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Advise for new EMT-B's
I am new to the world of EMS. just recently got my EMT-B.. I did very well in class but i have to admit i am scared to death to get on the ambulance. They pounded it in our heads in class that the slightest screw up and you can loose your card..
We're taught that from the time of initial dispatch we should be doing "scene sizeup" thinking about the call and everything thing from equipment to take into the scene to possible hazards of the scene. I myself, paid very close attention during my ride time with class and saw alot. so when i go to a call instead of doing the "scene sizeup" i cant help but go over my "jess dont screw up list" in my head..
I myself feel that in this field, you can never learn enough and your always learning something new.. if by chance you feel that you know all there is to know about the field of EMS and will never need to learn anything else, then bow out gracefully before someone tells you how it is.. I am all for any advise, hints, suggestions or comments on how to overcome my fears on the ambulance.
~Jess~
UPDATE September 1, 2007
Thank you to EVERYONE who has offered advise, support, smiles and everything else offered..
You will all be happy to know that i FINALLY got forced into running my 1st call alone.
My mom was visiting for a weekend, and so around 1am or so the paramedic in town was on another call, and the BLS unit was dispatched for a "unknown problem". Since my mom was at the house i woke hubby up and told him i was taking the call, and he said ok c ya.. i smaked him and said get up your gonna be my driver..
Well as we approached the Fire House, i started to get scared and said if there was not another EMT up there , i wasnt going. when we got there i yelled to another member to ask if he was an EMT and he said " No but you are, GET YOUR ASS ON THAT AMBO.. "
I got on the ambo, went responding and listened to the info being provided to me. After listening to the report from dispatch, i knew that PD was on scene and one of the officers was also a EMT-P. so i knew my back up was already there waiting for me.. When we got on scene, i let dispatch know we were on location and grabbed what i thought i would need and went to my patient. Everything clicked. i remembered what to do. i didnt panic. and at the end of the call, i was really proud of myself.
All of your advise, comments and support gave me the know how to build up the little bit of confidence i needed to get out there and prove to myself that i can do this..
Thank you all.. I wish i could give you each a hug..
Jess
We're taught that from the time of initial dispatch we should be doing "scene sizeup" thinking about the call and everything thing from equipment to take into the scene to possible hazards of the scene. I myself, paid very close attention during my ride time with class and saw alot. so when i go to a call instead of doing the "scene sizeup" i cant help but go over my "jess dont screw up list" in my head..
I myself feel that in this field, you can never learn enough and your always learning something new.. if by chance you feel that you know all there is to know about the field of EMS and will never need to learn anything else, then bow out gracefully before someone tells you how it is.. I am all for any advise, hints, suggestions or comments on how to overcome my fears on the ambulance.
~Jess~
UPDATE September 1, 2007
Thank you to EVERYONE who has offered advise, support, smiles and everything else offered..
You will all be happy to know that i FINALLY got forced into running my 1st call alone.
My mom was visiting for a weekend, and so around 1am or so the paramedic in town was on another call, and the BLS unit was dispatched for a "unknown problem". Since my mom was at the house i woke hubby up and told him i was taking the call, and he said ok c ya.. i smaked him and said get up your gonna be my driver..
Well as we approached the Fire House, i started to get scared and said if there was not another EMT up there , i wasnt going. when we got there i yelled to another member to ask if he was an EMT and he said " No but you are, GET YOUR ASS ON THAT AMBO.. "
I got on the ambo, went responding and listened to the info being provided to me. After listening to the report from dispatch, i knew that PD was on scene and one of the officers was also a EMT-P. so i knew my back up was already there waiting for me.. When we got on scene, i let dispatch know we were on location and grabbed what i thought i would need and went to my patient. Everything clicked. i remembered what to do. i didnt panic. and at the end of the call, i was really proud of myself.
All of your advise, comments and support gave me the know how to build up the little bit of confidence i needed to get out there and prove to myself that i can do this..
Thank you all.. I wish i could give you each a hug..
Jess
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Jeff on
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While you are right there are things that you can do to lose your card, they should have drilled into your head that there will always be someone else there to help you. My department always makes sure that we know that. When in doubt ask for help.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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M y 1st time on the radio I responded the whole dept instead of just our unit. Woops! Everyone got a kick out of that. It was the giggle of the week. It happens. I surrived and so will you. If you need help relaxing after getting everything prepared for the call-sing stupid songs in your head. Still going strong after 14 years.
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Permalink Reply by Bill Brierton on
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Well I think the first time we all got our EMT-B cards we were all nervous. It's just going to take some time getting used to. It's not going to happen overnight but will come with time and the calls you handle. I passed my EMT refresher this spring and still get a bit nervous doing the practicals and taking the final. One thing I have learned is that doing it out in the field is way different from taking the class. I still drive my wife crazy since I practice on her every now and then just to make sure I don't forget something when I actually go on a call. Congradulations on passing the test, it's not easy but I think with time it will become second nature.
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Permalink Reply by Jess Webster on
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WOW.. thanks for all the advise.. i really appreciate it.. I have been running calls very well actually. it just always seems that the calls i run are cardiac arrests or MVCs and Im not the one that gets to do the radio report.. But with each call i learn something new and i gain more confidence. Im learning the hard way that you just cant save every patient. thats been tough for me. but its easier to think about the patients we do save.
Thanks again for all the advice. and keep in touch.
