# 5 things you wish you knew...



## StretcherFetcher (May 4, 2017)

Hello all, I'm now 4 full weeks into my new job working for a service that makes 130k runs a year. I'm really liking it so far. Give me 5 things you wished you knew when you started your career that you know now...

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## VentMonkey (May 4, 2017)

1. This job has nothing to do with you, or satisfying your needs. Don't be a tool.

2. Your body will not last forever, even with the most appropriate lifting techniques.

3. The patients, and/ or family should never be discounted no matter how benign or routine their complaint may seem. As far as the ones that hinder, or obstruct patient care directly, see #4.

4. Sometime the patients, and/ or family may not know what's best for them. Yet, and still you will need to explain things in a manner that typically comes with time and experience, as well as a keen and cautious way with words.

5. Do not call any adult patients "dude", "bro", or "hey you". Sir and ma'am get you the farthest unless they instruct you to call them something other than that, or by their last name.


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## NomadicMedic (May 4, 2017)

1) true emergencies are few and far between.

2) stretch and exercising will help. Especially years down the road.

3) don't eat, breathe and sleep EMS. Get a hobby outside of this job.

4) talk to people about bad stuff. Don't let it eat you up.

5) eat well. Stay away from junk food in the truck.


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## Flying (May 4, 2017)

Bring all your equipment in

Being drunk isn't a medical emergency

If in the city, pat them down before they fully wake

Always walk, don't even jog

Talk to all your coworkers


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## Sjayzee (May 4, 2017)

I was an EMT for 2 years, took some time off to care for family, back at it again...here's what I'm keepin' in mind this time:

1. Take care of my physical and mental health - take time off (...but we luv that OT!), eat healthy, exercise, have hobbies
2. Don't let my registry lapse unless I'm SURE I won't need it - I was 'sure', yet here I am, round 2 and outta state <grrr>
3. Don't get caught up in station/work drama - ...the gossip <groan>
4. Be humble and compassionate - we all make mistakes, we all get sick, and we all get old (if we're lucky)
5. Find a mentor (or several) and learn as much as you can from them

* Bonus tip my paramedic partner (mentor) drilled into me - The skins never lie!

Best of luck and congrats on getting into the best career ever


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## E tank (May 4, 2017)

Unless you are married to them, do not have sex with anyone you work with.

Sometimes the disease or injury you're dealing with makes the job difficult, not your lack of
 skill or knowledge

There is always a knowledge gap, but you or anyone else don't need all of the answers to do the right thing for the given circumstances.

You will never know the  whole story.

If you can't find a pulse, there probably isn't one.


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## E tank (May 4, 2017)

The best so far, IMHO



VentMonkey said:


> 3. The patients, and/ or family should never be discounted no matter how benign or routine their complaint may seem. As far as the ones that hinder, or obstruct patient care directly, see #4.





VentMonkey said:


> 5. Do not call any adult patients "dude", "bro", or "hey you". Sir and ma'am get you the farthest unless they instruct you to call them something other than that, or by their last name.






Sjayzee said:


> 3. Don't get caught up in station/work drama - ...the gossip <groan>





Flying said:


> Always walk, don't even jog





Sjayzee said:


> 5. Find a mentor




I really wish "don't be a tool" went without saying, but without that one, all the others make no sense.


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## hometownmedic5 (May 4, 2017)

No patient, no call, no job(employment type, not run type) will ever be worth your personal health and safety. If your employer doesn't understand that, find a new employer. I blew my back out 12 years ago humping dialysis patients to and fro for a crappy private that didn't care one bit about me.

The "ems diet" is fun to joke about when your 19 or 20 and your metabolism is firing along at full speed. It's not funny when your weight and cholesterol are in a neck and neck race for 300 before you're 35. Learn how to eat properly and find a better way to deal with stress than junk food and cigarettes.

