Shansist

I don't agree with that 95%. I would say it's more like 45% which is pretty high too. The thing is most people in EMS are not married to those in it themselves. And those spouses which are not in EMS or even interested in it generally don't understand your job or your attraction to it. Therefore, you can't talk about your work day without feeling like they don't care or it's not worth explaining because they don't understand anyway. Eventually, you grow apart because you have nothing in common anymore. UNLESS, you are extremely dedicated to "family first" and making time for them which is really hard in this business because you are always either at work or at school, con-ed, taking second calls, etc. Also, it is easy for two people who work side by side and as closely as we do to develop some sort of emotional attachment for each other. Especially when you eat, sleep and work together for 24 hrs. That being said, i think that people should switch partners as often as possible as not to develop this. Most squads will not allow you to have the same partner all the time. Just as many clash as they do clique. It really all boils down to one thing though: SELF-CONTROL!!! Not many people have much of this.

First off, you have to do what you can handle safely w/o getting burned out. I work full time 40-50 hrs. / wk with a paramedic level xport company, I attend school full-time for Paramedic, I volunteer with my local rescue squad for 3-4 12 hr. shifts a month and am currently going through a divorce with four children. I handle it quite well, but that is me. Not everyone is the same. Granted, it is HARD AS HELL to do though. School is my main priority right now though because once I am through I can work with this same xport company 3 days a week and have time at home with my kids while making a decent living and I will no longer be in school. That is my main goal.

Lynard, Don't beat yourself up. I was in exactly the same position as you not so long ago. On Xmas eve as a matter of fact. We had a pretty bad MVA right in front of our building that I heard from the couch. I ran outside to see what it was and right back inside to get my partner. I heard a FD member who saw me run outside calling for 10.18 traffic. I called into central and told them we were en route before they even paged us out. U/A there was a man all bent out of shape from the drivers seat to the rear seat and barely alive. The medic that was on with me immediately jumped in the back seat to take C-spine as I ran to the truck for a collar. Brought back the collar and put it on and held a sheet over them as the FD cut the car away. He stopped breathing and she yelled at me for a BVM which she called something else I had never heard of before. I had the ALS bag in front of me and I started to open it when she said get the basic bag. With that already confusing to me as I had no idea what she wanted but assumed it was a BVM, I ran to the truck to get the basic bag. Then she hollared for suction. My mind went completely blank and I couldnt remember if the suction unit on the wall would work when unplugged or not. I tried it and it did, then I couldn't find the Yaunker. I was stressed. I just had to stop, breathe and regroup. At that point a volunteer showed up on scene and assessed the two people in the other vehicle that I completely blocked out as they were CAOx3 and sitting on the church steps. Anyway, I had some friends and co-workers throughout the county that heard me on the radio giving rundowns of pts. to the closest available medic unit for assistance and I took ems scene command. That part I got compliments up the ying yang for. The point I am trying to make is that sometimes you are better at one part of the call than you are at others. EVERYONE is. EVERYONE blanks out from time to time, and EVERYONE questions and critiques themselves after a bad call. Or at least they SHOULD! I don't care who you are or what your status is, there will always be room for improvement. Don't let it stop you, keep trucking and regroup. I came back off that call in tears and called my best friend and told him I felt like a failure. He reassured me I was not and that it happens to the best of us. That's what we are here for, to help each other and lean on one another. When you start screwing up on every call is when you should think about going back through the class or getting into a refresher and brushing up.