# what do u do with ridealongs??



## Joe (Mar 28, 2012)

So our station is in one of the busiest areas of la county. We get alot of ride alongside. I find myself not having them do enough and I can tell they get bored. So... what do u do with your 3rd riders?


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## abckidsmom (Mar 28, 2012)

On calls or in the station?


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## NYMedic828 (Mar 28, 2012)

Whatever you usually do, just have the student do it...

Pretty straight forward?


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## SoCal911 (Mar 28, 2012)

Let them do all your vitals, then double check them. Let them do their skills and try to give them pointers. I let them try to map to calls (we don't pay attention to them, but it keeps them busy). Let them Decon and resheet after calls and they love it, plus you can give pointers like prepping with tape and bandages already opened and ready to go and that's about it.


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## abckidsmom (Mar 28, 2012)

The most important help you can provide a ridealong student is insight into what you're thinking, why you did or said what you did, and what you also could have said or done, plus what would have definitely been the wrong thing to do or say.

To maximize the student's experience, expanding on the calls you run is so imperative.


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## Shishkabob (Mar 28, 2012)

EMT student?  Get the vitals, do a basic assessment. TALK TO THE PATIENT.

Paramedic student?  Have them run the call as if I wasn't there, and only step in if something is needed (obviously not letting care suffer)





After each call, explain why I did or did not do something, my thought process, etc etc, to help them further understand the why aspect of calls.


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## Niccigsu (Mar 28, 2012)

I just did my 4th ride along as an AEMT student...my preceptor lets me pretty much do everything that isn't an advanced skill. The student should have a check off sheet on what they need to complete for National Registry so tell them to pull out there sheet and get to it!


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## bigbaldguy (Mar 28, 2012)

abckidsmom said:


> The most important help you can provide a ridealong student is insight into what you're thinking, why you did or said what you did, and what you also could have said or done, plus what would have definitely been the wrong thing to do or say.
> 
> To maximize the student's experience, expanding on the calls you run is so imperative.



This is really good advice. It's very easy to teach someone to ape your skills. The tricky part is teaching them them why to do something.


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## DesertMedic66 (Mar 28, 2012)

Start of shift: go over what they can and cant do, go over where everything is on the ambulance and what each thing is used for. Have them practice all the normal stuff they are going to be doing such as stripping out an IV bag or getting a saline lock ready. 

After calls talk to them about it call. See if they have any questions. Explain to them why we did what we did. 

While posting I will make up scenarios for the students. 

Also while posting I will have them go hands on with all their EMT skills.


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## Joe (Mar 28, 2012)

Thanks for all the responses! I never thought of having them strip out bags and locks Haha. I pretty much had them cutting tape and vitals. Next step is to show them how to do paperwork hahaha


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## awesomemedic (Mar 28, 2012)

I start by going over what they do or do not feel comfortable with. Then go over my routine and what I expect my partner to do. On calls I make sure to verbalize most of my thoughts so they can see the process of an assessment. I can get through the ABCs in 5 seconds of talking to the patient but the student needs to know that I always start with that. I find that helps the most. And then after calls we go over everything from assessment to treatment to my list of differential dx and my final probable diagnosis. And we discuss any questions anyone has, myself, my partner or the student. I try to learn from my students also because we all see things differently.

And, of course, make them wash the truck at the end of shift.


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## NomadicMedic (Mar 28, 2012)

Ask Jon what we do with ridealongs in Sussex.

...we sit and chilll until the end of the shift and then get crazy running calls til 2 hours past EOS!


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## Handsome Robb (Mar 28, 2012)

Linuss said:


> Paramedic student?  Have them run the call as if I wasn't there, and only step in if something is needed (obviously not letting care suffer).



So do you guys get random draws on medic students? Have a different one every time or is it The same student all the time?

We are assigned a single preceptor and only ride with that preceptor so they can get comfortable with us and our abilities as well as watch our progression and spot weaknesses that need to be worked on. We are listed and rostered on their shift line, issued PPE, and expected to be there every day of their shift unless you have a good reason not to be.

