First of all, I'm new here - so, hello! I've been in EMS for 11 years now, straight out of high school and don't want to do anything else. Still love it just as much as when I started.
Anyways, I work for a county service. I like everyone, of course there's little annoyances here and there, but no major problems.
That isn't the case any longer. They hired a new EMT (first job new), who has made it through orientation and was placed with me for the first time this weekend. Now, I don't care what your personality is or what your personal life consists of, as long as you are safe, appropriately treat the patient and give them respect. I've had some real dirtballs for partners in the past (the last one robbed a gas station). This guy seems nice enough, very intelligent, but zero social skills - which is fine (though he told me he's a 'burned out type-A').
We had a patient walk into the ER with bad head trauma, everything came back normal, all the CTs were clear and his vitals hadn't changed in several hours. They wanted us to take the patient to the trauma center for neuro monitoring. There were no orders during transport, so it was an EMT level transfer. This is where the issues started.
The EMT actually said to me "I call driver", I *never* pull the Paramedic/seniority card, but I did on this. I told him that he isn't calling anything and that he's taking this patient. Now I don't know where he came off arguing with me, but I told him it was the end of the conversation. Apparently that wasn't good enough for him, so he ran to the RN and told her to make me take it... She told him she wouldn't tell me to do anything and that there's no reason for me to take it (there wasn't even an IV). So he started to pout about that... Whatever. They decided they wanted an IV and NS running, so I started that while we were in the ER (we are hospital based) - he's the new EMT level, so I had to take it at that point. Not a problem.
So, we get going on the transfer and it takes about an hour. He missed the turn to get on the freeway, so we went up the worst road in history. I happened to peak up front as we were coming down a hill, I have never thought I was going to be in a wreck before, but as fast as he was coming into this corner, I turned back around and braced for impact. The ambulance was all over the place trying to slow itself down, ice on the side of the road... That wasn't the end of it. He got on the Interstate and swerved all over the place, blaming it on the wind. Even my patient was yelling at him. I don't know what his problem is, but he ignored me when I told him to slow it down.
We did make it to the hospital, in one piece, but then the worst thing possible happened. I was standing at the back of the rig waiting for the head of the cot to come out and somehow, with the two front wheels still in the ambulance, he started to drop the patient. I tried to save it, but it didn't just drop straight down, he somehow dumped it on the side. The cot hit my leg on the way down and injured my hand. I've NEVER dumped a patient. I've had a cot fail and drop, but never flipped on its side, especially at the hospital. The cot is banged up, but it was checked over and it wasn't a malfunction.
I told my boss that I don't want to work with him any longer. My boss talked to him about his driving and the patient dropping, he (the EMT) still doesn't think either is a big deal. I'm at a loss of what to do here, I've documented everything (the patient already filed a grievance against us). I'm actually scared to work with this guy again, he won't take responsibility for anything, won't listen to orders, thinks this whole thing is a :censored::censored::censored::censored:ing joke. I honestly believe he's going to hurt or kill a patient or myself.
Sorry for the long post, it's just stressing me out pretty bad. What do you guys think I can do to separate myself from this guy?
Anyways, I work for a county service. I like everyone, of course there's little annoyances here and there, but no major problems.
That isn't the case any longer. They hired a new EMT (first job new), who has made it through orientation and was placed with me for the first time this weekend. Now, I don't care what your personality is or what your personal life consists of, as long as you are safe, appropriately treat the patient and give them respect. I've had some real dirtballs for partners in the past (the last one robbed a gas station). This guy seems nice enough, very intelligent, but zero social skills - which is fine (though he told me he's a 'burned out type-A').
We had a patient walk into the ER with bad head trauma, everything came back normal, all the CTs were clear and his vitals hadn't changed in several hours. They wanted us to take the patient to the trauma center for neuro monitoring. There were no orders during transport, so it was an EMT level transfer. This is where the issues started.
The EMT actually said to me "I call driver", I *never* pull the Paramedic/seniority card, but I did on this. I told him that he isn't calling anything and that he's taking this patient. Now I don't know where he came off arguing with me, but I told him it was the end of the conversation. Apparently that wasn't good enough for him, so he ran to the RN and told her to make me take it... She told him she wouldn't tell me to do anything and that there's no reason for me to take it (there wasn't even an IV). So he started to pout about that... Whatever. They decided they wanted an IV and NS running, so I started that while we were in the ER (we are hospital based) - he's the new EMT level, so I had to take it at that point. Not a problem.
So, we get going on the transfer and it takes about an hour. He missed the turn to get on the freeway, so we went up the worst road in history. I happened to peak up front as we were coming down a hill, I have never thought I was going to be in a wreck before, but as fast as he was coming into this corner, I turned back around and braced for impact. The ambulance was all over the place trying to slow itself down, ice on the side of the road... That wasn't the end of it. He got on the Interstate and swerved all over the place, blaming it on the wind. Even my patient was yelling at him. I don't know what his problem is, but he ignored me when I told him to slow it down.
We did make it to the hospital, in one piece, but then the worst thing possible happened. I was standing at the back of the rig waiting for the head of the cot to come out and somehow, with the two front wheels still in the ambulance, he started to drop the patient. I tried to save it, but it didn't just drop straight down, he somehow dumped it on the side. The cot hit my leg on the way down and injured my hand. I've NEVER dumped a patient. I've had a cot fail and drop, but never flipped on its side, especially at the hospital. The cot is banged up, but it was checked over and it wasn't a malfunction.
I told my boss that I don't want to work with him any longer. My boss talked to him about his driving and the patient dropping, he (the EMT) still doesn't think either is a big deal. I'm at a loss of what to do here, I've documented everything (the patient already filed a grievance against us). I'm actually scared to work with this guy again, he won't take responsibility for anything, won't listen to orders, thinks this whole thing is a :censored::censored::censored::censored:ing joke. I honestly believe he's going to hurt or kill a patient or myself.
Sorry for the long post, it's just stressing me out pretty bad. What do you guys think I can do to separate myself from this guy?
