First Ride -a-long was a total bust.

[MetalMedic]

So I'm a little depressed as the first ride-a-long I had was a total bust.

For it being St. Paddy's day, we had a total of 2 calls. First was a depressed person who's family called in. I got to take his blood pressure, but since he spoke another language (that I don't) I couldn't really gather anything. There was family around, but the EMT jumped out and was asking SAMPLE questions before I could even get out of the back of the truck. Which is fine for the first call, but I wished I had been out there to witness it.

Second call was a guy who left the hospital with a IV Cath in his arm, nothing I could do there.

I did talk with the EMTs a little bit, but getting information or trying to get them to talk to me was a little like pulling teeth. They made it clear they didn't want me there because they thought I was with X program. When I told them I was with Y program, they eased up a little bit and responded to my questions a little bit better. But they didn't really go out of their way to explain a lot of things even though I asked as many open-ended questions as possible.

Also, I really felt like a 3rd wheel, while waiting for a calls to respond to, we primarly drove around the area and the two guys made comments about every woman that walked by. It was cute for about an hour, and after that it was really degrading. I'm sure they didn't even think about it and I'm sure they do it all the time, but instead of helping me learn what to do on slow nights I would over hear comments that were more suited for a guy at a bar.

Now to be fair, they did offer me some great pieces of advice, and they did give me a pretty good review to bring back to my instructor. I guess I'm at a loss for what to rate them. I know it's not their issue that there were no calls and they weren't HORRIBLE at teaching, but knowing they didn't want me there, didn't make an effort to teach, and making degrading comments makes it kind of hard for me to give them a glowing review.

I know it's not their fault we didn't get any calls, heck there were 3-4 ambulances lined up on the city lines to respond to either city, so it was just a slow night period. Heck they were even calling ambulances back to base.

Here's the tough part: The Medic we were with did say that the scores were factored into their reviews and to go easy. Which I understand, I don't want to throw them under the bus based on circumstances, that's kind of a jerk thing to do. Also, the medic I was with was a student of my instructor and they are great friends. So I almost feel obligated to give them the best review ever. I'm just trying to be fair.

I'm just afraid that lack of sleep, lack of nicotine (1 week smoke free! YAY) and lack of calls may be clouding my judgement.

Suggestions?

Thanks!

-MetalMedic

Edited March 18, 2011 by MetalMedic

[DwayneEMTP]

Outstanding review of your evening!

Yeah man, slow is slow. Sometimes it sucks.

As to the female comments, how did the crew deal with the patients? In a kind professional manner? Or did you see the comments reflected in patient care? If the care was good, disregard the comments. You're seeing into their own little private world, and people that spend so much time together in such close proximity often go to extremes to entertain themselves.

As preceptors, based on your comments, this team sucks and you should rate them in that manner, especially as you're very able to explain their shortcomings. I would value such a review very highly if that was my crew to manage. If people are too afraid to speak, then nothing ever changes and the shithead continue to rule the kingdom. And yeah, after dissing you for most of the night, his asking you to rate him highly was a majorly pussy move, and would certainly be commented on in my review.

If your instructor doesn't thank you for your thorough review, then you need to be very, very suspect as to his value as an instructor. EMS is about learning, and very often we learn from criticism. There is truly nothing more enjoyable in my professional life that honest, concise criticism, even though sometimes it forces me to admit that I'm a jackass.

What level are you now? What is the purpose of your ride-outs?

Great post man...

Dwayne

[MetalMedic]

As to the female comments, how did the crew deal with the patients? In a kind professional manner? Or did you see the comments reflected in patient care? If the care was good, disregard the comments. You're seeing into their own little private world, and people that spend so much time together in such close proximity often go to extremes to entertain themselves.

Thanks for the perspective! I was so put-off by the comments that I was hoping it wouldn't cloud my judgement. I'll make sure to leave that off my assessment of them. The patient care they provided was outstanding , but I just didn't get to see more than about 10 minutes of it in my 5 hours.

As preceptors, based on your comments, this team sucks and you should rate them in that manner, especially as you're very able to explain their shortcomings.

I wouldn't say they were horrible, but they weren't that amazing either, but it was my first time and don't really have something to compare them with.

What level are you now? What is the purpose of your ride-outs?

I'm an EMT-B in training. Our class requires at least 10 hours total of ride time. Thankfully this was my first time out.

The silver lining in all this is that I know if there is a slow night at work I can deal with it. And even though it was slow, seeing the respect we get from the public is pretty cool.

And I have to admit, I did feel like a rockstar jumping out of the back of the cab with the purple gloves sticking out of my back pocket... even if it was just to stretch.

-MetalMedic

[HERBIE1]

Thanks for the perspective! I was so put-off by the comments that I was hoping it wouldn't cloud my judgement. I'll make sure to leave that off my assessment of them. The patient care they provided was outstanding , but I just didn't get to see more than about 10 minutes of it in my 5 hours.

I wouldn't say they were horrible, but they weren't that amazing either, but it was my first time and don't really have something to compare them with.

I'm an EMT-B in training. Our class requires at least 10 hours total of ride time. Thankfully this was my first time out.

The silver lining in all this is that I know if there is a slow night at work I can deal with it. And even though it was slow, seeing the respect we get from the public is pretty cool.

And I have to admit, I did feel like a rockstar jumping out of the back of the cab with the purple gloves sticking out of my back pocket... even if it was just to stretch.

-MetalMedic

Give it some time. The EMS gods are very fickle. I cannot tell you how many times we had multiple shootings, a horrendous MVA, a great cardiac or medical call IMMEDIATELY after our student/rider had left for the day or was in class. Just the way it works. Obviously the call volume of the system has a lot to do with your "luck", but all you can do is be patient.

