Rant....

[brentoli]

ps you can't look stupid on the radio but you can sound pretty dumb

Can I keep that? I also work as a dispatcher. I think we need that plaque on the wall here.

I guess I didn't mean to make myself sound perfect. More along the lines of "I can eff up bad enough on my own I don't need help doing it." It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't one of the top call takers and has had a years experience. It just gets frustrating. Hence the rant

[katbemeEMT-B]

to bad our partners aren't perfect and we are. one of the first things i learned in school is paramedic = pair of medics. maybe you should accually sit down with the ff and just let him or her know exactly what you expect from them. personally i love having the fire men with me as they save my back and try to help to The Best of Their Ability not mine. ps you can't look stupid on the radio but you can sound pretty dumb

What you have to keep in mind is that some times people can't be taught regardless of how hard you try. Not true you say. Yes it is. the reason being is that they don't feel they have anything to learn. They know it all. They are the perfect EMTs. :laughing8: In my case one of the EMTs has been on the service (paid volunteer BLS) for 20 years. He attends the training sessions put on by our service but that's it. He goes to no conferences, nor dies he attend any other training sessions offered through the local college or metro hospital. His thought is that he knows all that he needs to know to do his job. There is no telling him anything. We are scheduled three to a crew for twelve hour shifts 365 days a year. He feels it's his job to respond to calls when he's not scheduled and more often than not gets in the way of the crew. An example: Last week we were paged out for an elderly lady who fell. We were two blocks from the residence and he called dispatch from his radio and told them to tell us to cut the siren. He had no idea what we were doing in the rig. We were in the process of calling dispatch ourselves to put us out at the scene and my hand was on the switch for the siren to shut it off. Well, many other things took place that I won't get into but I will tell you about what put our patient in jeopardy. We placed her on a LBB and positioned ourselves to do a four person lift to the cot (two on each side). Just as we were about to lift he moves from his position on the lower left side of the patient to the feet. Had we continued lifting, we would have dropped her because of the force of the lift from the two opposite of me. He then argued with me over proper lifting procedure. Had something happened to this patient it would be the scheduled crews asses on the line not his.

Now as for the idiot behind the wheel. When you tell the person time and time again that everything they feel in front is multiplied 200 times in the back and they don't get it what else can you do. They go through a Emergency Driver Training Course so at one time they knew how to drive that rig. But when they take a corner so fast that they catapult you about the rig that is just plain ignorance. Think about how your patient is feeling by now. That whole thing about driving with due regard, that isn't meant just for other people on the road. That goes for the people in your rig too.

Our volunteer service currently has 6 first responders that do nothing but drive and fetch whatever we need. They do their job and do it well. The difference is they were willing to learn what their duties were and how to drive with due regard.

Now, if I hurt some poor schmucks feelings, too bad. My job is to care for my patients and look out for their well being not to stroke the egos of those whahoos that choose not to do their jobs or aren't willing to learn how to do them properly.

END OF RANT

[Happiness]

Brentoli yes you can make a sign and have fun with that. As for Khanek I to know what you mean as I have had to deal with the partner that makes you go from 0 to 60 in 45 seconds. He once got in my face (I was attending) with a patient (he freaked) that had FAINTED. He decided that this pt was a code 3 and in front of the patient told me that I had to move faster. I just kept on doing what I was doing and we went to the hospital code 3. The hospital was in a uproar because the patient was fine but the doc looked at me as to say I was an idiot (dont get me wrong i can be just as stupid as the next person). I in turn told the doc to talk to my partner as he was the decision maker for the code 3 and walked out of the room and let him take that flack. When we got back to the station I created a new poop hole for him that didn't close a year. (he moved) The thing that I had to learn is that is what my unit chief is for. If you have an issue put it in writing, find out what your stations policy is on emts coming to scences when not on shift and run with it.(you bring it to the table as a safety issue)

With every problem you have its always good to go to the table with a solution. I always tell my kids "There are always going to be people you don't like but you have to be the bigger person and deal with it" Anyways Have a great day all and remember "Saftey never takes a Holiday"

[Dustdevil]

Two best quotes in the thread:

...some times people can't be taught regardless of how hard you try.

(Translation: Some people are just idiots.)

If you have an issue put it in writing...

(Translation: Write the bastards up!)

[Asysin2leads]

You know, khanek, not to be a jerk about it, but I've read these horror stories countless numbers of times. If you have a member who is allowed to operate in this fashion, its not as much his fault as it is yours and your service's for not solving the situation. The only thing worse than people being, well, like that, are people letting it occur and then bitching about it later. Not to single you or your service out, because like I said, I've seen and heard this plenty of times, but EMS should not manage itself like a trailer park Thanksgiving dinner where we all sit around and complain about grandpa being on the sauce again. And I don't feel particularly like hearing how its the captain/chief/commandant/grand poopah of running the show's fault because he's too busy making time with the coeds doing the ride along. Volunteer services, and many professional services, too, need to either pick themself up out of the high school lunch table mentality or find something else to do. Although I liked my trailer park Thanksgiving dinner analogy better.

[katbemeEMT-B]

I don't think your being a jerk. I actually did go to the director of our service and he is now going to handle the situation with the guy that shows up when not on call. As I explained to the director, it's my a$$ if something happens to the patient and I'm not willing to take that risk. I do agree that if there is something wrong within your service you need to stand up and find a way to fix it. Our service had a bad reputation many years ago because one of its members smashed up the rig because he was drunk. It's taken a lot of work to gain the communities trust and we really don't want to lose that again.

[Dustdevil]

It's taken a lot of work to gain the communities trust and we really don't want to lose that again.

So... wankers lose trust of community. Community wakes up and replaces wankers with full-time professionals.

Hmmm... and you're saying this would be a bad thing?

[katbemeEMT-B]

So... wankers lose trust of community. Community wakes up and replaces wankers with full-time professionals.

Hmmm... and you're saying this would be a bad thing?

Nope, it wouldn't be a bad thing. But, knowing the economics of the community that wouldn't happen. They would be left without any service locally and have to wait for a service that takes in excess of 20 minutes to respond which would also be a BLS service. Until our community is large enough to be self supportive we have to protect what we have. The ALS service that I work for stations a rig for 16 hours a day in a neighboring town about 10 miles away. They are hoping to get approval to go 24 hrs there. I have talked to the director and once they get that they would like to work something out with us to provide service for my community also. Would it be an asset.? Yes. Will it happen? I don't know because our MD is kind of partial to another service from the Metro area. We don't much care for this Metro service as their standard of care is lacking. To them it's all about the money and how much they can stroke their egos.