Dealing with ped Codes

[Mountain Res-Q]

By 1994, CISD/CISM has already been around for more than a decade and there were many studies popping up to call it Bu*%Sh&&.

Us "old folks" that have stayed in EMS and other medical professions for 30+ had wiser mentors who directed us to professional counselors and away from CISD unless we just wanted to watch people trying to express emotions with little expert guidance or just expressing the things that "were expected" of them just for a good show or to impress. Some also mistook a formal or informal debriefing session as CISD/CISM. These sessions should have been used as an information session to remind providers how to seek help and from whom.

Perhaps, I'm just saying that I find it helpgul to talk about it in general. But I am the type of person who is willing to talk about it, which helps me to "work it out". I don;t know if there is anything a "professional" can tell me or help me with. I'm fully willing to if I get to a point where, like this good chap, I need it just to function on a call. Often, all I need is so work it out "out loud", and EMS people are often the ones who understand it the best and hopefully will just listen without offering too much advise. While a "professiona;" cunsoler or therapist is much needed in this case, I still believe that talking it out wiht those that have experienced the same things helps to deal with the emotions. But I'm no therapist.

 

[VentMedic]

Perhaps, I'm just saying that I find it helpgul to talk about it in general. But I am the type of person who is willing to talk about it, which helps me to "work it out". I don;t know if there is anything a "professional" can tell me or help me with. I'm fully willing to if I get to a point where, like this good chap, I need it just to function on a call. Often, all I need is so work it out "out loud", and EMS people are often the ones who understand it the best and hopefully will just listen without offering too much advise. While a "professiona;" cunsoler or therapist is much needed in this case, I still believe that talking it out wiht those that have experienced the same things helps to deal with the emotions. But I'm no therapist.

CISD usually just addresses the one situation. Your problems may stem from financial, sex, marital or whatever relationship troubles. Are you willing to talk about those opening or will everyone else you work with want to hear about your other problems? How a person deals with one situation consists of many factors. If it was just the one situation itself, life would be so much easier.

As far as the OP, I don't believe he should be working in peds until professional counselors and his managers give him the go ahead. Dealing with families and dying children is not just a "suck it up" issue. You are also dealing with the fragile mental states of the patients and their parents who needs the support of a health care provider. EMS providers need to look past "what is best for themselves" and look at what is best for the patient. The OP has had 15 years to come to grips with this from a professional aspect. Peds may not be his thing. That doesn't mean he still can not be part of health care. Part of being a good professional is being honest with oneself.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

CISD usually just addresses the one situation. Your problems may stem from financial, sex, marital or whatever relationship troubles. Are you willing to talk about those opening or will everyone else you work with want to hear about your other problems? How a person deals with one situation consists of many factors. If it was just the one situation itself, life would be so much easier.

As far as the OP, I don't believe he should be working in peds until professional counselors and his managers give him the go ahead. Dealing with families and dying children is not just a "suck it up" issue. You are also dealing with the fragile mental states of the patients and their parents who needs the support of a health care provider. EMS providers need to look past "what is best for themselves" and look at what is best for the patient. The OP has has 15 years to come to grips with this from a professional aspect. Peds may not be his thing. That doesn't mean he still can not be part of health care. Part of being a good professional is being honest with oneself.

Absolutely! And forums is not place for anyone to diagnose a person we don't real know. I just hope that what ever is needed to help him/you gets done. If you still have a passion for the biz and are an asset to the field, then it would be horrible to lose ya and your compassion becasue of an issue that might be dealt with. I love the fact that he was willing to share... it can't hurt him or us to know that everyone worth damn deals with similar issues in a field that can be trying on your emotions.

 

[BossyCow]

I think peds calls are the toughest on all of us because its just so damned unfair when a child dies. So, if the child died, someone or something has to be at fault right? We screwed up, the equipment, system, support, parents, failed the child.. right? Because unless someone or something, somewhere screwed up or failed, the kid would still be alive. This is the big lie.

Everyone dies, even kids. The worst call I was ever on was a SAR. We found the child at the bottom of a pond after draining it. I found myself bursting into tears at inappropriate times after the event. It hurt. I think the worst part was facing the grief of the family. Being a mother myself, watching another mother receive the news that her child had died was agonizing.

You can't tough this out. You can't talk it away. It sucks big time and the pain can be excruciating. Time helps. But if it doesn't go away, you need to sit with a counselor experienced in post traumatic stress disorders. Not all counselors have the tools or the experience to deal with the issues resulting from events like the ones you experienced. They may be an awesome counselor with all kinds of wonderful success stories and credentials that make other counselors weep with envy, but if they are not experienced in treating PTSD they are not the counselor for you. You wouldn't go to a dermatologist for a broken leg, or an ortho for a melanoma. The same principle applies.

I agree that more recent instances are most likely triggering unresolved issues from the first call. Find a counselor to help you deal with that one, and future calls will not be as devastating. In our business, we are constantly exposed to the pain of others. Some parts of that pain are contagious. To not feel it is to let the job change you and lessen your humanity. We can feel the pain, acknowledge the sorrow, but also know that it is not our pain or our sorrow.

Hang in there. It sounds like you are on the right track to getting past this.

 

[Melclin]

Just keep talking about it. Tell whoever will listen. I don't necessarily mean have a heart to heart with everyone. Just telling people the nuts and bolts of what happened helps. You don't even have to talk about how you feel. That's what the say at uni, and that's what all the paramedics I've met say. Granted I'm only in the second year of my degree, but I've been lucky enough to experience one failed resus and I can see what they mean. Just talk about it with your peers.

I also agree with whoever said that education helps. I don't know how things work with you guys, but I understand you basically just get told how to do CPR and put on the road. Being a paramedic here (Australia) requires a 3 year university degree. Lots of people talk about how silly that is, but I've been learning for a year and a half now how and why what I do at a resus is the right thing to do. I think that helps. We know all the research, all the reasons, all the history, of why we do what we do in a :censored::censored::censored::censored: situation and I think that helps us to know that we did everything we could.

 

[Ridryder911]

Just keep talking about it. Tell whoever will listen. I don't necessarily mean have a heart to heart with everyone. Just telling people the nuts and bolts of what happened helps. You don't even have to talk about how you feel. That's what the say at uni, and that's what all the paramedics I've met say. Granted I'm only in the second year of my degree, but I've been lucky enough to experience one failed resus and I can see what they mean. Just talk about it with your peers.

I also agree with whoever said that education helps. I don't know how things work with you guys, but I understand you basically just get told how to do CPR and put on the road. Being a paramedic here (Australia) requires a 3 year university degree. Lots of people talk about how silly that is, but I've been learning for a year and a half now how and why what I do at a resus is the right thing to do. I think that helps. We know all the research, all the reasons, all the history, of why we do what we do in a :censored::censored::censored::censored: situation and I think that helps us to know that we did everything we could.

Well minus two years and 9 mos for most of the levels within the U.S. Yeah, understanding science would be an asset.