Everyone pretty much covered what we do with EMT students already. I try to involve them as much as they want to be involved but if they want to be a wallflower I'm not going to force them to participate. If that's the case it's stand back and out of the way.


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## Tigger (Mar 29, 2012)

Joe said:


> Thanks for all the responses! I never thought of having them strip out bags and locks Haha. I pretty much had them cutting tape and vitals. Next step is to show them how to do paperwork hahaha



If my third rider (new hire, not student) resists learning how to do paperwork I usually just eat them for a lunch. Makes them less of a burden for the rest of the shift.


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## Handsome Robb (Mar 29, 2012)

Tigger said:


> If my third rider (new hire, not student) resists learning how to do paperwork I usually just eat them for a lunch. Makes them less of a burden for the rest of the shift.


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## Tigger (Mar 30, 2012)

Tigger said:


> If my third rider (new hire, not student) resists learning how to do paperwork I usually just eat them for a lunch. Makes them less of a burden for the rest of the shift.



I need to work on my proofreading. "Eat them for *a* lunch." Really, a lunch? I swear I only have one a day!

More seriously, I always ask the thirds to fire away with the questions. I'd rather answer them and train them right the first time then kick myself later for not going over something during their third time.


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## Anjel (Mar 30, 2012)

Linuss said:


> EMT student?  Get the vitals, do a basic assessment. TALK TO THE PATIENT.



THIS. And I swear to God if i get one more student that just sits and stares at the patient, I am going to snap. 

I had a lady stroking out in front of me. She was scared to death. It was text book. Her arm dropped, then her eye, then her speech was gone. I told the student to comfort her while I called the ER. She sat in the jump seat and did nothing. Then stayed in the truck when we took her in. Said she didn't want to get in the way. GRRR. 

/rant.



firefite said:


> Start of shift: go over what they can and cant do, go over where everything is on the ambulance and what each thing is used for. Have them practice all the normal stuff they are going to be doing such as stripping out an IV bag or getting a saline lock ready.
> 
> After calls talk to them about it call. See if they have any questions. Explain to them why we did what we did.
> 
> ...



I will do all this while posting. We seem to be banished to no mans land lately.


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## ffemt8978 (Mar 30, 2012)

Anjel1030 said:


> THIS. And I swear to God if i get one more student that just sits and stares at the patient, I am going to snap.
> 
> I had a lady stroking out in front of me. She was scared to death. It was text book. Her arm dropped, then her eye, then her speech was gone. I told the student to comfort her while I called the ER. She sat in the jump seat and did nothing. Then stayed in the truck when we took her in. Said she didn't want to get in the way. GRRR.
> 
> ...



Do you at least share the rum with them?

Sent from my Android Tablet using Tapatalk


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## Anjel (Mar 30, 2012)

ffemt8978 said:


> Do you at least share the rum with them?
> 
> Sent from my Android Tablet using Tapatalk



It definitely could of helped lol 

but it was gone then too


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## Handsome Robb (Mar 30, 2012)

Anjel1030 said:


> I will do all this while posting. We seem to be banished to no mans land lately.



I hate posts like that. Maybe it's me being new but I'd rather run calls steadily thought the day. Not be stupid busy just steady. Makes the day go by faster.

I by no means  want people to get sick or injured, i just want to be there when it happens


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## Tigger (Mar 30, 2012)

NVRob said:


> I hate posts like that. Maybe it's me being new but I'd rather run calls steadily thought the day. Not be stupid busy just steady. Makes the day go by faster.
> 
> I by no means  want people to get sick or injured, i just want to be there when it happens


It definitely makes the days go by faster. Even running BS steadily all day is better than doing nothing at all, at least if you're in SSM. If you have a station and TV, well then you're lucky and I'm jealous of you.


