I'd like to see how you guys would approach the situation.
I work on a dual-paramedic unit, my partner and I are equals, neither has authority over the other. We've had several issues lately and it seems to be building up. I'm thinking a "Come to Jesus" talk is on the horizon.
-Narcotics log error
After administering a controlled medication, my partner didn't log it in the drug log. We had a late call and only one of our relief had showed up, I took the call and stayed late and my partner went home. When I got back to the station (1.25hrs after shift change), I noticed that my partner had not logged her drug administration from like 6-7 hours ago. This in and of itself is a big deal, but let me continue. On our drug log, you have to list the patient's name. I didn't remember it (wasn't my call to ride) so I called her to she if she remembered. She could only remember the patient's first name. This might be considered a drug log error (our narcotics policies are pretty strict), depending on the supervisor (kind of up to interpretation), but I'm not taking ANY chances with the drug log. My partner said "I'll come up there in a few hours and [deal with it]". :blink: I told her that this wasn't OK and that she needed to try to find out the patient's full name by contacting the receiving hospital, and try and get the information from them. She said she didn't need to call the hospital and find out the patient's full name, that just having the first name on there would be fine. I said no, and told her that if she wasn't going to call the hospital to find out the information then I would. She basically said "you can call them if you want to." She got off the phone. I called the hospital and while they were nice, they never called me back. I wasn't going to sit around for an hour and wait for them to call back (I was already staying over late). I logged the administration (listing her as the person administering it - this is OK in our system) and put the patient's first name only. I called my supervisor to CYA, to let him know why that line in the drug log was partially filled out. He said it's OK, no big deal, type up a note explaining the circumstances and attach it to the drug log. He said thanks for letting him know and that when this happens a supervisor needs to be notified. I texted my partner after I finished cleaning up her mess and she proceeded to flip out :angry:, saying that she couldn't believe that I involved a supervisor for something so minor. No "thanks for catching that for me, I appreciate you remedying that error that could result in suspension", no offer to immediately come up to the station and fix it when I called her. The more I think about this, the angrier I become. This was two weeks ago.
-Talking behind my back to coworkers
Several days ago, I was hanging out with a coworker off duty when he casually says "hey what's this I hear about you narc'ing on your partner". Apparently she ran her mouth to other coworkers basically saying that I tried to get her in trouble/I ratted her out. NOT true. I informed a supervisor to cover both of our butts/self-report what happened. Narcotics log irregularities are a suspension-level offense on the first violation, followed by termination. I don't screw around with the drug log. This made me even angrier. :angry: When I explained the situation to my friend he was on my side.
-Temper Tantrums/Petty Crap
We had a call last week with a patient who needed to be placed on a backboard. It was my turn to do pt. care. I held c-spine and asked my partner to get a backboard. We were on the sidewalk and the ambulance was about 30-40 feet away. She brings me a backboard with no straps on the right side of the torso. The left side had one strap with a buckle, and one strap with nothing at all on it. There was no way to fasten the patient to the board, as half of the straps were missing. The only working straps were on the legs. NOT OK. I say "hey this won't work, half the straps are missing can you get the other backboard?". She picks up the bad one with an audible "UGH", and slams it either on the ground or against the ambulance. She returns with the second backboard and basically throws it next to me. <_< Keep in mind this is in front of 3-4 police officers and our (very intoxicated) patient. We do our thing and get the pt. on the board, I ask about it later and she basically blew me off, saying something like "yeah it's OK, whatever". She didn't want to talk about it.
-Laziness
Per policy we need to do a full unit check-off at the beginning of each shift. It's mentioned in our department policies and documents from our medical director. We come on shift and she says "hey the day shift checked out the truck and they didn't do any big calls, so I'm good with just checking the jump bag and monitor if you are." I start checking off the cabinets and she says "yeah I guess you're not since you're checking that off" and then lets out a sigh/acts childish.
We've only been working together for 3 weeks. She only has about 3-4 months of seniority on me. I'm not going to tolerate this crap, something's going to have to change.
Help me, EMTLife. I'm about to have a stroke. I'm not a very confrontational person and have never had to face this kind of crap before. I've NEVER had problems with partners like this, and we've already had all this BS occur in the first 2-3 weeks of working together.
