Don’t Be A Jerk

I didn’t draw the graph at right. It was made by a woman named Jessica Hagy over at www.thisisindexed.com. Jessica is not in the medical profession. She draws her observations about the world on index cards and posts them online.

She also has a long and growing list of blogging awards from around the world. Mostly due to her brilliantly irreverent style and her ability to make social observations that resonate with people.

Like this one.

It’s a sad but true observation. For some reason, it seems like many medical personnel have an interesting combination of helpfulness and jerkiness. Why do you suppose that is? I’ve thought a lot about that over the years.

I think a friend of mine, Steve Brien put it best when he said, “Some of us still have a lot of us still in us.”

Our profession is about the patient. It’s not about us. Remembering that simple fact, and keeping it at the forefront of our thoughts, isn’t as easy as it might seem.

Seven Flawless Physical Restraint Tips

Physical restraint techniques and procedures are a subject of debate and controversy in EMS. Few agencies have taken the time and energy to research and develop a comprehensive restraint guideline for field providers to follow.

When violent or aggressive patients show up (and they always do) EMT’s are left to fend for themselves. In these situations we take on a great deal of risk, both personal and legal, to bring the patient safely to the hospital.

I’ve had my share of both good and bad take-downs. When things go well the call transitions smoothly from the street to the hospital. The patient stays protected, the prehospital personnel stay safe and everyone goes back in service happy.

When things go badly people get hurt, patient care gets compromised and everyone ends up writing a lot of paperwork. In the worst cases you may end up sitting across from your patient in a courtroom explaining why you made the decisions that you made.

Here are some tips to help make your next patient restraint scenario go smoothly. Follow these guidelines and you’ll reduce the possibility of ever having to explain your actions. If you do end up needing to justify your decisions, you can take comfort in the fact that these gudeliness give you a rock solid foundation of compassionate, patient centered care. 

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A Man of Honor

What we cannot calculate or measure is the number of lives Jim affected. 

                                                                                -Gary Ludwig

Five years ago tomorrow, James O. Page went for a swim outside his home in Carlsbad California and the world of EMS lost a great man. If you don’t know who Jim Page was, it’s hard to articulate. Perhaps Gary Ludwig said it best (above). Or maybe the nickname, “The Father of EMS” comes closest to summing it up.

Jim was the technical advisor for the TV show emergency. For over thirty years Jim was a big, loud, relentless advocate for EMS systems across the nation and around the world.

He served as the EMS Chief for the state of North Carolina, The Director of The Advanced Coronary Treatment Foundation and was one of the founders of JEMS Magazine. Through his six books, 400 articles and over 800 public lectures Jim was a tireless advocate for improved standards of EMS care.

He simply lived the value of wanting EMS providers to be better, every single day. And that’s why he’s one of my heroes.

Regret is a horrible thing to carry around. The opportunities that haunt us most are the ones that we don’t take. In 2002 I received a generous invitation from a good friend, Thom Dick.

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