It did result in me once tensely telling an EMT, "My glasses! Fix my glasses!" because I didn't want to interrupt compressions but they were about to fall into vomit. :eek:
A few more things to consider: Contacts dry out in the winter when the heat's constantly blasting. Glasses bounce off my face while doing compressions.
Some of those are overnight shifts, but yes. We have contracts with about 40 hospitals and 900 nursing homes. We basically have most of the county locked down, which includes a major metropolitan area.
I had a young male classmate spring an erection while 3 females (me included) were practicing patient assessments on him. Poor kid was strapped to a backboard too :oops:
IFT 300K+ calls per year, about 8 runs in a 12 hour shift. Stations? SSM? Hah! As of they'd ever let us stop moving. Moral is...not good. If it was 911 we'd all be past burnt out long ago.
What everyone else said: keep the exam appropriate to their complaint.
Now my question is, do you find you have the same problem when it IS actually necessary to deal with a female's private areas? For example, do you have a difficult time putting on EKG leads, listening to breath sounds, or...
When your typical patients are 70+ years old with CHF, ESRD, and a host of other problems, "stable" isn't really saying much.
Then there's the difference between what you're called for and what you find when you arrive. You would think SNF nurses could tell the difference between an emergent...
Update: Turns out almost everyone wore jeans, t-shirts, and departmental jackets. I saw one or two full-on uniforms, but no stormtroopers, sadly. Now the evening "social events" were another story entirely. I saw things I can never unsee... :eek:
They're definitely not fun situations, having to explain to a patient's family that their DNR is invalid. It's not even a complex form. It floors me that doctors etc can't be bothered to make sure they fill out such an important thing correctly. It's like a check box, a signature, and a date...
If you were not hired to work as an EMT, then it's doubtful you have a medical director. Without one, you can't function as an EMT at work, or take on official patient care.
My only point in comparing having tattoos to being black or being gay is that they draw the same level of distrust from conservative patients. Other distrusted groups manage to overcome similar obstacles to patient care and community trust.
Great job on turning "victim" into a bad word though...
discriminate: v. to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit
Yes, it is discriminatory to decide a person is unfit for a job based on appearance, rather than skill.
I do realize that much of this country is conservative, but I'm an idealist. I would push...
We should not be attempting to make a positive impression on patients with our bodies. By that token, we should also discriminate against overweight or unattractive people.
As a profession that aims to be perceived as "the good guys," heroes even, we should comport ourselves as such. That is...