I need help with a new partner

[brock8024]

I am changing partners at work. I am not really excited because I loved my other partner. We worked together for 6 months and clicked really well. The new guy is having trouble and I am kinda his last hope. I was told I am very patient person. I also love to teach and talk about calls and different things with my partners.

This new guy has trouble with critical thinking and just having the motivation to learn things. He went through a basic class and passed everything but seems to have forgotten everything.

I need help!!!! how do you teach someone critical thinking skills and just motivate someone to want to make themselves better. The crews I work with normally get together and talk about different calls, signs symptoms, treatments, and things like that just to learn. I work for a service that has all three levels.

PLEASE GIVE ME IDEAS ON HOW TO HELP THIS GUY!!!!!

[mobey]

brock

I have experienced these exact same problems time and time again. I find the only way is persistance. On the way to a call go through the DD's for the dispatch info. Make it a game if you can. challenge him all the time, and ask him to challenge you. I do this all the time with perscription drugs, and definitive treatments.

But there are people who just want the cheq and don't really want to learn.

[ccmedoc]

The best way I can think of to help with the critical thinking is scenarios. He must have a good grasp of the basic knowledge though. Maybe have some quick question and answer sessions to realize the parts of the education he is lacking before trying scenarios. Knowledge is only a part of the equation though.

Make sure he knows that it doesn't matter what he knows, if he can't apply it, it is wasted knowledge. Some people do not want to learn, and this is not possible to overcome other than asking for another partner.

Maybe the lack of motivation has come from others belittling him for not being able to apply his knowledge to the job. If you show him you are willing to work with him on this, maybe he will come around. I think a straight forward approach is best with this and he should be made aware of the situation. Learn or go home...end of story.

Mentoring has its rewards, but they are hard won sometimes. Some people just do not want to learn, and this is the hard reality. If he has trouble with a certain kind of learning, try to accommodate this, if he doesn't want to be taught, you will lose....

Good Luck with this....

All three levels of what? :?

[Ravarros]

You can not really make them want to make themselves better . That comes from within . What you can do is help to retrain him with assist of other people if he wants to learn . I had an instructor that told us finishing the class is only the beginning of the process . After that it is a continual and lifelong commitment to learning and growth . Bottom line is .... Is he doing the job for the paycheck or does he truly want to help people . Just my two cents worth .

[firedoc5]

I know the type Brock. Whenever we had someone having problems and there was only "one hope", I'd get them. I was patient, I was low key, I loved to teach and talk scenarios, yatta, yatta, yatta...

But one thing I did learn. Yes, be patient, but know when NOT to be patient and be ready to kick his butt into gear. You can't hold them by the hand forever. I can't give you a time frame, but you will know when it's time to sit them down and "set things in motion." Let them know when enough is enough. Not only is there a time period, there should be an incident red flag too. Sure, anyone can make a mistake, but there are things out there that can/should not ever be screwed up. Use your own judgement. If something happens that you just are not sure about, think back..."What would 'so & so' say to me, or do to me if I had done that?" I fell back on that one many times.

Like they say in horse training, "A little time, a little care, and a lot of beatings"....(Just Kidding)

[brock8024]

Thanks for the tips. Firedoc me and u seem to be alot alike. LOL

I have worked codes and car wrecks and he seems to like that. It is just that he forgets a lot of stuff. We gave him case and 5 mins later he could not remember the blood sugar we had given him. I do not think he understands a lot of the stuff.

I am going to help him in the morning and give him talk. I am going to start off with basic communication skills. I am going to quiz him and see if he has any motivation to look stuff up himself. He sits around and plays games on computer and watches a lot of tv.

My plan give him a few hours or days to look stuff up just to see if he has motivation. Quiz him over simple things to get his level of knowledge then go from there.

we are a intermediate service. there are about 5or so paramedics that work there. we have a few intermediates and lots of basics. I was lucky that my last partner was a basic and very good. she understood a lot of things and was always willing to help anyway she could. my iv bags where always spiked when I was looking for a vein. She would put them on c-pap while I was getting stuff together. She was awesome. It will be hard for me now because I am going to have to do all pt care except finger sticks and vital signs.

I will let u guys know how it goes. I start my shift in the morning with him. We work 48 hour shifts. 2 on 4 off. wish me luck.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I too have had this partner.

