Interested in EMT-B, but how do i get used to the gore

[HDrol43560]

On paper EMT B is something I really wanna do. But in practice, I dont know if i can actually handle the sights and smells of a gruesome death. How do I prepare myself for this? I plan on taking the class anyway. I really dont wanna be a coward but I just dont know if il pass out or break down.

 

[Pittsburgh77]

Trauma consists of about 25% of calls. And I'd say about less than 10% consits of "blood and gore."

Honestly, it all has to be with maturity and professionalism.

 

[Handsome Robb]

The gore isn't bad, well for me anyways. What really gets me is the pukers.

 

[HDrol43560]

Trauma consists of about 25% of calls. And I'd say about less than 10% consits of "blood and gore."

Honestly, it all has to be with maturity and professionalism.

I figured it would be something like that. Im the kind of person that would enjoy talking and joking around with patients so I think i wouldnt have a problem at all with the small cases.


That 10 percent still kinda worries me though.

 

[CAO]

Everyone has something that bothers them more than others. My instructor couldn't take nosebleeds of all things. Some don't like bad cuts, others broken bones.

You just gotta learn to deal with it. During that small percentages of calls (the really good or really bad depending on who you're talking to) you're usually too busy to be bothered by it. It's afterwards you begin to think about it.

At least that's the way I am.

 

[Shishkabob]

You don't even think about it during the call... you're too focused at providing patient care to go "That's sticking out of what?!"

 

[Seaglass]

The trick is to get past the gag reflex and learn to look at it like a puzzle. Look through a textbook and find the gory pictures. Label everything that's showing. Try to figure out what's wrong. It helped me.

Just don't let other people, especially those outside the field, catch you going it.

For smells, there's no way to get over it except exposure.

 

[mcdonl]

For me... it's the smells....

And what kills me is that you tend to associate smells... I had a call, very (800 +/- pound dead guy) and it smelled bad.

That was the day I got my new EMT-I text book. Now, every time I open the book I smell death... sometimes it is due to the material :wacko: but mostly because I opened the book at the station after that call and when you leave a call that smells that bad everything takes on the smell...

And, trust me... when you get to that first bad trauma call you should be so focused on what you are doing you will not even notice.

 

[fortsmithman]

For the smells I put some Vicks in each nostril.

 

[CAO]

Patricia Cornwell books talk about the Vicks during autopsies. Never tried it myself.

For the past 8 years, I've worked in a daycare. Smells don't seem to bother me much anymore, haha. It helps that I usually chew some strong scented gum to help mask it.

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

The best way to "get used to the gore is to get" properly educated.

 

[Sandog]

The best way to "get used to the gore is to get" properly educated.

I must of missed that class. What was it, Stink and Goo 101 ? Is there an accelerated online version ? :unsure:

 

[CAOX3]

The best way to "get used to the gore is to get" properly educated.

Hmmm. Funny I had an ER doc toss his cookies on my shoes awhile back.

He must have been improperly educated.

Sorry I dont see the correlation.

 

[firetender]

More time spent doing
= less time spent puking

 

[Pittsburgh77]

That 10 percent still kinda worries me though.

Well if you're so worried then maybe you should consider look into a more low-key career.... maybe you can become a librarian. I hear it's pretty quiet and there aren't too many traumatic injuries you'll be dealing withh34r:

 

[citizensoldierny]

I personally never found gore to be a problem until I got to assist a PA with a debridement one time at my nursing job. He started on a little necrotic area on an elderly womans thigh which had quite a track under it that was all quite dead, little by little what started as a about a quarter on the outside became about the size of my hand:wacko: All the while he was cutting and tossing dead flesh and occasionally missing the basin. As for smells I've been blessed with allergies and between flonase and stuffiness I tend to only smell scents that are really strong.

 

[dudemanguy]

Take some anatomy and physiology classes and find out what the "gore" is and what it does. The human body is a very complex organic machine, rather than looking at it as something that is gross or scarey, educate yourself about it.

As an EMT you have a job you have to perform, you should be too busy focusing on what you should be doing to worry about the other stuff. As stated some smells can be tough to work around, but you get used to it. Fortunately my time working as a CNA left me accustomed to working around some awful smells.

 

[HDrol43560]

Thanks for the responses guys.

I should add, im not worried about the emotional aspect of the job, even though its very real. Im more worried about my physical reactions. I really dont wanna be the guy that passes out or throws up. Emotional trauma is something I can live with, but I dont want anything effecting how I do my job or what kinds of impression I leave on people.


I can easily watch surgery videos or look at "gorey" pictures on the internet but who knows how i will react in real life.


I remember last year in bio lab, I got a little queezy when we had to dissect a dead rat. Fast forward to the summer of that year though and i was doing surgery myself on live rats in a lab. I know humans arnt exactly rats but i still have optimism to get over stupid stuff like this.


And yeah, im taking A and P 1 right now actually and i like it and am doing well in it.

 

[EMS49393]

Try getting through a cadaver lab. It's not the dead things so much as the preservatives they use that stink. Of course, they have new ones that aren't nearly as bad as formaldehyde, but they still reek to high heaven, in my opinion. It will at least get you used to smelling funk and looking at guts albeit relatively clean guts.

Any cadaver lab will do. My last A&P class did a cat. God, that was gross. I'll take puked on any day over preserved dead cat guts.

 

[HDrol43560]

Try getting through a cadaver lab. It's not the dead things so much as the preservatives they use that stink. Of course, they have new ones that aren't nearly as bad as formaldehyde, but they still reek to high heaven, in my opinion. It will at least get you used to smelling funk and looking at guts albeit relatively clean guts.

Any cadaver lab will do. My last A&P class did a cat. God, that was gross. I'll take puked on any day over preserved dead cat guts.

Thats probably a good idea. Ive watched a ton of autopsy videos on youtube to try to get used to it and they dont phase me at all. Is there really a big difference between videos and real life?