Ep. #11 Nurse Andrea Law - Tales from the Tailboard Podcast

What happens when a nurse takes a hard look at the 911 system and asks the question nobody wants to answer out loud: Is EMS headed for collapse?

In this episode, I’m joined by Nurse Andrea Law (Las Vegas, home health) to break down the real-world pressure points crushing EMS and spilling into every corner of healthcare: low pay vs. demand, mandatory overtime, reimbursement problems, hospital overcrowding, rushed discharges, and how broken handoffs and misunderstandings between EMS and the ER make it worse.

We also get into the culture side—why “ambulance driver” jokes, ego, and emotional reactions create a nurse vs EMS divide… and how we fix it without turning it into a petty rivalry.

Topics we cover:

Why staffing shortages and turnover are accelerating

Why EMS can’t “just stop showing up”

Funding, taxes, and reimbursement realities

Hospital throughput, overcrowding, and higher-acuity patients sent home

How to improve EMS ↔ ER relationships and handoffs

What change could actually look like

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