Doesn't Anyone Watch TV?

For the past couple weeks I've been working different 911 shifts all over my company's service area. In the process of doing this I've come to the realization that people on TV are much more judicial about using the 911 system than in real life. I admit that I have a fairly cynical view of our current educational system and I tend to think that people take their cues on how to act/how the world works- especially when it concerns aspects of society that many people know little about (in this case the EMS system)-from TV shows and movies.

On TV, when someone yells "call 911!", it's usually because someone is dead or severely injured. I've seen this type of scenario in countless movies and crime shows, but I missed the one where someone yells "call 911, it's too hot in my apartment!"..... While that may sound like an exaggeration, that was an actual chief complaint on a call I ran last week.

Even in the news, the stories about Fire/EMS are usually some traffic accident with the patient being rushed to a helicopter in full C-Spine with IVs going. You never see the calls we get in the dead of night for back pain that the patient has had for weeks, but suddenly thought 3am was a good time to call an ambulance....

With all this media exposure about what Fire/EMS does, how is it that people don't understand what constitutes an "emergency"? There seems to be a persistent notion that just because you go to the emergency room in an ambulance, you will be seen quicker. You will be seen based on the severity of your illness, just as you would if you walked into the ER. Okay, end rant.

More Than Book Smarts....

I'm realizing more and more that working in healthcare is more about people skills than anything- yes, of course there are times when you have to know all the procedures and treatments- but there is a lot to be said for being able to connect with someone who is basically putting their health and safety in your hands. We've had a lot of ride-alongs recently (EMT students seeing what it's like in the field), and the ones who are most comfortable are the ones who can easily talk with patients and build a rapport. The ones who can hold a conversation tend to also be able to apply the skills and knowledge from class- funny how that works!

There was a new EMT I worked with the other day who told me how great it was to see how I was able to connect with patients and seemed so comfortable doing the job. He said it was really helpful for him to see how I was able to talk with the patients and staff comfortably. This was one of the best compliments I've received- it really meant a lot to me that the way I do my job reflects how much I enjoy what I do.

Movin On Up

This month I was hired by a large ambulance company that runs IFT's and 911 calls, which is a big step up for me. Besides that obvious excitement of running 911 calls, there is the relief that comes from working for a well run company. As of now, all ambulance services (minus the Fire Departments) are private and are run like regular companies that need to make a profit. Fortunately for me, this new company understands that keeping a happy/not completely over-worked staff is one of the key points to having good service.

One of the things that strikes me about working 911 is the pace- most of the time it's slow. The majority of the calls we run could easily go to the doctor's office or urgent care. When there is a true emergency, it puts everyone on edge- if you ever see a Fire Captain running with a patient, it's a big deal. There are little flashes of excitement and then a good amount of sitting around in the rig waiting for the next call. The thing that stays true to all the bs calls is that you have to treat them with the same professionalism and compassion that you would for a major trauma or medical emergency. It's really about the connections you make- the patients I'll remember most are the ones I had conversations with and got to know a little bit about them. That is more interesting to me that how many full arrests or trauma calls I run.

Basically, I love my new job and I'm excited to really get into the swing of things. I went on my first full arrest call this week and I feel like I've learned a lot in terms of what kind of care provider I want to be (emulate some paramedics, do the opposite of others...).

New Beginnings

I started this as a travel blog mostly, but now that I've started traveling less and moving in a new direction career-wise I thought I'd start using this as an outlet for my musings about EMS and all the stuff we deal with even though I don't work 911... yet.

I've just moved into a new apartment and I'm starting to feel more comfortable at work. Things seem to be moving in a totally new direction for me, and I'm okay with it at this point. There is a rhythm to the days now, even my 24-hour shifts seem to go by pretty quickly. We never really know what we're going to get (aside from our usual dialysis calls), which keeps things interesting.

I don't want to just rant about how EMTs are treated and all that, because there is a lot of complaining going on the subject out there already. One of the things that has struck me since I've started working on an ambulance is how wrong I was about why I got into emergency medicine. I originally wanted to become an EMT because I thought it would be more fast paced and exciting that working in long-term care. While that is partially true, I've made connections with patients on a ten minute transport that are still very powerful. Yes, there are plenty of calls that I forget before we've pulled out of the hospital parking lot, but there are also calls that keep me up at night wondering how the patient is doing and whether they're still alive. I feel that the connections we make as humans are very important to growing as a person and this job has helped me to see how much I enjoy interacting with people.

The job is stressful, boring, exciting, tiring, and rewarding all at once. There are times when I question whether I made the right choice in moving away from playing music. When we get a call at 3am, it can go either way- a bs psychiatric call where the patient is obviously homeless and simply looking for a bed and a meal, or a NICU call where the newborn is in critical condition and we have to go lights and sirens to the ER.

I'm still not sure what direction I want to go with my career, but I'm feeling good now with where I'm at- for the time being.