Never get comfortable. Always be looking at the next step. Whether its the next job, the next cert, perhaps even the next career choice. Always be moving towards a goal. When you stop trying to get somewhere, you stay where you are. That may be fine if you're the chief of the trauma surgery department at Hopkins, but its a terrible plan when your a basic emt barely making the rent.

Know when to turn it off and go just be a regular person. You dont have to be the hero 24/7. You're allowed leisure time and that leisure should be outside of fire/ems. 

Understand that, bls or als, you will very very rarely actually pull someone out of the grave and have them saunter off into the sunset. Hero moments are almost non existent. This job is a daily grind of small accomplishments. If you cant hold an old ladies hand on the way to the hospital and find value in it, go do something else.


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## joshrunkle35 (May 4, 2017)

If you're looking for money, McDonalds requires far less education and effort, and guarantees far more success in the long run. Don't do this job for the money, because there isn't any.


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## GMCmedic (May 4, 2017)

Well considering what was posted above me ill add

1. Not all advice is good advice

2. Just cause someone said it doesnt make it true.

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## NomadicMedic (May 4, 2017)

joshrunkle35 said:


> If you're looking for money, McDonalds requires far less education and effort, and guarantees far more success in the long run. Don't do this job for the money, because there isn't any.




Not true. There are plenty of EMS jobs that offer excellent compensation, robust benefits, retirement packages and a promotional ladder. 

You just have to find them. If you read the forum, there's plenty of not so subtle hints on where to work.


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## VentMonkey (May 4, 2017)

hometownmedic5 said:


> You don't have to be the hero 24/7. Hero moments are almost non existent.


If you have no clue how to define heroism, you're already starting off on the wrong foot (generalization).

The plumber who wakes up 6 days/ week to put food on the table, a roof over their family's heads, and clothes on their kids back is every bit as much the hero as the person who does it on an ambulance.

If you're in this for the "heroics", I want nothing to do with you, period.


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## hometownmedic5 (May 4, 2017)

VentMonkey said:


> If you have no clue how to define heroism, you're already starting off on the wrong foot (generalization).
> 
> The plumber who wakes up 6 days/ week to put food on the table, a roof over their family's heads, and clothes on their kids back is every bit as much the hero as the person who does it on an ambulance.
> 
> If you're in this for the "heroics", I want nothing to do with you, period.



I was referring not to my own thoughts or desire for recognition, but the hero complex so ingrained in this business, which I believe we have discussed at length. 

Or were you building on what I said and not turning it back on me? I'm a bit confused.


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## VentMonkey (May 4, 2017)

hometownmedic5 said:


> I was referring not to my own thoughts or desire for recognition, but the hero complex so ingrained in this business, which I believe we have discussed at length.
> 
> Or were you building on what I said and not turning it back on me? I'm a bit confused.





VentMonkey said:


> If you have no clue how to define heroism, you're already starting off on the wrong foot (*generalization*).


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## Rialaigh (May 4, 2017)

1. Your number one job is not to provide excellent medical care, it is not to find out what is wrong with the patient or make the correct diagnosis, it is not to follow your protocols to a T and know them all by heart, it is not to have the "fastest, best, most awesome" approach to a certain disease process or call type, it is not to turn calls over rapidly or document the best. Your number one job is not to save lives, or reduce pain, or to take the patient to the hospital...I repeat...your number one job is NOT to take the patient to the hospital.

*Your number one job is to be a patient advocate. Period. *

This was probably taught out of chapter one or two of your EMT book in school and passed by rapidly for all the "more important" life saving knowledge you will need to do this job. You will find many more patients that need someone to talk to, a phone number to a rehab facility for a family member, a blanket, a sandwich, a discussion about diabetes management or a talk about how to properly ice an ankle, elevate, and follow up with their primary care doctor as needed. The difference you will make in this job will not be on an "emergency" call. Treat people as people, this job is about humanity (or you will get sucked into the lack of it...).

