Immature EMTs

Amycus said:
When I'm on a call? I'm 100% "treat everyone as if they were your Grandma" bedside type manners, to the patient and family.

When I'm off the call or back in the truck? I'll likely crack some jokes or poke fun at what I can, or my partner might.

It's part of what keeps you sane in this job: Having a great partner to talk to, and being able to keep everything in perspective. People have different ways to cope, that's one of them.
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totally agree here
 
I consider myself a mature person but I admit the first time I saw a nurse in the ER do a Cath on a unconscious male patient (male myself) during my clinical rotation I actually jumped away a little it happened so fast. Coincidentally got feces on me twice that day during my first clinical so that's out of the way.

I really like the word usage of "humbled". That sums it up perfectly, this gentleman is probably having the crappiest (jokes can be fun) day in weeks and deserves a medical technician that can understand basic human anatomy and knows how to wash their hands... I mean for god sake GET OVER IT. I have never taken my car to a mechanic only to have him say, "I don't know, my hands might get greasy, that's why I got into auto repair in the first place, I hate small tight spaces, loud noises, and dirt/grease".

If you can't understand the fact that YOU are not the one whose having a rough day then you are going to HATE your job.
 
that's pretty sad. I made sure I knew to be better than that. I shake my head at quite a few classmates and techs sometimes. It's very embarassing to see how openly they will act in a professional setting.

Patient care comes before my ego that's a must in this business. Sure you can make jokes all you want but that just looks bad. Save it for after the call at least.
 
On the call, it's strictly business at the scene, with the patient and at the ED. After the call, do what you do. People already have a bad impression of us and we've got to make sure we do nothing but take care of business when it comes to the patient. That doesn't mean we can't have fun to a degree if the situation allows it but we must maintain professionalism at all times.
 
Behavior

"he made the process much harder by refusing to actually touch the patient, and when we got back to the truck he made a few comments about how gross the whole experience had been"


Your partner may have been immature by making comments and a funny face, although he/she might not have seen it that way. They might have been trying to make light of the situation to make it more bearable to him/herself...

That being said, if they need to behave that way to alleviate any uncomfortableness or awkwardness or even "ickiness" then perhaps a sensitivity training would be good for them to attend. Or why not flip the script on them, and ask them how they would feel if they were the patient who needed padding placed beneath them and the EMS responders on scene were not willing to even touch him and help him when he needed it.

In addition, it is sad to read that your partner made the situation harder for everyone involved because he did not want to touch the patient. That's what BSI is for. Don the gloves, and help the patient with his pad. If that patient was ANO your partner should have absolutely kept that in mind and if still needed they could have griped about the call when it was completed and no longer in the presence of the patient.

I would hope that on further calls, this EMT can be more helpful to everyone involved.

~ L
 
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Maturity

I have seen EMT-B and EMT-P all do things that they say try to help them cope. To me I think that there is a time and a place for behavior and in the presence of a Pt. isn't one of them. I have seen my fair share of stuff and I always treat it like it was my grandparent or mom or dad or sister or spouse or my own kid. Becuase these people are just that to someone else. If you can not respect people on that level, just remember someday if you are lucky enough to make it there, you will be old and febile too. Karma is a sneaky one.
 
I think that is the stupidest thing. I am 19, so yea I am young, however that doesn't mean I act like some college frat guy. This is a serious profession. You have people's lives at stake and you are going to act like 12 year old? Something tells me you are not mature enough for this position. I have have gone to a few calls where patients are wearing hospital gowns, only a t-shirt, even wearing nothing.

Most of the time it is because the patient can't dress themselves because of their condition. These people are embarrassed or scared as is, and you need to be professional about this stuff.
 
traumaluv2011 said:
I think that is the stupidest thing. I am 19, so yea I am young, however that doesn't mean I act like some college frat guy. This is a serious profession. You have people's lives at stake and you are going to act like 12 year old? Something tells me you are not mature enough for this position. I have have gone to a few calls where patients are wearing hospital gowns, only a t-shirt, even wearing nothing.

Most of the time it is because the patient can't dress themselves because of their condition. These people are embarrassed or scared as is, and you need to be professional about this stuff.
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Easy there, killer.

Sure, there are immature people in this field, but as long as people can contain it when they're in the presence of the patient/family, and only let loose when they're in the privacy of the rig or headquarters, then they're fine. We need to be able to let loose and have a few laughs. Sure, when someone opens the door naked thinking they're Abe Lincoln because their sugar is too low, of course I'm going to be serious and compassionate. But if you're telling me that you aren't going to have a good chuckle over it later on, then you have no sense of humor.

You won't make it in this field if you can't have a laugh. Sometimes it's those "immature" people that make the best EMTs - They can laugh and be light hearted, but the second those tones drop they can become serious and focused, because they aren't holding onto all that tension from previous calls.

