One of the most courageous posts I have ever read.

[NYC-EMS]

One of the most courageous posts I have ever read.MEDIC 101

[spenac]

"Some have asked, if brave enough, why I push everyone as hard as I do. I push everyone around me to be the best they can, to practice until they get it right, and then practice it more, so they can rely on their training and be confident in their skills. I admit that sometimes I come off way to hard and demanding, but others say that if I chew them out for something they did wrong they will never forget how to do it right. A lot of them don't know what happened, and the ones that do, know why I push them so hard. God forbid, even though I know it happens, that anyone will ever have to go through what Kevin had to go through. If I, or someone I have trained can be there to change just one persons life I will be happy."

Wow, a truly heart wrenching, eye opening article.

So many in EMS forget that we are dealing with human lives, they actually develope the taxi driver mentality. They do not strive for education. They settle with the least effort to draw a paycheck. Most get away with it because as we all know most calls, especially in citys, can be transported w/o any real aggressive treatment and let the doctors do the real medicine. This attitude when confronted with a real patient leads to bad treatment, wrong choices in care, etc. Yes we are all human and even if we are the highest educated person on earth can make mistakes. Sadly in EMS mistakes that could be avoided are common place because so many choose the minimum. Get educated and keep the education up to date so you can give the best care possible. Then, God forbid, you make a mistake at least you know your mistake was just because of human imperfection and not because you were an uneducated jerk.

[AnthonyM83]

That's so true, so many forget that it's a human life at stake often. Now, it's understandable at times because that's what lets you work without stress and lets me do a better job not concentrating on the human aspect (on critical calls), but when either being at one's best either on-scene or during training, that's when you really have to remember what's at stake and how much pain loss of a family member causes.

[Miz Black Crow]

Y'know, reading that blog made me think of two things. First of all, it makes me feel ashamed of the fact that I can be cold, clinical on a scene when I have to be. I know it's a survival mechanism, but sometimes having that mechanism in place wrenches at me later.

Perfect example. I worked up a 5 year old cardiac arrest a couple weeks ago. My first peds arrest (relatively new tech; 1 yr txp, only a few months in 911). And the worst feeling I walked away from the call with was, "Aww s--- I got peds puke on my arm." I had four different people (a dispatcher, a supervisor and my station supervisor) ask me if I needed to talk to a counselor. I told them no, I just need to wash my arm and get something to eat, and I had a mash bowl right after. Later, though, it bothered me that "I'm hungry" and "Eww." were my primary thoughts.

The other thing that Spenac brought up (In most cities you can just dump it on the ER, to paraphrase) really, really makes me want to get that medic certification. I've asked some of the medics that I work with, how do you deal with not having anyone else to call when a job goes bad? One of them, one of the guys I really like and look up to, said, "I deal with it by knowing my protocols and knowing that I do my skills correctly." In other words, he knows he's just human, but he does what he can and what he's allowed to do. I don't like feeling like making it the medics' problem or the ER's problem. I want to take that kind of responsibility, so that I KNOW that my patient is getting the best care I or anyone in my service can provide.

Thanks for posting that link. It's touching.

[NYC-EMS]

The blog just blew me away!

[SWM_Medic]

One of the hardest things I have encountered on this job is making that balance between cold clinical decision making and still trying to remain human. Sometimes we have to hurt to heal. We don't like it, but we do it anyway. Never stop learning or asking questions stick to your protocols. Remember, you don't always have to be an jerk.