Run a call, do your best to find out what the underlying problem is, did the person not make it into the homeless shelter, do they not get their prescriptions filled, are they hungry, do they not have primary care, do they need some education on how to use their home nebulizer....figure it out and do everything you can to help them for the long term. You will not be able to solve  most problems, or very many at all, but the problems we can solve are usually the easiest at all...and have nothing to do with medical care as it was taught to you. It is not hard for us to offer some helpful information to people that haven't had anyone take 10 seconds to help them solve the underlying problem.


Do everything you can to not lose your humanity in this job




Four other suggestions would fall so far below this that I won't even bother including them.


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## DesertMedic66 (May 4, 2017)

1. Who let the dogs out?

2. It's not always about the critical calls. Sometimes the most basic calls can be the most beneficial.

3. Ambulance seats are normally not very comfortable. Let's just say they are not memory foam.

4. What everyone else said

5. Not really something I wish I knew but something that should always be remembered, be safe. Drive safe and keep your head on a swivel. A injured/dead medic is a useless medic.

(I'm really hoping someone can answer #1 for me)


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## exodus (May 5, 2017)

DesertMedic66 said:


> 1. Who let the dogs out?
> 
> 2. It's not always about the critical calls. Sometimes the most basic calls can be the most beneficial.
> 
> ...



1:  George.   The brown dogs.  Brown dogs everywhere...


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## zzyzx (May 24, 2017)

I like what Hometownmedic said:

"Never get comfortable. Always be looking at the next step. Whether its the next job, the next cert, perhaps even the next career choice. Always be moving towards a goal. When you stop trying to get somewhere, you stay where you are. That may be fine if you're the chief of the trauma surgery department at Hopkins, but its a terrible plan when your a basic emt barely making the rent."

You are not likely to get burned out if you are always making new career goals for yourself.

As others have said, and as you already probably know, the most important thing is to treat people well.


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## DrParasite (May 24, 2017)

1) You can spend 20 minutes convincing the patient to refuse transport, or you can spend 10 minutes transporting them to the hospital.  Similarly, you can rarely go wrong by taking a person who wants to go to the hospital to the ER, regardless of if you think they need it or not.

2) It is always better to be on your dispatchers good side than their bad side.  You might think their job is easy, but many field personnel who tried to dispatch either found it much harder than they expected, were dropped from the dispatch program because of poor performance, and while you have to handle one call at a time, they have to juggle several, and just because they have no one else to send, doesn't mean people stop calling.  Similarly, a bad dispatcher can ruin the day of all the field units.

3) After x years in EMS, your body will fail you.  The x is a variable that is dependent on the individual person.  Make sure you have a backup plan for when you can't be on the ambulance anymore.

4) If you work in ****ty areas, you will go on medical calls in ****ty areas, and you won't have the cops with on you on every call (especially in urban cities).  Most people won't mess with EMS, but always make sure you know how you and your partner will be getting out of a residence if things go bad really quick

5) When all else fails and you have no idea what is going on with the patient, it's never a bad idea to take the person to the hospital.


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## Martyn (May 27, 2017)

hometownmedic5 said:


> Understand that, bls or als, you will very very rarely actually pull someone out of the grave and have them saunter off into the sunset. Hero moments are almost non existent. This job is a daily grind of small accomplishments. If you cant hold an old ladies hand on the way to the hospital and find value in it, go do something else.



Nice...


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## Dennhop (May 28, 2017)

Don't ever be afraid to ask your partner for advice/help...if you can't get a B/P, or something seems weird for some reason, or you're just not sure, ask.  

Driving emergent does not mean you need to run 80mph down city streets.  Imagine driving with your dog in the back seat...do you really want to slam on the gas and brakes every intersection and throw them around?  If they can't work in the back because you're driving like an idiot, they're going to be pissed...


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## NUEMT (May 31, 2017)

NomadicMedic said:


> 1) true emergencies are few and far between.
> 
> 2) stretch and exercising will help. Especially years down the road.
> 
> ...




See #3


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