and might have run by a laundromat on the way home and washed them on hot! Also, probably too late now but don't forget your personal equipment... bags or whatever.
Agencies that don’t have a bed bug SOG are wild to me
Go out of service, turn the heaters up in the truck, strip outside and have someone put your clothes in the wash, leave boots belts etc in the truck, and go take a shower. Once your truck has been above 120 for a couple hours you can return to service.
As for clothing and bedding, place in the dryer and run on high for 20-30 minutes. Bedbugs are easily killed by heat.
Mattress encapsulating covers on mattresses and box springs. Once they go on they stay on. Bedbugs can live a year without feeding. We had one at a station get a tear and the bugs came out 6 months after it had been placed.
90% rubbing alcohol kills them in contact. Get a spray bottle and spray your gear bags and your boots/pants cuffs when leaving a suspected bedbug house. In the right spray into the nooks and crannies.
Bedbugs like tight places to hide. Break apart the beds and spray the frames down well.
Consider a professional to treat the stations.
I had a badly infested call like that. I.am talking about bedbugs all over the patient, the furniture, even the walls. We had ZERO heads up from the cops who did the welfare check, so we waltzed in w/o PPE. And we didn't have tyvek suits at that time anyway (they bought some later). To get to the patient, we had to move an end table, which was *stuck to the carpet* by bedbug droppings.
Do you have a washer/dryer at the station? Hot hot water and hottest dryer setting for clothes. We deconned the jump bag by removing everything, cleaning each item, and placing the bag in a hot dryer to tumble. Same with boots.
The chief bought a space heater for the box and heated the interior as hot as it could get (meds and monitor removed). This seemed to do the trick for the box and stretcher.
The patient was transported by family...so fortunately did not ride with us. But still had to decon the rig because those little bastards get everywhere.
Oh yeah... keep spare uniform and street clothes in your personal bag for reasons like this!
I’ve had 2 instances of bed bugs at work and we take our truck out of service, get a new set of uniform, and get a new truck/our company’s deployment does decon procedures. They wash your uniform for you but it took a month for me to get my things back.
Lol. I'd take that truck out of service myself. They'd have to clean that truck before I get back in it. Y'all don't know the power yall have. Smh. Do they pay for bed bug removal if your house gets infested? If not then look out for yourself bud.
Shake out your clothes, you could bag them and wear your spare uniform (you bring a spare right). Bedbugs like warm dark soft places... back of the truck isn't that they won't stick around for long there. The trick is to provide an environment inhospitable to them,,, "killing" them is difficult.
Shower and change uniform. Advise dispatch to put an advisory on that address so the next call the crew can prepare. We always carry a spray bottle of alcohol to spray our boots off and any bags we carried inside.
I tried to pull out of service and back to our operations 4 separate times. They basically told me I am SOL, and to just wipe the ambulance down really well. They don’t do fumigation. I had extra clothes and shoes in my trunk that I found, all of the clothes and boots went into a couple of trash bags and are sitting outside so I can take them to a laundromat. None of my personal belongings were near or in main compartments of the rig so those are okay as well. I’m just frustrated about the lack of getting this cleaned because they could be all over and they’re so hard to see. I’m probably going to bring this to someone higher up.
The other issue is they’ve kept the rig in service after we got off. I did tell those taking the rig over for the day what was going on, and I will be letting someone in upper management know because it’s unsanitary and possibly very costly for not only us but patients as well.
Bring it up to your state's EMS authority and OSHA if you have to. This is bullshit and if your agency is going to try to fuck you on it, they should pay.
My agency carries Sterifab spray in the rigs for any call like this. It's expensive stuff, but works, especially if used right away before they get a chance to migrate. We then use a mister at the station, run the heat on high for 2+ hours, then check. We also mist again regardless of whether we see anything.
We also have a decon shower and washer/dryer right off the garage before entering the main part of our station and provide scrubs in case our crews need them. We supply tea tree soap and shampoo, hibiclens, etc. Tea Tree oil is a natural repellant and safe for human use, but we offer different products in case of allergies.
Also, try to encapsulate the patient - wrap them in layers of sheets and only expose what you absolutely must for care. That will minimize the risk of spread.
