Professionalism and the lack thereof.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I've thought a lot about how I want to present this. I'm kind of in a tough spot given my status as a grad student in this particular clinical setting. However, what took place today by EMS providers in the area where I'm doing this particular rotation made me so angry I couldn't see straight.

The information I think I can share at this point is pretty generic and will be addressed anonymously to those in question. We can all learn from this experience, though.

From a professionalism standpoint, appearance is hugely important. Scruff on your face may be fine if you're a Hollywood actor or a model for GQ or something. If you haven't shaved in a few days and look like you haven't bathed in a couple days it doesn't instill a lot of confidence. Even less so when your white uniform shirt is dirty and sloppily tucked (difficult to understand as it was still morning... not like you've been out running calls all night) over your belly that hangs to your knees. Reeking of cigarette smoke compounds all this.

Couple this with one of your partners (and really, do you need 6 people to show up for a call that can be adequately managed by 2?) who tried to deny the access of a patient family member by raising your voice to a trauma surgeon by announcing "911 is for emergencies! How would you feel if we waited for the family only to have this patient have a head bleed? You'd feel pretty stupid now, wouldn't you?" First of all, the family member was not going to delay you. Second of all, raising your voice is by itself unprofessional. Thirdly, you have no ground to stand on as you didn't listen to the report from another physician present and you didn't even bother to assess the patient! Not even for lung sounds on an intubated patient! And you have the gall to raise your voice to two physicians and question/lecture them?

Whiskey? Tango? Foxtrot?

I have never been so embarrassed to be associated with EMS and other paramedics as I have been today. I have never been so disgusted and disheartened at the blatant demonstration of ignorance, incompetence and unprofessionalism as I was after witnessing events from today. I have never been so angry in a professional arena as I was today being forced to watch you make fools of yourself and give this industry and profession a black eye.

So, way to go Kent County EMS. All the progress that some of us have fought for in tireless efforts to improve EMS was tossed out the window by the inability of you guys to demonstrate even the most basic of courtesies to other health care providers, patients and their family members.

This isn't rocket surgery (my Dust-ism for the day). This is basic stuff. Every single one of you should be fired for how you handled yourself. AND you should be compelled to write letters of apology to all of the people your ignorance affected. You have disgraced yourselves, paramedics nationwide, and EMS as a whole.

edit: corrected a few, minor grammatical issues. No content changes made.

So maybe next time you should take a video with your cell phone, make sure to catch all the unprofessional activity and if it's not involving a patient nor the patient isn't seen or identified, post the video on Youtube. then send an anonymous message or phone call to the ambulance service supervisors and give them the link.

I wonder how fast they get discipline going there?

Or don't post it on Youtube but send it to the supervisor or boss at the ambulance service email. Let them know the next time that you see this level of behaviour it will be posted on Youtube and broadcast to the masses. Tell the person you are talking to that you hope it won't go viral.

[paramedicmike]

That thought did cross my mind. However, I think such action would have had me immediately removed from my clinical site. Trying to balance learning, working with my preceptor, and keeping faculty at school happy would certainly be much more difficult if I started filming like that.

[kevkei]

Bad situation you found yourself in. The attitude and behaviour is unacceptable, as it the appearance and professionalism. To be honest, I care a little less about a person’s appearance compared to what comes out of their mouth and how they articulate. Meaning, you can have polished boots, pressed pants and shirt, etc and sound like an idiot... or, you can be a professional (not just look it) and act like one. If you can do both, all the better.

That aside, did you take the time to apologize for a colleagues misgivings and try to make it a teachable moment? The point being you can diffuse a bad situation and minimize the negativity using the bad apple principle. Paint them as a spoiled fruit but the rest of the crop is sound. If you cast off the spoiled fruit and separate it from the good, you can salvage the crop. Every industry and/or profession has its share of bad apples and if any of them deny it, then they are part of the problem.

I like to think that two wrongs don't make a right and taking the high road does more to gain respect and progress our industry than getting even. Is it possible that they felt 'the guy's an idiot?' vs 'Paramedics are idiots?'