(Disclaimer:: Obviously there's a difference between being light hearted and IMMATURE. I know that. )
 
traumaluv2011 said:
I think that is the stupidest thing. I am 19, so yea I am young, however that doesn't mean I act like some college frat guy. This is a serious profession. You have people's lives at stake and you are going to act like 12 year old? Something tells me you are not mature enough for this position. I have have gone to a few calls where patients are wearing hospital gowns, only a t-shirt, even wearing nothing.

Most of the time it is because the patient can't dress themselves because of their condition. These people are embarrassed or scared as is, and you need to be professional about this stuff.
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Lighten up, our job can be hilarious.

In the privacy of the truck.

Sent from LuLu using Tapatalk
 
Lady_EMT said:
Sure, when someone opens the door naked thinking they're Abe Lincoln because their sugar is too low, of course I'm going to be serious and compassionate. But if you're telling me that you aren't going to have a good chuckle over it later on, then you have no sense of humor.
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If my partner didn't think this was funny after the run was done I think I'd turn around and take them back to the hospital to get checked out. :rofl:
 
This is a personal opinion but..................older or younger.....it just comes down to there are so many different types of people that work in ems. Some are way too serious, some are way too immature. And when I realized that, my job got a lot easier. Its just like when you get to work with someone you get along with, your day is soooooo much fun, when you work with someone you can't stand, the days drags by so slow. Ignoring irritating partners has become another job for me.
 
If you really think about it, the whole mess is absurd from top to bottom. We get to witness humanity at its most ridiculous. The name of the game is to seek a non-invasive time and place to laugh about it. Preferably with people who can ROLF and then get back up from there to compassion.
 
Honestly, most of this thread really surprises me. I would never dream of laughing at a patient. On duty or off. Ever.

There are a good bunch of EMS services, some of them ALS, that are run just by college students. Mine is one of them. Age really has nothing to do with it. There are trustifarians of all sorts, in every profession.
 
I forgot to elaborate on that. Yes, I am very serious about this profession while we have the patient, family, etc. in our company. I am usually working with another 19 year old EMT (who has 2 years of experience) we have our quips and stuff on the way back to headquarters about the call.

Just for instance, he was helping move a patient who was experiencing weakness in one of her legs. He was basically hugging her to turn her around onto the stretcher and I asked him later if he was trying to slow dance with her.
 
AMF said:
Honestly, most of this thread really surprises me. I would never dream of laughing at a patient. On duty or off. Ever.

There are a good bunch of EMS services, some of them ALS, that are run just by college students. Mine is one of them. Age really has nothing to do with it. There are trustifarians of all sorts, in every profession.
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I'm going to guess that you haven't actually run many calls, cause there are plenty of situations that are just plain ridiculous, and the only reasonable thing to do is laugh.

Mean-spirited laughing at people's poop, or something stupid like that, no. But can I tell you about the time I peeled a guy up off of the floor of a busy convenience store because he was puking non stop and too weak to stand all the while debating him because he wanted to stay down there, the tiles were nice and cool. We got him on the stretcher, and the next paroxysm of vomiting, he hurled himself back onto the floor, ready to stay there forever.

You just can't make this stuff up sometimes.
 
I'm going to guess that you haven't actually run many calls, cause there are plenty of situations that are just plain ridiculous, and the only reasonable thing to do is laugh.
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That was my thought too. If you don't laugh, you'll find yourself staring down a bottle or a barrel very quickly if you try to stay in this field.
 
AMF said:
Honestly, most of this thread really surprises me. I would never dream of laughing at a patient. On duty or off. Ever.

There are a good bunch of EMS services, some of them ALS, that are run just by college students. Mine is one of them. Age really has nothing to do with it. There are trustifarians of all sorts, in every profession.
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Being that you're a student... that makes sense. I thought the same way when i was just starting out but if you don't learn to laugh you will never last.

Some things are just plain funny. Mystery catheter leaking all over and you and your partner play "Name that body fluid" (It was either bile or pee. My vote is still bile.) or talking about how the patient crawling down the stairs looked a lot like a scene from the exorcist.

It makes light of a crappy situation, and allows you to go home every day not feeling like crap.
 
Giving yourself permission to laugh can only be balanced by allowing yourself equal permission to cry. All that means is finding appropriate times and places and when you need, people to do it with.

When you only give yourself permission to do one, the other doesn't die. It sticks in your gut until it bursts out when IT wants to, not you.

This thread is about e-motion -- ENERGY in motion -- and how we either express or suppress it. People are saying it's a tool of sanity. I couldn't agree more, but don't neglect the other tools in that box!
 
Sasha said:
Some things are just plain funny.
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The old codger on the Lance Armstrong bike with the little bike shorts who ate sidewalk and, when my medic asked what we should do with the chunk missing from his ear since he was denying transport, said, "Bahh, I don't need it anyways. I'll just go home and take a shower."

:rofl:
 
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