lack of camradarie part2

[Just Plain Ruff]

sounds like we will never know what the issue was between this particular student and the instructor, the nurses and their fellow students and everyone else but (not them)........

I've seen a couple of people in this posters shoes and yes those people are usually the actual problem and not the other way around.

I would go back to medic school at a different school and see what happens. If it happens like this again then I think you might want to re-evaluate the "i'm a victim" claim.

Most of the students that were treated this way were one of the following

1. arrogant and bossy

2. know it alls

3. didn't take direction

4. interrupted all the time

5. just plain unlikable

6. not cut out for ems

Maybe the reason your instructor told you to go away was that they were there on personal business and you interrupted. Some instructors do not like to be bothered on their days off.

Heck maybe that instructor was there to hit on the nurses and he/she felt you were intruding.

I"m sorry but questions are usually left to be asked during class time. AS an instructor in the past, I gave my home phone number but I let the student know that unless it was a question about a clinical or a problem with the class I would take questions during class. I even had two hour office hours before each class. That's definately enough time for students to come in and ask questions that they wanted answers to.

[unknown]

Now if I were you (and once upon a time I was) Just try try again with another service. When I was in EMT school, I had a terrible expericence with the local EMS provider. My sister in law worked there, and I thought I would be OK to do my internship and ride along time with them. Man, was I WRONG! They came after men like fly's on stink. EVERY thing I did they trumped it up to make me look superfical and bad. It was ruff and WRONG! I almost got kicked out of school altogether. And when I say EVERY ONE was against me I am not lying. My sister in law even got pissed due to all the flack she was getting for trying to defend me, so she just gave up trying to help me defend myself (as I WAS innocent and she new it!) she just bowed out gracfully and left me on my own. I did leave that agentcy and i drove 20 min. to the next town to complete my clinicals. I never had an issue one with them! They embraced me from the moment I arrived, and they apparently new i was comming. Not only did the previous agency try to get me booted from school they called ahead to folks they new in the next town and "told them all about me" How was that fair? Good for me the folks at the new agency had delt with this before- having been the saving grace for other EMT students. Apparently this first service feels that if THEY didn't think you where cut out for EMS THEY would right you off and get you canned for good. Being in a small rural area where every body knows every one it is easy for them to do. HOWEVER! I don't take lightly to being written off that easily and I fought back. I didn't give up, I drove the extra miles and put up a fight. I made it through EMT school being one of the very few that passed all my test first time out- No retesting for me! Not only did I get all my ride time in I continued to go and ride until I had to forfeit all my extra time to other students trying to meet their quota of calls.......... I proved myself and maybe you should try again with another service. IF you find the same results then I suggest you listen to the voices of expericence spoken above-- and look deeper withen yourself!!

[futuremedic3018]

incognitogirl:

I have 2 years as a Basic EMT and I think your right. I should try to go to a different service. I will say about this of myself: I do try hard at what I do. I ask questions and explanations if I have questions or wanting to know "the why" of everything. I never questioned a nurse or precepter against anything, nor act like a know it all. I treated everyone with respect and doing er time, did things that was not my job to do but did them anyways

(i.e bedpans).

I talked to a co-worker and he told me that the way I was treated to not go back, but to go somewhere else for the medic class. He asked me this: Why should I retake the class if I was treated that way?

I figured if I ever did go back, I'm there for me, myself and I. (my skills and hours)

And yes, I will be re-evaluating myself. Now that I am stuck with these books, what should I do with them? They are the 2nd edition volume books from Bledsoe,Porter,cherry.

[Just Plain Ruff]

keep the books. They WILL come in handy of that I am sure.

Sometimes it takes a major re-evaluation of ourselves to get some good out of life.

I have done just what you are doing in re-evaluating my self and it has strongly affected my ems career for the better.

It has also affected my current and permanent career choice and I'm the better for it.

[futuremedic3018]

"The instructor took sides with the nurses and medics always." Stop. By stating this, it seems obvious that the student holds himself on equal footing with the LICENSED RN's and the CERTIFIED Paramedics. Now if you are student, and you consider yourself to have a say on the way things are run, before you graduate, you will irritate a lot of people. I think we found the problem.

What I meant by having my say is this: Defending myself from those accusations to my instructor. I in no way was trying to change things the way they were ran. I am very sorry and appologize if that was the message and you recieved from that because I didn't articulate my words correctly.

[Dustdevil]

Now that I am stuck with these books, what should I do with them? They are the 2nd edition volume books from Bledsoe,Porter,cherry.

Okay, I was fully prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt in this whole scenario. As I have said before here, females do tend to get a harder time in EMS in general. It is an unfortunate (although not universal) fact, and it results in this kind of thing. Knowing that they have to be strong to make it, a lot of females understandably cop an attitude that they think projects strength and confidence, but only ends up making them disliked and resented, and then you end up with what you have here.

First of all, the bias against females in EMS should not exist in the first place, and it really pisses me off that this happens. And it is totally understandable that females will try to compensate or cope with the situation like this. But, if this applies to you (it may or may not, no accusations here), I hope that you can see that it isn't working for you, and that you are playing right into their hands by doing exactly what they expected you to do. in that case, my advice is to try again -- in a new school, because this one sucks -- and be more genuine next time. Don't set out to prove anything. Don't make an effort to show that you are smart, or a good student, or anything else. Just do it.

Next advice is prefaced by a question. What did you do to prepare for paramedic school? How much college do you have? Do you have two semesters of A&P, microbiology, chemistry, algebra, composition and technical writing, speech communications, sociology, and psychology successfully completed yet? If so, then I am worried about your potential for success, because during all that time, you should have learned a whole lot about human dynamics that would make figuring all this out a lot easier for you, not to mention given you the tools to figure out a great many questions on your own without constantly being in your instructors' faces. But if you haven't done any of that, then I am worried about your commitment to being a medical professional in the first place. After all, you've been an EMT for two years now. If you want to be a medical professional, you should have done something by now to further your education. Do that now, and I guarantee you that you will find the second time around a lot easier on you.

Now, the reason I am wondering if you are worth the benefit of a doubt is because of the above quoted statement. Was that a serious question? Can you seriously not think of any benefit to you having those textbooks, whether you are still in paramedic school or not? If you cannot, then this discussion is pointless. You are not cut out to be a medic. If so, I wish you the very best of luck and hope you can take a lesson from this unfortunate experience and move forward successfully.

[Scaramedic]

I have every textbook, AHA manual, and even all my notes from Paramedic school and every damn ACLS, PHTLS & PALS book I have had to renew with. Hell I have textbooks older than many of the members of this forum. They are great for refreshing myself and looking stuff up.

[JPINFV]

composition and technical writing,.

What exactly is taught in this class? Is it just a fancy name for writing research papers?

[Dustdevil]

I was actually referring to two separate classes. Composition being one, and technical writing being another. It's a continuation of composition, but with an emphasis on technical style, including research papers, instead of expository style used in journaling, storytelling, fiction writing, etc... It's a great course for any scientific major which is certainly a lot more relevant than literature or creative writing courses.

[JPINFV]

Ahh, just checking. It just wasn't called that at my undergrad. The bio upper division writing was just called the ambiguous Bio 100LW: Experiment Biology Lab with the lower division being "Critical Reading and Rhetoric" (mumbo jumbo that no one really cared about to be honest) and "Argument and Research" (which equated to "progressive ideas" being shoved down our collective throats because it was based on the book Nickel and Dimed when I took it. It looks like they've moved on to 9/11, because, you know, university students are too stupid to just pick a topic that interests them).