Dangers of being a RN in a EFR pond...

[mycrofft]

And apologies to those of you who may be affected by this and might be lurking.

As a licensed professional, I cannot allow substandard care to be performed without intervening or reporting; it his a legal and ethical matter. When surrounded by volunteer, unexperienced and poorly experienced first responder graduates, constantly being a buzzkill for their enthusiasms (i.e., telling them to slow down and stop treating complaints alone without assessment, or over-treating) rapidly sorts interpersonal relationships into three categories: appreciate the feedback (5%), don't care but will do it (10%), and "Who IS this Bozo, anyway? Full speed ahead!" ( the remainder).

SO, since this effectively cuts off opportunities to lead or teach (being without authority to meet the responsibility, such as reprimand or remedial training for these cowboys), to preserve my license I really have to bow out.

Moral: if you have a pool of volunteers, do not recruit people with licenses to oversee them unless you give them the whip and chair to go with the responsibility. You will get less than you want in results, and more than you expect in possible program impacts.

 

[Veneficus]

The poor creatures...

They don't know any better.

I can undersstand your frustration.

I often tell people I teach I do not teach new people, I make good people better.

"If you didn't come to win, you shouldn't have come."

You just have to remember, these people have not been tempered by knowledge and experience. I don't liken them to cowboys, I liken them to people without formal training trying to accomplish something that requires it. (I think the slang term is: Hack)

Unless they happen to end up doing bystander CPR, they are never going to save lives. They may slightly reduce some suffering.

Generally they are people with admirable hearts and little brains.

Might I suggest before you do bow out, rather than trying to teach them EMS/medical/nursing care, you teach them more like industrial students who may never need/use their "skills."

Sort of like my attempt at KAF.

 

[mycrofft]

I am leaving at the end of this month. Since announcing it no one will return emails. Maybe I shoulda been nicer about it.

 

[DrParasite]

As a licensed professional, I cannot allow substandard care to be performed without intervening or reporting; it his a legal and ethical matter. When surrounded by volunteer, unexperienced and poorly experienced first responder graduates, constantly being a buzzkill for their enthusiasms (i.e., telling them to slow down and stop treating complaints alone without assessment, or over-treating) rapidly sorts interpersonal relationships into three categories: appreciate the feedback (5%), don't care but will do it (10%), and "Who IS this Bozo, anyway? Full speed ahead!" ( the remainder).

as an experienced certified EMS professional, who has a bachelors degree and then completed all the prereqs for Physician Assistant school, I feel your pain. I joined a volunteer agency that was full of old farts who had "always done it this way, and who are you to tell us how do it anything??!?!?!!?", and when I tried to operate under current standards and protocols, and raise the level of professionalism, I became a target of harassment. Many individuals would still ride on an ambulance with me any time (and still will), the Captain backed me 100%, but the old farts who ran the Board of Trustees wanted to keep things like it was the 1970s.

I will say one thing though: if the substandard care is as a result of poor education, than you can't really fault them.

SO, since this effectively cuts off opportunities to lead or teach (being without authority to meet the responsibility, such as reprimand or remedial training for these cowboys), to preserve my license I really have to bow out.

I lasted 3 months, before I said I couldn't take the harassment any more, and I quit in disgust.

Moral: if you have a pool of volunteers, do not recruit people with licenses to oversee them unless you give them the whip and chair to go with the responsibility. You will get less than you want in results, and more than you expect in possible program impacts.

people who are against progress, who strive only to maintain the status quo, can be found everywhere. I know too many supervisors and management people who are like that, and will go out of their way to not move the field forward, or fix any existing problems.

 

[mycrofft]

DrP, it was less structured than that. These folks are just all afire to do something, and will not listen to me.
I could have gotten some attention if I could back it up, but no go. I tried to set up QA, but told no. I tried to engage folks in creative classes and even writing and presenting, but that fell down too. After seven years (nine months as EMS chair), I have too little time and effort left in me. Good folks, absent structure, authority not coaxial with responsibility.

 

[Veneficus]

for some reason, learning and structure are seen as elitist and unrequired in modern US society.

Who was it that originally said it is better to be ruled by 1 tyrant 3000 miles away than 3000 tyrants 1 mile away?

 

[mycrofft]

Sounds English, colonial American, or Russian