Fire Based EMS vs. Private EMS

“In Germany they first came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me – and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

- Rev. Martin Niemoller

Yesterday an Action Care ambulance covered my station while I was at a training. Action Care is the local private ambulance service. I know, the name always seemed a little silly to me. If a super hero ever created an ambulance service, he would most certainly call it Action Care. I joke about the name, but they’re the real deal.

I’m glad we have Action Care. They help cover our district when we are low on resources. They are always professional and polite on scene. They give good care.

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Behind Every Great EMT…

Call it a curiosity. I wanted to know how the EMT Spot readers would finish the sentence, “Behind every great EMT…” So I asked.

I asked on twitter. I asked on Facebook. I even asked right here at the blog. And the answers poured in. Your responses represented the full spectrum of personalities that inhabit our workplace. There were poignant responses, cynical responses and a bunch of funny ones. The responses made me smile and frown and think.

Within this list of answers you’ll find feedback from 30+ year EMS veterans and newbies just getting their EMS feet wet. Everyone is represented. And the responses are telling.

I’m rather proud of how this little experiment turned out. I hope you find these responses as enjoyable and thought provoking as I did. Thanks for all your contributions. Aside from categorizing these contributions, I’ve made no further editorial additions. This post will become part of the guest posts category, because it was written by you.

Complete the sentence, “Behind every great EMT…”

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Litter Begets Litter

Here’s a little bit of applied psychology for you. In 1990 some researchers tried an experiment. People were handed a piece of paper in a local park while they were walking down a path. (A public service announcement to be exact.) After they walked past the leaflet handing researcher they then walked through an area where, unbeknown to them, the number of pieces of litter on the ground was being meticulously controlled.

You may be able to guess the results. If there were no pieces of litter on the ground, or only one piece, the subjects were unlikely to throw the unwanted piece of paper on the ground. After that, the likelihood of the person discarding the paper on the ground was exactly proportional to the number of pieces of paper already on the ground. The more litter already present on the ground, the more likely that the next person would also throw their piece of paper on the ground. It’s the law of social conformity.

Litter begets litter.

This isn’t new news. The 1990 research (Cialdini, Reno and Kalgren) was a repeat of similar research done in 1973 (Finnie), 1977 (Geller, Witmer and Tuso) and 1978 (Krause, Freedmen and Whitcup.)

How does this apply to you?

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207 Reasons to Stay Current

on Your Continuing Education

Perhaps you’ve already heard, starting July 1st, 207 EMT’s in the city of Boston will begin serving suspensions ranging from 45 days to 9 months for falsifying their training records and claiming that they had attended continuing education classes that they had not.

Now, to add a little bitterness to the whole thing, a few Massachusetts EMT’s have come forward to say that the suspensions are unfair. Instead of taking the suspensions with grace, serving the punishment and feeling fortunate to still have a certification, they are coming forward with some comments about the usefulness of continuing education.

Terry Urekew, an uninvolved bystander in the whole debacle, chimed in with this quote, “Give everyone a $100 fine and community service. Don’t take someone’s livelihood away from something that has no impact on whether or not we are better EMTs,” You can probably guess that a guy who writes a website with the subtitle, “Medicine moves fast…keep up.” is going to probably take issue with Terry’s assessment of the usefulness of keeping up on medical education. You’d be right.

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8 Tragic EMS Behavior Flaws to Avoid

In Greek tragedies, the hero typically displays some form of hamarita, also known as a “tragic flaw.” Hamlet was brooding, Othello was jealous, Macbeth was ambitious. For the most part, it is their tragic flaw that is usually the key to their undoing. When the hero ultimately falls, they tend to sow the seeds of their own demise with their respective tragic flaws.

People often use the word hero when they refer to EMS caregivers. EMT’s, paramedics, firefighters, we all get the hero moniker pinned on us from time to time. I cringe at the term. Most of us are uncomfortable with it to different degrees. And, if there is any truth to our hero title, it is certainly closer to the heroes of Greek tragedy that the comic book heroes we grew up with.

In other words, we all have our tragic flaws. Yes, all of us.

