the 100% directionless thread

EMDispatch said:
The wife got me a raptor for my birthday. Now if I can just land this new gig so I can start riding rigs part time on my off days.
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Raptor? Clever girl...
 
Tigger said:
Let me preface this my saying I would have posted this even if you had not posted. This is not a slam on dispatchers by any means.

Anyway, on my shift it's my job to orient new part time staff and get them up to speed and meeting agency expectations. I genuinely enjoy this role, but lately my patience is being significantly stretched by a new hire who is also a local dispatcher and volunteer firefighter. He's incredibly enthusiastic and wants to learn to be a good EMT, but I can't figure out how to encourage him to be humble. His other jobs have given him some experience but he's got nothing on most of our staff, who average something like 17 years on the job.

I try and educate on something simple like radio procedures and he blows me off citing his dispatch experience and then proceeds to screw it all up, so guess who takes that hit. I'm more worried about his interactions at the station, where he's making the all to common rookie mistake of trying to come off as salty but I'm not really sure how to approach that, I've already pulled him aside to tell him that the crews will either ignore him or eat him alive if he keeps that up. So far to no avail.

I don't want him to fail since we need part timers and some younger blood (like me) would be appreciated. Thoughts?
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You just have to keep at it. Be firm, correct the problem as soon as it occurs. Don't wait for him to figure out. You're supposed to be his mentor, be one.
 
No offense taken,

We often have similar experiences with field guys moving into the comm center. They are just very different worlds. We all take pride in being competent, professionals, work our butts off to achieve that status, and quite frankly hate to relinquish it when we move into a new setting. It also doesn't help that dispatchers carry a big chip on their shoulder as being "second class citizens" of the public safety world.

Our CTOs often take a lot of time reminding them that while field experience will help you, it doesn't excuse you from training or prepare you for what you are doing now. Sometimes it does stick, other times is doesn't, and for some of them it takes a major event to humble them down. It just sucks that you can't win them all.
 
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You know I have realised what an absolutely horrible job I have sometimes.

I have to deal with people who die, or most often, the families of people who have died, generally in violent or less than dignified circumstances, or people who are otherwise very ill or injured. I have to deal with people who are suffering some sort of acute psychiatric crisis and there is little I can do for them, and on the other hand dealing with patients who do not need my services or expertise and are much better off not even calling us and going to a GP or pharmacy and sorting themselves out.

I have to deal with working 8 or 9 hours straight before getting a decent break and wolfing food down between patients, sleeping on the couch because I am so tired I feel that if I didn't get a power nap I'd be dangerously fatigued.

My days off are never the same, I work horribly unsocial hours and my housemates often question if I am alive because they have not seen me in so long. I am told I am not good relationship stock because of my working schedule and am often collapsed on my days off from fatigue. I have not had any decent adult human contact in months and months and no real romantic contact in many months more.

I am paid no more for my $20,000 degree than somebody who has done no formal university education.

I think I'm beginning to really regret the life choices I've made up until now and I am not sure I want to stay in this job much longer.
 
Your singing the song of the people there Clare. Hang in there, it will get better
 
Clare said:
You know I have realised what an absolutely horrible job I have sometimes.

I have to deal with people who die, or most often, the families of people who have died, generally in violent or less than dignified circumstances, or people who are otherwise very ill or injured. I have to deal with people who are suffering some sort of acute psychiatric crisis and there is little I can do for them, and on the other hand dealing with patients who do not need my services or expertise and are much better off not even calling us and going to a GP or pharmacy and sorting themselves out.

I have to deal with working 8 or 9 hours straight before getting a decent break and wolfing food down between patients, sleeping on the couch because I am so tired I feel that if I didn't get a power nap I'd be dangerously fatigued.

My days off are never the same, I work horribly unsocial hours and my housemates often question if I am alive because they have not seen me in so long. I am told I am not good relationship stock because of my working schedule and am often collapsed on my days off from fatigue. I have not had any decent adult human contact in months and months and no real romantic contact in many months more.

I am paid no more for my $20,000 degree than somebody who has done no formal university education.

I think I'm beginning to really regret the life choices I've made up until now and I am not sure I want to stay in this job much longer.
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Take a vacation! or talk to admin about hours.
 
Clare said:
You're kidding right? We work within a strictly defined watch system whereby there is no variation.
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No way to cut back to part time for a bit and reevaluate if you'd like to continue? Sorry you're feeling that way though.
 
Clare said:
You know I have realised what an absolutely horrible job I have sometimes.