If at the end of your scheduled ride time, you still have not seen much, ask the powers that be for another day or 2. It's well worth the extra effort and time.

Edited March 18, 2011 by HERBIE1

[crotchitymedic1986]

When you have such down-time, use it to lay your hands on every piece of equipment in the truck and ask questions about it. It is very often the case that third riders are treated poorly or ignored, which is sad, we were all there once, you think we would go out of our way to treat you better.

[Stitches]

When I was going through EMT class, I think I went on three ride alongs before I even got a single call. I understand how frustrating it can be when you need to get x number of patient contacs in, and your spending every availalbe weekend at a fire station, but nothing happens. Some departments really are better than others, so I'd recomend trying to ride with as many different departmensts as you can.

If it was me, I'd be honest in your eval - they provided great patient care, but were not very good on your end.

Best of luck to ya!

[MetalMedic]

Thanks for the thoughts everyone!

I just wanted to clarify that the tough part was trying to get replies from the EMT and medic about questions I had, not that it was slow. (Although that kind of was stinky too, that was out of everyone's hands).

I'll sign up with a different service to ride with next time to get a taste for different companies. Thanks

-MetalMedic

Edited March 18, 2011 by MetalMedic

[island emt]

The only question I would have is were the commentaries made about passing females what would be considered derogatory? If they were did you mention to them that it was making you uncomfortable?

It is your right under the law to not have to put up with this and it could very well be considered sexual harassment on their part. They should know better and maybe they wanted you to feel like part of the crew with all it's warts.

Different crews look at ride alongs in many different ways. To some it's as if they are babysitting and others take it as a chance to share the knowledge they have learned , AKA street smarts.

Once you finish school, it will take some time to really understand the requirements of the job. Things that if you get a great preceptor crew they will share with you and help you understand things that might save your life in the future.

For twenty years I was a preceptor in charge of making sure all newbies were taught the street smarts to keep them healthy and alive in an urban system with some very scary neighborhoods. I was a taskmaster in making sure they paid attention in the hope that they could learn to love the job and not get hurt or killed on the job. Thankfully most paid attention and turned into long term providers of prehospital care.

Good luck in the future and don't let one bad experience color your views of the system.

[Lone Star]

I personally would include all information you've shared here.

Part of being a preceptor is being able to lead by example. If you're not professional enough to treat your student any better than this, maybe you're not 'preceptor material' and I surely wouldn't want you as a 'shining example' of professionalism within my company!

The very fact that they asked you to 'go easy on the review' is a red flag in my eyes that they knew what they were doing was unprofessional, and wasn't behavior that they would be proud of if it ever came to light.

No, the crew cannot help how many calls you get or don't get during a shift, but their actions between calls is well within their control.

As it's part of their job to honestly evaluate your performance, it's yours to honestly evaluate them.

As preceptors, based on your comments, this team sucks and you should rate them in that manner, especially as you're very able to explain their shortcomings. I would value such a review very highly if that was my crew to manage. If people are too afraid to speak, then nothing ever changes and the shithead continue to rule the kingdom. And yeah, after dissing you for most of the night, his asking you to rate him highly was a majorly pussy move, and would certainly be commented on in my review.

If your instructor doesn't thank you for your thorough review, then you need to be very, very suspect as to his value as an instructor. EMS is about learning, and very often we learn from criticism.

I wholeheartedly concur with your evaluation, Dwayne. Glossing over a bad review because it might reflect poorly in their company performance report accomplishes nothing. This only keeps bad preceptors on the road, and gives them no incentive to maintain a professional demeanor and bearing ESPECIALLY when training students. Do you REALLY think that they would have done the same thing for you if you were a lousy student, just so you can look good in the eyes of your instructor?

[kndoug1]

I feel your pain. My first ride out was a total bust as well. As students, we were told to show up 10 minutes early to check in and what not, and I ended up beating my crew to the station and got assigned to a completely different unit. These medics were not expecting to have a student that day. They were climbing in their rig when the director came up and told them that they were going to be stuck with a student. Of course, they were not happy and I had to hear about it all day! I spent 12 hours with them and for most of the time they complained about how much they hated having students tag along because they never got good calls, etc etc. It made for a very uncomfortable situation. They were foul-mouthed and extremely rude, and I was a bit offended. HOWEVER, the paper work for my review on them asked nothing about a personal experience. It asked about how my preceptors practiced medicine and if I learned anything. They got a good review because yes, I did learn things even though they did not explain what they were doing or why they were doing it...which I actually found more helpful than them just coming out and answering my questions. I ended up looking up the answers to my questions in my text book (which I took with me). So after we would drop patients off, I would pull out my book as they were filling out their PCR and look for the answers to my questions.

But because of the crappy environment, I attached a note to my review for our director to read and explained what happened and how I would not necessarily recommend that they set up anymore students with this set of medics (we didn't schedule our own, the director set them up for us). Thankfully, I was one of several who has said the same thing about this group, and was told that no other students were scheduled to ride with them for this reason.

Point of this long-winded reply? You should make the review about the medicine practiced. If they did a good job and treated their patients with the respect they should have, then the review itself should be a good one. But you also need to make it known about the comments and the uncomfortable situation/bad learning environment. If no one says anything, more students will end up with this group. And it sounds like you did not learn much, which is the point of the ride outs.

Don't let one bad experience ruin this experience for you! Our program required us to partake in 50 hours of ride outs in 5 weeks. I met a lot of people, and each have their own way of teaching and dealing with students. I found some that I really liked, and some that I couldn't stand. Make it known to at least your program director about any problems you had with your crew. Nothing is going to change if you don't say something. Hopefully you will meet someone who loves to teach and who will make a positive impact on your life! Good luck!