Need some advice guys: I am a fairly new tech. Ive been working for the city a couple months now. I LOVE my job, however, I keep finding myself on the short end of the stick. Let me explain. There are a cornucopia of Techs and Medics here, as Im sure those of you who also work for EMS in the city know. So far, I have had the privilege to work with some awesome techs and medics. Those are the ones who love their job, care for their patients, and are willing to share their knowledge and experience. I have also worked with techs and medics who could give a damn about the job, patients, and protocol. Here is where Im having an issue... Say you are riding with a medic who has been on the job for a while. Perhaps they are burned out, or maybe they just assume that neglecting proper protocol or taking shortcuts at the expense of the patient will go unnoticed. The medic takes all the shortcuts: walking patients to the ambulance, forgoing backboards for patients who meet protocol guidelines, neglecting to get baseline vitals, little things like that. You get the pt loaded up and the medic looks at you and says this is all you. You are ok with that until you realize that you have to document everything in narrative format and you were told to forgot about all the basics, and you went against protocol on basically everything you did leading up to transport. Where is the line? At what point do you start advocating for your patient based on protocols that were placed there for a reason? I dont want to be that new guy that rolls around reminding veterans of standard operating procedures or telling them how to do their job..... Nobody likes that guy. Its just that I keep getting QA on runs because my partner for the day, whos been on the job 13 years, knows whats best for the patient. Here is an example. Dispatched out to a pt with Injuries from a fall that happened yesterday. Pt is 92 complaining of neck and back pain. Didnt call yesterday cause they didnt want to bother anyone. Multiple bruises from the fall, aox4 and vitals are stable. Protocol is to board and collar based of the age and mechanism. Not everyone would agree with that but if its in the guidelines its in there for a reason. I suggest a board and collar and my 16 yr partner snickers and calls me a squirrel. He explains that this is a non recent fall and we were sent code 1. Get the pt to the ambulance and partner hands the run over to me. Found out the next day she had 2 compression fractures. How does a new guy on the job handle situations like this, without being....That guy. Thanks.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 15:53:47 +0000
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