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## bstogner (Mar 30, 2012)

I just finished doing my ride alongs and I admit, it can be boring at times.  But, Just make sure you take time to show them around the ambulance and how to use the equipment during down times.  Most people will be afraid to ask you to show them how everything works.  And make sure they know what their role is as a 3rd person on calls.  Doing all of the vitals on every pt is a good idea (as long as you check them too).  I find that if you create an envrionment where the student is not afraid to ask questions and you seem enthused about answering them then any proactive student will be able to fill a lot of time just finding out new information.


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## Bullets (Mar 30, 2012)

While doing my assessment i try to talk out loud instead of in my head so the student understands the thinking process. 

Or as i do my assessment, get vitals and such, i will turn to my student and ask them what they think. Sometimes i catch them off guard with that question, but then it gets them thinking critically. When it comes time to make treatment decisions i will ask them, and then i will ask them why, see if they are confident in their choices

"So you have John Doe, complain of non-reproducible chest pain, onest 30 minutes, BP....blah blah blah...what should we do"

"Uhhh...put them on oxygen?"

"Is that a question?" 

"No, we put them on oxygen, 15l NRB"

"you sure?"

Ect


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## ponytail (Mar 31, 2012)

Anjel1030 said:


> THIS. And I swear to God if i get one more student that just sits and stares at the patient, I am going to snap.
> 
> I had a lady stroking out in front of me. She was scared to death. It was text book. Her arm dropped, then her eye, then her speech was gone. I told the student to comfort her while I called the ER. She sat in the jump seat and did nothing. Then stayed in the truck when we took her in. Said she didn't want to get in the way. GRRR.
> 
> ...


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## bw2529 (Mar 31, 2012)

Anjel1030 said:


> THIS. And I swear to God if i get one more student that just sits and stares at the patient, I am going to snap.



Did you tell them what the expectations were before they got on the bus? If expectations aren't well laid out, I'd say you're equally at fault (your for not telling them and then for not asking).


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## Angel21228 (Mar 31, 2012)

When I have Basic Student's on the rig, I usually let them do most of it!  They do the Assesment, Vitals (which I re-do to make sure its correct), and the PCR!  They always know that I am there if they have questions. And I ask questions throughout the call and have them answer them!!


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## Anjel (Mar 31, 2012)

bw2529 said:


> Did you tell them what the expectations were before they got on the bus? If expectations aren't well laid out, I'd say you're equally at fault (your for not telling them and then for not asking).



I told her to stay up my ***. I told her she wasn't being graded on how well she could make the stretcher, and that when we are with a patient, it is her patient too and she can ask whatever she wants. i told her to come with me into the ER and she said she was ok.with staying in the truck. Made me mad.


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## Tigger (Mar 31, 2012)

ponytail said:


> I'm starting my ridealongs very soon. While I'm looking forward to practicing the skills we've been taught, this is also a completely foreign environment for me and I would hope I get to first observe how the EMTs interact with patients?
> I mean I'm not looking to sit there and stay out of the way the whole time but I would really like to just watch you guys in action first. I feel the practical skills they can teach us in class, but I hope to also learn how you put patients at ease in a tough situation.



Most crews aren't going to throw you straight into the fire if it's your first ridealong. They will probably have you sit back and watch the first call, and then ease you in. Hopefully by the end of the shift you can run the call yourself (assuming it's not ALS) with your preceptor just their to make sure everything runs smoothly. When I work with an FTO a lot of times I'll work with the third as if he was my partner for the day and the FTO will just observe.


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## Hockey (Apr 2, 2012)

abckidsmom said:


> The most important help you can provide a ridealong student is *insight into what you're thinking, why you did or said what you did, and what you also could have said or done, plus what would have definitely been the wrong thing to do or say.*
> 
> To maximize the student's experience, expanding on the calls you run is so imperative.



This a MILLION times!  Even now, when my partner(medic/medic) explains something to me on a call, I learn from it if I wasn't 100% sure.  When I was a student/extern, I learned SO much from this.

