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The day that disturbing calls do not bother you is the day you should get out of EMS; but with that being said, please keep this in mind: 1. We do not cause the pain or ailment, we respond and do our best for each patient, and often, that will not be enough. It's not fair, it's not right, but it is reality. We see, smell, and remember things that no one should, but who would do it if we didn't. You will never find me running into a burning building for any reason, but I am grateful that there are people who do. You have to do what works for you in these situations, whether that be CISD, talking to whomever, but at the end of the day, we do need you back in the saddle. There are a finite number of people who can do this job, and even a much smaller number that can do it well. Should you choose to leave and take on a job that is less stessfull, who will fill that vaccuum? Yes there are plenty of rookies in the pipeline, but which of them could jump on the truck tomorrow and be as good as you are after 8 years? 2. For every one of these "bad" calls, remember the many good calls where "you" touched a life, even if you did not save it. I imagine there are several folks walking this earth today solely because you were there in their moment of need. 3. The following is probably the dumbest/corniest advice you will ever recieve, but it is applicable in many ways: http://www.naute.com/stories/worrytree.phtml

Quote "I looked at his previous posts, and indeed I was right ! I WAS RIGHT ! " Response - well everyone is entitled to one good day I guess.

Eh, I wouldn't put too much on the words of someone who has been in the field for less than a year and is an EMT in an ALS system, where the sick people are cared for by the ALS crews thankfully. Danny, you seem to be mixing things up. A good provider is one who can put their feelings aside during the call and does what they need to do. I will agree, someone who can't control themselves at the scene should probably consider a career change. Those who can put their feelings aside and deal with them after the call, in whatever way they need to are called human, those that have no feelings have no right to be in this field. When you grow up and the ink on your card is dry hopefully you will come to respect your pts and the position they are in. You may not think you need to have empathy and compassion in emergency medicine but the opposite is true. You are seeing people and their families at possibly the worst time of their lives or the end of their life. It is the time they need it the most and with your attitude you do nothing but take away what they need, you fail to treat your pt and their family properly. Don't want to believe me, the listen to a few stories from the people we are supposed to be caring for. I will get you started, though with your hero complex I suspect it is falling on deaf ears. http://www.goerie.com/article/20120504/LIFESTYLES07/305049943/Emergency-room-compassion-and-dignity

I as well can tell you about post exposure meds suck. I was a TB converter and I took the meds for 6 months and now I have to get a chest x-ray every year to prove I'm not TB positive even with NO symptoms. Now that we get more information about your lackadasical use of gloves, Grow a brain and start to wear them on all calls. Island was easy on you but your flippant attitude of only wearing gloves if you know they are infectious is STUPID and will get you killed. Please let me put you in touch with one of my friends(I have two) who is on the liver transplant list up here in Maryland. He also had a flippant thought process of wearing gloves and got a minor exposure, he got hepatitis C - non-diagnosed over a period of about 8 years and just recently it's come back to bite him big time into needing a new liver. He has cost his health care insurer and old employer thousands of dollars in medical bills that may not have ever been needed if he had used gloves. He never got a needlestick but he did have a couple of abrasions on his hands and got some blood on them. He cleaned his hands with hand sanitizer but it was too late. He will more than likely die soon due to the fact that he is a poor match to anything but a very good donor. So if you choose to not wear gloves, then that's your decision but don't come back here crying about being exposed and getting some sort of nasty disease, not after we have heard from Mari that you don't wear gloves unless you know they are infected. Up until 3 years ago, you would never know that my friend had Hep C and if you got his blood on you, you WOULD have gotten HEP C but then again, you would have somehow known that he was infected RIGHT???????. He looked very healthy. so my advice is as follows 1. Start wearing gloves on any and every single call. 2. Report this exposure - if you don't then you might not be covered if you end up being infected 3. Go back and review your EMT/Medic book on infectious diseases and exposure - sounds like you need a refresher 4. Go back and re-take your companies Bloodborne pathogens and exposure course. You sound like you need a refresher on your company policy as well. Stop being the HERO and get rid of the thinking that you are invincible - you won't believe how small something is that can kill you or permanently disable you - it's not the big things that sometimes hurt you the most. But above all get rid of the "I don't wear gloves unless I know they are infected" belief - that's going to kill you.