Difficult new partner

BasicFirst said:
@mycroft: I intend to stick it out, I am not a fan of quitting. I've never talked bad about a company....I never talk about a company....or war stories.
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BasicFirst said:
Should I "go with the flow" of the half -a** private service, or try to teach them what I know to be a better way? I feel as though it will be said upon deaf ears with this know-it-all type bunch.
Sigh.....
Any ideas on dealing with a new medic/company like this???
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I beg to differ...


Anyways, I digress. What do you mean there's no standard? Are Standard Operating Protocols not a standard?
 
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BasicFirst said:
^ I agree with your statements. I am somewhat reluctant to sit back, only due to this company providing 911 service, any call can turn into a disaster if you're not prepared properly.
I do know I am not under any supervision & my partner is in no way a preceptor or supervisor. The company is not big on having many supervisors.
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Somehow this company survived before you and your paramilitary bs. I think theyll be fine.

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BasicFirst, can you give some examples of your "way" or some of these protocols being broken by your partner? Can you give us some more background on where you went to medic school?
 
Linuss said:
'Tis why I hate double medic trucks... you have both vying for control instead of one clearly 'in charge'.
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Have to disagree 100%....worked Medic/EMT for years and thought it was the best system ever. Then I went to work in a county that was all ALS...double medic on every ambulance. I worked there for 4 years and would never have it any other way.

There is no vying for in charge, it is a simple I take one, you take one. Was so much more relaxing, less stressful and the patients benefited from such a setup. Rotation of calls is subject to change if you are feeling generous, having an off day or you get a few refusals in a row...as always, partner dynamics dictate the true sharing of calls, but for the majority in the county it was one for one.

ALS interventions started while you do your ALS assessment and never have to ask or dictate much of anything get done, it just does because you both know what needs to be done.
How can you argue against that?
 
@flightmedic...this was not a "its my call" type of an issue...it was the lack of coordination, running into a house with nothing?! Standing over a pt?!?! re-asking/performing assessment?!?!
 
Perhaps the fault is more with the company...how about we call it 60/40.
The medic in charge (ALS coordinator) should provide a lecture on how things are supposed to be done there, instead of a "whatever" way you want it, every man for himself...organization is the key
 
BasicFirst said:
@flightmedic...this was not a "its my call" type of an issue...it was the lack of coordination, running into a house with nothing?! Standing over a pt?!?! re-asking/performing assessment?!?!
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You had him run to the rig for supplies then performed your own assessment on the patient, if you didn't inform him then that is your fault.

BasicFirst said:
Perhaps the fault is more with the company...how about we call it 60/40.
The medic in charge (ALS coordinator) should provide a lecture on how things are supposed to be done there, instead of a "whatever" way you want it, every man for himself...organization is the key
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So you guys need to have a protocol to tell you how to run a scene/call? Are we just tossing any sort of logical thinking out the window here?
 
this is just why its easier to have a truck with one ALS provider and one BLS provider, we have our set roles and stick to them, while the paramedic is asking his questions, im doing 12 leads, vitals, assessment etc
 
I get your vent. It's painful to deal with people who take over on your call, who talk to your patients, and who don't seem to work as a team. I am part time at my current job, and work with a new person every time.

FWIW, that day is in the books. There's no good way to work on what happened that day besides being proactive in the future.

Next time, first thing in the morning go in with them, hang out chatting till whatever time the boss would say you need to be out checking out the truck, and then say something along the lines of "well, I'm going to head out and check the truck. You coming?" Include in this all tact and politeness you can muster, with a joke or a question for the person, like "I couldn't find the _____, can you give me a hand"

Then, when it's just you two and you're doing all the good morning stuff, work into "do you want to drive or ride first?" If he says he doesn't care, say you want to ride first. Then on the way into the first call, when you're pulling up on scene, take the reins on the communication: "I'll take the clipboard, can you please grab the bag?" When/if he steps on your toes with the interview, just say something at a later time, like "it messes with the flow of things when you jump in with your questions. When it's my call, can you please just use a couple of words to prompt me down the path of whatever you are thinking instead of talking directly to the patient?"

It's a mess when two medics who do not have perfect cohesion are trying to both be the AIC on a call. I have been able to break the "don't talk to the patient on my call" rule with only a couple of partners over the course of my career: my husband and another couple of partners that I really clicked with. We knew where we were headed with the questioning, so we weren't a distraction to the process, we were helping. Even so, even with those few best partners I still primarily keep my mouth SHUT on their calls.

This is not arrogance, it's mutual respect: you do your thing without my interference, then you let me do mine. It only happens when people consciously set the ground rules. It is NOT helpful, only chaotic, to have more than one person talking to the patient. It does not inspire confidence, it looks like there's a subordinate or trainee situation going on, and it's just not standard.
 
tssemt2010 said:
this is just why its easier to have a truck with one ALS provider and one BLS provider, we have our set roles and stick to them, while the paramedic is asking his questions, im doing 12 leads, vitals, assessment etc
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And 8 ALS calls later when his brain is fried and he is mentally drained, you just keep chugging along doing the skills and driving....two medics are ideal as it is an equal distribution of work load and mitigates medical errors.
 
akflightmedic said:
And 8 ALS calls later when his brain is fried and he is mentally drained, you just keep chugging along doing the skills and driving....two medics are ideal as it is an equal distribution of work load and mitigates medical errors.
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Or do what I've had for the past 8 months.

My partner was a newly certified medic with 14 years as an EMT, but was not cleared to work as a medic for the agency. So, you had 2 medics on scene, but only one could make the decisions / do the treatments. ;)





But this agency also required medics to ride in the back on EVERY call, no matter how BLS it was... which got real old, real fast.
 
Having worked double medic always and double medic because a medic picked up a shift in a B/P system it tends to work better in agencies that are full time double medic.

When your used to a basic onscene it can be hard to "switch off".
 
Linuss said:
But this agency also required medics to ride in the back on EVERY call, no matter how BLS it was... which got real old, real fast.
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That's the other advantage of double medic, lazy medics can't screw it up for everyone.
 
@tssemt &
@abckidsmom THANK YOU FOR GETTING IT! & I'll try that technique with an open mind...however, if i were a betting person...
 
His POV

If your orientee started doing an eval before you did, would you maybe feel you were losing control? The straddling thing was a little "cowboy".
Oh, and "not being a quitter"? Looking back, there are a few jobs I stuck with and rode into the ground I wished I have NOT stuck with. Just know what you are ok with and make sure you are landing on your feet.
Oh, and taking care of patients!
 
Having worked double medic for the last 5 years, I love, love, love, love it. No matter how busy we get during a shift, I will only ever do half the runs. As for me and my fellow double medic trucks, no problems exist that I know of regarding who is "in charge". When it's your turn, you do the run.
 
Never seen a problem with double medic trucks in my county, but that's probably because there are very few "brand new" medics and when people have been doing this for a while they are perfectly happy to let their partner take any :censored::censored::censored::censored: call that comes up.
 
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