nerves

[emt12resq]

I am relativly new to the whole ems thing. Ive always been interested in it but just got the nerve to join a company about a year ago. I love the adrenaline rush i get when my pager goes off im still a rookie so i def. get excited. I have a bit of a problem though. When i get on a call around cwertain people I freeze up. its like my whole mind goes blank. I know my stuff i do even though im new its just certain people are intimidating and i forget everything. Is there anyway to stop this to stop the freeze up? Please give me some advice. thank you

[spenac]

Just don't let people intimidate you. But I will admit in the beginning at times some of the people that helped me (i.e. instructors) when we would work a scene together sometimes caused me to slow down and let them take the lead. But mostly I just focus on the patient and ask for the same things I would from any other partner. It will get easier as you get more education and experience.

[emtannie]

Ask yourself what it is about them that intimidates you, and go from there. Is it because they are more confident and knowledgeable? You will get there! Or is it because they push you around or treat you poorly? If that is the case, stand up for yourself - I hope that isn't the case, but it does happen.

Don't let people intimidate you. Use each time that you work with these people to take the opportunity to learn from them, and soon you won't be intimidated. Ask questions after the call, when they have time to answer them, and learn from them. Continue to educate yourself in all areas.

Don't give up. The more calls you go on, the more comfortable you will get. You will do just fine.

[Asysin2leads]

emt12resq, be forwarned, through little fault of your own, and owing a great deal more to the fact that I have recently been forced into a "mentor unit" at work, which increases my workload by approximately 150%, I am now on permanent rookie search and destroy mode. You now have 30 seconds to clean up your post and stop being a dumb rookie, starting... NOW.

[brentoli]

I have recently been forced into a "mentor unit" at work

Is that like the NY version of a concentration camp? Or more like PMITA prison?

[VaREMS1]

Ahhh, mentors. Feelgood EMS.

Sometimes, it can be beneficial. We have that type of thing in some agencies here. I don't know what all is involved in ASys's unit, but here it's primarily to help new employees become familiar with how things are done. Some folks come into our system from a different one, with totally different sets of protocols, including at the Paramedic level.

It's also in place to help brand new employees, who might be brand new EMT's as well. The "mentor", who is technically an FTO (field training officer), works with them, evaluates them, and makes the reccommendation to allow them to work the back by themselves, if/when they are ready to do so. This also applies to medics as well, as far as protocols go, because the OMD (Operational Medical Director) does not allow medics to work solo, (under his/her license) until he/she feels confident that the medic in question is ready to do so.

My condolences, Asys. Seriously. It sounds like your situation is more of a handholding detail. If so, I feel for you man.

[WelshMedic]

Whoever coined the phrase "EMS eats it's own young"? I thought it was spot on at the time, and I still do.....

If you're new to this game then there is so much to be absorbed that sometimes our "hard disk" freezes up. That's not a necessarily a catastrophe when you're working with more experienced people. You do, however, need to analyze why it is happening and try and work on it. There will come a time that you will be the most experienced crew member and everyone will be looking at you.

Also, not to be discouraging, but there are just some people that are not cut out for EMS. It's not a crime and you'd be no lesser a person for it. In fact looking at some of the deranged people on this forum , then I'd rather consider it a compliment.

I wish you well in sorting this problem out.

WM

[Dustdevil]

I am relativly new to the whole ems thing. Ive always been interested in it but just got the nerve to join a company about a year ago.

The answer here is really quite self evident, and self explanatory, but I'll go over it anyhow.

The number one rule of EMS: There is no problem in EMS that education is not the definitive and absolute answer to.

That said, I notice you said nothing about education in your post. You're eighteen years old and have been doing something EMS related (not sure what "joined a company" even means) for a year now. Already, we have a serious problem in this scenario. The education necessary for even minimal, entry level competence in EMS is two years of full-time college. Unless you are the next Doogie Houser, I am guessing that you did not complete EMT and paramedic schools between the ages of 15 and 17. So, what apparently happened is that you began to do a job you had never been educated to perform. That being the case, I really fail to understand how you could possibly be surprised that you are uncomfortable performing that job. I mean, really... I wouldn't even think of cutting people's hair or cooking their food without first getting a proper education. That would be insane, and possibly illegal. Why would anybody be so stupid as to assume that they could just go out and start providing medical care to human beings without the proper education? And, if they did, how could they really not understand why they were not any good at it? Everytime I try to cook something and end up making myself sick, I know exactly why I got sick. Because I have never had the slightest bit of culinary education or training. How hard is that to figure out? And, if you have that much difficulty figuring out the painfully obvious, then are you really of the intellectual capacity to ever understand a medical education, even if you attempted one?

I love the adrenaline rush i get when my pager goes off im still a rookie so i def. get excited.

I think that about sums it up. That is the full extent of your interest in EMS. If you actually had the slightest interest in MEDICINE, you'd be well into the educational process by now. But somehow, given an entire years time to get serious, you never got past the "E" in EMS. Take that as a sign. You aren't cut out for it.

[brentoli]

If you actually had the slightest interest in MEDICINE, you'd be well into the educational process by now. But somehow, given an entire years time to get serious, you never got past the "E" in EMS. Take that as a sign. You aren't cut out for it.

I'm still an EMT for a year now, does that make me not cut out for it? :shock:

[Dustdevil]

I'm still an EMT for a year now, does that make me not cut out for it? :shock:

Unless I am mistaken, you are not on an ambulance, attempting to practise medicine without an education. That is a definitive difference.