~Jess~
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Thank you , it helps a lot. Its just gonna take time and experience to get to that comfort level.. Im learning that they dont teach you everything in class. they teach you the basics and importantly the routine stuff. but where i live and some of the emergencies we have here will differ from someone who lives in a city type area. We tend to get farm accidents, industrial emergencies. so that may be something that someone from a city may not be used to seeing. I have comforted those who were passing right next to me. i have been on the flip side where i have been apart of saving someone.. both situations have emotional reactions. i haven't yet broke down in front of " the guys". but im sure if i did, it wouldn't make them think any less of me.
Thanks again,
~Jess~
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Well sad to say, i dont have a clue what show your talking about. My husband says i was raised in closet. Im so naive when it comes to things. especially tv and movies. so many times he has said " thats the guy from the movie lethal weapon or jaws" and im like , ok never seen it.. He picks on me all the time. but one of the most valuable things he has said to me is that I am a good EMT, even new, I am good. Coming from him, he was a paramedic till he decided that he didnt want to bother with the continuing education and let it go.. yeah i know, i gave him hell.. but we had the opportunity one weekend when our children were visiting grandmom, to run a cardiac arrest together. and when it was all said and done, he told me, I will fine. I fit in this field. I remember riding with the paramedic unit for class, and i remember being dispatched for a Cardiac Arrest. when we got on scene, there were providers everywhere. i live in a volunteer county. aside from our 3 paid units in the county. were volunteer.. well there was a bunch of people there already and i realized that there was nothing i could do in that room with them cause the room was jam packed with people. so i found myself in a back room comforting the spouse, asking questions about medical history, physician name, medications etc. and i was able to provide all the info that i received from the spouse to the paramedics. I was later approached by the paramedic and told that my initial reaction was right and i did the right thing by realizing that there was room for me in that room but my kind words, support, shoulder, and desire to help the spouse was equally important. In that situation, i came out feeling like even though i never put my hands on that patient, i did make a difference..
Thank you for your advise..
~Jess~
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That is an awesome tip and i will use it.. i was trying to carry around a little note book. but when your sound asleep at 2 am and the pager goes off and you have to concentrate on getting out of bed, dressed and out the door without waking up the kids or the husband, you tend to forget the notebook. hell i have a hard time remembering my watch so now i sleep with it on..
Thanks for the tip..
~Jess~
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Thanks for the advise Phil.. Documentation is not a problem for me.. I was an English / Journalism major in college, so when i do my EMAIS, i always document everything in detail.. i have been told that my narratives are too long and too detailed by fellow EMTs, but the way i think of it is, there not doing the report, i am and if i want to document every little detail to the best of my ability , i will.. fortunately i type really fast and we use EMAIS in my county so its all done on the computer. No dot sheets for us.. unless the system is down. In addition, my instructor was very adamant on making sure we knew that documentation was very important..
~Jess~
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LOL.. im sure that was a giggle.. I have talked on the radio.. we were dispatched to a structure fire and My partner didnt want to talk on the radio, so of course i had to let central know that we were responding, on location and then i had to ask command where they wanted our unit. when i got back to the station, the chief and several of the guys were laughing at me cause they listened to me on the radio and said i sounded like a scared little girl that was hyped up sugar cause i talked so fast. im just waiting for when i get some weird ass call and i have to do the med report and everyone at the station tunes into the med call channel to listen..
~Jess~
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Thank you.. I do practice.. my kids have become my pediatric practice patients. and when i was in class, i took my 6 yr old in for practice days and he let us all bandage him and spinal immobilize him. he thought it was great. my 3 yr old wont let me touch her.. she still remembers when she fell and hit her head and knocked her self unconscious and was flown by helicopter to johns hopkins.. she gets scared if she sees an ambulance.. but on the flip side, if the fire horn goes off, she is at the front door with her shoes in hand yelling " Daddy FIRE LETS GO".. so im guessing that she is going to be the one to follow in daddys boots and join the fire department. my son, at the age of 5, he said, i dont want to be a paid fire fighter, i want to be a doctor. but i will volunteer as a fire fighter, after i go to college.. so im not gonna discourage his dreams and goals at all..
~Jess~
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Permalink Reply by Dan Hoey on
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The reality is that losing your card if you follow your guidelines and your proticals is very very slim, screwing up is something you would have to live with and that can be harder to take, I have been a career EMS provider for over 20 yrs going from EMT to EMT-P and to say I have never ever screwed up would be a lie but if you have a good team and work together you can watch each others back to prevent bas things from going on.
The day I knew I was a medic is when I had a patient that was going down real fast and I was ready to scream help I need someone to save this guy and realized that was me and I was the medic on the scene.
You are not perfect but you can you be the best you can be and remeber getting the card is only the first step learning in EMS never ever ends. Each patient can teach you something, Learn to use your mind and all your senses and not just the new tools they give you
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Watkins on
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I took EMT-B as well. I have learned that not only in EMS but firefighting as well one screw up could be your job. But all you need is to have confidence in yourself. You passed the class, you know what to do so go with it. If a Medic,basic, or a firefighter ever tell you they didnt make one or 2 screw ups in their career thay are lying to you. It all has to do with experience. And that takes a long time to get. So throw out your "dont screw up list" and think about " What can I do to save this patient" list. Anyways thats my advice for ya. I know it isnt much, but it helped me out.
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