Well I'm as my grandmother would say "I'm up the creek without a paddle". Let me explain..
I had my second ride along today (EMT class) and it was horrible



The Station (I'm not naming anyone or anything) I had my ride along was just God awful. they got pissed that they had a call right as soon as they were going to go to breakfast. they B*tched and moaned the whole time until we got back and ate. Then we had a "frequent flyer" who all the medics hated and were nasty with (the lady had dementia so she was kinda loopy, I had no issues with due to my grandmother had it) and were happy to pass her off to one of the ER nurses.
I also noticed a couple of things while I was riding with them today
They b*tch and moan about little things



They act like sweethearts in the field and talk sh*t about people/patients at the station



The MICU I was in was dirty (floor was dirty, had DUST in the vents)



The one medic broke HIPPA, the medic talked about patient's personal info to other medics/firefighters (which I thought you couldn't unless your talking to someone that was on the call)
There were so many violations I don't know how to take it/what to do
I know what I learn in the classroom is going to be different in the real world but damn, I didn't think it was this bad


 

try working in a hospital.

Sounds like you're too thin skinned to work in emergency services.



 

Sounds like it.

Lol you're barely scratching the surface. Shew those same people they complain about picking up for a 30 minute ride to hospital, I deal with up to 10 hours as an mental eval hold in the ER.

It's old hat to them. The have seen and done their jobs for a while. After a while we all bitch about our jobs.
I work as an xray tech, worked in clinics and ED. If an Emergency room could have a $20 copay half the people in an ER would make an appt with their doc or go to Walgreens for over the counter meds.

This is why I hate dealing with emt's, dr's, nurses... all of them.
IMHO they should all make shit money, then they would be their because they actually
have empathy and actually enjoy helping people. To talk shit about people at their worst is seriously
in bad taste but lord knows 99.9% of all people have zero class whenyou get down to who they really are.

Say what you will but that's reality.

What is your job?

OP.  Not everyone is like that.  Some of us like our jobs and are professionals all the time both on and off calls.  You can learn something from every one you come into contact with.

The more I think about your post, the more it pisses me off.  My experience (20 years in busy public safety) is that most people in this business are awesome.  

Maybe you bring out the worst in people.

Are you the 0.1%?
I think your percentages are off a bit.
I have always found the humor in most of the calls I take, although I have had some days, usually dispatch related.
OP, you will find those guys often, but not always. Not everyone enjoys the job the same.

Change careers. Immediately. You cannot handle this one. Get out before you have any more invested, because this is the way it is.

I wouldn't call myself thin skinned, just that the EMTs & Medics I ran with were Assh*les



I guess I hold myself to higher standards then most, Call it what you want



 

If you meet an asshole today....well you met an asshole.

If you meet assholes constantly, you are the asshole.

Are you going to take the advice given and get out?

Nope because I'm in it to help people, not for money



Also I ran with another company before this one and they were the complete opposite of this one, So I think it's just a personal issue





 

Lol.  This isn't for you, OP.

I wouldn't say you're thinned skinned, you're just not an asshole. I say stick with it and keep you're high standards
of being professional! Better to be one in a million than a dime a dozen!

It is a personal issue.  YOUR personal issue.

People who deal with trauma on a routine basis have to build coping mechanisms.  It was explained to me like this a long time ago.....humans are emotional beings.  When you deal with trauma, you feel emotions.  How those emotions come out determines if you can handle this job.  Since we are emotional beings, when you deal with trauma, you can either laugh or you can cry.  If you can't function and start crying, you aren't doing anyone any good nor will you be able to do your job.  So sometimes you laugh at things that most people would be horrified at.  It's the way it is.  

I remember a suicide I went to awhile back.  18 yr old girl.  Shot herself in the chest with a .243.  I was the second on scene.  We worked on her till EMS arrived.  When they got there they scooped her and ran to the ER (ER was only a couple miles away).  I went to the ER and was standing there while the doctors and medical staff worked on her furiously.  After about 15 mins or so of working on her, the doctor suddenly said "ok that it".  Everyone stopped working on her and she died (actually had probably died by the point they gave up).  The doctor told his workers "good job everyone.  Good effort".  Then everyone left the room and the cleanup crew started working.  I did a GSR of her hands and then left too.  Point is, the medical staff didn't stand around bemoaning the sadness of the young girl dead laying on the table.  They have hundreds more patients to work on....this was one of many.  They don't have time to have sad feelings.  