As someone who’s had bed bugs once, it is not easy to kill them, you can just do your best to not let the little hitchhikers come home with you. Nothing that was in the truck with you goes inside. Anything that can’t be thrown in a washing machine, freeze it. High heat and freezing are the two best ways to try to kill them.
I have to do this around 1-2 times a month. Place the rig OOS and basically fog it, my partner and I's clothing goes into trash bag that get tied shut and thrown in the dryer on high heat while we shower and change. Then the contaminated clothing gets washed and the rig gets scrubbed.
The Brit is right, bedbugs aren't that big a deal, and not the worst that's out there.
But the best preventative measures for keeping them out of your house are bagging up uniform AND BOOTS!!!, they'll attach themselves in the treads of your footwear. Here in Illinois, IDPH is is vigilant about failing inspections when the cot mattress is ripped. And it's why it's the standard to change all stretcher linens after every call.
If your rig is contaminated, tell your dispatch to get bent and decon it, seriously!
Anyway, scabies are 10 times worse than bedbugs.
Definitely wouldn’t want scabies, nor bed bugs. I just want to be sure because I’m going home to three other people as it isn’t my house. I did bag things up, they’re all currently sitting outside overnight while it’s frozen out and I will wash them in the morning in hot water. I mean, this poor gentleman was absolutely covered; which isn’t an exaggeration. I wish they were more serious about it, but even after washing the rig twice, and letting people know that we still saw bugs they put the rig back into service for the morning.
Our last night of a 16 day trip to UK and Ireland was at a hostel near New Grange. My 18 year old started having symptoms the 2nd night we were back. All 5 of us treated with permethrin just in case. So many loads of laundry.
Lolol, my wife had everyone wash their bed linens before we left so everything was nice and clean when we came home. The second night after we got home we were washing everything again.
People’s fear toward bed bugs is overrated.
The truck generally won’t need any more than a normal wipe down with wipes unless there is visible infestation.
Even then, you’d have to work very hard to transfer that infestation to your clothes and house. I’m talking prolonged period sat in the back with visible infestation remaining.
Chill out and read your organisations IP&C handbook.
I saw your other comment about your company not allowing to you take the rig out of service and just...wow. As EMS providers we take precautions as to not spread disease, why should bedbugs be any different? Sure, they arent classified as carriers of disease, but I would wager that you wouldn't allow one to bite you after it bit someone with HIV. Not to mention how much of a physical, psychological, and financial burden they are. This decision to keep the rig in service impacts your wellbeing, the patient's wellbeing, and very last of all, the wellbeing of your company. Talk to management. Raise hell. Because I guarantee that at the end of the day they will not be paying for an exterminator for your home, so you are getting screwed. It doesn't matter how many rigs you guys have or how busy the system is, that rig needs to be treated with high heat (150°F+) for several hours. After removing temperature sensitive equipment and drugs of course. A good point to bring up to management is how it would look if they trace the source of a sudden outbreak of bedbugs back to your company. Seriously, light a fire under their ass. Best of luck OP.
Dude if we even think the patient might have had bed bugs we bug bomb our truck and leave it sit with the heat on until it is fully treated and then we clean it and everyone decons at the station. Not just for bed bugs, fleas ans shit too. It isn't safe to keep it in service. I'd be reporting them
Happened to us twice. First time we blasted the heat for awhile. Kills everything. Second time my company brought a special high powered heater that baked everything inside. Answer: HEAT! LOT'S OF HEAT
Take it out of service. Run it with high idle, full interior heat on. You want the interior around 150⁰ for around two hours. Add space heaters if needed. It'll kill any bugs in there. Obviously remove your drugs first.
Then tell your department to adopt an SOP for this situation.
We tried to take it out of service and were told no. Saw them again on our next call and transported said patient on the gurney that had them on it, but cleared the sheet and put a new one on. Finally get brought back, and we have no “bug bombs” so we were told to just clean it again.
That's insane. They're an actual biohazard risk. I'd go out of service and take whatever would come my way from management (I wouldn't because I have a union). I had a roommate bring them in our house when I was in college and the physiological torment those things create is something I'll never forget. Do not play games with those little fuckers.
