How do you avoid being " that guy"?

[Leatherpuke]

So I'm about to start my very first EMS job after retiring from the Army. It will be a county based service in a rural area.
My question to you all is how can I avoid being "that guy" when I start?

A little background. I'm currently deployed to Kuwait and I've been here since right after I graduated AEMT school. I'm a truck driver in the Army so I haven't done anything medically related in the last 9 months except give about a dozen IV's for dehydration and do some online CEU's. So I'm going to be rusty.

My plan is to shut the hell up and listen to whoever has something to teach me. I have no problem taking direction from a 19 year old EMT-B if he's got something to show me.

Other than that, what should I know? What kind of equipment should I buy that won't make me seem like a "rescue randy wannabe" as somebody in another thread put it but will actually come in handy? How do I avoid being the idiot new guy that nobody wants to babysit?

Thanks

 

[bushinspector]

Not real difficult. Have worked in rural Oklahoma for a long time and would suggest.
1. Know your truck and the location of everything that is on it.
2.Just to sit back and try to blend in.
3.Try to anticipate what equipment is going to be needed next and ask if they want you to go pick it up.
4.Just be polite, everybody knows everybody in rural America.

 

[Leatherpuke]

Sound advice, thanks.

 

[akflightmedic]

You can never go wrong with a simple Leatherman tool. No one will call you "that guy" for having one. Aside from that, in over two decades of EMS/Flight EMS...I sometimes had my own stethoscope (forgot it a lot), my own shears in my 5.11s, and my own mini pocket flashlight. Aside from those items, everything else I ever needed has been on the truck.

I have never found myself sitting next to a patient or on a scene wishing "if only I had xyz..".

Bring an open mind and willingness to learn. It is that simple.

 

[Ewok Jerky]

My plan is to shut the hell up and listen to whoever has something to teach me. I have no problem taking direction from a 19 year old EMT-B if he's got something to show me.

Bring an open mind and willingness to learn. It is that simple.

^ both will get you a long way away from being "that guy". That and being open to doing things a different way. No one wants to hear "but at ABC we did it a different way".

As far as equipment goes, wait till you been on the job a few months, you'll know what you need and what would just get in the way of a good nap in the lazy boy. If you get stuck on nights a good flashlight helps.

 

[Apple Bill]

Ask, ask, ask. Just don't ask the same thing more than twice, pay attention.
In my service we check out and stock our own trucks. Great way to get familiar. I've also asked partners to throw a scenario at me and then tried to gather the needed equipment without help.
If you've got a good partner, they will be on board with helping you learn. Tell them your weak areas in advance so they can compensate in an emergency & also teach. For some reason I'm horrible at lung sounds. I've told my partners to grab me if there's something I should hear, then describe it to me.
If you get a c/c on dispatch, talk it out with your partner on the way if you can. (i.e., what do you want me to get done first on scene? bring the bag or size up first? etc.)

tools I've found handy;
stethoscope (I have one partner that wants manual BP initially)
pen (for writing down vitals, preferably on a piece of tape on your pant leg and not a glove that gets tossed)
penlight (PEARL)
mini flashlight (sometimes to hand to my medic to help them find a vein, sometimes to look down dark alleys/back roads trying to figure out how the hell to get out/turn around)
trauma shears
couple extra pair of gloves (my size and my partner's)

I also keep a bottle of water and a Clif bar in the door pocket. Never know.

Have fun.