Medic6698

Cotjockey has it right. Instead of us all sitting here pointing the finger at who is at fault and who is "God", we should take our experiences to management and suggest that we all sit down with the DON, various administrators and personnel of the homes you service and explain what our training is, how the protocols work, what we are looking for from the staff and what problems we are having etc. We did this at the service I work for and unfortunately, we had a piss poor turn out on the part of the home. But it is all about the communication. And once those communication channels are open, you can do other things like pre plan and train for that disaster, fire or power outage. We (RN's, medics, EMT's) are all here for the same purpose. The money (j/k) We are here for the patient. And yes, as with everything in life, there are two extremes and the gray area in between. Some people are just horrible caregivers and others have the God mentality. But that's for their boss's to sort out.

Hmmm, my first shift as a medic? Active MI, a pain mngmt for a hip Fx and an active stroke. EMT was too many years ago :? Take everyone here to task. Take a slow deep breath. Check your truck out. Pull things out of the cabinets and see if you know how to operate them/use them. Talk to your partner, let him/her know what your strength(s) and weakness(es) are, ask them how they run a call, i.e. stay and play or load and go. Don't be afraid to boss them around a bit on calls if your are the sr. att. If something does not go your way (and believe it will happen) keep your cool and wait until after the call to vent. Remember the deodorant commercial "never let them see you sweat!" Oh, and don't forget to punch in at the beginning of your shift and out at the end of it. That would suck if you don't get paid for your efforts