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Help Me Fix My System!


MedicAR

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I've hit on it in another thread, but let's just get right down to brass tacks. My service is in trouble and I want to fix it. The problem? I am not a member of management and those that are don't take input (constructive or otherwise) very well at all. This will have to be a grass roots change and even then, many employees may not be on board with it, at least initially. What we have is a group of 7-10 solid employees with a steady history with the company and a desire to get us back on track (seriously, I am not planning a mutiny). That leaves 43-46 full timers and another 30 or so part timers that may or may not fall in line.

The problems:

No recognizable training program.

No standards for hiring, we'll take anyone off the street.

No discipline, don't feel like checking the truck? No problem.....

No organization. It's never clear who is in charge of anything, and even if it is clear, it may change without notice.

No chain of command. It doesn't work in either direction. Problems going up may skip officers. Answers coming down will do the same. We have a chief, an assistant chief, 6 captains (including our maintenance captain/mechanic), a training officer/computer guru, a front office manager (she might be the 7th captain, I'm not sure rank is assigned), an accounting manager, and 3 lieutenants. That's 14 members of our "management team" to manage roughly 66 full time people. It seems excessive, but I could be wrong.

Mis-management of funding. No common sense/planning when spending money. We waste more money patching holes that it would take to buy a new boat (it's figurative, we don't respond in boats). We're currently looking at spending $25,000-35,000 to make a rural fire station livable. This new location for us will improve response times to a very small segment of the population and will actually hurt the main city, as we're not adding a unit but moving one.

No positive reinforcement.

No consistency for anything. An example is that the front office gets one set of holidays. The wheelchair/transfer crews get a different set of holidays. Dispatch gets different holidays. The day time (12 hour) emergency crews get a different set of holidays. And finally the street crews get a different set of holidays. That's five different sets of time off/holiday pay.

Waning support from outside agencies. The rural fire departments/first responders we work with don't support us like they used to. Of course we don't support them like we used to either with training or just common courtesy.

Strong favoritism, bordering on discrimination.

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Sounds like you need to start with Documenting the problems as they arrise, keep them all on file, keep your FACTS straight and take them to the board. Point out that the ripple effect is felt by all.... including other services that you work hand in hand with. Seems to me like I get a pain in my side when a particulare service out of NW AR calls cause it is evident that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing sometimes.......

One scene flight called in by the Fire, the EMS,2 responding EMS's, the County, giving 3 sometimes 4 different LZ's....

Medic on scene want's the crew to land on scene, Dispatch for EMS want's crew to land at the Airport, Fire want's crew to land at LZ 3..........and a partridge in a pear tree!!!

And lets not forget that the Deputy that arrived first on scene tried to cancel before EMS arrived.......Stated Pt is found alert and oriented patent airway, Lets disreguard the fact that he has bilateral compound fractures to both femurs and is BLEEDING OUT!

Oh and did I mention that Springdale is on Trauma divert Bentonville on Ortho divert and WR in Fayetteville on Full ER divert...............

Yeah - disorganization is felt by all invovled .............

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Sounds like you need to start with Documenting the problems as they arrise, keep them all on file, keep your FACTS straight and take them to the board. Point out that the ripple effect is felt by all.... including other services that you work hand in hand with. Seems to me like I get a pain in my side when a particulare service out of NW AR calls cause it is evident that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing sometimes.......

One scene flight called in by the Fire, the EMS,2 responding EMS's, the County, giving 3 sometimes 4 different LZ's....

Medic on scene want's the crew to land on scene, Dispatch for EMS want's crew to land at the Airport, Fire want's crew to land at LZ 3..........and a partridge in a pear tree!!!

And lets not forget that the Deputy that arrived first on scene tried to cancel before EMS arrived.......Stated Pt is found alert and oriented patent airway, Lets disreguard the fact that he has bilateral compound fractures to both femurs and is BLEEDING OUT!

Oh and did I mention that Springdale is on Trauma divert Bentonville on Ortho divert and WR in Fayetteville on Full ER divert...............

Yeah - disorganization is felt by all invovled .............

Hmmm.....you sound as though you've dealt with my system...... :-k

So you work for FEMA?

No, FEMA is a well oiled machine by comparison. :lol:

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The number one most important thing you need to remember when asking for help........

Listen to your own co-workers!!

I'm not trying to be snide here but my own co-workers, for the most part, wouldn't have been hired to work in EMS anywhere else. They're lazy and unprofessional. Now, if I were looking for tips on how to nap anywhere, respond unprepared, and generally live like a slob....these would be the right people!

There is a small group or us that are looking to improve, but we feel hog-tied and don't know where or how to start. The suggestion about going to our board isn't going to do a whole lot, the board were selected for their "yes-man" abilities. As ridiculous as all this sounds, it is 100% true.

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I'm not trying to be snide here but my own co-workers, for the most part, wouldn't have been hired to work in EMS anywhere else. They're lazy and unprofessional.

Hey, I think I may know you! What camp are you at? :D

Seriously, dude, you just described ninety-five percent of the EMS systems in the United States. :lol:

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It may take lots of time and effort but why not form a group of professionals with the ones that are old school. Critique each other and always be professional regardless of the others. Have your own education meetings even if doesn't count as CE's. Try and get the better trash to hang out and slowly help them improve. Over time maybe ya'll can cause a positive change. If not then sad to say you may have to go elsewhere.

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Quit working for them. It's very hard, if not impossible, to outlive management and work culture such as you have described. The county where I served as EMS Director was essentially run by a bunch of illiterate redneck's and especially a Fire Chief's organization that couldn't formulate an educated opinion and certainly did not have the capacity for abstract thought. They were, and are to this date, a bunch of idiots with political influence. These guys buy $260,000.00 trucks and compete with each other in opulent buildings instead of providing high quality services and training to their personnel. These guys were my nemesis and gave us a great deal of difficulty. I finally gave up and took a much higher paying job with much less responsibility and a great deal of opportunity to expand my knowledge and perhaps venture in another direction.

It's really important to know when to cut your losses, and it certainly sounds like they (the powers that be) have pretty much sewed this thing up

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