EMS Anger Management Issue

[AtlantaLifeSaver]

I am a female EMT at a VERY busy ambulance service in Atlanta. I have been an EMT for 3 years now. In the last couple of months I have been noticing a change in me. I am angry all the time on the truck. We have one dispatcher on the weekends that her voice absolutely puts me into a rage. I don't know what to do. Ive always loved my job and I want to go to paramedic school but I don't know what to do now. We have the drivecam system and I know if they were able to record us the whole shift and watch me they would take me off the truck. Everyone I talk to doesn't really understand and I'm told to "just deal with it", "your really good at your job and you have always loved this job". Does anyone have any suggestions for me. I really used to love my job now I'm wanting to be as far away from healthcare as I can get.

 

[firecoins]

might want to see a psychologist. This is not say anything bad but seeing a professional about your anger issues is most likely a good thing to do.

You might be burnt out. Time away from EMS may be in order. Once refreashed you may come back in. Stress is a killer.

 

[usafmedic45]

I was going to say it sounds like burn out.

 

[CollegeBoy]

I too have to throw forward the idea of burn out

 

[firetender]

Conceptually, it's rather simple, and thanks for checking in!.

Three years of not dealing with, suppressing, or denying all the little angers accumulated WNL in the work coalesce into a big knot in your belly.

You are simply backed up with ca-ca and it's coming out sideways. My money's on you had some soul-rockers in the last three years that you've not faced.

How wrong am I to guess this anger thing bleeds out in all aspects of your life? You're experiencing anger as a human being, and you know what? In this business most of it is justifiable. It affects each of us differently. You're faced with choices; act it out and torture yourself and others, suppress it in the field and have it smear your home, or deal with it. It's not at all too late and you are SAVING yourself from burnout, not burning out!

You may have to take a little time to sort this out, even do a little screaming and crying to loosen that knot. Find someone you trust to work with. Naturally, rely on the advice of a paid professional, but don't miss out on utilizing a fellow medic with some experience in this stuff. They are out there.

The idea of you being on camera all the time is abhorrent to me! It pisses me off! You're not in a GD Zoo.

You have a right to find a safe space for you to be a human being so you can be an efficient technician; even AS you're being an efficient tech.

PM if I can help further.

 

[imurphy]

What you most likely have is CSR or Cumiliative Stress Reaction. The books will tell you to talk to someone. Mayby this will work for you, mayby it won't. Find what YOU need to handle how this is effecting YOU.

When I had CSR, I took a few days off, hardcore worked out in the gym and in a few weeks I was a new man. It worked for me, because I'm the type that believes that talking does nothing, action is what you need.

 

[Onceamedic]

Late this spring I was angry with a patient. The patient did not see it (too focused on getting her drugs), but I was lucky enough to realize that this was not my norm. I do not get angry with patients. I took two sets off. I had the PTO time and I went up north and visited family and friends. I came back a new woman.

A month ago, we had a shift where the angel of death rode with us. 3 crews with 6 dead patients between us. Mine was a DOA at a roll over crash. A week before, I had been on a similar scene with a dead 16 year old. I was ranting. I felt enraged. My supervisor suggested I needed some debriefing.

I talked to my closest co-workers at the station (and talked and talked and talked.) I wrote about it and processed it. By the next shift, I was my usual easygoing good natured self.

I echo what the others said. Stress builds up. You are lucky enough to realize it. Take care of it and learn what works for you.

Good luck.

 

[ZVNEMT]

I seem to be having similar issues. every conversation w/ the supervisor gets louder and louder w/ more severe consequences, I'm sure i'm no far from the chopping block. Not starting my shift on time, and not really caring about it. I'm usually very reserved and relaxed, very hard to provoke and upset, but i came incredibly close to strangling one co-worker for being generally annoying, and almost punched another for being an :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:. and apparently i've come across as rude to a few ER/ECF nurses... but i'm sure they probably deserved it...

 

[imurphy]

http://www.mindtools.com/stress/Brn/CopeWithBurnout.htm

May be a good resource

 

[Chelle]

I hope you are able to find the help you need to be able to get back to loving your job again.

 

[mycrofft]

There are professionals standing by to help.

It's good to talk to a friend, it's better to talk to a counselor, and it's best to have a friend to talk to about your counseling.

I would not be comortable talking about this in a public forum beyond your wanting to hear you are not alone or "weird". You are not.

 

[firetender]

I seem to be having similar issues. every conversation w/ the supervisor gets louder and louder w/ more severe consequences, I'm sure i'm no far from the chopping block. Not starting my shift on time, and not really caring about it. I'm usually very reserved and relaxed, very hard to provoke and upset, but i came incredibly close to strangling one co-worker for being generally annoying, and almost punched another for being an :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:. and apparently i've come across as rude to a few ER/ECF nurses... but i'm sure they probably deserved it...

