A good read for those new to EMS

[MAGICFITZPATRICK]

THANK YOU FOR THAT POST!

[ladyemt51_2000]

I've read ACLS for the EMT-B. Biggest crock of poop ever. It was too simplified to be of any true help.

I know I need reminding, even of the simplest things, after being an EMT for 10 years. Things I know but need to read again to help me be as efficient as I can be.

I thank the OP for sharing this with us to read.

[AZCEP]

I might be a bad person to review the book actually because of my volunteer experience and education. Most of the information was either too basic (i.e. the 3 cardiac rhythms covered were asystole, v-tach, and v-fib. These were the exact same rhythms covered during the AED portion of basic class) or too generalized (most specifically for me was the DNR section. While I know what they were LOOKING for with the question about family members requesting EMS personal to withhold resusctation [i.e. they can't], local policy where I'm at allows them to).

With the direction the current ECC guidelines are taking, if you can't learn from the ACLS provider manual what needs done and when, you really need to reconsider why you are an EMS provider.

It is too simple for anyone to get lost by reading.

[chbare]

Interesting read and rather nostalgic because I had similar feelings as a newly minted EMT-B just over 10 years ago. Not enough can be said about "following instructions well, perform skills quickly with quality, and anticipate their partner’s needs." While many people may find this insulting, it is true. This is how EMS works. As a new flight nurse, I am learning how important it is to know and accept your limitations as a provider. This is simply teamwork 101. I know when we go on a bad scene call, my role is more supportive because the medic usually takes over. I need to recognize my strengths and weaknesses and when the medic runs the show it is my job to act as his/her back bone and anticipate his/her needs and ensure that I can support my partner in any way possible. This is nothing against me as a provider, it is simply good team work. Not enough can be said about providing professional care and compassionate care. Patients really do judge us by how we act. I just flew a patient and we changed her whole outlook on the transfer by performing a small non medical task. My partner and I both knew that the weather was windy and cold and we had a few minute stretcher ride from the landing pad to the ER, so we covered her with our jackets to protect her from the wind. A small task just had big implications.

Take care,

chbare.

[JPINFV]

With the direction the current ECC guidelines are taking, if you can't learn from the ACLS provider manual what needs done and when, you really need to reconsider why you are an EMS provider.

It is too simple for anyone to get lost by reading.

If my company's training department had an ACLS manual in it then I would have picked that one up instead of the ACLS for EMT-Basics book.

[SSG G-man]

I always enjoy learning. I am Volunteer, and our EMS chief is a Flight Medic with the State Police (Marylands primary medevac). We were sitting around the other critiquing a call I was upset with myself about. It turned into about a hour and a half of his imparting much wisdom from his many years of experience. Many things that are not taught, but can only be learned through experience, and a few things he had read recently(I need to renew that JEMS subscription).

So if there are good resources out there to make me a better basic until I can progress (have to take care of the paying career first) please post away!

Sarge

[WendyT]

I just got my book in the mail and I'm happy to read about this person's tales in EMS.

People Care

Career-Friendly Practices for the Professional Caregivers

By Thom Dick & Friends.

Physician and medical ethicist Patch Adams was right, Medicine isnt about people's egos or about the sense of power that some might feel standing over someone who's helpless and miserable. It's not about us at all. It's about others, reaching out to us as friends and trusting us to help them as much as we can on the worst days of their lives.

Consequently, there's no such thing as a stupid call. We have all been subjected to a whole dialect of cynical terminology for what our industry calls "stupid calls." We should vigorously protect our right to laugh at some of the stuff we see happen in EMS. But we should probably not get upset when someone calls us in the middle of the night because they're lonely. Anyone who has ever felt truly alone knows what an emergency that can be. Every EMT class should discuss the meaning of EMS in the following way:

The E in EMS stands for Emergency, Not ours, but other people's.

The M in EMS stands for Medical. It doesnt stand for ME and it has nothing to do with more money for fire trucks.

The S in EMS stands for Service. It has nothing to do with self-esteem or any other kind of selfishness.

EMS is not manufacturing. It is the most important people business in history.

Aesop said in 550 BC: No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

The book is a great read to understanding what you the person in EMS does and to know that you hold within the palm of your hand, the heart of a giver.

[Ridryder 911]

F.Y.I. ... Thom Dick is not his real name, rather his pseudonym he uses for writing, albeit for many years in EMS rags...

R/r 911

[Dustdevil]

Actually, Thomas Dick is his real, given name, but he only uses it while writing. He changed his name to his wife's maiden name, which he uses in his personal life, because he didn't want his kids going through the same crap he got while growing up.

Truth is stranger than fiction!

Thom is good people.

The M in EMS stands for Medical. It doesnt stand for ME and it has nothing to do with more money for fire trucks.

[croaker260]

Actually, Thom is GREAT people. He has written many many articles that, while not always technically focused, are always people focused, and are always ...uhmm..whats the word...

oh yes...

WISE.

As a side note, Karen Powers was an EMT for most of her career at my service, and was a personal friend. Unfortunately she lost a battle to Cancer a bit ago. She too was GREAT people.

Her experience for that article was directly related to her time first as a "reserve EMT" and then as an employee with Ada County Paramedics. While the program has changed a bit, the principles she discusses remain essential to functioning well in our system, where no one is "just an EMT".