I can read it a hundred times, and have no clue.  But until I get to see it, in real life, on a real patient, I won't get it


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## Shishkabob (Apr 2, 2012)

NVRob said:


> So do you guys get random draws on medic students? Have a different one every time or is it The same student all the time?



At my last agency we had medic students that had 2 phases of ride outs... just the experience kind, then at the end it was an internship where they were expected to act as a lead medic.  Internship, they'd have 1 medic that they stuck with, but for the experience rides, they'd get whoever took them, and more often then not I was the only medic at my station who ENJOYED having them on my truck.


At my new agency, I'm on a 16hr truck, so we don't get any students.  Sucks too... the recent bunch of female students I've seen, I wouldn't mind precepting


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## Anjel (Apr 2, 2012)

We get random students. 

And for my internship we are with different people.


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## johnrsemt (Apr 2, 2012)

As a medic student I got many preceptors; and I would rather have that.  There are programs out there that the instructors choose a preceptor for the student that they are supposed to stay with for the entire class.  Doesn't matter if they don't get along or they have a personality clash.
  Not counting if you get put with someone who refuses to treat pain for example:  or someone who will sit on scene for an hour so they can deliver a baby but get an AMA for someone stroking out because it isn't worth their time.


  With many preceptors you learn different ways of doing things; different styles of paperwork, and different ways to examine and evaluate patients (both good and bad ways).    
   It helps you to develop your own style.  Combination of the things you see and learn, and hopefully ways to not scew up like some people seem to do


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## Mad Max (Apr 5, 2012)

Currently, I'm doing my ride alongs for EMT-IV certification here in Tennessee.  While I can understand the advantages of riding with a bunch of different crews, for myself personally, I've found it more rewarding to stick with the same folks for all of my rides.  Not only is it great to get along with the people I'm working with, a basic level of trust is developed, and I like to think they're a little more at ease with having me around, simply because they know how I'm going to act and what I'm capable of.  As for how they've treated me, they pretty much let me do anything I want, within my scope of course, and as long as it isn't too off the wall.  I think the most important part of the experience, as has been stated before in the thread, is patient interaction.  It's easy enough to go down a checklist of do's and don'ts  for treatment, but the hardest thing for me to do is to find a nice flow of conversation with the patient.  As my preceptor said, "If it's an awkward silence for you, it's awkward for them as well."  Other than that, just make sure us students don't kill anyone or blow up the ambulance, then you should be all right.


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## nicolel3440 (Apr 5, 2012)

I went on a ride along with a local company about a year ago.  It wasnt as a student but to get insite on the job I was interested in.  The medic was awsome.  We had one call all day which was to tranport a choper crew from landing zone to pic up patient at hospital and then back again.  As the chopper crew was in the room getting the patient (anurisim   sp?to the stomach) ready to go the medic on our ambulance pulled me into the corner of the room and explained every little detail.  That was the best rid along i was ever on and made me want to go into ems even more.  I think that it is great when someone is willing to explain things.


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## Always BSI (Apr 6, 2012)

firefite said:


> Start of shift: go over what they can and cant do, go over where everything is on the ambulance and what each thing is used for. Have them practice all the normal stuff they are going to be doing such as stripping out an IV bag or getting a saline lock ready.
> 
> After calls talk to them about it call. See if they have any questions. Explain to them why we did what we did.
> 
> ...



This is exactly how my ride outs were with Palm Springs AMR. It was a lot of fun.


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## DesertMedic66 (Apr 6, 2012)

JVEL91 said:


> This is exactly how my ride outs were with Palm Springs AMR. It was a lot of fun.



Nice. When were your ride outs?


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## Always BSI (Apr 6, 2012)

Way back in like Novemberish of 2010. If I remember correctly from previous topics etc, you took the EMT basic class at CHC too during the Fall 2010?


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## DesertMedic66 (Apr 6, 2012)

JVEL91 said:


> Way back in like Novemberish of 2010. If I remember correctly from previous topics etc, you took the EMT basic class at CHC too during the Fall 2010?



Yep. Friday class


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