Another FFN blogger recently posted this little gem "I Am Just An Ambulance Driver". I have several problems with this. For starters, the piece was obviously copied from somewhere with no attribution. I found a previous version of it with a minimal search at EMTLife forum board. Note that the comments there overwhelmingly expressed displeasure at the content, its advocacy for blatantly unsafe behavior behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle, and it's self-promoting attitude.

Several FFN members immediately replied with comments that were critical of the unsafe attitudes displayed in the piece, and voila, the blogger deleted any replies that did not agree with the self-aggrandizing attitude in the poem and in his blog.

A few FFN members pointed this out to him, and voila, he removed those comments as well, even after it was pointed out that if you post controversial subjects on the internet and then remove any replies that don't agree with you, your credibility meter goes directly to zero. That's the case here.

For an analysis of the piece, lets look at a few things...

The first verse talks about holding the "popular students head" above water while waiting on rescue. Why does it have to be a "popular student"? Shouldn't we do the same for whoever the patient happens to be? And "waiting on rescue"...how about a response system that sends a Rescue Company to entrapments on the box so there's no waiting for them when someone's life is in the balance?

In the second verse, why an 89-year-old woman? We should comfort the distraught family of any patient we find deceased as a simple human courtesy.

The third verse refers to crawling into an overturned car with no regard for the rescuer's safety. That's just plain stupid, folks, bordering on the suicidal. Overturned cars can have secondary crushes, alternate battery locations can spill battery acid into the passenger compartment, and virtually every overturned car has fuel leaks that should be controlled prior to crawling into a situation where you're essentially trapped with the patient.

The fourth verse complains about having a meal interrupted for a no transport. If you complain about having meals interrupted, you're in the wrong business.

The fifth verse talks about being on "the wrong side of town"...how disrespectful to your citizens can you get?
And..."treating patients with bullets whizzing around our heads" is plain old STUPID. Apparently, the author thinks its cool to be stupid. It's not. It's just, well, stupid.

The sixth verse talks about doing CPR on a 16-year old suicide patient with the body "flailing around" as he does CPR. What kind of sloppy CPR is being performed - and advocated - there? Not the kind professionals do, that's for sure.

The seventh verse starts out "Death is all around me". We can see why - treating patients in the middle of a gunfight will tend to kill you and the people around you. Moreover, we don't "challenge death" and "win", we merely prolong the inevitable.

The next verse brags about neglecting one's family, thriving on complete chaos, and going days without sleep as if those are good things. They are not - all are very BAD things. Family helps keep you centered and to remember that the job isn't all there is. We're supposed to bring order to chaos, not thrive on it. Going days without sleep makes one a zombie with a greatly reduced capacity for coherent thought and little capability for impulse control. Those are not the people I want to risk my life with, because they push high-risk situations into the realm of unacceptable risk.

The piece closes talking about driving 90 MPH in traffic with an unrestrained partner in the patient compartment. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? What kind of suicidal maniac was hired to drive THAT ambulance? Last time I checked, we were supposed to drive our emergency vehicle with "due regard for public safety" in all 50 states and the several districts and territories. Driving 90 MPH with a patient on board - anywhere or at any time - is nowhere near 'due regard".

Frankly, this piece gives professional providers - whether career or volunteer - a very, very bad name. Posting in a public place is a very , very bad idea. Other terms come to mind, but I'll let the comments in the link above speak for themselves. Feel free to add your own - I won't censor them as long as they don't violate the user agreement.

Most importantly, when one of us posts something with so much blatant stupidity and unprofessionalism in it, he or she should expect that online peer review will be critical of that effort. When a blogger keeps up a few "way to go, dude" posts and deletes the bulk of the replies that disagree, then that blogger is intentionally ruining his or her credibility, particularly when it is pointed out to him or her. Of course, when the replies that point out the lack of credibility are also deleted, it tends to make those who cared enough to reply not only question the credibility of the blogger, but the intestinal fortitude and professionalism as well. Note that one of the hallmarks of "professionalism" is that how your conduct yourself distinguishes you from amateurs.

If you have opinions on this - or any other - blog, I encourage you to post them. As stated, feel free to add your own comments here - as long as they don't violate the user agreement, I won't delete them.

Show your credibility, your courage, and, yes, even your Americanism by fighting stupidity, encouraging credibility and professionalism, and by fighting censorship of the free exchange of ideas, even if you personally don't agree with that idea. And...when you post things that are unprofessional and that lack credibility, expect to get called out for it.