Kaisu Posted November 8, 2008 Posted November 8, 2008 OK - so I've been on the street for a month and a half. In that time, I've taken at least 100 patients to the ED. Day before yesterday, I was on the 4th call of the day - 3rd transport. No problems, no issues. I was feeling good about my job and life in general. (always a bad sign). We leave the hospital and my EMT partner says "We gotta go out of service." I say what? Go out of service. The ED doc and our medical director (who has never said one word to me) approached my partner and said "If she brings one more patient into my ED, I will yank Medical Direction". :shock: :shock: :shock: WTF I was scheduled for a 24 that day, 24 off and another 24 the next. Supervisors scrambling. Remember when I told you I was kicked loose with almost no training or backup? Well, it turns out that my superiors had not turned in my certs OR had me do a 12 hour ED shift that all new hires need to do. My day off turned into 12 hours in the ER yesterday and I am back on my 24 today - or at least I think so - no one has told me if I can run or not. I tell you, it gets harder and harder to focus on patient care around here. The same superior that had f***d up lectured me before my ER shift yesterday telling me that he doesn't care how may ER hours I have or how many ALS calls I have, whether I get to base out of the hospital or not depends on my performance in the ER. Further, at the end of that shift there was no paperwork defining criteria that I had met or not met or any other objective statement from anyone about the previous 12 hours, including nothing stating that I had even been there - :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: Thanks for letting me rant. I will see if I am allowed to take care of patients today.
emtannie Posted November 8, 2008 Posted November 8, 2008 WOW Kaisu.... It sounds like the service that you are working for is flying by the seat of their pants, and that they DON'T really have any new hire protocols... or if they do, they sure aren't familiar with them. On hiring, you should have been provided with a new hire package, which outlines all staffing regulations, and orientation and probationary requirements. Any items like the 12 hours in ER should have been outlined in that, if not during interviews before that time. There should have a 3 month review, at which time you and your supervisor sit down and review what orientation has been completed, and what still needs to be done, then a 6 month review. It should all be set up on your first day. This is NOT your problem - it is your supervisor's problem, and their supervisor's problem. I know you are between a rock and a hard place right now - your first medic position, and you don't want to rock the boat, and you want to get some experience under your belt. I don't know how hard it would be for you to move to a different service, but I am assuming that that is not really an option. If that is not an option, please write down all of these incidents in detail. Dates, times, who was there, who said what, everything. I suspect going to your supervisor right now would not improve matters at all, as they are the ones who neglected to make sure your orientation was complete. I would keep a diary of incidents like this, and then, in the event that your supervisors try to dump responsibility on you for anything like this, you can refer back to your diary, and ask them "whose responsibility is it to ensure that the orientation is complete?" "Whose responsibility is it to make sure that all documentation gets to the medical director?" and remind them that you are doing your best to do your job, and that you can't do yours and theirs. I would hazard a guess that your supervisors and management are medics who have worked in the field a long time, and have moved into management, without the education and skills to actually be management. Being a 20 year medic does not make one a good manager. It is sad that this extra baggage is getting in the way of you doing what you should be doing - taking care of patients... Keep your chin up; you are a good medic- you know your stuff...
Richard B the EMT Posted November 8, 2008 Posted November 8, 2008 I think it is time to approach a manager and ask for specifics as to what they want you to do. If they never told you, you cannot be responsible, even if you are. Confusing? Yes, but a new employee shouldn't be just tossed into the mix without a hard copy of what, within the company/department/agency/squad, is expected of them. It is like a condition that happened to me in one of the non 9-1-1 services I worked in. We had a sheet to log anything unusual. I had been following policy, to that point, in recording if the patient was obese. One day, before I was told which ambulance and partner I was with, the dispatcher told me not to log that information any more. "OK". I then walked to the garage section, and was confronted to the company owner. He asked me if I had been told not to put onto the log if a patient was obese or not. I told him I had been so told. "Then why do you persist in doing that, if you'd been told not to do it?" He was at least apologetic when I advised him I had only been told perhaps 90 seconds before.
sirduke Posted November 8, 2008 Posted November 8, 2008 I don't know where this Mickey Mouse organization is you work for, but, you need to get the hell away from there and get with a service that has its sheite together. What you are describing is a recipe for disaster, and when the shiete hits the fan, it will fly back on you. I would document every word said, and every action taken and not taken. Seriously, this sounds like a bad bad place for you to be. Come to Georgia, we need medics bad.
