Is it a cool thing?

[Selenolycus]

I think some here are splitting hairs a bit over the term "cool". Trying to describe an industry with a single adjective can take on all kinds of variables and as this thread can attest... opinions.

EMS is on the forefront of every major incident in this country in one form or another. And some cases a part of history itself. Every call is different and there is always the possibility of adventure on the next one. Not too many jobs provide that kind of variety and anticipation.

It does take a certain mindset to be in this business and unfortunately there are many who should not be in EMS. There is nothing wrong in being excited about your work. Call it cool, exciting, adventurous, f***ing awesome, or whatever.

Call it whatever best gives you the drive to see the next patient in a good situation or bad. And we have all seen the bad ones; and gang there will always be the bad ones until we cease to exist on this planet.

As for me? Yeah, this is a pretty cool business to be in. It's cool to watch the advancement of EMS as I have over the last thirty years. It's cool to see today's protocols that I could only dream of in the 70's. It's cool to see the standards of EMS education morph into what they are today. It's cool to see how electronics have improved care in the pre-hospital setting. It's cool to watch a machine do chest compressions for you. It's cool to be writing about this very subject and transmitting it in seconds for anyone in the world to see.

Yes, oh yes, EMS can be a cool thing. It's all about how one looks at the whole picture... the whole picture.

The first sentence I agree with whole-heartedly. "Cool" can mean 'interesting,' 'good,' 'desirable,' 'attractive,' or any other number of things.

If you enjoy your job, why would you say it isn't any of the things listed above? As with any career, there are aspects in EMS that many people in it would rather not exist (I guess in a perfect world there'd be no need for EMS at all, but I'm referring to BS callers, the cleaning-up of equipment after calls, then there's stress, etc), but if an EMS employee is willfully staying in his chosen field then, by reason of logic, his field must satisfy him enough to continue serving, otherwise he'd seek employment elsewhere.

For those that don't think EMS is 'cool' - is it uncool? Is it bland, is it boring? Is the fact you deal with things a good portion of the population has no desire at all to become involved in a bad thing? Should people not admire what you do?

If I were drawn into a conversation and someone said my occupation was 'cool' then I'd merely tell them thanks, but explain to them the rewarding aspects and the less-exciting and irritating aspects of the career.

While I'm not yet active in the field, EMS interests me. I am eager to get into it. I am aware of the crappy parts. That all said, I think it'll be a cool field to get into. Cool, admirable, all the same.

To the OP: Your reaction to the kid may be from on-job stress? May want to take a breather.

 

[karaya]

The 70s had way more cool protocols than today although most of the invasive procedures have gone by the wayside. Anyone for Pulp Fiction trivia and an old EMS procedure?B)

What I was referring to was a bit more simple, for example today you can run an entire call (Iv's, push meds, convert, pace, etc., etc.) and not even contact medical control until your en route with the patient. At least where I worked in the 70's, you couldn't do jack poop until you had radio contact with medical control. Today a crew that responds to a hypoglycemic patient can (in general), push some D50, eat a PBJ, check the glucometer, pack up and go back to quarters. A very simple protocol, yes, but one that was not around for us in the 70's.

As far as education is concerned, that is a very disappointing part of history as it has evolved or didn't for the most part. In the late 1970s, the Associates degree for the Paramedic was being pushed since that was also the same time the RNs were moving away from the diploma. The mid 1980s gave way to the Medic Mills.

Again, maybe I should have been more specific. My thoughts were centered on the mass and variety of continuing education programs available today for EMT's and paramedics. Far more extensive and advanced then anything we had available to us in the 70's.

The "Thumper" has been around for at least 25 years but that can be disputed if it is a good thing.

I was referring to the much more advanced and successful AutoPulse.

Some electronics are nice and some have made people stupid when it comes to hands on assessment. Without the advancement of education, many electronic assessment tools are little more than gadgets to show how little is actually known about the purpose they serve.

No argument here as to the hands on assessment, but still today's EMS electronics are way cool to what we had in the 70's.

 

[Ridryder911]

The coolness leaves very fast! Especially if that is what one entered the profession for. I can usually tell if someone entered for the wrong reason in a few hours. They usually last for a only a few months.. until the siren and lights loose their affect or no one notices or cares about the color of your patch or how many stickers you have or placing your stethoscope hanging on your mirror in your car.

The procedures are neat at first but alike anything else wears off fast..

This is nothing alike being a physician, nor will it help you to get into medical school by being a medic, actually I have seen quite the opposite occur. As more and more medic mills produce low quality of medics that assume they really know something.

