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kndoug1

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kndoug1 last won the day on January 16 2011

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About kndoug1

  • Birthday 11/18/1990

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  • Occupation
    Paramedic

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    CA

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  1. Yay! Finally got my p card! so excited to start the job hunt! =)

  2. Finally finished medic school! Off to take National Registry in 2 weeks! =)

    1. Lotus

      Lotus

      Congratulations ^_^

  3. First day of my internship starts tomorrow! So incredibly nervous! Hope all goes well.

  4. Being one of the youngest in both my EMT class and my medic class, I thought I would chime in here. There is no reason for them to be screwing around when it comes to learning how to appropriately do a patient assessment. We didn't have that problem for long in either one of my classes. In EMT school, day one we were put into groups and whoever was in our group was who we worked with. The instructor did a great job of meshing all of the various ages together in these groups. We had people ages 18-mid 30s in our class. One guy in my group had a hard time doing an assessment on me because I was the same age as his daughter. He quickly got over that on our first test day. Our program brought back former students who posed as patients and it went from "going through the motions" like we did in class on our clothed classmates, to actually having to perform a legit assessment and treat what we found...that included removing the clothes from our simulated patients. We had a few students that had to repeat the assessment station because they would not touch their patient, remove the necessary clothes, etc and they missed "fatal wounds" and had they not passed the retest, they would have been kicked out. This actually scared everyone into taking things more seriously, and the shyness issue went out the window. Another thing that it taught us was that we are probably never going to see our patients again (unless they are a frequent flyer, but that's another issue), so it didn't really matter if we were embarrassed or uncomfortable doing an assessment and removing clothes. Those that had a problem with physical contact with their classmates during an exercise got over it quickly knowing that they could fail out that easily and finally realizing that 1. your patient probably isn't going to care as long as you make them feel better in some way, and 2. that it's your license on the line if you miss something because you are shy, and 3. the first time you show up in the ER with a fully clothed patient that RN is going to kill you (our instructor worked in the ER and had some scary stories). In medic school to get everyone to stop being stupid, we had to actually cut off the clothes of our classmates during assessment scenarios. We were all told day one to bring clothes we didn't mind getting ruined, and the girls were told to bring sports bras for lab days because we were all expected to play faking patient. And "affective domain" was a big part of our grade, so one smart ass comment or smirk during lab days and you would see it reflected in your grade. My point in this big long rant is, make these skills a big part of your student's grades. Do not let this behavior go on any longer. If that means pushing them and making them uncomfortable, then do it. They have to get over it sometime, and the classroom is supposed to be the place to do stupid stuff and make mistakes. They need to learn that now, rather than on a ride out with a preceptor who will chew them out for acting like that, or even worse, when they are actually out in the field working. No patient wants to be exposed, but sometimes there is nothing we can do about it. They expect us to be respectful and professional about it, and you should make it known that that is what you expect from your students.
  5. Lots of firsts in ER clinicals today! First cardioversion, first intubation, first code...was a long day but I am so thankful for all of the amazing teachers there that helped me out every step of the way!

