I hate practicals!

[pfmedic]

and I removed my blog for you guys and even took the draft off of my website. Jeeze you women are so controlling. Im going gay.

 

[MedicPrincess]

From your profile....

PFMEDIC

• Age: 27
• Gender: male
• Astrological Sign: Aquarius
• Zodiac Year: Sheep
• Occupation: EMT/FF <<<<<<<<<<------------- right there.
• Location: New Mexico : United States

Really, though...

good luck. I just hope your attitude towards women doesnt carry over to your partner if you happen to get a female.

 

[pfmedic]

oh I forgot that that was there. I had alot of confidence in myself when I put that. sorry. Thanks for the good luck or whatever... and for taking the time to type up the trauma sheet. Since I feel that I have thoroughly embarassed myself on this forum, you wont see me on here anymore. take care... and thanks for allowing me to vent a little.

 

[MedicPrincess]

well geez....I sure hope everytime you get embarassed you don't cut and run. You will spend your whole life running away.

 

[pfmedic]

well I couldnt figure out where you found that let alone how to change it so if you want me to change it, you will have to enlighten my feeble brain.

 

[ffemt8978]

pfmedic,

First of all, yes you did embarass yourself, but only slightly. Everyone here understands the stress of practicals and also understands the need to vent occassionally. We tend not to remember these ventings, so let bygones be bygones.

As far as your trauma scenario goes, what are the evaluators saying you are doing wrong? Is it a safety thing, an assessment thing, or a treatment/procedural thing? There's a wealth of information here that could definately help, but you just have to be willing to listen to it.

To put what EMTPrincess first said in another perspective, "The first thing you should do on the scene of any emergency is check your own pulse. If it's there, everything else is easy." Remember it is the patient's emergency, not yours, so take a deep breath and slow down. Your training will kick in.

 

[dgueldner]

pf, i used to test national registry, and teach with acadian in LA before the storms. you could always tell the top of the academic class they always studied their papers the day they were testing and had this sense about them that they could do no wrong. they floated on a cloud until our reps. gave them the bad news, and they kept coming back over and over again. it is not until you humble yourself and ask someone else for help. don't be afraid to ask someone your not fond of (or of lesser intel) for help. sometimes you can have all the book smarts in the world, but when you are all alone in the field with that trauma pt and nothing goes right, the book doesn't tell you how to make a square peg fit in that round hole. take a deep breath. after you enter the room put all the equip. in the order you need. then during your entire station talk your way through, and move your hands the ones that have the most trouble are the ones that are silent and unorganized. relax the night before your test read over your sheets out loud and the put them away. the next morning bring them with you to look at after you finish your station. GOOD LUCK

 

[Celtictigeress]

I remember what pissed me off about my practicals....

There was a chick with subtle downs syndrome, now Our instructor worked with her to make sure she could get intubation... it took 2weeks of it and she STILL had trouble with pediatrics (this was AFTER her difficulty with CPR) anyhow they called both of us in and I was supposed to get adult as my station well she whined (her sister was one of the board members) that she couldnt do the pediatrics which they switched... Now normally I wouldnt have had an issue but heres the thing

I and one other were the highest scores, another was already a First responder... we had to redo ours... she passed first go

Im so with you on it I was PISSED when it was all said and done, didnt find out it was her sister that was one of the guys there until after the chick had left....

However passing my written first go with damn near perfect made up for it heh.

Oh and DG that whole "you can always tell the top of the academic" dont categorize all of us... I never once picked up a book and studied... Not even in H.S Not for my ASVAB not for SAT....surely not until my practicals and even then I have a friend (you know who you are) that sat on the phone with me for an hour as I went over it repeatedly (I had trauma) until I got it... But not all of us academics study our papers, people have learning styles that differ.. and there are some that will study study study and still do poorly... Some of us are silent.. what gets me are the people who think they are better then everyone else cutup in class or dont pay ANY attention (like the one chick) and pass BAM first go

 

[pfmedic]

well this is all very interesting.

thanks for everyones imput. Practicals still make me want to vomit. I'll be glad one day when I dont have to do them anymore.

 

[fm_emt]

I blew the medical assessment practical the first time too because I didn't *SAY* that I was "checking for needle marks, track marks, bleeding, or shunts" on each section of leg or arm. I did a blanket statement saying that "I'd check his arms & legs for track marks or bleeding."
Just because I didn't follow the script verbatim I was dinged just enough points to cause me to fail it the first time. Needless to say, i wasn't too thrilled about it, but I got 100% when i re-did it. The first tester was a kind, elderly woman, but IMO was way too picky about following the script exactly. As if that ever happens in reality.

Anyway, what I can suggest is to find someone to go over it with you. Friends with any of the students? They make great trauma dummies. Go over it and over it and over it until you're blue in the face. Then bust out whatever text editing app you have on your computer and type out the steps as you remember them. Then compare that to the skill sheet.

Sounds funky, but it worked for me.

 

[Celtictigeress]

Oh that had to SUCK!

My scenrio was easy a 28year old Male that fell 20 ft and landed on a brick wall..his co workers moved him...

The day before I went to Ruby Tues had one of those HUGE chocolate tallcakes and just went over from top to bottom using the first letter of each got them in order to where I could "see" the sheet... THEN when I did it flawlessly several times I put the sheet away

I did however take it next day for my retest Like DG said that way when you go in and come out you can pull it out with "what did I miss"

Oh I made it a point to memorize my critical fails too heh..safe then sorry..

I know I know "vocalize vocalize vocalize" *groans* I got told to speak up because Im so soft spoken *giggle* So you had a druggie eh? did you have trauma or medical??

 

[dgueldner]

true that if the examiner can't hear you, you don't get the credit, just remember you know this stuff, you have studied it until you can't anymore, then go in there and do your thing, but go in order, i know some examiners don't skip around on the sheet if you get too out of order they will simply put their pencil down and wait for you to run out of time or say your done.

 

[pfmedic]

...if you get too out of order they will simply put their pencil down and wait for you to run out of time or say your done.

Ooh that would make me slightly upset.

 

[Celtictigeress]

heh not ours nuh uh

they kept on like nothing was going wrong, if you messed up, got a critical it didnt matter..they kept making notes so you couldnt tell No setting of pencils down with these guys

 

[pfmedic]

I just dont like waiting, wondering, questioning yourself, not knowing. I would rather know so I could start drinking for joy or sadness rather than just waiting two weeks for that evil letter.

 

[pfmedic]

well it doesnt matter anymore becuase apparenty I passed and am getting my cert!

 

[pfmedic]

man I have never been so happy in my life. you would have thought that I won the lottery.

 

[emtff376]

congrats. good job.

 

[Phridae]

Jen, all those things you posted yesterday on how to memorize everything in a sensible order... I LOVE YOU!:wub:

That is going to help me greatly.

 

[pfmedic]

heck yes it was a nice list!

Yeah that was nice. I will use that for my intermediate somewhere down the road.