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What happens if you fail field internship?


Blake Fabian

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My internship was extended. I was initially scheduled to be done within 30 shifts. I'm currently at 36. I feel that I've been making significant progress & my preceptors have said that themselves. I feel that I know the material & I'm book smart, it just seems that I have a bit of trouble applying that knowledge to a patient.

I have my good days & my bad days, but I feel like the majority of the past several shifts have been good.

On my FISDAP, I get reviews such as this from my preceptors...

"Blake has the BEST call he has ever run in my presence this shift! He ran a cardiac very very well, & I was so impressed! He followed that up with a non-so-great call. I would really like to see more consistency at this point in the game. Having said that, I don't want to down-play his improvement. He has made great strides to improve on things that we have brought to this attention. He is working hard."

"Blake is still struggling with confidence. This shift the pt's were all light yellow or greens & Blake did ok for the most part. Still has to be reminded of things to be done, that I feel with this type of pt, he should be able to handle without question."

I got a call this morning from my clinical coordinator. He said not to go to Internship tomorrow because we're having a meeting this Thursday at class. He sounded happy & 'giddy' on the phone but I don't know if I can count that for anything because he's usually a happy person.

The options I feel of what could happen are: A: They're failing me from internship. B: They're switching me to another service to finish out my internship or C: They're passing me based on my progress.

Sorry for all that long shit you may or may not care about. My main questions here are...

What happens if you fail field internship? Are you just done? Or are you allowed to retry at another service?

I scoured through my syllabus & it mentioned nothing on this subject. The only things in there were the minimum hourly & patient contact requirements.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

-Blake

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What level are you in clinicals for? I haven't ever known anyone that failed clinicals. Usually if you don't know the material it will show up on the test.

I think the more important question is how do you feel? Are you comfortable with your skills? Do you feel like you need more ride time? Are there particular skills you are having trouble with? Maybe get some fellow students to run scenarios with you, or ask a preceptor to help you outside of the ambulance with your skills. As you are waiting for a call to drop work on whatever skills you are uncomfortable with.

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I have actually seen a few students have to redo their internships because of poor performance. If they do not mention it in the syllabus that leads to a problems because they are subjectively graded. If it were my class I would have you moved to a different agency and placed under a different Paramedic FTO.

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One service does not a medic make, that is the reason why in my medic class you were not allowed to do all your ride time with one service only.

With reviews like this you should by all means be working with your clinical coordinators to determine what you need to do to find the root cause of these reviews.

This quote is KEY here Blake::::: Blake is still struggling with confidence. This shift the pt's were all light yellow or greens & Blake did ok for the most part. Still has to be reminded of things to be done, that I feel with this type of pt, he should be able to handle without question

Your medic preceptor is telling you something. He's telling you that you are missing things, he's telling you that you lack a consitent focus on these easy patients and he's worried that you will in the end really flub up on a red or critical patient

But you know what, that's what clinicals are for, for you to learn, to grow and to be under the wing of a seasoned paramedic that can guide you to get these easy greens' and yellows till they are second nature to you and to make the reds and blues to where you can work them with minimal preceptor interventions.

I strongly urge you to ask to be moved to a 2nd service and be put with a strong field preceptor at that service. One who has more experience than a year or two. Someone who your clinical coordinator knows personally and can say that they will do a very good job in evaluating you and working with you. One who just doesn't sit there during his shift and do nothing with you, but one who will actually help you learn. I had one of those medics and it was the best thing I ever had.

This is not the end of the world. Who cares if you have to start your clinicals over, Yeah yeah yeah, it's more hours, but sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make a omelet and maybe with you, you need a couple more eggs broken. All your skills should still count, all your interventions should still count, you are just starting over.

Talk to your coordinators about having weekly meetings regarding your progress and if your new preceptor says that you've improved there should be kill points in your clinical hours that you can implement that would allow you and your clinical coordinator to stop and say "hey Blake's got it now, let's have him do one more week and that's all he needs" or something like that. If you show real improvement and the like, then you should be able to stop the additional ride time and progress on to the end of your class time.

Good luck, take it from someone who's been in your shoes, (I have) and I became a pretty damn good medic. Just remember, the person who graduates last, or 45 out of 47 in his class and still gets his medic license is still called what?????? (hint - answer is "Medic")

This Doesn't mean you are stupid ok!!!

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I also was in your shoes. I was book smart, but couldn't put it all together with the patients. I struggled to make sure everything was done properly on every call. It just didn't flow for me. One day, my preceptor's regular partner called in sick. We got someone different. He took one look at me, said just a few words, and right then and there, everything clicked. It all made so much sense. From that day on, my calls flowed perfectly, I was comfortable, relaxed and confident.

My preceptor was a little pissed because he had been trying to get through to me and all it took was someone else to say what he was trying to say all along.

A change can do you good, someone else who will maybe explain it in a way you'll get. You'll see, one day that little light will go on in your head.

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Confidence is a common problem for newbies. You probably know the right stuff and can do it in the proper sequence if you stop & think about it.

What the preceptor is looking for is the automatic flow of all that information in your brain just happening when it;s needed.

Some folks take a while to be comfortable with their assessment skills and knowledge.

Maybe you just need a different FTO to take you to the next level .

We like to see newbies be comfortable and to take charge, secure in the knowledge that we are there to back them up or assist them when they get in a bind.

good luck

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Confidence was my problem as well. Big difference between a pretend patient and a real patient.

What helped me was the critical patients I have been given that in all honesty should have probably been ALS.

First one unresponsive head injury with right eye drift.

Second, Unknown ALOC that I suspected was Hypoglycemia (and I was correct)

Third, Anaphalaxis that resulted in me giving Epi-pen.

Fourth, stab wound to thorastic cavity patient A&Ox4 and initally unaware had been stabbed.

When you get patients like these and you successfully manage them and get them to the ER then a case of abdominal pain just doesn't seem as difficult as it once was.

I don't want to minimize any call because the "minor" ones can turn out to be very serious. You will find though that when you successfully manage more serious calls, the other calls just flow better.

Confidence comes with scene time and dealing with patients. I would hope that you would be getting feedback from doctors and nurses as well.

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When you get patients like these and you successfully manage them and get them to the ER then a case of abdominal pain just doesn't seem as difficult as it once was.

I find abdo pain to be some of the hardest calls. I'd rather get a stab wound where I know what's happening and how serious it is than an abdo pain that can be just about anything.

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Thanks for all your responses. They've really made me less worried than I'm about to be kicked out of the Paramedic program, especially since this Thursday is the last class of the program. I agree with you gyes, I think I need to switch to a new service & start fresh. I think my nervousness & poor first impressions on my current one is what's holding me back.

I refuse to not pass. I haven't gone to the last 16 months of class & worked my ass off just to not get this.

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