You probably practiced your head-to-toe assessment a bunch in your EMT
class. Maybe more than any other skill in the EMT curriculum. If your class was or is anything like mine (as a student or a teacher) you performed the head-to-toe assessment again and again.
As much as we practice this skill in EMT class, I often wonder why so many EMT’s have such bad head-to-toe skills out on the street. It seems that, once we get out on the street, the systematic, thorough head-to-toe assessment falls out of favor and quickly gets replaced with the faster, more direct focused assessment.
That works just fine most of the time. If it didn’t, I figure it probably wouldn’t be such a universal phenomenon. (For the record, have you ever worked somewhere where this wasn’t the case? Neither have I.) The downside is that when the patient arrives who really needs a, honest-to-goodness, rapid, complete head-to-toe, we’re not up to the task.
I happen to believe that patient assessment skills are one of the defining qualities of a talented EMT. Here are seven tips to keep your head-to-toe in top form.
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What if I told you that you could adopt one simple, yet powerful belief that would improve your happiness at work immediately and forever? What if I could tell you one simple truth and, if you were willing to accept it, you would feel less stress and bring more joy and well being to your job starting right now? Would you be interested? Read on.
Carl Jung was the first psychologist to put fourth the theory of the collective unconscious. He recognized that an individuals behavior was driven, not only by their personality, but by the myths, ideas and beliefs held collectively by their culture.
It’s worth recognizing that when you came to emergency services you arrived with some of these beliefs.
You had an idea in your head of what an EMT, a paramedic or a fireman was. It’s probable that your beliefs were based more in the myths of the collective culture than reality, but the industry could take some blame as well.
We did nothing in your training to convince you that your job would be anything different than what you had seen on TV and in the movies. We may have even used some of these images in your recruitment process.
If you endured a fire academy you were taught each day about structures on fire and victims that needed to be dragged to safety and turned over to imaginary medical personnel. In EMT class you spent each day learning about the various medical emergencies that befall humans. From aneurysms to zygomatic fractures and everything in between, we drilled you on how to recognize those sick patients and how to intervene appropriately. And you learned. You diligently studied for the day when you would be the one responsible for caring for the sick and bringing calm to the chaos.
But the instructors didn’t say much about headaches. Blinding migraine headaches that make the patient so photophobic they can’t see to drive their car. They didn’t talk about stubbed toes either. They didn’t mention that many of the patients would be depressed, abused, addicted and homeless. Nothing was said to prepare you to kneel before drunks and criminals and people with mental imbalances, social dysfunctions and minor yet overwhelming needs that have nothing to do with your training.
In all your training nobody prepared you for emergency services. We may never have even mentioned that emergency services has much less to do with the real, life threatening emergencies than the collective myths told you. Instead, it has everything to do with caring for people and their problems. Welcome to EMS.
But here’s the kicker … none of this is a bad thing.
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