These are not yellow flags, they're red flags.

Something needs doing, unless, of course, you want to offer yourself to the chopping block, but you know that. You're cooking your own goose.

 

[fbsemssocial]

Burn out

This sounds like a burn out happening I agree with everyone else. I hope you can find a way to work around it, I am just entering the ems field.

I would also suggest seeing someone about it, someone that you think will understand, our know our instructor told us to make sure we have friends outside the ems world so you can talk about stuff other than ems.

I hope you find a way to cope with whatever it is going on. I am sure you will, I just got into ems and so far it fun.

Also some suggestions that I was told, even though its hard sometimes go get attached to the patient, treat them, but don't get attached. My instructor who is a paramedic said she won't even call to do follow ups cause she sees that as a way to get herself attached and bring upon burn out.

I hope you find what you need some time off maybe smart like others have said as well.

 

[Scottpre]

Find a balance

The double-edged sword in EMS is that a lot of us are in it because we care about people. The sucky part is that if we aren't careful that care can make us too emotionally attached so that every nasty call is eating us up inside.
There is a need to balance between the needs of the job and your own emotional needs as a person.

In my opinion, there is a time to "deal with it" and stay focused on the call and then there is a time to let it out and vent or do whatever needs to be done to clear your heart and mind and restore your balance.

Keep in mind that nothing works 100% of the time, but here's the approach that works for me:

1- I have a place in my mind I visualize as being a locker. I put things in the locker that bother me when I don't have time to deal with them at the moment.

2- When things slow down and I have the time and the emotional energy, I look at the contents of the locker. I then deal with what I have in there by triaging it into what's REALLY important and has to be dealt with, what seemed important, but is no longer so and things I just have no control over and need to accept in a way that won't haunt me.

3- On the things that do haunt me, I have a favorite activitiy that is queit, semi-active and fun: I throw boomerangs (yeah, I know I'm a Geek). Throwing boomerangs is very zen for me. I find it quiets me and centers me. For some people that is runing, basketball, fishing, bike-riding, or whatever.

Not saying this works for everyone, it just works for me. Also, it helps to talk to another EMS person. I had a bad scene one time where I thought I had made a mistake that made things worse. I talked to my partner and she helped me get some perspective.

 

[thatJeffguy]

Purchase a rifle or sidearm and start shooting at the range on a weekly basis. Nothing relieves my stress like turning a watermelon into a puddle of goop.


You might also want to try strenuous exercise and/or deep breathing exercise.

 

[ZVNEMT]

Purchase a rifle or sidearm and start shooting at the range on a weekly basis. Nothing relieves my stress like turning a watermelon into a puddle of goop.


You might also want to try strenuous exercise and/or deep breathing exercise.

shooting is a great stress reliever.... but i question the wisdom of giving that as advice in an anger management thread...

martial arts can be great, karate is mostly harmless unless you're a power ranger, tai chi, yoga. to blow off some more serious steam there's Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, various types of boxing/kickboxing. Everyone there is trained, you (probably) won't hurt them. just don't use it outside of the gym. worked great for me... until I genuinely began to hate my boss. >.<

or if you're creatively inclined, pick up a cheap guitar, camera, writing pad, whatever. express your frustrations in your creations.

 

[thatJeffguy]

shooting is a great stress reliever.... but i question the wisdom of giving that as advice in an anger management thread...

I don't understand how those comments can mix. "X is a good stress reliever, but shouldn't be used for anger management".

or if you're creatively inclined, pick up a cheap guitar, camera, writing pad, whatever. express your frustrations in your creations.

My medium is watermelon, my tool, a .30 caliber bullet traveling almost three times the speed of sound

 

[ZVNEMT]

i think the incident at Ft. Hood today proves my point...

 

[thatJeffguy]

i think the incident at Ft. Hood today proves my point...

Surely you're not talking about some "point" from the EMS/ Self Defense thread? I'd say that it proves the point that mandatory, law enforced "Gun free" zones are seen by criminals as "target rich environments". Any thoughts as to why this Major didn't go to, say, the armory to start his shooting?

 

[ZVNEMT]

that's not at all what i'm saying. what im saying is that advising someone who's describing their feelings of anger and rage to buy a gun and learn to shoot it may not be the wisest thing to do. not that i think that she is crazy, but you don't know that someone else isn't. a lurker who doesn't post but reads everything here for advice maybe. this isn't a pro-gun/anti-gun discussion. just a discussion of whether or not it is appropriate counsel in a public forum where EVERYONE in the world can read it. if you want to continue this in the future, PM me.

like everyone else had said here before, find someone to talk to. find some kind of physical activity to occupy yourself. creative arts are great too. drinking tea helps out in conjunction with any of the above.