11 replies to this topic

[medicgirl05]

When asked if I enjoy my job I usually respond with "I LOVE my job." There are times though when I seriously question if I am cut out for it...After you try multiple times to help a person and they wind up succeeding in their suicide attempt, or after telling someone that despite our best attempts their loved one is dead, or when you get back to the office after an especially gruesome trauma....

I wonder if I am in the wrong field...maybe I should be looking into a new career...maybe I am just not cut out for EMS...I have been in EMS for 7 years now...is this a feeling that will always come and go? Is it something I should be concerned with? Does anyone else ever wonder if they are doing the right thing? If so, is there anything that helps you to know that EMS is for you?

Thanks!

[DwayneEMTP]

If you have been working full time in EMS for 7 years then there is no question that you are cut out for it, but that certainly doesn't imply that you wouldn't prefer to do something else.

Choose a different path if you want. It's something that we all consider and many of us do, but don't allow yourself to believe that you've done so because you don't have the stones for EMS, ok?

[Happiness]

To question the career path we have all chosen is so normal. We all have those days and we all question what we do, but you have to remember is why we do this job. It can be the most rewarding profession in the world. We have the strength to help those that need our help.

I agree with Dwyane if you choose to leave the profession then go for it but make sure your leaving for the right reason and not because you dont think your making a differnce.

[Arctickat]

Sounds like the Seven Year Itch. I just had an employee start back in November, she told me she was having doubts about her career path and would probably only stick this career out for another couple of months. 6 weeks later she sat down to tell me that she has applied to paramedic school. Turns out she though her career would be the same no matter where she works. After a few weeks with my company she realised that it wasn't the EMS career she wasn't enjoying....it was her experience with her past employer.

[emtannie]

Medicgirl, when I read your post, part of me thought "you are reading my mind!"

I have been in EMS for 16 years, sometimes part time, sometimes full time. I have had a number of personal struggles the past two years, and many times I have seriously considered leaving EMS altogether. I still wake up a lot of mornings and ask myself if this is where I should be.

I don't have my answer yet... but I know that where I am now, is better than where I was before. The career I was in before EMS, the last while I was there, I would wake up in the morning and think "damn, I am not sick, so I can't call in sick to work." I don't feel like that here, but I am working through some things that are pretty big hurdles in my career right now.

Are you feeling like you aren't in the right place at the right time, because you feel you don't know enough? Because that one call that went bad is still haunting you? Are you doubting that you are making a difference? Because you feel like you have too much to do? Because you always have a student and are getting burnt out? Because your partner drives you crazy? Because your boss drives you crazy? I think once you have narrowed down why you feel the way you do, then you can move forward to figure out how to solve that why... it might mean just changing something in your workplace... or it may mean changing careers...

I don't think you are in the wrong field. I think you take your work seriously, and you do your best on every call (which is a lot more than some medics do!). I suspect that you are hitting a bit of a wall.. the "is this all there is" kind of wall... maybe you are ready for a challenge just to change your perspective a little bit... maybe teaching, maybe mentoring, maybe working on a research project for your boss... I am just throwing out ideas, and hoping one sticks. Don't be quick to leave EMS.

[mikeymedic1984]

I think you maybe putting too much focus on life happiness, on the career. What job is it that you think would be so much better if you could change tomorrow ? Also, you cannot base your happiness on outcomes you cannot control. There is only so much you can do, you cannot control what other people do.

[Chief1C]

The first time I seen someone bleeding everywhere, before I was trained in any facet of patient care, I went right to it and did what I could. I knew that I was cut out for it at that moment. On the otherhand, if I see blood dripping from my own body, catch my head, b/c I'm prolly gonna faint. Almost a 100% guarantee.

There will always be moments, that even the strongest provider cannot handle. You have to learn how to get past those in a healthy and proactive manner. Once you get that down, you're good to go. I don't know how else to explain it.

[hannahblumel]

The first time I seen someone bleeding everywhere, before I was trained in any facet of patient care, I went right to it and did what I could. I knew that I was cut out for it at that moment. On the otherhand, if I see blood dripping from my own body, catch my head, b/c I'm prolly gonna faint. Almost a 100% guarantee.

There will always be moments, that even the strongest provider cannot handle. You have to learn how to get past those in a healthy and proactive manner. Once you get that down, you're good to go. I don't know how else to explain it.

I am the same way! If its me even if it doesn't hurt I still get nausious, but if its someone else I'm helping I'm fine.

[Bieber]

I think it's not so much about what you "should" do (because that's an incredibly subjective term; no one can tell you what you "should" do but yourself), but rather what you "can" do and what you "want" to do. If EMS is where you're happy, and you feel like you belong, then stay here. If it doesn't appeal to you anymore or if you feel like there's something else you'd rather be doing, then go that route. It's YOUR life, and you live in the land of opportunity--make it whatever you want it to be.

[tcripp]

Medic girl...as mentioned above...sometimes it not what but the where AND the how. I thought the same and found a position as a paramedic in an outpatient clinic and this has my name written all over it. Unfortunately, only you can answer the questions you ask...but know that you aren't alone out there.