life in ems
Wow I neglect this thing.
OK well for anyone thats interested I've been at fallon for a while now, an emt for the company for just over 5 weeks. I've seen 3 deaths, countless lunatics, been peed on, puked on, and assaulted.
I've also talked a man off a bridge, saved a man who was struck by a car and suffocating due to flail chest, met some of the best people this side of heaven, and some of the worst. I've had a glimpse into the the worst moments in many peoples lives, and been able to leave a positive impact in a few lives.
Ya know what the worst part of the job is though? The company. It has the worst training program ever. Your suppose to get 2 weeks of ride to, to get you acclimated to the job, which I think is a very good idea. I am on my 5th week. The problem has nothing to do with my skills, or my work ethic or anything like that, its all because I refused to let some dick rip me a new ass in the quincy er. He kicked me out of the ambulance, and left me there. I had to call a supervisor to drive me back. In one fell swoop, I undid the work I put in. The company basically did everything they could to get me to quit, because I called the union. They tried to say I wasn't good enough, despite the fact they cant actually say that, since I'm a state licensed EMT, so they said that my paperwork wasnt up to par. When The union pressed them for specifics, the best they could come up with, was that some of the times I took vitals weren't noted, which PS is something EVERYONE does.
They tried to push me back into chair car I don't even know how many times. Those fucking field training officers all backed up the guy that was being a dick to me. The union demanded that I work with people who weren't affiliated with the guy, those people say I'm fine, but they still try to say its not enough. It took all this time, and FINALLY, a deal was made, that I would come into the office and get "retrained" on the paperwork. and I have to ride third again, so tomorrow and saturday I am blessed with the chance to be the truck bitch again. Doing all the cleaning, and all the patient work, and writing all the paperwork. It's actually pretty exhausting to do everything, not to mention disgusting and stressful, and I wanted to quit so badly, because I'm just getting jerked around. The company wants to make it seem that I'm the problem, when in fact the company looses on average, over a person a day. They hire 30 people every 3 weeks. It's absolutely ridiculous. All this for 11.30 an hour? I think the only reason I stayed through all this is the fact that I feel like I'm running away. Why should I leave, because it would be easier for them? They tried to guilt me into not calling the union, and when I did, they made all this noise about how I made there lives so much harder. Yeah theres a reason why we have a union, because the uniformed personnel are always blessed with the shit end of the stick. We do all the work, and get the paid the least. And too many good EMTs leave the company because of crap like this. They basically screen for a certain personality, that annoying guy thats kinda self-conscious so he gets loud and belligerent, the entire company is filled with people like that, patient care suffers because these people feel they have a personal image to keep up.
There are these really stupid trends in the EMS, and ya know one guy decides that you don't need to ventilate someone, and everyone kinda follows suit, and if your the guy that points out that a 60yo man who's breathing at 24bpm is suffocating you better watch your step, because he's been here for 43 years and he's infallible. Well ya know what, thats bullshit. I don't care if some of these people hate me, I didn't join the company to make friends, I became an EMT because I wanna help people, and i picked fallon because the schedule is flexible enough that I can keep taking classes. I'm not gonna worry about offending anyone, and risk a patient, or provide a diminished level of patient care because some fat fuckhead said he didn't think such and such was necessary. Ya know what, I think it is, he's my patient, I'm writing the report, it's my call, deal with it.
Riding 3rd sucks so much. Your suppose to be able to bounce things off of your partner, but if you ask your preceptors their opinion, suddenly it becomes hey your suppose to know blah blah blah, as if its an exact science, 2+2 = life or something, And thats just not the case. high BP for me, is low for you, etc, and in the end, alot of the treatments are judgment calls, so there shouldn't be a problem if I ask a question, as a matter of fact, there should be a problem if I don't ask questions. And with some of these people, especially now, its almost lose lose. Either I asked too many questions, therefore I don't know what I'm doing, or I didn't ask enough, and therefore I don't know what I'm doing. And these preceptors or "field training officers" go through absolutely no training of there own. They just pick them at random. Which I think is bullshit, what makes them qualified to teach? Absolutely nothing. I can't wait until Saturday is done with, and I will finally be free from this 3rd rider bullshit. Then I can finally build my own reputation, and prove that I actually am A damn good EMT.
