God's Work

So, as my inaugural post in the EMS blogosphere I thought I would take a minute to say congratulations to myself on landing a great job with a very respectable 911 service. After several years of doing the volunteer, private, slash interfacility work I am onward and upward to lights and sirens, smashed up cars and super sick people. (Insert own cliché here) As I look back at the time spent doing hospice transfers and returns to nursing homes I wonder how much has this work worked for me? After much thought I conclude that this experience has made me a better provider than I would be if I had started in the busy 911 setting.

Everyday I hear coworkers drone on about the trials and tribulations of doing “you call, we haul” work. (Myself included) This is important stuff. It is hard, very hard to see the forest through the trees with interfacility work but the level of personal satisfaction is immense. The time spent with patients experiencing the last seconds, minutes, hours, or days of their life is some of the best patient care experience available. I present the following reasons why transfer service ambulance experience is the best, years of education and thousands of dollars can buy.

1) Transfer patient’s are sick. (especially patient’s being transferred from an outlying facility) Providers must be comfortable with unstable patients and must be confident in their ability to get them to their destination alive.

2) Conversation is difficult. EMT’s and Paramedics must learn to be conversationalists. During a two hour transfer, boredom is the greatest threat to your patient. Providers must learn to carry a conversation or master FlightPlan for the iPhone®. (not me)

3) Diplomacy is not a strength for EMS providers. Are we nice to nurses? Are they nice to us? The transfer process can make a good day bad for any provider, it is no trouble to discontinue an IV or put away monitor cables so the room is ready for the next ER patient on a busy day.

4) Hold a hand. During my field experience as a Paramedic student I witnessed a very seasoned and “hardened” provider grab an 88 year old lady’s hand an hold it all the way to the hospital. No treatment was necessary but after holding this person’s hand it was obvious that the patient was at ease.

5) Treat everyone as you would treat your mother. There is no room for rude providers. I have witness providers be “short” with patients and I ask you, what good does that do? This is our career and we need to act accordingly. I will say that I, on one or two occasions, was rude to a patient. Granted, the patient was difficult but that is no excuse. The ride is usually short so be nice.
This entire list is purely rambling and I most certainly do not know it all. But as I enter the world of 911 I will most definitely keep this information in the earbuds. (along with the EMS Garage)
God Bless