I only did this to become a PA. It's just for a year, maybe less if I become a CNA or LVN, but as I slog through each day, spending more energy fending off frustration than just thinking about medical issues, it feels like a prison sentence.
And it really occurred to me when I was talking to my patient in the ER while we waited to be admitted. As I learned more about my patient's medical history, I felt for once like an EMT. But instead of talking about medicine with my partner, I have to put up with his trying to be cool and loud hip hop music between calls. How can one be cool walking the patient to the dialysis center? (I can't describe it!)
How do I describe the priorities of a 20-year-old? It isn't to be a better EMT: why would I need to get better if I'm already the BEST? It isn't to "expedite" or be efficient: that'll detract from my swagger! It isn't to talk about medicine: that'll only show that I don't know anything! It isn't to work cooperatively, as a single unit, to achieve impeccable patient care and professionalism: I'm better than you and I'll show it by ordering you around and telling you to do the obvious in front of my peers, and I'll let you fail because it makes me look better AND feel superior!
And it really occurred to me when I was talking to my patient in the ER while we waited to be admitted. As I learned more about my patient's medical history, I felt for once like an EMT. But instead of talking about medicine with my partner, I have to put up with his trying to be cool and loud hip hop music between calls. How can one be cool walking the patient to the dialysis center? (I can't describe it!)
How do I describe the priorities of a 20-year-old? It isn't to be a better EMT: why would I need to get better if I'm already the BEST? It isn't to "expedite" or be efficient: that'll detract from my swagger! It isn't to talk about medicine: that'll only show that I don't know anything! It isn't to work cooperatively, as a single unit, to achieve impeccable patient care and professionalism: I'm better than you and I'll show it by ordering you around and telling you to do the obvious in front of my peers, and I'll let you fail because it makes me look better AND feel superior!