I too have been considered by some to be the person of last resort that they send problem employees to.

maybe this person has some sort of learning disability that causes them to not do well. But that might be a moot point because they passed their emt class and made it thru testing

I would not give him 4 or 5 days to research anything in order to see how motivated he is

I would spell out in writing what you and your service expect of him. If he's not already in the sights of the HR department then he needs to be. If you are his last straw then HR needs to be involved.

I would sit down with him on your first shift. Go over expectations and tell him that you are going to be asking him to do some work outside of his normal shift times. Give him something simple at first. Then graduate to the hard stuff. If he shows no impetus to gather information that you have asked him to then you need to note that in some type of writing method.

I would strongly urge you to develop if you don't have a process yet but develop some sort of evaluation method and let him see what you are going to be looking for.

He has to know that since you are the partner of last resort that his time has come to either put up or shut up. He needs to know that he will either pass with you or he might be out of a job.

This is a personnel issue and if they are not involved in this process then they are just setting you up for failure.

Good luck Brock, I wish you and the emt the best.

One last thing to remember and it has been touched on in some other posts in the past couple of days and Dust seems to push this, not everyone is cut out to be an emt or medic. There are some people who just cannot do the job no matter how many chances you give them. Some people are more apt to work for wal mart or the post office or mcdonalds. Your employer is not required to give this kid a job. It's not a god given right now that he has his emt license that he is guaranteed a job in ems.

The worst thing that you and your company can do is to put this guy on a bls transfer truck(wheelchair van) if he fails your phase. That's defeating the purpose. Putting him on a transfer truck where he has no way to see actual patients is of no benefit to him. Eventually this guy will go to medic school and become a bad medic. (he coudl become a great medic but I doubt it). Giving him false hope is a failure of your service not of him.

Just my 2 cents which is really worth only 1/3 of 2 cents.

[brock8024]

We are a smaller service and the boss already knows everything and came to me. I know I am his last hope if you will. We was sitting down with him for hours at a time for a while but he seemed not to care. he would not take notes at all. It seemed like we was forcing him into learning.

I am going to talk to him and start off simple. If this works then I will be happy but I am not going to spend a month with a partner that is not willing to help himself. I mean if you are not going to step up and help yourself and do better how do you help a patient in need.

Me and my last partner done very well together. We had it down on how the call would go. I would assess the pt and she would talk to family and get meds and a hx from them. Or visa versa. If it was a critical pt then we would move and she would do stuff with out me asking. I loved it. I am spoiled. Now I get a partner who knows to get a set of vital signs and a blood sugar. He does not know when a pt is critical and we need to move. Now it will be up to me to get all pt care skills done as he does not know how or when he needs to do them.

Our basics and intermediates can get protocols for nitro, asa and c-pap. It is person to person thing. They have to be tested over it and understand when to and not to give it. This guys does not get those protocols yet so that is more I got to deal with. It makes it difficult because we area rural service. We cover the entire county and my first day I am the only paramedic. I love going and helping my co -workers out but I do not want to be 20 mins or more away from the ER and have to bust mine ass while my partner is standing there.

Ok I am not whining just venting. Thanks for the support and suggestions. I will let you know how it goes.

[firedoc5]

There are two things that I guarantee you are signs of a "Lost Cause" that you must look for and identify. No.1 Self Motivation, and No. 2 Whether he is apathetic or is he willing to put in the extra effort. If he lacks self motivation or he just doesn't want to learn and to put in more than just the required time and effort, I'd give him less than a 2% chance of being a prime candidate. These are just my findings off the top of my head over six-teen years.

If you sit down with him and explain these things to him and see how he responds over about a two week period, then you'll know more about what you've got to work with, or even the lack of what you've got to work with. And don't pull no punches. Don't let him think that he'll be able to improve to for a day or two and start right back into the old rut, he's gone. No more warnings, no more write ups, no more...

[crotchitymedic1986]

This is a big problem in our industry, maybe because of the perceived shortage, but we spend way too much time with problem children in my opinion. Maybe this person is one of the few who will somehow see the light, but I doubt it. I am not saying we should not try to help everyone, and mentor them, but there becomes a point where you are spending 95% of your effort on 10% of the employees. And then what do we do with the GREAT employees ? We reward them by sticking with the worst partner, worst truck, and worst shift. When will we wake up ?