How do you feel about student ride alongs?

[Theraphosidae]

I haven't had that many yet. Seems like people are either real chill, let me play with all the toys in the back and let me actively participate or want me to be out of the way. I would gladly stay out of the way for complicated things, well aware that I'm not experienced or educated enough for quite a bit of the things we do in the field, but I can still do a lot of basic stuff!

 

[EMT B]

I gladly take students. We were all there at one point or another. I will even sit there and let my students take the call. Just know that if :censored::censored::censored::censored: hits the fan you will not get to do as much until I am comfortable with your skills.

 

[Household6]

Well I'm just a student still doing ride alongs. I learned that the Air Care pilots don't find it amusing when you flip on the batteries, fuel pumps, and lighting systems then yell out the window, "Clear the rotors, my bi+ches!!"

I argued that I still had the rotor brake engaged, and he needs to learn to take a joke. But he still banned me from the hanger until I bring him some Dairy Queen.

 

[Mariemt]

We have students on our squad who do ride alongs all the time with us, but the school rules only allow them to do patient care with their contracted clinical providers. So they carry bags, write down notes for us, watch, etc. I love having them there.

 

[mike1390]

Love it! But it's up to them to make the most out of it. Come with a good attitude ready to learn and ask questions and I will let you chat my ear off until you need to leave... But if you show up with a poor attitude or an "I know it all" attitude and it will be a very long silent day for you. The speak when spoken to rule will be enforced if you show up acting like a D-bag.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Love it! But it's up to them to make the most out of it. Come with a good attitude ready to learn and ask questions and I will let you chat my ear off until you need to leave... But if you show up with a poor attitude or an "I know it all" attitude and it will be a very long silent day for you. The speak when spoken to rule will be enforced if you show up acting like a D-bag.

This.

A couple of weeks ago we had a D-bag student. We were having a slow day (2 calls) and the student asks "can I call a friend to come pick me up and take me home?" The student ended up getting kicked out of the EMT program.

 

[Christopher]

I haven't had that many yet. Seems like people are either real chill, let me play with all the toys in the back and let me actively participate or want me to be out of the way. I would gladly stay out of the way for complicated things, well aware that I'm not experienced or educated enough for quite a bit of the things we do in the field, but I can still do a lot of basic stuff!

I love having students and try and push them to the limits of their comfort zone.

However, if you choose to sit in a corner I'll leave you there

 

[Theraphosidae]

Awesome. I'm glad so many feel that way! My first ride along was with a couple medics, so I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I suppose I could have participated more, but it was a little over whelming for me to see everything and be thrown into ALS for my first calls. They didn't talk much, spoke a lot of medical terminology I didn't understand either. The EMTs I've ridden with so far have been younger and so very happy to train me though, even on our long distance rides. Lots of quizzes and filling me in on chapters we've covered and chapters to come. No one makes me feel stupid though, which is something I was very surprised about.

 

[Tigger]

Why would we want to make students of our own profession feel stupid? Are there jerks that do it? Of course, but by and large I think you'll find that most EMS providers are willing to help students out in some way.

 

[Pkreilley]

the students are our future!

 

[hogwiley]

The only students I don't care for are know it alls. I'll take one who is afraid to touch a patient and just wants to watch all shift over one who is kind of a loose cannon on calls and tries to do everything.

I had one student basically tell us he was a trauma expert because he had gotten some first aid training in the military and had deployed a couple times. He then proceeded to badly screw up just about every minor task I had him perform, and then had the nerve to tell us he wanted to drop a combi tube.

I'll let them do anything they've been trained to do, so long as they check with me first and I have a warm fuzzy feeling about their competency and ability to perform the task without harming the patient.

And don't be surprised if I want to recheck a blood pressure on a patient when you tell me it's 178/52

 

[Pkreilley]

The only students I don't care for are know it alls.

YES. I had a student the other day getting all excited about having her first code. Time comes and we actually get a code. On scene, we realize she cant set up a suction unit, after asking for suction for minutes.

 

[STXmedic]

I actually like the know-it-alls. I find it fun opening their eyes to how much they don't know. By the time I'm done with them, they're usually much more modest

And don't be surprised if I want to recheck a blood pressure on a patient when you tell me it's 178/52

At least yours are smart enough to say something other than 120/80 when making one up... :blink: :lol:

 

[STXmedic]

Double post

 

[Theraphosidae]

Oh goodness, no. I know my place in the world, and I know when to staaaaay out of the way. The last thing I need is to anger my ride along crew on a 10 hour shift. :lol: I will jump in, don't get me wrong, but if I have never seen it done or practiced I'm not about to make that patient my guinea pig.

 

[Underoath87]

I normally love having students. The only exceptions are the ones who act like you're bothering them if you ask anything of them.

 

[Christopher]

The only students I don't care for are know it alls. I'll take one who is afraid to touch a patient and just wants to watch all shift over one who is kind of a loose cannon on calls and tries to do everything.

They're usually easier to retrain. Granted I teach in a classroom too, so you get used to the various types of students.

 

[Akulahawk]

I really enjoy having students or people along on a pre-hire ride. I get to show them how things really go, how they're different (and the same) from what they've learned in the classroom. That being said, I won't badger you unless you're a know-it-all... in which case, you will leave with a strong understanding that you have much to learn, young Padawan. If you show a desire to learn, I'm happy to teach you what I know. Hopefully, I also will be able to help instill a sense of always learning something new, to better improve your ability to provide care. As someone said, students are our future, and our legacy. If we don't train them right, how can we be sure they'll care for US when it's our turn to be the patient?