I have to deal with people who die, or most often, the families of people who have died, generally in violent or less than dignified circumstances, or people who are otherwise very ill or injured. I have to deal with people who are suffering some sort of acute psychiatric crisis and there is little I can do for them, and on the other hand dealing with patients who do not need my services or expertise and are much better off not even calling us and going to a GP or pharmacy and sorting themselves out.

I have to deal with working 8 or 9 hours straight before getting a decent break and wolfing food down between patients, sleeping on the couch because I am so tired I feel that if I didn't get a power nap I'd be dangerously fatigued.

My days off are never the same, I work horribly unsocial hours and my housemates often question if I am alive because they have not seen me in so long. I am told I am not good relationship stock because of my working schedule and am often collapsed on my days off from fatigue. I have not had any decent adult human contact in months and months and no real romantic contact in many months more.

I am paid no more for my $20,000 degree than somebody who has done no formal university education.

I think I'm beginning to really regret the life choices I've made up until now and I am not sure I want to stay in this job much longer.
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Quite frankly, if you have any other job options at all, and I mean at ALL, Quit. Not in 6 months, not in 3 months, just quit, state your needing to take some time off to adjust your career path, put your 2 weeks in, and get the hell out. If New Zealand is anything at all like the US then you will have little trouble getting a job in 6 months or a year if you choose to reenter the field. But seriously, if you feel that way for more than a week, and don't have a change of mind after discussing it with a few people, I would really advise you to get out now...don't fart around trying to make it better.
 
Wouldn't you know it, finish my first shift at the ER for medic school walk out to my truck and have a nice dent on the bed, rear door, and the mirror was folded in. No clue what time it happened and no one saw anything. ER didn't have cameras covering the parking lot and no note was left (not surprising). $1,650 is the initial rough estimate. Medic school is a lot more expensive than I thought.
 
Rialaigh said:
Quite frankly, if you have any other job options at all, and I mean at ALL, Quit. Not in 6 months, not in 3 months, just quit, state your needing to take some time off to adjust your career path, put your 2 weeks in, and get the hell out. If New Zealand is anything at all like the US then you will have little trouble getting a job in 6 months or a year if you choose to reenter the field. But seriously, if you feel that way for more than a week, and don't have a change of mind after discussing it with a few people, I would really advise you to get out now...don't fart around trying to make it better.
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This is the worst advice I have ever heard. Not everybody needs to quit when they have a period of job dissatisfaction. Talking to a colleague, talking to a therapist, taking an extended vacation, finding a hobby… all of these can help to temper those feelings of "what did I do". Anybody who's working EMS for a period of time has these feelings. We need to find ways to help our brothers and sisters, not just encourage them to take the path of least resistance by quitting.

It sounds like a little depression, something that a therapist and maybe some meds can help. Citalopram works wonders.

Whatever you do, realize that people want to help… There's always someone around to talk to, and probably somebody who's been through almost the exact same thing you're going through.
 
DEmedic said:
This is the worst advice I have ever heard. Not everybody needs to quit when they have a period of job dissatisfaction. Talking to a colleague, talking to a therapist, taking an extended vacation, finding a hobby… all of these can help to temper those feelings of "what did I do". Anybody who's working EMS for a period of time has these feelings. We need to find ways to help our brothers and sisters, not just encourage them to take the path of least resistance by quitting.

It sounds like a little depression, something that a therapist and maybe some meds can help. Citalopram works wonders.

Whatever you do, realize that people want to help… There's always someone around to talk to, and probably somebody who's been through almost the exact same thing you're going through.
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If this is a short period of job dissatisfaction I agree. If this is something you feel sometimes or after certain calls then I agree. If you hate your job all the time, then quit trying to make it work. How many medics and EMT's do you know that have hated what they do for years now, but won't leave because the job is easy, or the pay, or the state retirement, or...etc...etc...etc...

I for one cannot stand the number of people in our field that hate it and make it miserable for others and patients.

All I was trying to say was if you think you need a career change, your sure, what your currently doing is not working, and there are no alternatives for extended vacation or other changes, then quit trying to make it work and just get out, not in 6 months, just get out now.
 
Just saying...All the Karate Kid movies are on netflix now.

So, SWEEP THE LEG!

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olQ3vaiv47I[/YOUTUBE]
 
ete4ebyt.jpg

Starting off our fourth with a fly out
 
Fire51 said:
I am guessing a car accident?
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Yep. Rollover with ejection about thirty miles out of town. Two counties responded to it
 
TransportJockey said:
ete4ebyt.jpg

Starting off our fourth with a fly out
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We started with a weakness call that turned into respiratory failure, followed by respiratory arrest, followed by full arrest and called at the ER 20 minutes later.
 
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