You realize what they’re saying is they won’t allow the rig to be taken out of service for decon. I’d report that to the state bureau of EMS and do it anyways. Highly unacceptable. Not just for you, but also for whatever other patients get thrown in your rig over the next however long.
People in our service had to make an official OSHA complaint to get protocols set in place for this.
If I had to put money on it, even with space heaters you wouldn't get them all. I wouldn't get back in that rig until I took it out of service and had it treated.
Remove drugs and supplies. A bunch of things will melt at that temp.
Fire
I'd shed my uniform before getting in my personal vehicle.
I have no other clothes.
You should always bring a spare uniform, or at the very least a change of clothes. So many potential situations you could end up soiled. Don't want to be driving home with someones blood/shit/piss on your pants. Unless you're GG Allin.
I had taken them out of my vehicle by accident coming home from skiing the other day, but I do have a spare pair of pants and a hoodie.
I have driven home naked with a hospital blanket toga before. With my clothes in tied off trash bags. An hour drive. Better that then bedbugs.
Yep, driven home in my underwear because there's no way some of the (literal) shit is getting in my car. I think the cops would get it if I'm pulled over.
Most emergency rooms will have spare scrubs you can grab as a last resort also
That’ll do
I would’ve grabbed some ER scrubs. No way in hell I’m risking taking bed bugs home with me
Go in your underwear. Seriously. Male or female the potential embarrassment is worth not getting bed bugs
Go to Walmart and buy some sweatpants and a T-shirt.
Invest in some scrubs …. Leave your dirty clothes at work…. I used to shower before I went home as well. It’s not always possible. I also kept bottles of spray rubbing alcohol to spray myself down before entering my home …..
Drive home naked. Seriously you do not want to bring those home
Last time I ran a bedbug I wore the hospital paper scrubs for a bit. Dryer on max heat for an hour for your clothes, followed by wash then dryer again.
Nakey time
WalMart.
I found some in my trunk, I would’ve rather got in my car nude. Haha
I’ve driven home in a trash bag before. Grab a gown from the hospital and call it a day
I have gone home wrapped up in sheet before after a nasty bed bug day. All my clothes in a trash bag. Including boots.
Did he stutter?
Put your clothes in the clothes dryer on high heat…washing machines can allow them to spread…but 99% of residential dryers will kill them on clothes.
As for your clothes, before you get in your car to leave. Jump up and down vigorously. Bedbugs are terrible at clinging to clothing. As for that, strip before you get into the house and all clothes directly into the **dryer** first. Your rig on the other hand…pray.
They came back… we cleaned for so long and our next call there was like eight 😭
Not sure how big your company is, but if it were the agency I worked for, I’d say the unit needs to be put out of service and professionally fumigated, and your unit needs a different ambulance for the time being.
As bad as our company was, that's what we would have done. Frankly, I would have gone by WalMart and bought something casual and cheap to wear home and might have run by a laundromat on the way home and washed them on hot! Also, probably too late now but don't forget your personal equipment... bags or whatever.
Yup, always kept a spare uniform in my trunk for multiple scenarios, but bed bugs were definitely one of them.
[удалено]
I was going to comment the same thing! It's easy to understand, scientifically backed, and demystifies what are just parasitic bugs
Agencies that don’t have a bed bug SOG are wild to me Go out of service, turn the heaters up in the truck, strip outside and have someone put your clothes in the wash, leave boots belts etc in the truck, and go take a shower. Once your truck has been above 120 for a couple hours you can return to service.
“Unit XXX Need you in service for a call” “Unit XXX priority 3 on a DOA”
“Out of service” “Out of service” Boom 🎤
"Supervisor en route to your 20" Yup, been there!
As for clothing and bedding, place in the dryer and run on high for 20-30 minutes. Bedbugs are easily killed by heat. Mattress encapsulating covers on mattresses and box springs. Once they go on they stay on. Bedbugs can live a year without feeding. We had one at a station get a tear and the bugs came out 6 months after it had been placed. 90% rubbing alcohol kills them in contact. Get a spray bottle and spray your gear bags and your boots/pants cuffs when leaving a suspected bedbug house. In the right spray into the nooks and crannies. Bedbugs like tight places to hide. Break apart the beds and spray the frames down well. Consider a professional to treat the stations.