The public assumes that most calls are alike those on t.v. I laugh out loud as on that has unfortunately been on the three major shows .. apparently many EMT's also fail to recognize the film crew rides countless hours before editing. Apparently, no one wants to see the bowel obstruction or rectal bleeding, even though realistically they are the most life threatening in comparison to what was shown.

Maybe, if we toned down the "coolness" we would not attract so many undesirables. The ones that expect it to be cool, neat and exciting. To attract those that really want to be studious, be serious in the profession for patient care.

R/r 911

 

[VentMedic]

Again, maybe I should have been more specific. My thoughts were centered on the mass and variety of continuing education programs available today for EMT's and paramedics. Far more extensive and advanced then anything we had available to us in the 70's.

I really must disagree here about the education. There are a few of us on this forum who got our college degrees in EMS as Paramedics in the 1970s. This education was encouraged since there were several advanced invasive procedures in the protocols back then. Back then some actually believed you needed college A&P as a prerequisite for the Paramedic course. Different areas of the country had more autonomy in the field than others also.

Since the profession was still relatively new, medical directors also took an active interest in the continuing education and competencies of those they directed. Nancy Caroline's work with the profession, as her mentors before her, took an active role in developing the street Paramedic. They became role models for many of the earlier Medical Directors.

Today there are many working Paramedics that have never had a face to face conversation with their medical director.

ACLS, PALS and NALS (today it is a watered down NRP) were all much more intense with a strict criteria to meet to PASS for your card.

Some states have also make CEUs too easy that a supervisor can sign off hours that one watched the required videos. The same with clinicals. I recently posted on another thread where the state of Florida had to again remind paramedic students that riding an ALS engine is not the same as an ALS ambulance. The patient contact time will be minimal as the ALS engine will clear and return to service once the ambulance arrives. A student can get 10 clinical hours in and only make one patient contact.

My clinicals were very different in 1978 and 1979 where in the hospital we were given to a clinical RN instructor from the college who saw that we did way more then the state's minimum when it came to patient care and procedures. Now, if I ask an EMT or Paramedic student in the ED to bag a patient, they have to check to see if it is on their list of things to do or if they already have completed the bare minimum of requirements for that skill. If asked if they want to intubate a patient in their clinicals if the opportunity comes up, one may actually hear "No, I only needed to do 5 intubations". For some schools, it only has to be attempts and not successful intubations.

The EMT and EMT-P programs, specifically Medic Mills, are too short for the student to get the big picture. It is also too short for instructors to weed out those that don't belong in the medical profession. The clinical experience is judged by the "cool calls" while little emphasis is placed on the total patient care aspect. Some of the calls that are considered BS and the assessment is skimmed over are the GI Bleeders, no BMs for three days and the fever from the nursing home have the most potential to be life threatening.

There are a few non-medical TV shows that have Paramedics in roles that still get a message across as to how they do their job and some day to day living issues their career choice has on a family. They are just not as in your face and many in EMS may not watch these shows because the roles are not glamorous or stereotypical of what one is expecting to see.

 

[Dominion]

I can put my two cents in as someone who intended to use EMS as a stepping stone and realized in the process that I enjoyed working 'in the field' vs. the hours I spent shadowing a Dr. or working in a clinic. Many fields have stepping stones, take IT as an example, what I did before I moved to where I am now. I used entry level tech jobs as a stepping stone, moving from a lower end position to one higher is nothing new. Especially in EMS where there is an (unfortunately) overabundance of basics lining up to take the job. At the transport company I work for they do a class every 6 weeks, every 6 weeks they have 50 new people lined up to get their numbers.

This is more of a problem to EMS in my opinion which ties into the 'cool' factor and the 'medic mill' factor even though we're talking about basics here. Even as a basic myself I agree with Rid's feelings (search they're in all the topics ) on BLS/Basics. Thankfully I got a 'much better than average' training, clinical times, etc.

As far as the 'cool' factor, I will admit the first part that drew me in, when I first got my numbers at 18 was the l/s, riding in the ambulance, etc. I've come to realize since then what my job entails and my personal outlook has changed. I really enjoy the job I do, on every call I do. Whether it's the "take this stable patient to rehab that has medical necessity", or the "Take this pt to dialysis, whoops we need to divert to the ER". As always there are parts of the job that are unpleasant, but that goes hand in hand with almost all medical fields.

There is nothing wrong with being drawn in by the cool factor at a young age, as long as you have the ability to mature from that phase.