Severe Burnout

[somedic]

Pumpernickle: You don't have burn out. You have paranoia. Let me give you a battle plan.

1. Assess yourself. Are you really as bad as the people against you say you are? What makes them not want to work with you?

2. How is the relationship between you and your medical director? What is your gut feeling about your MD?

3. Read "The Prince"by Machiavelli.

4. Be an honorable person to co-workers that are honorable to you. Pursue your enemies with unrelenting zeal. Make it a pleasure to find them in the wrong and buy your ink by the 55 gallon drum!

5. You need to establish a reputation in that nobody wants to mess with you. You do this by being highly proficient at your job in all aspects, and being very proactive and reactive to your enemies. Its all up to you.

Good luck and keep us posted.

SOMEDIC

[Just Plain Ruff]

the answer to your question is not burnout. Burnout is different than what you are describing.

you feel betrayed by the people you trusted and you are angry. You have every right to be angry unless you deserved the write up

You will find that in this field as well as any other field that many people do not come right out and say that you screwed up or you did something wrong, they go behind your back as you call it and write you up. It's happened to me many times.

I find it the cowards way of dealing with things but hey, to each their own.

So it's not burnout that you are feeling, it's a feeling of anger, distrust. I'd get over those feelings, obviously someone felt strongly enough to write you up and your medical director felt strongly enough that the write up was warranted so look there first on why you were written up. Remedial training is good sometimes.

you now know who you can trust to be honest with you on things and those y ou cannot trust.

This my friend is not burnout just a natural reaction to a stressor that you were put under. At least your medical director felt remedial training was an option and they just didn't fire you. Some services I've worked for would have fired you rather than made you go thru remedial training.

The only other question I have for you is this. just what skills were they concerned with? A lot of times someone will say everyone won't work with you to make it more dramatic and seem more urgent.

I agree with some of what Somedic posted - the main thing is to re-assess yourself and take a good long look in the mirror and say, do I really know what I'm doing on scene? it's one thing to pass with flying colors on a sit down chat but the devil is in the details and your skills in a sit down chat session may be top notch but your on scene skills may be lacking.

[Dustdevil]

You will find that in this field as well as any other field that many people do not come right out and say that you screwed up or you did something wrong, they go behind your back as you call it and write you up. It's happened to me many times.

And then there is rule number 1 in EMS: He who gets his story in first, wins. It doesn't matter who was actually right or wrong. If you are the first one to go to the supervisor, then YOU were right. If your partner gets there before you, then HE was right and you were wrong. After all, if you were right, why did you not immediately go to the supervisor? Yeah, I know it's idiotic logic, but that's how it works in EMS.

SOMEDIC is right. The only way to win this crap is to be a ruthless arsehole and be the first to run to the supervisor with ANY irregularity you encounter.

[somedic]

Dust and Ruff: Ive seen a similar problem to the one Pumpernickle is suffering with. The only way to correct this is to move from being a lamb to a wolf. His department is not unique in the way he was treated. What does raise my curiousity is that his supervisor was overode and MD seems to be micromanaging the system. This is not the way things are done down here.

Pumpernickle: Life in EMS is the same as war on many levels. You need to be prepared to fight everyday. You have recieved some sound advice from wise people on this forum (excluding myself lol) in the last hour alone. Let us know what you are going to do with it.

Best wishes,

SOMEDIC

[Just Plain Ruff]

Somedic, 2 of your points were good points. But I also believe that you have to protect yourself at all costs. You are the one who is supporting your family and if it means to go on the offensive then by all means do it.

I've been on both sides of the coin. I've been the prey and also been the predator and by all means being the predator is preferable than being the prey. Being the prey usually means your butt is on the way out the door.

This doesn't mean to be an arsehole but it does mean to protect yourself.

[Michael]

my "co-workers had little to no confidence in my skills, and that nobody wanted to work with me because of this reason, and it was recommended that my ability to practice paramedicine be withdrawn until I could proove that I was competant in what I was doing".

I had to go meet with my medical director, and he put me thru many scenarios, which I passed with flying colors, so my PCP tag was not taken away from me

Just to be exhaustive:

If you're sure it's not your skills, do an inventory of any other features that might have offended your coworkers. If at all possible ask someone, or more than one person outside your workplace (inside would be good too if there's someone there you can ask), whether there's anything in your style -- appearance, attitude, tone, some expression of opinion or some aspect of your sense of humor, that might have offended. Many people take indirect routes to address uncomfortable issues. Try to imagine yourself in the place of those whose actions distress you, and ask yourself, What could possibly be disturbing about working with Pumpernickel that I prefer to deal with by questioning Pumpernickel's competence instead of confronting the real issue? One possibility that comes to mind is bodily hygiene/odors. We are so trained to think of how people's bodies smell as an integral part of who they are that we forbid ourselves from discussing it with them. These are just suggestions to find out what you can control that you might be unaware of, in order to fix what you can. Focus on what's within your power or can become within your power, and turn you attention away from everything else.

[somedic]

Ruff and Michael: Good points!

[I Love Pumpernickle]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I certainly appreciate them!

Problem is, I didn't know I was doing anything wrong that got me written up in the first place! Pretty hard to change something you're doing that makes people not want to work with you when you don't even know you're doing anything wrong???

Doesn't matter anyway, I've decided to leave paramedicine. This whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth, and if this is what paramedicine is going to continue to be like, I don't want to be any part of it. I've never seen so much back-stabbing between people in my life as it is with paramedics, and it's truly sad because we're suppose to be in this job with the same goal in mind, and that's PATIENT CARE.

Seems like some people are in this job just to make life miserable for people like me.....

Have a good day, everyone.

[Michael]

I would still try to find out whether it was something unrelated to your job performance, and that might crop up at another type of job.

[somedic]

Pumpernickle: you are displaying a lack of maturity and situational awareness. you've been given advice by good people here on the forum. If quitting and losing is in your blood then quit...its so much easier to quit and go to work flipping burgers or being a telemarketer.

Backstabbing is a fact of life in many EMS systems if you want friends join the FD or get a dog. My advice to you remains. Assess yourself first before you make any emotional decisions.

Machiavelli would help you. Head off to your library tomorrow and find that book.

Wtih every best wish, SOMEDIC