EMS clinicals

[Kyle2011]

Hey all I am a emt student and we are starting clinicals and i was wonder what is it like? would any of you be willing to tell me what your first run was like, any details will help thank you

[zippyRN]

hello kyle

when you say you are starting clinicals ,I presume you will be 'third manning' rather than actively working as part of a crew ?

If this is the case, find out who you are going to be crewed up with and find out what they want from you. It might well be just to sit back and actively observe for a your first shift , so you get the feel of things, yes, you've got the knowledge from training but how much actual experience do you have with real patients ?

If you are brand new and green then any decent mentor / supervisor is going to let you get the feel of things and get comfortable with the environment and how things happen on an Ambulance , however if you are already an experienced and seasoned First responder or first aider, you have a feel for things in general and know how to talk to patients / relatives / other agencies and the new stuff is clinicla practice at your new level of training.

The other thing to consider is what are the outcomes required from this placement - is it simply to get the hours in or are you required to actually do patient care under the supervision of your mentor / supervisor , is there any other work associated with it ( probably not for a pure certification course , but if it's part of a wider training / education program there may well be .

[Kyle2011]

They want us to do alot of hands stuff at the end of the clinical the superviser fills out a sheet that says how much observing do we do, how much hands on stuff. (divided into many things like vitals) and if we are not doing alot of patient assessment our teacher will want us to work on that. Yes but our teacher stressed this is not a third rider thing this is hands on you will be dealing with real people and real lives. thank you for the information

hello kyle

when you say you are starting clinicals ,I presume you will be 'third manning' rather than actively working as part of a crew ?

If this is the case, find out who you are going to be crewed up with and find out what they want from you. It might well be just to sit back and actively observe for a your first shift , so you get the feel of things, yes, you've got the knowledge from training but how much actual experience do you have with real patients ?

If you are brand new and green then any decent mentor / supervisor is going to let you get the feel of things and get comfortable with the environment and how things happen on an Ambulance , however if you are already an experienced and seasoned First responder or first aider, you have a feel for things in general and know how to talk to patients / relatives / other agencies and the new stuff is clinicla practice at your new level of training.

The other thing to consider is what are the outcomes required from this placement - is it simply to get the hours in or are you required to actually do patient care under the supervision of your mentor / supervisor , is there any other work associated with it ( probably not for a pure certification course , but if it's part of a wider training / education program there may well be .

[Underdawg3ate1]

Our classes unfortunately didn't hold clinicals. I was lucky as I was already a volunteer and did plenty of "box" time. I wasn't allowed to crew chief calls but vitals, stabilizing limbs, board and collar, and general prepping and packaging the pt for transport under supervision were fair game for me.

I don't know why it's not a mandatory part of some schools as I think they would be beneficial for those becoming EMT's. Doing scenarios in a class room environment and being thrown into a chaotic scene where there are some serious injuries or someone who has coded, the difference is night and day. It would really test you as a person who can function under extreme stress and test you and what you've learned in class.

So the best advice to you is get your hands dirty with skills and ask questions, no matter how dumb or stupid you may feel. After the call review it with the crew to see what was done good, what could be done better, and what should never happen again! Ask your crew what they expect from you and if you feel uncomfortable doing something, let them know. If you feel confident in your skills then I think you'll do just fine. Also don't get down if the crew chief get on your case if you mess something up, it's a learning experience and nothing personal, I'm sure we've all been in that seat before!

GOOD LUCK!

Sean

[zippyRN]

They want us to do alot of hands stuff at the end of the clinical the superviser fills out a sheet that says how much observing do we do, how much hands on stuff. (divided into many things like vitals) and if we are not doing alot of patient assessment our teacher will want us to work on that. Yes but our teacher stressed this is not a third rider thing this is hands on you will be dealing with real people and real lives. thank you for the information

Excellent extra information there Kyle - this makes it easier to give you more advice.

You need to make sure who you are crewed up with is aware of what you need and what you want to get out of your placement and what you need to be signed off on, don't run before you can walk though , what (if any ) experience in patient care and /or public facing roles do you already have ?

Underdawg's post is good and there's a thread looking at it from the other side at the minute as well, ok it's called precepting new 'medics' but a lot of the principles apply regardless of the level the new person / student on placement is at.

http://www.emtcity.com/index.php/topic/19280-precepting-new-medics/page__p__251090

[Kyle2011]

ty for the post link and i dont have any experience with patient care, Im taking this as a high school class (stat regulated class) so i have not taken a first responder class and i dont realy get what you mean by public facing, do you mean dealing with family and such

Excellent extra information there Kyle - this makes it easier to give you more advice.

You need to make sure who you are crewed up with is aware of what you need and what you want to get out of your placement and what you need to be signed off on, don't run before you can walk though , what (if any ) experience in patient care and /or public facing roles do you already have ?

Underdawg's post is good and there's a thread looking at it from the other side at the minute as well, ok it's called precepting new 'medics' but a lot of the principles apply regardless of the level the new person / student on placement is at.

http://www.emtcity.c...page__p__251090

[zippyRN]

ty for the post link and i dont have any experience with patient care, Im taking this as a high school class (stat regulated class) so i have not taken a first responder class and i dont realy get what you mean by public facing, do you mean dealing with family and such

'public facing '

anything where you deal with the public e.g. working in a shop , running a stall at a fair or fete , reception duties at school ... stuff where you have to deal with strangers ...

[Kyle2011]

Iv hade some experience doing stuff at school such as catering events for my foods class, talking to people at my new work place im alright dealing with new people

'public facing '

anything where you deal with the public e.g. working in a shop , running a stall at a fair or fete , reception duties at school ... stuff where you have to deal with strangers ...

[Underdawg3ate1]

ty for the post link and i dont have any experience with patient care, Im taking this as a high school class (stat regulated class) so i have not taken a first responder class and i dont realy get what you mean by public facing, do you mean dealing with family and such

If you've never had pt contact then I would observe the first shift to get a feel for how the crew operates. After that and your comfortable start out with taking vitals and move up to asking questions, doing SAMPLE's, OPQRST's DCAP-BTLS's, scribing for the crew chief (obtaining and writing down pt info, meds, allergies, history), ect. Again ASK QUESTIONS when in doubt! After the call, review it with the crew, what the crew chief do a PCR (Pt Care Report) and ask to practice on the rigs equipment.

Zippy nailed it with public facing, something that as an EMS provider you'll be doing a lot of. Even if your not a people person, fake it, make yourself friendly or else it can AND well get back to your organization.

ASK QUESTIONS!

Ohh, my first EMS call was for a LOL (little old lady) who became sick after eating a tossed salad several hours earlier. She thought it may be from the cheese as it tasted different.She vomited several times and her CC was abdominal pain and nausea secondary to the vomiting. Vitals were stable throughout the call and she didn't have any other complaints. Sweet old lady and I know many would have considered it a BS call, but my crew treated her like gold. All I did was observe and help out with the litter and bags. A very positive initial impression for me.

Ohh yeah in case I forgot.....when in doubt.....ASK QUESTIONS!!!!

Sean