“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. If you’re going to work as a private service EMT, you could do worse than Action Care. And if that doesn’t work out, there’s always the medical billing and coding field.
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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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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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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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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I once thought that part of the goal of being a competent paramedic was getting to the point where I no longer felt any fear or anxiety about running calls. After all, most of the folks I worked with appeared to be absolutely
fearless. At least the competent ones did. They never go flustered or rushed. They smiled. They remained calm in the face of very real emergencies. I needed to be like that.
Eventually I figured out how to act like they acted, but I never really mastered the whole not-feeling-any-fear thing. It nagged at me for a long time. It took me almost a decade to figure out the secret.
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Part 2: The Blood Pressure
I love teaching each new EMT class cycle how to take a blood pressure. It’s fairly simple and strait-forward, but there’s also a real art to it. Folks who are good at it wield their 
blood pressure cuff like a teppanyaki chef wields his knife. You can tell they’re good by watching the confidence in their movements, the order that they perform the steps, and the attention they give to the details.
There’s a big difference between the guy who chops vegetables down at the local Denny’s and the chef at the Benihana. Same tools, different level of skill. You see what I mean right? If your blood pressure skills are still somewhere in between the short order cook and the teppanyaki chef, here are some tips to getting better.
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Part 1: The Pulse
There are few things that EMT’s should claim as their domain. There are certain skills that the EMT provider should simple dominate. Vital signs are one such 
skill. No medical provider anywhere should be able to hold a candle to the EMT when vitals signs are the name of the game.
Vital signs are, to the EMT, what sharp shooting is to the sniper; what the fast ball is to the closing pitcher; what swordsmanship is to Zorro. It’s the EMT bread-and-butter skill. And yet…so many EMTs fumble through vital signs like it’s amateur hour. No more. Over the next few weeks we’re going to break down vital signs here at The Spot and make every one of our trusted and loyal readers a vital sign virtuoso.
Are you ready? Carnegie Hall awaits. Let’s start with the pulse check.
Some EMT’s can take 30 seconds to a minute to check a pulse. When they’re done they have one single piece of clinical information to pass on, the heart rate. Others can feel a pulse for 3 seconds and tell you much, much more about the patient’s cardiovascular status. What’s the difference? Practice and focus. If you’d like to be the second EMT, here’s how.
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A Guest Post By Jim Hoffman
“The EMS Professional,” “The Paramedic Mentor,” Today’s guest author, Jim Hoffman has more nicknames than a retiring prizefighter and he’s earned 
every one of them. From the streets of The Big Apple to New Jersey and now the secluded mountains of upstate New York, Jim has been a paramedic for the better part of two decades.
In his down time, Jim runs EMS-Safety.com, a one stop shop for low cost EMS training resources. He’s also part of the team behind The EMS Boot Camp series. After a little cajoling I talked Jim into letting me post his Handover contribution as a guest post. So this is me, stealing all of Jim’s literary goodness for you. (Thank me later.)
And now Jim:
As an EMT in a large EMS system I found myself becoming burnt and indifferent to the patients I was responding to and treating; all too often being annoyed at the calls that obviously just didn’t require an ambulance and more often didn’t even require a doctor.
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There really is a dizzying array of stuff we can do to get ourselves in legal hot water in EMS. I was considering a few this afternoon and I got this idea.
Let’s play a game. I’ll give you a whole list of scenarios and you match the legal transgression to the act. OK, that was a really boring and overly technical way to describe my game.
I’ll say what they did; you tell me what they did wrong. Sound like fun? I agree. Let’s begin.
Here are all the possible answers:
- Sounds OK to me
- Negligence
- Battery
- Abandonment
- Assault
Jot your answers down on a scrap of paper. I’ll be back on Thursday with my answers and the rationale behind them.
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It’s never comfortable to be placed under a microscope. Especially when the dude looking through the microscope is The Rogue Medic, Tim Noonan. Tim’s a great dude, but he’s not the guy you want picking through your knowledge sock drawer. He’s thorough, he’s smart and he’s willing to analyze the details long after you and I have gone to bed.
If you don’t already read Tim’s blog you should. He’s a fantastic EMS blogger. That being said, I wasn’t terribly excited when he posted a comment on my post “I’m Only An EMT Basic” announcing that his comments on the piece could be found over at Rogue Medic headquarters.
For the record, my piece received nothing but kind handling by Tim. The question he chose to focus his lens on? Are lung sounds a part of the EMT scope of practice?
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