When should you know if you're cut out for patient care?

[EMTnewbie2014]

Hey guys, I'm enrolled in a EMT-B course and this is my first ever healthcare related experience. Patient assessment/vitals/CPR...etc are absolutely foreign to me and I'm feeling a bit out of place during clinicals. I'm nervous, a bit clumsy, and certainly not the smooth operator I was envisioning myself to be. Most of the class has an affiliation with local fire companies and it shows. They're smooth, almost like they've been doing this forever. Of course some of them also have very outgoing personalities and seem like naturals whereas I'm more introverted. I realize I'm going to have to step out of my comfort zone a bit more.

I guess I'm wondering if my feelings are normal, and if so, how long should it take to feel comfortable? Any tips to get into the "zone" faster would be extremely helpful. We've only had a few clinical days so far but I'm beginning to question whether or not I'm going to be able to adapt.

 

[Handsome Robb]

The only thing that will make you more comfortable with patient care is seat time. A solid educational foundation that you can build on is important. Without the bar knowledge experience means nothing.

Everyone is awkward when they first start, no questions about that. The fact that you're taking the initiative and reaching out shows that you are passionate about this and are willing to put in the work.

No one is smooth right out of the gates. At two and a half years in the field in a high performance 911 system I still have days where I feel like I don't know what in doing, calls that don't run smoothly and have situations that leave me scratching my head.

Jump in and get involved, do assessments, check vitals, get hands on. That's the only way you're going to get comfortable. A big thing that causes discomfort in new healthcare providers is our entire lives we're told to keep our hands to ourselves. Now as a healthcare provider it's the exact opposite, you need to be hands on with people and be comfortable with it. You can be gentle and still display confidence and competence.

There's no set timeline, everyone is different. The more exposure and reps you can get the faster it will come.


Good luck!

 

[Carlos Danger]

What Robb said. It just takes time. You'll feel like a moron for a while, but you are not. Keep at it. Good luck.

 

[Anjel]

I've been a paramedic for 6 months now, and I still feel like a moron sometimes. Lol

You will get used to it, get a routine. Practice your vital sign taking on everyone that you know. Just hang in there.

 

[mycrofft]

Someone once told me "Quit looking at your feet".
You can't dance or climb stairs or walk safely by looking at your feet. Little less self-analysis!

Being mindful is necessary, but also "just doing it" is as well. Get time with patients and it will be easier. If it doesn't work out, it's still a skill to have on your personal "swiss army knife of aptitudes".

If you learn your stuff and get hands on with a mentor or good feedback, you will be too busy doling it write* to do it wrong.

*I meant "right". See?

 

[EMTnewbie2014]

I appreciate the advice guys.

The only thing that will make you more comfortable with patient care is seat time. A solid educational foundation that you can build on is important. Without the bar knowledge experience means nothing.

Everyone is awkward when they first start, no questions about that. The fact that you're taking the initiative and reaching out shows that you are passionate about this and are willing to put in the work.

No one is smooth right out of the gates. At two and a half years in the field in a high performance 911 system I still have days where I feel like I don't know what in doing, calls that don't run smoothly and have situations that leave me scratching my head.

Jump in and get involved, do assessments, check vitals, get hands on. That's the only way you're going to get comfortable. A big thing that causes discomfort in new healthcare providers is our entire lives we're told to keep our hands to ourselves. Now as a healthcare provider it's the exact opposite, you need to be hands on with people and be comfortable with it. You can be gentle and still display confidence and competence.

There's no set timeline, everyone is different. The more exposure and reps you can get the faster it will come.


Good luck!

Good advice and you bring up an excellent point. It feels so weird and out of the norm coming from almost any other profession to all of a sudden being up close and personal and touching random people, it's a bit of shock really, and like you said, goes against everything that seems natural as a non-healthcare provider. At the moment it seems like a tough wall to break through but I'm going to keep trying. Thanks

 

[mycrofft]

Hey, think you have it rough? The old surgical instructors used to say you weren't a real surgeon until you killed someone.

BY ACCIDENT OR MISADVENTURE that is!

 

[hogwiley]

The problem is you are dealing with people, and people are unpredictable , and vary greatly, so no two patients or situations are ever the same. Peoples personalities differ and even their anatomy and physiology has a fair amount of variation, so it takes a long time to get comfortable with the chaos of working in health care. I used to think it would be better working in a hospital, then I found out it was actually worse.

When I worked on the floors and the ICU I found that unlike EMS, where at least some of your patients act appropriately, almost every patient admitted in a hospital acts nuts. Its due to the effects their medical issues have on their mentation, along with being sleep deprived, in pain, stressed out and facing their own mortality, and suffering a loss of control and privacy. Add all that together and people tend to go nuts, and people who are already slightly off kilter go totally bonkers. There's a lot of crazy people out there, and in a hospital or during a medical emergency these people are basically forced to interact with and live with others, sometimes for the first time in their lives, or at least since childhood(and even then only with family).

Its gotten to the point I assume every patient is nuts until proven otherwise, and more often than not its not proven otherwise.