I work on a dual-paramedic unit, my partner and I are equals, neither has authority over the other. We've had several issues lately and it seems to be building up. I'm thinking a "Come to Jesus" talk is on the horizon.
-Narcotics log error
After administering a controlled medication, my partner didn't log it in the drug log. We had a late call and only one of our relief had showed up, I took the call and stayed late and my partner went home. When I got back to the station (1.25hrs after shift change), I noticed that my partner had not logged her drug administration from like 6-7 hours ago. This in and of itself is a big deal, but let me continue. On our drug log, you have to list the patient's name. I didn't remember it (wasn't my call to ride) so I called her to she if she remembered. She could only remember the patient's first name. This might be considered a drug log error (our narcotics policies are pretty strict), depending on the supervisor (kind of up to interpretation), but I'm not taking ANY chances with the drug log. My partner said "I'll come up there in a few hours and [deal with it]". :blink: I told her that this wasn't OK and that she needed to try to find out the patient's full name by contacting the receiving hospital, and try and get the information from them. She said she didn't need to call the hospital and find out the patient's full name, that just having the first name on there would be fine. I said no, and told her that if she wasn't going to call the hospital to find out the information then I would. She basically said "you can call them if you want to." She got off the phone. I called the hospital and while they were nice, they never called me back. I wasn't going to sit around for an hour and wait for them to call back (I was already staying over late). I logged the administration (listing her as the person administering it - this is OK in our system) and put the patient's first name only. I called my supervisor to CYA, to let him know why that line in the drug log was partially filled out. He said it's OK, no big deal, type up a note explaining the circumstances and attach it to the drug log. He said thanks for letting him know and that when this happens a supervisor needs to be notified. I texted my partner after I finished cleaning up her mess and she proceeded to flip out :angry:, saying that she couldn't believe that I involved a supervisor for something so minor. No "thanks for catching that for me, I appreciate you remedying that error that could result in suspension", no offer to immediately come up to the station and fix it when I called her. The more I think about this, the angrier I become. This was two weeks ago.
-Talking behind my back to coworkers
Several days ago, I was hanging out with a coworker off duty when he casually says "hey what's this I hear about you narc'ing on your partner". Apparently she ran her mouth to other coworkers basically saying that I tried to get her in trouble/I ratted her out. NOT true. I informed a supervisor to cover both of our butts/self-report what happened. Narcotics log irregularities are a suspension-level offense on the first violation, followed by termination. I don't screw around with the drug log. This made me even angrier. :angry: When I explained the situation to my friend he was on my side.
-Temper Tantrums/Petty Crap
We had a call last week with a patient who needed to be placed on a backboard. It was my turn to do pt. care. I held c-spine and asked my partner to get a backboard. We were on the sidewalk and the ambulance was about 30-40 feet away. She brings me a backboard with no straps on the right side of the torso. The left side had one strap with a buckle, and one strap with nothing at all on it. There was no way to fasten the patient to the board, as half of the straps were missing. The only working straps were on the legs. NOT OK. I say "hey this won't work, half the straps are missing can you get the other backboard?". She picks up the bad one with an audible "UGH", and slams it either on the ground or against the ambulance. She returns with the second backboard and basically throws it next to me. <_< Keep in mind this is in front of 3-4 police officers and our (very intoxicated) patient. We do our thing and get the pt. on the board, I ask about it later and she basically blew me off, saying something like "yeah it's OK, whatever". She didn't want to talk about it.
-Laziness
Per policy we need to do a full unit check-off at the beginning of each shift. It's mentioned in our department policies and documents from our medical director. We come on shift and she says "hey the day shift checked out the truck and they didn't do any big calls, so I'm good with just checking the jump bag and monitor if you are." I start checking off the cabinets and she says "yeah I guess you're not since you're checking that off" and then lets out a sigh/acts childish.
We've only been working together for 3 weeks. She only has about 3-4 months of seniority on me. I'm not going to tolerate this crap, something's going to have to change.
Help me, EMTLife. I'm about to have a stroke. I'm not a very confrontational person and have never had to face this kind of crap before. I've NEVER had problems with partners like this, and we've already had all this BS occur in the first 2-3 weeks of working together.
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