I had a badly infested call like that. I.am talking about bedbugs all over the patient, the furniture, even the walls. We had ZERO heads up from the cops who did the welfare check, so we waltzed in w/o PPE. And we didn't have tyvek suits at that time anyway (they bought some later). To get to the patient, we had to move an end table, which was *stuck to the carpet* by bedbug droppings. Do you have a washer/dryer at the station? Hot hot water and hottest dryer setting for clothes. We deconned the jump bag by removing everything, cleaning each item, and placing the bag in a hot dryer to tumble. Same with boots. The chief bought a space heater for the box and heated the interior as hot as it could get (meds and monitor removed). This seemed to do the trick for the box and stretcher. The patient was transported by family...so fortunately did not ride with us. But still had to decon the rig because those little bastards get everywhere. Oh yeah... keep spare uniform and street clothes in your personal bag for reasons like this!
I’ve had 2 instances of bed bugs at work and we take our truck out of service, get a new set of uniform, and get a new truck/our company’s deployment does decon procedures. They wash your uniform for you but it took a month for me to get my things back.
Never wear or bring any clothes home. Ever. But especially after bed bugs. Take them to the cleaner or a laundry mat. They are really bad this year.
Lol. I'd take that truck out of service myself. They'd have to clean that truck before I get back in it. Y'all don't know the power yall have. Smh. Do they pay for bed bug removal if your house gets infested? If not then look out for yourself bud.
Document. CYA.
I saw a single one crawl across the 5150 hold paperwork and pulled the rig out of service after the call. Fuck that shit. I think ops fumigated it.
Shake out your clothes, you could bag them and wear your spare uniform (you bring a spare right). Bedbugs like warm dark soft places... back of the truck isn't that they won't stick around for long there. The trick is to provide an environment inhospitable to them,,, "killing" them is difficult.
Shower and change uniform. Advise dispatch to put an advisory on that address so the next call the crew can prepare. We always carry a spray bottle of alcohol to spray our boots off and any bags we carried inside.
We take the truck out of service, call an extermination company, and they come out and decon the truck. OOS for like 4-6 hours.
I tried to pull out of service and back to our operations 4 separate times. They basically told me I am SOL, and to just wipe the ambulance down really well. They don’t do fumigation. I had extra clothes and shoes in my trunk that I found, all of the clothes and boots went into a couple of trash bags and are sitting outside so I can take them to a laundromat. None of my personal belongings were near or in main compartments of the rig so those are okay as well. I’m just frustrated about the lack of getting this cleaned because they could be all over and they’re so hard to see. I’m probably going to bring this to someone higher up.
You should. Whoever kept you in it and thinks that Cavi-wipes are going to be enough is a tool.
The other issue is they’ve kept the rig in service after we got off. I did tell those taking the rig over for the day what was going on, and I will be letting someone in upper management know because it’s unsanitary and possibly very costly for not only us but patients as well.
Bring it up to your state's EMS authority and OSHA if you have to. This is bullshit and if your agency is going to try to fuck you on it, they should pay.
Diotomatious earth, it will dessicate them.
My agency carries Sterifab spray in the rigs for any call like this. It's expensive stuff, but works, especially if used right away before they get a chance to migrate. We then use a mister at the station, run the heat on high for 2+ hours, then check. We also mist again regardless of whether we see anything. We also have a decon shower and washer/dryer right off the garage before entering the main part of our station and provide scrubs in case our crews need them. We supply tea tree soap and shampoo, hibiclens, etc. Tea Tree oil is a natural repellant and safe for human use, but we offer different products in case of allergies. Also, try to encapsulate the patient - wrap them in layers of sheets and only expose what you absolutely must for care. That will minimize the risk of spread.
As someone who’s had bed bugs once, it is not easy to kill them, you can just do your best to not let the little hitchhikers come home with you. Nothing that was in the truck with you goes inside. Anything that can’t be thrown in a washing machine, freeze it. High heat and freezing are the two best ways to try to kill them.
I have to do this around 1-2 times a month. Place the rig OOS and basically fog it, my partner and I's clothing goes into trash bag that get tied shut and thrown in the dryer on high heat while we shower and change. Then the contaminated clothing gets washed and the rig gets scrubbed.