Here are eight of the most common tragic flaws of the EMS hero persona. I have, at one time or another in my career, embodied each and every one of these flaws to one degree or another. I’ve lived each one of them. I would guess that most of us do.

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The June EMS Roundup

“In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.”

-Aldo Leopold

So many anniversaries. So many happenings in the EMS world. Regardless of how many of them you attempted to heed, you were bound to miss a few. Here’s to the stuff you may have inadvertently ignored.

I started the month with a webinar on how to pass the national registry cognitive exam and quickly moved on to the name the chronicles contest and part three of the very popular ultimate guide to EMT vital signs. I asked you two telling questions with “Where do you put the fear?” and “Are you an EMS nonconformist?” before asking you to consider what will happen on the day that your career clock strikes midnight. Then we talked about what really motivates us and wrapped up with ten reasons why I work in EMS.

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Ten Reasons I Work In EMS

I was recently asked by a reader to explain why I work in EMS. It’s a compelling question. Sometimes, browsing through the blogsphere, you can feel like you’re inundated with content explaining why you shouldn’t work in EMS.

It’s strange. In a line of work as interesting, diverse and unique as ours, you’d think our blogs would read like a fan page for a band called EMS, but that’s just not the case. How to survive in EMS, how to scrape by and how to “fix” EMS seem to be the relevant topics of the day. I thought this readers question was a great opportunity to go on the record and say that there are a lot of good reasons to work in EMS. Here are ten.

It’s different.

I’ve learned that I don’t do well with routine. I couldn’t spend my work life in a cubicle. I’d rather chew tinfoil than show up each day and do the same thing. EMS is infinitely variable. Just when you think you’ve seen it all someone will pick up the phone, dial 911 and prove you wrong.

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What Motivates Us Really?

The Surprising Truth About Personal Motivation

For years as an EMS supervisor I sat in operations meetings discussing the timeless business question, “How do we motivate people to be high performers?” Since most everyone in the room was a current or former field paramedic, you’d think we’d have an edge in answering the question. We didn’t.

It’s worth considering while your sitting around with your partner, hashing out the latest management blunders and explaining how you’d fix everything. If it was you sitting in the agonizingly long staff meeting throwing around ideas, chances are, you wouldn’t do much better.

I do know that the one opportunity I had to work on a true high-performance EMS team, these were the basic ingredients.

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Midnight

Our department recently offered an early retirement buy-out option.  I understand a half-dozen or so people took it. So next month, 6 or so of my colleagues will run their last call and close the door on their career. Six people will write the final chapter and be done.

It makes me wonder. I wonder what that’s like, to hear the tones go off and say, “Yup, this is probably it, the last call of my career.”

What will people say about your EMS career when you’re all done? For many of the readers here at the spot, retirement is a long way away. It’s hard to imagine what is will one day be like to not be in EMS anymore. Yet, it’s worth considering, because you never really know when your last call will be.

Consider Elizabeth Ann Mitchell.

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What Is An EMS Non-Conformist?

An Excerpt from The Non-Conformists Guide To EMS Success

The allure of conformity is powerful for all it offers. On the other side of the conformity dance floor is security, approval, and all the benefits of eventual success. Why wouldn’t we waltz? Doesn’t everybody?

Perhaps that desire within us to do something that matters can be fulfilled after we’ve gained the promotions, the love and admiration of our peers, and the power of authority.Then we can start being an advocate for the patient. Then we can start taking good care of the folks who call 911.

We can bone up on our skills, attend the conference, and develop the competencies we were putting off until we got the official nod. We’ll work hard to improve basic proficiencies, overhaul the broken training and orientation systems, and advocate for safer work conditions.

This is all a broken promise the minute we make it. Once we’ve achieved some degree of success by walking the path of conformity the expectations will only continue to grow.

Your leaders, whoever they are, have even less power to step outside the boundaries than you. If there is pressure on you to conform, you can bet there’s twice as much pressure on the poor guy or gal above you. Poor saps.

Non-conformity is stepping back from the speed and thoughtlessness that we tend to operate under. We manage emergencies. Most of our leaders have grown out of this industry that specializes in the fast fix approach. In our business, speed is king, and time is the devil. This creates an environment that doesn’t value thoughtfulness or introspection.

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