End of EMT course doing ride alongs

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Emtsgv

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Hey guys i really like this forum to read on everyone experiences and get advise from EMS personal who have been doing this from some times.


I graduate in about 2 weeks, from my EMT class, im doing my ride alongs and yesterday was my first run, im doing pretty well in class im ranked #3 in my class grade / skills wise.


On the ride along which was 12 hrs had some great calls, at times i blanked and kinda forgot what to do i don't know if it was my nerves or maybe all the fire presence that not use to that really, In the sense of "blanking" i was more delayed as in walking in on a trauma call and not going right for manual stabilize i kinda stood there looking around like....do i jump on this or ???? these 10 fire guys. I didn't know my place....and was tad bit over whelmed thinking do they want this "Ride along" to touch my patient .....and just need some advice because i want to get as much "play time" experience as possible because as they say this is the time to learn with out it reflecting your liecne

please any advice on how to approach the scene with all this presence would be greatly appreciative thank you all for reading!
 
Personally I wouldn't want to hold manual c-spine.

How many ride alongs do you get to do? I think it's intimidating in the beginning, but as you do more, it'll be less intimidating.

If you want to do something, offer your service. "Hey, want me to get a blood pressure on this guy?"
 
That sounds like a failure on your preceptor's part. On your next one ask what they expect of you. Coming from someone on the opposite end (a preceptor) if a student shows initiative I'm much more inclined to teach them. W don't get extra pay for having a rider but we do get more liability, if I don't trust that you will listen to my instructions I'm not going to let you do much. Obviously it's you to gain that trust in a single 12 or even 24 hour shift but if you are proactive and ask what I expect of you, how I want you to do things, how I run my scenes and you don't act like a know-it-all I'll let you do anything in your scope of practice with someone watching you. One thing that will change that is if you do something without asking or do something incorrectly because you were too "good" to ask you're done for the day. If you don't know how to do something or don't feel comfortable doing something I ask of you just say something and either myself, my partner or a fire guy that I trust will come show you or help you do it, depending on the acuity of the patient. Not every preceptor is the same but I think many will agree with me.

Don't let fire intimidate you...10 fire guys sounds like you're in Southern California.
 
If all else fails, then ask. ALL you had to do was say hey, want me to hold C spine? If they've never seen you on a call, they might prefer you ask before doing something.

You might have a crew that tells you beforehand what they expect you to do. I've had 2 students ride along with us recently, and we quizzed them and let them play with the equipment at the beginning of the shift. One of them seemed ok, and the other seemed completely lost. So to be honest what we let them do varied depending on the individual.
 
It is always a good idea to speak with your preceptor before any calls happen so you can both be on the same page and know what to expect from one another. It is also a good idea to familiarize yourself with their bags and truck so you know where things are if asked.
 
Hey thanks for responding to this thread.


i get a total of (2) 911 ride alongs, and (1) IFT, and 3 hospital rotations


Monday will be my second ride along with 911 company.
 
Thank you for responding, yes my FTO when i arrived didn't really tell me much and hardly talked to me and when i asked questions would be one word short snap answers so i felt like i should just sit and be quite and all i really did was take BP, and i live in LA so you got that correct lol
 
Thank you for your response i will try that, seems like i should of did that from the start just ask...simple and to the point thank you
 
on Monday when i go in i will do that, ill have a 1on1 and ask what he wants to do, and get familiar with the equipment and locations thank you for replying
 
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