tniuqs Posted November 8, 2008 Posted November 8, 2008 The ED doc and our medical director (who has never said one word to me) approached my partner and said "If she brings one more patient into my ED, I will yank Medical Direction". :shock: :shock: :shock: WTF Well Go ask the MD then ? HIS ER does he own it ? So why is he talking with your partner concerning YOU, thats very under handed and VERY unprofessional. What the problem is here is a lack of MD balls or he is playing some form of game, that you have no knowledge about ..... He is going to yank Medical Direction instead of educate .... kinda tells a story to me. Lots of good medical Directors out in the ER world, he is the one that sucks, got to agree with sirduke. cheers
paramedicmike Posted November 8, 2008 Posted November 8, 2008 Find a new job. Find it now. Do not wait. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. The longer you stay, the greater the danger to you. Run. Do not walk. Do it. NOW! Good luck.
Eydawn Posted November 9, 2008 Posted November 9, 2008 I agree with Mike. You have no recourse- your doc is is screwball as the rest of your superiors. RUN. PVHS is hiring out here in Fort Collins and the climate is good... (I think you might know what I mean- if not, PM me). If not to here, then SOMEWHERE. You're going to get fried by a faulty system and you need to get out of there, or you may lose your chance to really practice paramedicine. --Wendy
Kaisu Posted November 9, 2008 Author Posted November 9, 2008 So I went in and talked to the medical director today. He flat out told me that the problem was NOT with me.. I got caught in the crossfire. He told me that he had attempted to get my superiors to do the correct thing with me and was being ignored. He says he was stressed out and he lost it. My immediate supervisor says that no matter what happens, he will give me glowing letters of recommendation and commendation. This is a tough, insular little redneck town and I am not ready to let them run me out. I ran on patients today (am on a 24) and was complimented by patient's family. My partner says the jerks can't handle the fact that I am from somewhere else and am better educated then they are. My immediate supervisor says the only thing they got to crab about is my lack of field experience and I am rectifying that every day. Thank you so much for your support. I am hanging in there until they all eat their words..... then I will leave... :twisted: PS.. while I was in the medical director's office my EMT partner was talking to the unit clerk. In barely concealed glee she stated that "I bet her cert is being pulled cause they weren't happy with her yesterday." When I confronted the UC about it she played dumb. such assholes.... PPS - my partner says these people are famous for running outsiders out of town and out of the job. She says it wasnt the smartest pick for the first place to work. Guess what - this gal wont be run out by anyone.. so thanks again for listening.
akroeze Posted November 9, 2008 Posted November 9, 2008 So I went in and talked to the medical director today. He flat out told me that the problem was NOT with me.. I got caught in the crossfire. He told me that he had attempted to get my superiors to do the correct thing with me and was being ignored. He says he was stressed out and he lost it. My immediate supervisor says that no matter what happens, he will give me glowing letters of recommendation and commendation. This is a tough, insular little redneck town and I am not ready to let them run me out. I ran on patients today (am on a 24) and was complimented by patient's family. My partner says the jerks can't handle the fact that I am from somewhere else and am better educated then they are. My immediate supervisor says the only thing they got to crab about is my lack of field experience and I am rectifying that every day. Thank you so much for your support. I am hanging in there until they all eat their words..... then I will leave... :twisted: PS.. while I was in the medical director's office my EMT partner was talking to the unit clerk. In barely concealed glee she stated that "I bet her cert is being pulled cause they weren't happy with her yesterday." When I confronted the UC about it she played dumb. such assholes.... PPS - my partner says these people are famous for running outsiders out of town and out of the job. She says it wasnt the smartest pick for the first place to work. Guess what - this gal wont be run out by anyone.. so thanks again for listening. Why put yourself through that hell though? Pride?
reaper Posted November 9, 2008 Posted November 9, 2008 Why put yourself through that hell though? Pride? Exactly. You may be setting yourself up for a fall you don't want! What if something serious happens on a call and the higher ups decide to lay the blame on you, just to get rid of you? What if they report it to the state as negligence and one of the state guys is buddies with the supervisor? Are you prepared to lose the cert that you worked so hard to get? They can blackball you in that area or state, then you will have to move to find work. Why not start looking around for a better service. Work part time for them. If they are a decent place, then leave this one and go full time with the new service. That would be the way I would deal with it. Just don't let pride get you in to deep. Let them win, who cares, but them? :wink:
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