OK well for anyone thats interested I've been at fallon for a while now, an emt for the company for just over 5 weeks. I've seen 3 deaths, countless lunatics, been peed on, puked on, and assaulted.
I've also talked a man off a bridge, saved a man who was struck by a car and suffocating due to flail chest, met some of the best people this side of heaven, and some of the worst. I've had a glimpse into the the worst moments in many peoples lives, and been able to leave a positive impact in a few lives.
Ya know what the worst part of the job is though? The company. It has the worst training program ever. Your suppose to get 2 weeks of ride to, to get you acclimated to the job, which I think is a very good idea. I am on my 5th week. The problem has nothing to do with my skills, or my work ethic or anything like that, its all because I refused to let some dick rip me a new ass in the quincy er. He kicked me out of the ambulance, and left me there. I had to call a supervisor to drive me back. In one fell swoop, I undid the work I put in. The company basically did everything they could to get me to quit, because I called the union. They tried to say I wasn't good enough, despite the fact they cant actually say that, since I'm a state licensed EMT, so they said that my paperwork wasnt up to par. When The union pressed them for specifics, the best they could come up with, was that some of the times I took vitals weren't noted, which PS is something EVERYONE does.
They tried to push me back into chair car I don't even know how many times. Those fucking field training officers all backed up the guy that was being a dick to me. The union demanded that I work with people who weren't affiliated with the guy, those people say I'm fine, but they still try to say its not enough. It took all this time, and FINALLY, a deal was made, that I would come into the office and get "retrained" on the paperwork. and I have to ride third again, so tomorrow and saturday I am blessed with the chance to be the truck bitch again. Doing all the cleaning, and all the patient work, and writing all the paperwork. It's actually pretty exhausting to do everything, not to mention disgusting and stressful, and I wanted to quit so badly, because I'm just getting jerked around. The company wants to make it seem that I'm the problem, when in fact the company looses on average, over a person a day. They hire 30 people every 3 weeks. It's absolutely ridiculous. All this for 11.30 an hour? I think the only reason I stayed through all this is the fact that I feel like I'm running away. Why should I leave, because it would be easier for them? They tried to guilt me into not calling the union, and when I did, they made all this noise about how I made there lives so much harder. Yeah theres a reason why we have a union, because the uniformed personnel are always blessed with the shit end of the stick. We do all the work, and get the paid the least. And too many good EMTs leave the company because of crap like this. They basically screen for a certain personality, that annoying guy thats kinda self-conscious so he gets loud and belligerent, the entire company is filled with people like that, patient care suffers because these people feel they have a personal image to keep up.
There are these really stupid trends in the EMS, and ya know one guy decides that you don't need to ventilate someone, and everyone kinda follows suit, and if your the guy that points out that a 60yo man who's breathing at 24bpm is suffocating you better watch your step, because he's been here for 43 years and he's infallible. Well ya know what, thats bullshit. I don't care if some of these people hate me, I didn't join the company to make friends, I became an EMT because I wanna help people, and i picked fallon because the schedule is flexible enough that I can keep taking classes. I'm not gonna worry about offending anyone, and risk a patient, or provide a diminished level of patient care because some fat fuckhead said he didn't think such and such was necessary. Ya know what, I think it is, he's my patient, I'm writing the report, it's my call, deal with it.
Riding 3rd sucks so much. Your suppose to be able to bounce things off of your partner, but if you ask your preceptors their opinion, suddenly it becomes hey your suppose to know blah blah blah, as if its an exact science, 2+2 = life or something, And thats just not the case. high BP for me, is low for you, etc, and in the end, alot of the treatments are judgment calls, so there shouldn't be a problem if I ask a question, as a matter of fact, there should be a problem if I don't ask questions. And with some of these people, especially now, its almost lose lose. Either I asked too many questions, therefore I don't know what I'm doing, or I didn't ask enough, and therefore I don't know what I'm doing. And these preceptors or "field training officers" go through absolutely no training of there own. They just pick them at random. Which I think is bullshit, what makes them qualified to teach? Absolutely nothing. I can't wait until Saturday is done with, and I will finally be free from this 3rd rider bullshit. Then I can finally build my own reputation, and prove that I actually am A damn good EMT.