noo

Although I come from a bit of a different world I often see Paramedic students (those who are still at University and undertake clinical placements with our service) who are still young and have no clinical and little life experience! The biggest problem with these folk when they do finally hit the road is a lack of basic communication skills, which translates into poor history taking, scene control etc. Working in roles such as non-emergency transport can give you a fantastic opportunity to develop good basic communication skills, as we probably spend more time actually talking to those who require less clinical intervention. You may also gain valuable experience in stretcher and other manual handling, documentation and giving and recieving hand-overs. All of this will be experience that you can build upon as you develop your knowledge and skills through further education. Any experience is good if you take the opportunity to learn from it!

Nothing new here Timmy, and no difference between MICA/ALS or RAV/MAS (or should I now say Ambulance Victoria!) Same problems accross the board, morale is crap, they dont pay us enough, rosters suck, no flexibility etc, etc. MICA aren't special here, just the Unions flavour of the month. This should not be about MICA, it should be about all Paramedics as a united group trying to improve things for the profession....seems the good old AEA occasionally forgets ALS exists! Grrr... Anyway...hows things?

We use toughbooks here, but with our own service-specific program. E-PCRs are great, but pose a few logistical problems-the program is a little complex, fairly comprehensive and has taken some learning! Our old PCRs relied on sound documentation skills from paramedics, as they were not "tick the box" formats...other than admin info and primary survey/vital signs the sheets were a blank format where paramedics wrote a "story" (with broad categories of PHx, Hx, MEDs, Allergies, On Arrival, On examination & Rx/Effect) The intro of E-PCRs has made the PCRs of lazy documentors better, but I believe those who wrote good comprehensive PCRs will be producing poorer ones. I dont know about your program, but ours seems to be more about collecting statistics than providing an accurate and comprehensive record of patient assessment and care! Also, our service has deemed that it is unsafe to use the tablets in a moving vehicle (at least they are concerned about our safety I suppose), therfore we cannot begin to complete documentation until the job is complete...this is significantly impacting on response/availability times. I am still learning the system, but I used to be able to produce a good, written PCR in 10-20 mins (depending on complexity of job, drugs administered etc) now a complex case sheet takes me between 20-40 mins! Overall though, they do provide consistency, and force lazy ambos to record information!

Firstly, congratulations on your post...takes guts to say that you are effectively strugling to cope...maybe more than just trying to hide it and keep going. I have been a paramedic for over 8 years and have been fortunate enough to be a government employee that feels relatively valued. Whilst I dont feel qualified to comment on your working conditions (I don't feel I have the right to comment on a system I don't fully understand) one thing I have learned is that this job is definately not for everybody! Even those who are good at the job and take pride in their work may not be in the best place, and whilst it sounds as though you entered this field for all the right reasons, you seem to be hanging around for all the wrong ones! One thing I think all medics would agree that we take away from the job everyday is that life is short, and no job, pride or need to save face is worth risking your health! I am sure if you asked your family if they preferred you being a medic or being happy and healthy the answer would be the latter! I do not know you, and I am not at all implying that you personally are not cut out for the job, but I am saying that you need to work it out before it has more permanent effects...the signs you listed are classic for stress! Perhaps you need to take check, change employers and see how it goes...but don't let this go on too long before you bite the bullet and try something else. Above all, the most important thing is your health and that of your family...and this may well impact significantly on your family as well. I wish you luck in working this out, in the meantime..take care of yourself..please! As other have pointed out, you are too young to let a job destroy you.

In my service, policy is clearly set by state road rules...whilst the public has a duty to give way to emergency vehicles, emergency vehicle drivers must ensure that it is safe to proceed, in other words, if we run a red and hit somebody, it is our fault and our responsibility...after all, we are supposed to be the professional drivers. Our service taught us to STOP at a red, ensure it was safe to proceed and then go through. If you hit somebody, clearly it was not safe to proceed!

Absolutely...nobody should be lifted and carried if they are capable of walking themselves without worsening their condition. Too many patients and families just expect us to carry them....if they have been getting about the house ok (to toilet etc) then they can take a few steps to your bed! Even a well executed lift does not do our backs any good, and those backs have to last an entire career! This is just a matter of having the clinical judgement to determine whether ambulating the patient will do harm...if it will, by all means carry them, otherwise get them to help you help them! (after all, many of the people we transport don't even really need us to transport them, let alone carry them!) :roll:

Seems like it's really the same all 'round...mostly your bread and butter medical complaints and "nanna downs". As long as the workload offers enough diversity to keep us challenged and interested we need the basics to keep us going! Where would we be without SOBs, chest pains and NOFs? :wink: