Immature EMTs

[abckidsmom]

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:

What's a piece of ear if you're beyond needing to pick up chicks?

 

[Anthony7994]

Hey, I pride myself on being immature. Life is not fun if you cant act like a child.

I am also on occasion professional.

+1! :rofl:

 

[Hunter]

Life skills are the most important aspect of being a good Ambulance Officer. Young people Brown has seen often struggle and have difficulty relating to patients.

You need life skills, experience and maturity which a lot of young people just do not have. This also has an impact on people who want to just rip in and do everything to everybody when clinical conservatisim may in fact be best and again, this is disproportionately seen in young people who are overzealous and gung ho.

Sorry if this sounds negative for the young people who are keen but when you sit there staring across the back of the vehicle from a patient and cannot strike up a conversation or relate to them or understand them, say inappropriate things or can't do the dishes on station because Mum has always done them for you perhaps you are not in the right place.

Sorry Brown but I have to completely disagree. I think that as a young person you probably have a much better chance of being able to strike up a conversation with a broader range of patients. ou get young patients you can relate to them better, you get older patients with familys ie. kids, you can strike up a conversation about your own parents, or their family. Age has some what an affect on it but like you said "life Skills" are whats important, I don't think you only aquire those through age but more through your own upbringing. I'm 22 and I've been on a ride along where the older firefighters are the more unprofessional ones. I once had a patient who thought I was a supervisor because I was dressed differently. To use a blanket and group everyone who's young as immature or too inexperienced to do a good job with patient care is very judgmental. Which I'm sorry to say is a trait that unfortunately a large number of young people share.
Don't judge a book by it's cover. Just because I'm young doesn't mean I don't have significant "life experience"

 

[Hunter]

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.

I agree that humor is necessary but in I would hope that you wouldn't make these joke sin front of the Pt like the situation the OP was in.

 

[Straycoyote]

I'm sorry, but if you are unwilling to help someone at their lowest (especially when they are really nice about asking) then you don't need to be in this field. Do the EMT's who actually WANT the job a favor and get a new career. I may not have a lot of experience (or hell, any) but I know better than to act that immature when someone is in that situation. Sorry, but seeing people naked, incontinent, covered in vomit, blood and or guts is part of the job, even if your a Basic. It's just a fact. If you aren't prepared to deal with that then you can't provide any real care to a patient.

 

[joeshmoe]

Behavior like this is why many health care providers dont consider EMTs to be health care professionals. In the hospital I work at everybody helps out with patient care. As a PCT if I need help doing something with a patient and respiratory is the only one available at the moment, they will usually help out.

Occasionally when were really busy PT will even fill in as an aide for a time. I dont see them carrying on about how its "gross" or they are above that kind of work, despite the fact they have years of medical education, opposed to the few months that EMT had that apparently now makes them above such work.

 

[FourLoko]

I'm sorry, but if you are unwilling to help someone at their lowest (especially when they are really nice about asking) then you don't need to be in this field. Do the EMT's who actually WANT the job a favor and get a new career. I may not have a lot of experience (or hell, any) but I know better than to act that immature when someone is in that situation. Sorry, but seeing people naked, incontinent, covered in vomit, blood and or guts is part of the job, even if your a Basic. It's just a fact. If you aren't prepared to deal with that then you can't provide any real care to a patient.

Good post. You see a lot of lows as an EMT-B and with a limited scope you aren't saving the day like you really want to be. What you are doing is caring for the physical and more often the emotional needs of the patient.

Normally I'm an emotionally detached person (not overly emotional and such) but on the job it's like some switch is flipped. I'll talk to patients who can't answer so they know I'm not just treating them like a piece of meat. Do what I can to make them comfortable, etc.

Waiting for my partner to get a report at a hospital I'll help the random guy in the other room who doesn't speak English but is clearly asking for his gown to be tied. I'll turn on the TV for the guy in bed two when I'm picking up bed one.

If you can't be receptive to and handle the basic things like these then you aren't going to be of much use.

 

[tssemt2010]

I agree that it comes from experience (to a point), but wholeheartedly disagree that it comes from age.

i would agree, i am 20 years old and have been doing this over a year now and have NEVER acted like that, sometimes you just gotta grow a pair and do your job!

 

[tune99]

Considering the average age of most EMT's and Medics, it's not surprising. Maturity comes from age and experience, and twentysomethings have neither.

Then again, I know some older EMT's that aren't much better, but they're inexperienced in the field so I chalk it up to that.

all a matter of the person.. the 20 something can be a grandpa on the inside and the medic with 10 15 20+ years of experience can still be a jackass.. Just a dumb fact of life

 

[nyirishemt]

I wouldn't chalk this behavior just to immaturity, I've seen some older emts act this way because they've become desensitized after so many years of being an emt....people just stop caring....and when that happens its time to find a new job.