[HellsBells]

..But House is unkempt, unshaven and rude, and he is the best doctor ever.

[MPLS]

Here is a question related to professionalism. At your department, do they supply you with new uniforms regularly? I can imagine can get pretty beat up over the course of a year. If the departments care about appearance they should provide new uniforms to the medics every year or so, correct? So does this happen or are you guys forced to come out of pocket for uniform expenses?

[medicgirl05]

We are provided with our navy blue polos. They have our county logo and our name embroidered on them. We are issued 2 at a time and we must turn in our old ones to receive new ones. We are usually issued them when we "need" them. Mine right now are in poor condition and I started asking for new ones about 6 months ago. One of them was sprayed with some kind of hot liquid out of the rescue tools the firemen were operating(yes, I thanked them for that). The liquid left a dark stain over most of the front of the shirt and it has drops on the sleeves also. Unfortunately things don't happen very fast around here.

[DFIB]

We buy our own uniforms

[hatelilpeepees]

We turn ourselves into these type medics by working too many hours.  I always tell my folks that if you had a job where you made love to the sexiest people in the world for 100 hours each week, sooner or later you would get tired of even that job.  I always tried to do a differnt type of job entirely as my part-time job, so I would not get burned out.And yes our company does issue uniforms, but in this economy, they do not do it until absolutely necessary, because of the expense.

Edited October 12, 2011 by hatelilpeepees

[BushyFromOz]

We turn ourselves into these type medics by working too many hours. I always tell my folks that if you had a job where you made love to the sexiest people in the world for 100 hours each week, sooner or later you would get tired of even that job. I always tried to do a differnt type of job entirely as my part-time job, so I would not get burned out.And yes our company does issue uniforms, but in this economy, they do not do it until absolutely necessary, because of the expense.

"in this economy"? Do you withold gloves, fresh sharps containers and diesel too?

Isn't that like making an excuse of a teenager "sorry officer, i know he assaulted that little old lady, but he's tired and hes studying for exams..."

Talk about absolving adults of responsibility, and if burning themselves out is the cause of them being tools then i have no sympathy. Taking responsibility for your choices and actions might be a novel idea to these twits.

[paramedicmike]

Hey Kev,

Welcome back. Glad you're back around. Although, it'd be nice if the reason for your return was a little happier.

Bad situation you found yourself in. The attitude and behaviour is unacceptable, as it the appearance and professionalism. To be honest, I care a little less about a person’s appearance compared to what comes out of their mouth and how they articulate. Meaning, you can have polished boots, pressed pants and shirt, etc and sound like an idiot... or, you can be a professional (not just look it) and act like one. If you can do both, all the better.

I agree with you completely. Unfortunately, in this particular situation, they neither looked or played the part.

That aside, did you take the time to apologize for a colleagues misgivings and try to make it a teachable moment? The point being you can diffuse a bad situation and minimize the negativity using the bad apple principle. Paint them as a spoiled fruit but the rest of the crop is sound. If you cast off the spoiled fruit and separate it from the good, you can salvage the crop. Every industry and/or profession has its share of bad apples and if any of them deny it, then they are part of the problem.

Yep. My preceptor is a sharp guy. He knows what's what. I still took the time to apologize for this individual's behaviour. I may have even uttered the words "bad apple" in our discussion.

I like to think that two wrongs don't make a right and taking the high road does more to gain respect and progress our industry than getting even. Is it possible that they felt 'the guy's an idiot?' vs 'Paramedics are idiots?'

I'd like to think it's the former. Unfortunately, our conversation was limited due to another patient waiting for us to scrub. One of the nurses who also witnessed all of this and I had a discussion this morning between cases. It seems pretty clear that this was simply an issue of this guy's an idiot.

That being said, the individuals in question, more so the one with the big mouth, are representative of the industry as a whole. If one acts like this guy did, and people have otherwise limited interaction with EMS, it's not a far jump to conclude that we must all act like a bunch of unprofessional boneheads. I was able to do some damage control at the time of the event. But if he's done this to us, who else has he done this to?

Good to see you're back.