  6. You have both gotten some great info from everyone so far! Just wanted to say that your hospital time will be so incredibly valuable to you, IF you put the time in to learn. No one (in hospital or on the rig) is going to MAKE you do anything. If you just sit in the corner and watch, you won't get much out of your experience. Don't be afraid. Jump in and do whatever you can that is in your scope of practice. They know you are a student, and they aren't going to let you harm a patient. But you MUST make that effort to learn. You will find that not everyone you encounter in the field or hospital is going to want to teach you. It is a rare finding (or at least in my experience) that someone will actually force you to do something so you can learn. I am in the same position in my paramedic clinicals, so I speak from experience. I sat back my first day in the ER and lost out on 2 intubations and a code and the learning experience that I could have had from performing those skills. The second and third day, I jumped in on every code, every EMS delivery, and every walk in patient that showed up and was allowed to do everything that I asked to do. Yea, I was scared, but I learned so much more by actually performing the skills. And when you are in the ER, listen to the radio reports coming in. Learn what that hospital wants to know. Will prepare you really well for when you get on the ambulance and have to actually start giving radio reports. MICNs in my experience hate to have to keep asking questions about your patient. They have a lot to do before your arrival and if you have a 30sec ETA, they need to get moving, so just listen to what is going on around you while you are there. Please don't just blow off your clinical and ride time, especially since you said you want to go straight to paramedic. Jump in, ask questions when appropriate, and learn everything you can from your preceptors. Stay on their good side, help with chores and if they ask you to do something, do it. I still keep in touch with my preceptors from EMT clinicals and our FD ride outs and they have been so helpful in getting through medic school. This profession is one big family. You don't want to blow it during school ride outs because you didn't take it seriously. Not that you won't, I'm sure you wouldn't be where you are if you weren't serious about it, just giving you fair warning. Good luck to you both and let us know how it goes!
  7. Thanks Dwayne. I wasn't actually referring to necessarily letting them get to you personally and letting that interfere with your job (although, I'm sure as the new kid it will happen). I was more referring to a run in I had back in EMT school with a medic my school had set me up with for our ride outs. This particular individual was having a bad day or something and basically told a patient off and they were then unable to actually do anything for this patient because they lost that trust. I saw how not having that trust from your patient can affect your work, and it's something that I try very hard to have not happen on the job. In class, we tend not to focus on the whole "people skills" aspect of the job, when in fact that is such a big part of our jobs. That's all I was referring to. But thank you for that advice. As an EMT, I rarely have patients fighting me and crying when I am trying to do something, so I will definitely remember that the first time I get a screaming patient when I'm trying to start an IV.
  8. Thank you to everyone for your posts! It has all been really helpful! Fireman1037, you made a lot of good points. I am fairly confident in my skills in the classroom...that will be a totally different story out in the field. On your point about IV sticks...we actually were not allowed to start IVs on each other. Mannequin arms only. This is the one skill that I have been most worried about. The first time I will have a real arm in front of me will be in clinicals next week. You can do your skills a million times in the classroom, but the second you get a real person in front of you things change. I definitely won't be going into clinicals and my internship super confident because I know that having a real patient in front of you changes things. You don't have to build a rapport with a dummy arm, you do have to with a real patient if you have any hope of starting a line on someone. Thanks for your response. You listed a lot of good things that made me think of things I want to brush up on that I had forgotten about.
  9. Thank you to you both! Some really good advice there. Dwayne, that was more feedback than I ever could have hoped for, and unfortunately you both basically pointed out the one thing I know I have to work on. I tend to be the shy type when I am unsure about what I am doing, but at least I know that about myself and that's just something I will have to work on. I am hoping to get paired up with a preceptor that likes to teach and remembers what it's like to be the student. Not that I need or want someone to hold my hand, because we all know that EMS is just not that kind of profession, but to have someone who knows how to teach rather than just bashing you for every mistake would be nice. The school sets us up with a preceptor, so should know soon! Thanks for the advice guys, will definitely keep it in mind next week when we hit the hospitals!
  10. Hey everyone! I've been away from the site for a while while trying to get through the didactic portion of the medic program I am enrolled in. And now that the book part is done, I'm getting ready to start my clinicals and internship next week and needless to say, I'm super nervous about it! I was hoping to hear from some of you about what you find most difficult about working as a medic in the field. Hoping this will give me an idea of what to work on and study up on. I know the areas that I am weak in and will definitely be picking my preceptor's brain about, but what do you as experienced providers find to be the most difficult aspect of your jobs? I know it's kind of vague, but really wanted to leave it open and get as much info as I can from those of you that have been there done that, or even from those going through their internship now. Thanks for any help you give me in advanced!
  11. Starting to put all the information from the books to good use! Things are FINALLY starting to make some sense! =)

  12. Sorry to hear you are having a hard time. I know how you feel, I had a bit of trouble finding companies that were hiring as well. As was said, try hand delivering your resume and applications. You can always email the HR manager for the company you are applying for or call them to check up on your application. Always resumbit your apps as well. I did that like every 3 months or so. What county are you looking at? I'm in CA as well, but the Central Valley is a little vague...any county you are looking at in particular? I have made some pretty good connections with EMS providers through out CA and might be able to help point you in the right direction to companies that are actively hiring and how best to contact their HR dept...no promises, but I would be willing to see what I can do. Good luck!
  13. This is turning out to be much more difficult than I thought...actually begining to get discouraged. The instructor should not have put us in such dysfunctional groups! Really hard to learn the als skills when half the class can't even pass their bls skills exam!

  14. Wow...week 2 and I'm already getting behind on the reading! Who goes through an entire 660 page book in 2 weeks?!?! I don't know how it's going to be possible to comprehend all the necessary info in just one semester...

  15. Thanks everyone for the support. First day of class went well! Instructor has already gone through the first 5 chapters of the book...about to be an intense year. Really looking forward to expanding my knowledge and being able to chime in on all the conversations here and actually know what you guys are talking about! =)

    1. DeyKnight

      DeyKnight

      First day, I'm not sure we did more than touch the book! We had a couple of people that weren't even in uniform. lol. I'm glad you're looking forward to it though, I learned a LOT... a lot of it on my own, but still! Ugh! I just need that damn internship! *bites pillow*

    2. Vorenus

      Vorenus

      Did you wear your uniform in school??

    3. kndoug1

      kndoug1

      We only had one person not show up in uniform...but he was a late add and missed orientation so he didn't know. lol And you still haven't found a preceptor?!?! Girl, get on that! Go play nice with your local AMR or whoever is your main 911! lol Maybe Chris knows someone that would take you! haha

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