Is this a typical reaction

[NREMT-Basic]

And no more pseudo-Euro spellings either, Dust!

Honestly though, the reaction you had was natural whether you are a surgeon or a first responder. During my ill-fated year in Med school, I attended several autopsies and cadaver labs, even those where the ME handed me the scalpel and said "see what you find.

For IMERT, we hold cadaver labs regularly. In the line of EMS in am now in (ie Diaster Medicine) you can imagine that we see some pretty gut wrenching stuff. We still have folks that came back from Katrina and say they cant yet get those images out of their heads. If its still upsetting you, perhaps a CISD is in order. I know it would be mandatory for IMERT.

My very first trauma was a skull crush/basilar fracture. She was brought in by helo and I was standing ready with the trauma team. WHen they brought her in to the room, I nearly passed out. I actually stepped into the next room once things were as"under control" as they were going to get for awhile and asked a doc if I could a few liters of oxygen by nasal canula. That helped alot but of course is not alway an available option.

We are used to seeing the outsides of people. Your reaction as "logical" given the scene you describe. "Scalpings" can be pretty damn scary. Have only had one myself. But then I reminded myself this is the same skull I played with in med school and just sort of looked at the blood like training day mulage.

If this is our chosen field, as my mentor always says "THese are the times when you have to lock it in for the good of your patient." Another lesson is always be ready for what you will see when that bandage comes off. Likely the fire dept put it there so they didnt have to see it. The trick is, if you cant immediately know without removing it why that bandage is where it is, figure that something that shouldnt be showing is.

I think the cadaver lab/morgue is a brilliant thing. I have spend lots of time in morgues observing and helping out. After about 5 times or so, you start to be able to pull the focus back a little ( or tighten it) however you want to look at it. In IMERT where we only respond to disasters (and not little ones) we all see things we wish we hadnt seen. Maybe even going back and looking at training slides would help. Focus your patient, because in times like you describe, taking time to pull it together isnt alway an option.

I commend you though for being so forthright and willing to be vulnerable in relating your story. That is a combination that will cause you to learn and grow into a Grade A EMS provider. Bravo Zulu.

[Dustdevil]

I think the cadaver lab/morgue is a brilliant thing. I have spend lots of time in morgues observing and helping out. After about 5 times or so, you start to be able to pull the focus back a little ( or tighten it) however you want to look at it.

Come to think of it, just a simple college level Anatomy & Physiology course would be good preparation for this sort of thing. Yes, it's not usually cadaver lab or anything. But, compared to the fifteen minutes of A&P you get in EMT school, it is certainly a great bit more exposure than what you have now. It gets you used to focusing on the anatomy in a more scientific way, so when you see such things on your patients, you understand it much better and can look at it scientifically instead of emotionally. I don't know if that makes any sense to you, because I'm not sure it does to me, lol. But trust me, this would be of great help to you. And, of course, you shouldn't even consider going to paramedic school until you have taken college A&P anyhow, so, come Spring semester, be there!

I commend you though for being so forthright and willing to be vulnerable in relating your story. That is a combination that will cause you to learn and grow into a Grade A EMS provider.

Ditto. :thumbright:

Oh, and anytime anybody starts promoting CISD to you, stick your fingers in your ears and loudly repeat, "LALALALALALALALALALALALALALA" until they stop talking. It is absolutely the last thing you ever want to pay attention to. Do a search of the site if you need any more information on that. :wink:

[crazyemt5150]

to all that have posted advice regarding my post. I take no offense to what you guys are telling me. I greatly appreciate your time and helpful hints. I need all the tips and corrections now as I am still new to this and eager to learn and fix the mistakes I make so as I continue to grow in this profession and this happens again I can think and use the tips you guys have gave me

[CodeBlueEMT]

Good advice, comments, and observations. A deceased patient with horrific injuries is easy for me to deal with. They're dead. A patient with horrific injuries still maintaining homeostasis can rattle the best of us.

Shayne

[Asysin2leads]

I agree with Dust. If anything else an A&P class lets you see the big picture. Its one thing to see a mangled foot. Its another to see traumatic exposure of the distal epicondyles. Try and remember though, no matter how bad the extremity injury looks, its really hard to die from it, and if you are going to die from it, the chances of you stopping that from happening are remote to non existent. Remember, 4x4's and cling do not save lives. They keep things tidy in the back and can help prevent infection, but the person's life depending on whether you put something on the scalp avulsion, not so much. So chill out, take your time, bandage the thing and get moving.

[wynter]

It's normal..totally normal. The human part of you is screaming " OMG..that isn't right"! But the inexperienced EMT in you is going " That's cool" and the other part of EMT is saying to you " How do I fix this"? Until it becomes second nature, you are going to do that a lot. I have been in EMS for 7 years and until I started working in the "Big City" there was a lot of stuff that I had never seen. The more ya see, the more experience you get. It's actually pretty awesome. Good Luck!