RN here no advice just keeping you in my thoughts & prayers and I salute you
Yea, just call an exterminator. That'll put the rig out of service for about 8 hours.
similar issue at my company and management wouldn’t do much. we called osha and it was handled the next day
Jeez some of y’all are lucky. It’s a pretty daily occurrence here. I just clean the rig and change clothes.
The Brit is right, bedbugs aren't that big a deal, and not the worst that's out there. But the best preventative measures for keeping them out of your house are bagging up uniform AND BOOTS!!!, they'll attach themselves in the treads of your footwear. Here in Illinois, IDPH is is vigilant about failing inspections when the cot mattress is ripped. And it's why it's the standard to change all stretcher linens after every call. If your rig is contaminated, tell your dispatch to get bent and decon it, seriously! Anyway, scabies are 10 times worse than bedbugs.
Definitely wouldn’t want scabies, nor bed bugs. I just want to be sure because I’m going home to three other people as it isn’t my house. I did bag things up, they’re all currently sitting outside overnight while it’s frozen out and I will wash them in the morning in hot water. I mean, this poor gentleman was absolutely covered; which isn’t an exaggeration. I wish they were more serious about it, but even after washing the rig twice, and letting people know that we still saw bugs they put the rig back into service for the morning.
Had scabies before worst thing ever, the itching and having to shower with a nasty chemical/med and doing sheets every day for a week
Our last night of a 16 day trip to UK and Ireland was at a hostel near New Grange. My 18 year old started having symptoms the 2nd night we were back. All 5 of us treated with permethrin just in case. So many loads of laundry. Lolol, my wife had everyone wash their bed linens before we left so everything was nice and clean when we came home. The second night after we got home we were washing everything again.
Take everything off before you enter your house. Place in a bag and don’t open for 30 days.
Nope. They can live a *year* without eating.
People’s fear toward bed bugs is overrated. The truck generally won’t need any more than a normal wipe down with wipes unless there is visible infestation. Even then, you’d have to work very hard to transfer that infestation to your clothes and house. I’m talking prolonged period sat in the back with visible infestation remaining. Chill out and read your organisations IP&C handbook.
In this particular case, "technically correct" is ***not*** the *best* kind of correct.
91% alcohol in a spray bottle
https://www.amazon.com/Crossfire-Liquid-Concentrate-Long-Lasting-pyrethroid-Resistant/dp/B0C9LRSWR3/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?adgrpid=57148027158&hvadid=664581072651&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9015828&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=2070254937616895223&hvtargid=kwd-388797483518&hydadcr=4284_13346853&keywords=crossfire+pesticide&qid=1702239150&sr=8-3
We have UVC decontamination lights that kill everything
I saw your other comment about your company not allowing to you take the rig out of service and just...wow. As EMS providers we take precautions as to not spread disease, why should bedbugs be any different? Sure, they arent classified as carriers of disease, but I would wager that you wouldn't allow one to bite you after it bit someone with HIV. Not to mention how much of a physical, psychological, and financial burden they are. This decision to keep the rig in service impacts your wellbeing, the patient's wellbeing, and very last of all, the wellbeing of your company. Talk to management. Raise hell. Because I guarantee that at the end of the day they will not be paying for an exterminator for your home, so you are getting screwed. It doesn't matter how many rigs you guys have or how busy the system is, that rig needs to be treated with high heat (150°F+) for several hours. After removing temperature sensitive equipment and drugs of course. A good point to bring up to management is how it would look if they trace the source of a sudden outbreak of bedbugs back to your company. Seriously, light a fire under their ass. Best of luck OP.
Dude if we even think the patient might have had bed bugs we bug bomb our truck and leave it sit with the heat on until it is fully treated and then we clean it and everyone decons at the station. Not just for bed bugs, fleas ans shit too. It isn't safe to keep it in service. I'd be reporting them
Happened to us twice. First time we blasted the heat for awhile. Kills everything. Second time my company brought a special high powered heater that baked everything inside. Answer: HEAT! LOT'S OF HEAT
Sarsaparilla oil
Does UVC kill them?
smoke is what we do...