Bad or Irritating EMS Memes

mycrofft

mycrofft

Still crazy but elsewhere
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A meme, in this case, is a cultural carrier message disguised as a clever saying, but carries the potential to create acceptance, resignation or support for concepts our mind frames we and our patients just...don't...need.

OzAmbo used this line in a reply about the spun-out medic:

"This concept, this retarded throwaway line of "someone saving someone else" is nothing more than a retarded idea perpetuated by fools who accept it as dogma because it helps to inflate their sense of self importance".

I can cite another:
"Stay and play", which makes it sound like the choice to move rapidly or try to stabilize more on site before transport (if transport at all) is the debonaire, gutsy thing to do.

Some are sexist, some are social. Some are black humor, some are said in all seriousness. In fact, if repeated often enough by many, they can all become serious thought processes.

Any other candidates? Any just BUG you?
 
Sasha

Sasha

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I don't know if it qualifies but those stupid posts that are like "while you're doing so and so a paramedic is going without dinner while he holds a dying child's hand" blahblahblah Facebook status

Overly dramatic bs. Usually seen posted by those who do mainly renal roundup.
 
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fast65

fast65

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Sasha said:
I don't know if it qualifies but those stupid posts that are like "while you're doing so and so a paramedic is going without dinner while he holds a dying child's hand" blahblahblah Facebook status

Overly dramatic bs. Usually seen posted by those who do mainly renal roundup.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I get rather tired of those.
 
U

usalsfyre

You have my stapler
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"Paramedics don't diagnose"

"EMS saves lives"

Anything involving quick response

FDs saying "better, faster, cheaper"

EMS as "public safety"

Anything involving "heros"

And finally...

Every time flightweb.com is blacked out I nearly get physically ill till because it's all too often unnecessary.
 
D

DesertMedic66

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"paramedics save lives, EMTs save paramedics".
 
M

mpena

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Lol paramedics must not like the truth in that one

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
4

46Young

Level 25 EMS Wizard
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firefite said:
"paramedics save lives, EMTs save paramedics".
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That one's one of my personal pet peeves.

One day, I heard this one time too many, so I flipped it. This is what I said:

EMS is a continuum. A paramedic is the most highly educated and trained; they're responsible for anything and everything in the field. An EMT is only a small fraction of a paramedic regarding education, training, and scope. A paramedic knows everything an EMT does and is responsible for carrying out an EMT's job duties, but the reverse is not true. In many countries, EMT's don't even exist - it's just MFR's, and medics of various degrees.

I remember where I came from, but I take exception to the salty EMT with delusions of grandeur or the insecure EMT 6 months OTJ that acts like they have 20 years experience and needs to feel more self important.

The truth is, EMT's don't save medics. They should be doing their job correctly in the first place. If you're a comptetent EMT, no one should have to hold your hand to tell you how and when to do spinal moton restriction, and when to take a BP, how to lift, etc. Now, a paramedic absolutely needs to direct if O2 is to be delivered, how much, and by what route, when to bag, and how often, just to name one intervention. The increased education and diagnostics such as 15 lead ECG's, ETCO2, etc. give information that the EMT will be ignorant to by way of their education. It's not a knock, just a fact.

EMT's and medics are a team, and each is important in pt care, but no one is saving anyone else. If a medic is overlooking basic observations and interventions, it is clearly an issue of competency. If the medic assumes that the EMT is competent and should know when to do certain tasks without being prompted, then that's different. Calls with my engine crew generally go without more than a few words between us. They know what to do in a variety of situations, and understand thet they are to do their usual unless I voice a request to do otherwise.
 
NomadicMedic

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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46Young said:
That one's one of my personal pet peeves.

One day, I heard this one time too many, so I flipped it. This is what I said:

EMS is a continuum. A paramedic is the most highly educated and trained; they're responsible for anything and everything in the field. An EMT is only a small fraction of a paramedic regarding education, training, and scope. A paramedic knows everything an EMT does and is responsible for carrying out an EMT's job duties, but the reverse is not true. In many countries, EMT's don't even exist - it's just MFR's, and medics of various degrees.

I remember where I came from, but I take exception to the salty EMT with delusions of grandeur or the insecure EMT 6 months OTJ that acts like they have 20 years experience and needs to feel more self important.

The truth is, EMT's don't save medics. They should be doing their job correctly in the first place. If you're a comptetent EMT, no one should have to hold your hand to tell you how and when to do spinal moton restriction, and when to take a BP, how to lift, etc. Now, a paramedic absolutely needs to direct if O2 is to be delivered, how much, and by what route, when to bag, and how often, just to name one intervention. The increased education and diagnostics such as 15 lead ECG's, ETCO2, etc. give information that the EMT will be ignorant to by way of their education. It's not a knock, just a fact.

EMT's and medics are a team, and each is important in pt care, but no one is saving anyone else. If a medic is overlooking basic observations and interventions, it is clearly an issue of competency. If the medic assumes that the EMT is competent and should know when to do certain tasks without being prompted, then that's different. Calls with my engine crew generally go without more than a few words between us. They know what to do in a variety of situations, and understand thet they are to do their usual unless I voice a request to do otherwise.
Click to expand...

Oh man... I want this printed on a piece of cardstock, so I can leave one under the wiper of every BLS ambulance I see.
 
4

46Young

Level 25 EMS Wizard
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How about "BLS before ALS?" This is another annoying axiom.
 
4

46Young

Level 25 EMS Wizard
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n7lxi said:
Oh man... I want this printed on a piece of cardstock, so I can leave one under the wiper of every BLS ambulance I see.
Click to expand...

The blank stare I get in return is priceless.

The most dangerous EMT's are the one's that read a few blogs, make a few correlations between certain pt presentations and what the medic typically does, and then begin to think they know as much as the medic, and try to influence the medic's decisions.
 
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mycrofft

mycrofft

Still crazy but elsewhere
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I actually like "This isn't my first rodeo", but so often they are under water clinically in about ten minutes or less.
 
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OP
mycrofft

mycrofft

Still crazy but elsewhere
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Ah, I just used one myself! "Paragod". Sorry.:wacko:
 
Smash

Smash

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I have to agree with any of those appalling "Busting mine saving yours" type things. They make me want to punch someone in the throat.

And T-Shirts emblazoned with the star of life and crap. For some reason you don't see doctors or lawyers or anyone else who actually is a professional walking around advertising that they are a screaming great whacker...
 
nwhitney

nwhitney

Forum Captain
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Self congratulatory/appreciation weeks/months. It really bothers me to have EMS week or Nurses week or any professions week. I don't get it.
 
4

46Young

Level 25 EMS Wizard
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Smash said:
I have to agree with any of those appalling "Busting mine saving yours" type things. They make me want to punch someone in the throat.

And T-Shirts emblazoned with the star of life and crap. For some reason you don't see doctors or lawyers or anyone else who actually is a professional walking around advertising that they are a screaming great whacker...
Click to expand...

At Bob Page's Slap the Cap lecture yesterday one of his slides shows a tat of an NREMT-P patch on someone's shoulder. We all got a good chuckle out of that. One girl that used to work in one of our ED's had the star of life on her forearm.

I did the EMS t-shirt thing for a little while when I was new, but stopped after a few months after being made fun of. I keep a county fire sticker and my station sticker on my car to help with tickets, but that's about it. I prefer to remain anonymous if something goes down in public.
 
EpiEMS

EpiEMS

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46Young said:
I prefer to remain anonymous if something goes down in public.
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+1. Unless it's something where immediate interventions are necessary, it ain't worth the risk.
 
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