VentMonkey
Family Guy
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So I was at the gym the other day and I could not help but notice another guy with a Star Of Life t-shirt that read "EMT" in big bold letters, almost as if it was brand new. It got me thinking what does "it" mean to me?
First off, let me explain what I mean by "it", I'm not specifically referring to the Star Of Life itself; I mean all of it; the job, the field, the profession. What do prehospital services mean to you? I'll go first:
Sure, when I first started I wanted to see "cool stuff", I thought what I did mattered in the same way that most wide-eyed newcomers think it matters. I wanted to run "emergency calls" just as bad as the next new person. Then, like anyone else reality set in, etc., etc., etc. Flash forwards 15 years later, several systems later, and many different forms of experience---from basic, to front line middle management, to flight paramedic---later, and I still ponder what's this job mean to me?
Now, to me it means helping others will problems that my younger self would never imagined to be "emergent" (yep, that dumb 22 year old kid). It means learning to leave judgement behind on every call more and more, and never settling for anything less than improving with this skill set (and others) from now until retirement. It means accepting the fact that I plain, and down right like and enjoy most everything about being a field paramedic. It means accepting other people's emergencies for exactly what they are...an emergency to them. It means continuing to educate myself for several reasons to include: preventing stagnation, improving my clinical insight, staying ahead of, and/ or up to date with EBM, articulating myself better to hospital staff which in turn helps foster a professionally charged prehospital provider, accepting that mentorship comes in many forms, and is often indirectly learned when the mentor suspects it least.
If I could do it all overall again, I personally would not have changed a whole lot aside from maybe learning to be kinder, and more patient with most people a lot sooner, and a lot younger. People push buttons, patients are no different. It won't stop, and it won't change anytime soon. We can embrace that reality sooner in our careers and be better off for it, move on, and just provide what we define as care, or we can become embittered; our choice.
That leads me to my next question: what do we define as care? Is it providing "life-saving" measures to an arrest? Rushing a critical trauma patient to the regional trauma center "hot"? Is it seeing that the diabetic has food in the fridge before leaving their house on a refusal, or even understanding some diabetics are truly better off observed, and/ or admitted to the hospital regardless of how benign their complaint seems once they've been woke up from a diabetic coma? Is it talking down the psych patient with soft skill so well that you see the person in them when not in a ballistic fit of rage? My personal belief is that it is all of it. We're an all encompassing outlet for the sick, and ill, but who are we to define sick, or ill? emergent, or non-emergent?
We either accept this job for all of what it is, or have no business embracing any of it for a lifetimes worth of a career, let alone as a stepping stone. I am choosing to embrace it more and more everyday. Is this a new topic? Hardly, but perhaps one ore two newcomers to this site will read it before asking "what's it like being an EMT or paramedic?", or "what should I expect?"...
This is where I'd like to hear from others old, new, and in between. What's it mean to you? Is it really racing the reaper from the clutches of death (be honest, it can only help improve your longevity)? Is it hand holding, and or just being so nice you don't get sued? Is it being the ultimate badass clinician that all other seek to emulate? Is it that stepping stone to a better paying career because you "just know" this isn't for you forever (totally fine as well)?
Whatever it is that this line of work means to you now as it stands, your insight and honesty are appreciated; it can only help build on a "professional outlook", IMO. I figured it's time we open up some dialogue again, as it seems no matter how much any of us piss and moan (myself included), we are drawn back to this field, and/ or remain passionate about it. It has to be more than just truly defining punishment gluttony. Perhaps asking ourselves what we want from this field both in the beginning our careers, and with some time on will help guide our direction with what we're doing, and/ or where this field is headed.
First off, let me explain what I mean by "it", I'm not specifically referring to the Star Of Life itself; I mean all of it; the job, the field, the profession. What do prehospital services mean to you? I'll go first:
Sure, when I first started I wanted to see "cool stuff", I thought what I did mattered in the same way that most wide-eyed newcomers think it matters. I wanted to run "emergency calls" just as bad as the next new person. Then, like anyone else reality set in, etc., etc., etc. Flash forwards 15 years later, several systems later, and many different forms of experience---from basic, to front line middle management, to flight paramedic---later, and I still ponder what's this job mean to me?
Now, to me it means helping others will problems that my younger self would never imagined to be "emergent" (yep, that dumb 22 year old kid). It means learning to leave judgement behind on every call more and more, and never settling for anything less than improving with this skill set (and others) from now until retirement. It means accepting the fact that I plain, and down right like and enjoy most everything about being a field paramedic. It means accepting other people's emergencies for exactly what they are...an emergency to them. It means continuing to educate myself for several reasons to include: preventing stagnation, improving my clinical insight, staying ahead of, and/ or up to date with EBM, articulating myself better to hospital staff which in turn helps foster a professionally charged prehospital provider, accepting that mentorship comes in many forms, and is often indirectly learned when the mentor suspects it least.
If I could do it all overall again, I personally would not have changed a whole lot aside from maybe learning to be kinder, and more patient with most people a lot sooner, and a lot younger. People push buttons, patients are no different. It won't stop, and it won't change anytime soon. We can embrace that reality sooner in our careers and be better off for it, move on, and just provide what we define as care, or we can become embittered; our choice.
That leads me to my next question: what do we define as care? Is it providing "life-saving" measures to an arrest? Rushing a critical trauma patient to the regional trauma center "hot"? Is it seeing that the diabetic has food in the fridge before leaving their house on a refusal, or even understanding some diabetics are truly better off observed, and/ or admitted to the hospital regardless of how benign their complaint seems once they've been woke up from a diabetic coma? Is it talking down the psych patient with soft skill so well that you see the person in them when not in a ballistic fit of rage? My personal belief is that it is all of it. We're an all encompassing outlet for the sick, and ill, but who are we to define sick, or ill? emergent, or non-emergent?
We either accept this job for all of what it is, or have no business embracing any of it for a lifetimes worth of a career, let alone as a stepping stone. I am choosing to embrace it more and more everyday. Is this a new topic? Hardly, but perhaps one ore two newcomers to this site will read it before asking "what's it like being an EMT or paramedic?", or "what should I expect?"...
This is where I'd like to hear from others old, new, and in between. What's it mean to you? Is it really racing the reaper from the clutches of death (be honest, it can only help improve your longevity)? Is it hand holding, and or just being so nice you don't get sued? Is it being the ultimate badass clinician that all other seek to emulate? Is it that stepping stone to a better paying career because you "just know" this isn't for you forever (totally fine as well)?
Whatever it is that this line of work means to you now as it stands, your insight and honesty are appreciated; it can only help build on a "professional outlook", IMO. I figured it's time we open up some dialogue again, as it seems no matter how much any of us piss and moan (myself included), we are drawn back to this field, and/ or remain passionate about it. It has to be more than just truly defining punishment gluttony. Perhaps asking ourselves what we want from this field both in the beginning our careers, and with some time on will help guide our direction with what we're doing, and/ or where this field is headed.