We don't need or want sensitive people who are all worried about their feelings in the emergency services.  We are there to save lives (sometimes by taking lives in the case of LE).  We just don't have the luxury of that.  If I'm shot in the line of duty, I don't want some sensitive, emotional person showing up to work on me.  Send me someone who can save my life...and I don't give a shit what he or she says while doing so.  

As time goes on working in emergency services, you accept the trauma, blood, and gore.  You talk about it in matter of fact terms.  Some sensitive people would be offended by those terms.  Those type of people (who you appear to be) do not belong in emergency services.  

Do yourself and your future co workers a favor and get out now before you have too much time and effort invested.  

Here is a sample of emergency services mentality....I fully expect you to be offended by this so click at your own risk


As a side note, if you think emergency services people are blunt and crude, try going to an autopsy and listen to the autopsy doctors talk.  That's all I'll say about that

But, but....my feelings.  

I think people are getting the wrong impression of what I'm saying so I'm sorry if that's the case, I was trying to understand why no one (at that station) seemed to care about what they do. I know what you said and I agree with your statement. People deal with grieving different than others, I'm just trying to figure out why there Standards were so low.





Also good vid, We had a couple of those the other night.




 
 

I love volunteering as well



I agree It costs way to much to pay them shit money



 

I kept my EMT-B license for 4 years after getting it as I lost faith in humanity and dreaded going out on every call after awhile.  It was a part-time job (I was on the FD volunteer at the time as well) and it was in no way rewarding to me regardless of what I was being paid to do it.

HIPPA only applies if they used a patient's name or it was possible to identify the patient's identity with the details given.  If they didn't do that then they were good.

I really, really hated being in EMS and would rather work at McDonald's than ever do it again.  I regret that I wasted so many hours of my life (as well as $$) getting my license and especially the time studying it took to get my NREMT (and keep it) for as long as I did.

Sorry to hear that, I (currently) really enjoy FF/EMS



And to your question regarding HIPPA, The Medic Did use the patients real name



 

EMS= Every Minute Sucks
or
EMS= Earn Money Sleeping

it all depends on what location and/or what shift you work.

23 years as a volunteer FF/Medic. I loved being a FF... I liked being a medic. My department did an average of 700 fire/rescue calls and 2200 EMS calls.

90% of fire calls were fun/cool/exciting/good.
90% of medic calls were total BS/Taxi ride/call someone who cares/frequent flyer abusing the system.

If you are easily offended, (and by what you posted above, it seems you are) you need to understand that most of the time Emergency services (fire, police, ems) is far more often like what you posted, than a happy cheery place to work... you will most often experience the worst times in a persons life, over and over again, day in and day out, that's the job. If you cant deal with it somehow, it will cause you to drink or worse...

Well thanks for your input. I enjoy doing what i do, I guess I do sometimes get offended by stupid people. I don't normally think EMS as a "happy cheery place to work", I just see the laziness of people in that station and it amazes me that They aren't shut down. That was all I was trying to say.



Sorry if my posts come across that way

I do make shit money compared to what a lot of people make with my level of education. I very rarely bitch about my patient or my job because I love what I do. Most of the guys I work with are very similar. When we bitch about a patient more often than not it is because they are abusing the system. Next time you judge me, my colleagues or my profession come ride a shift or five first. I hope you don't seriously njur yourself when you fall from that high horse.

It appears he won't tell us what he does for a living and how he came to this conclusion. Therefore, his opinion is irrelevant.

OP, change your thread title to "every single EMS crew in the USA".

Also, did you have any runs that were "real" emergencies? Unstable patients? Cardiac arrests? How people conduct themselves during that is my primary concern as a company officer. The rest might be unpleasant but it is the prevailing reality of doing EMS within the framework the job has mutated into.

So you're that guy, who knows better than anyone who's been there longer than you. Awesome. You're great to work with.

I wouldn't say I know better then everyone. I just know that were not supposed to break HIPPA & keep a MICU clean





I don't care if they b*tch about patients, that's on them


What I do care about is someone breaking HIPPA & a VERY Dirty MICU. If you say that this is acceptable then I don't care how long you been in EMS your wrong!





 

not as of yet, I understand people can be like that. Like I said in the post above I care about someone breaking HIPPA & that the MICU was dirty, even if I didn't say anything about the crew those 2 things should of sent red flags up. I don't understand why some people who replied to this forum don't seem to care about these issues.
As a company officer do these 2 issues concern you?
 

What about waiting till you've done it a couple weeks before being the guy who can do better than everyone? Have you worked with someone like you before? You people are a giant pain in the ass until you can be forced to quit or fired.

Locked per PA-Minuteman's request.