@Apricotfool
To PP questioning why paramedics would wear gloves/masks when attending a fall or whatever
There are several problems in the pre hospital environment which make us particularly vulnerable.
The only information we get prior to entering a property is what the patient or relative chooses or remembers to tell the call taker. Even face to face with direct questioning I've had a patient with a mildly raised temperature 'forget' to mention he was on (as in last few weeks) chemotherapy for lymphatic cancer (his wife also failed to mention it). It was only when I discussed the case by phone with a gp with a view to discharging at home that she highlighted this from his gp notes. He went into hospital as a possible neutropenic sepsis (a potentially and rapidly fatal condition). Obviously that is an extreme example of lack of awareness/self education but this is what we are up against, we are often going in very blind.
We are going into non clinical environments to people with varying hygiene practices. Rather than a patient entering a pre prepared environment in a hospital or clinic. I've written entire patient records with the clipboard balanced on my knee as there was not a single clear or clean surface to write it on.
Elderly people frequently present as falls when starting with an infection, also acute confusion, or being unable to get out of bed/chair/off toilet can be signs of deterioration caused by infection.