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Discussion

Abusing ancillary staff

So supposedly a week or two ago the paramedics, the only ancillary staff, were complaining I was abusing them because I asked them to vital patients. Since this was a week ago, I can't be certain exactly what was going on or how busy we were.

Yes I have asked paramedics to get vitals or get an iv here and there but it was never a big habit of it and I was always doing something else. Since the person didn't want to say names it makes it kind of hard to tell exactly what was going on. Sometimes take a patient up.

Now I am kind of wondering if there were bruised egos going on. I know around then I had worked as a paramedic and one charge who is hard with paramedics said I did a good job since I've worked in an ER as a medic longer than some of the medics have worked in an we. Another thing I've voiced is that I feel sometimes paramedics hide or play games. You can't get a hold of them. One day I was picking up extra as a medic the triage nurse kept calling me even though I was assigned to a station (medics are assigned to triage or one of three stations and one always to triage). That nurse told me I was the only one answering my phone, a common occurrence. The hiding has stopped as the charges now do phone checks to make sure people answer, the phones are on, and people don't swap phones. It was common for one girl to leave her assigned phone in the charger.

The person who told me that the unnamed several medics who complained about me even admitted that I had asked them to do their job. The amusing thing is that the charges have been pushing for us to use the medics more and were telling me that I don't utilize them enough because it takes too much effort to find them. Which I was being critical of the hiding games around then around the time complaints of me came in.

Also one paramedic doesn't like that I don't like her charting under my name and that's true. I don't like people using my log on. She says I'm the only one weird about it despite my argument that I don't want to appear on a chart that I had nothing to do with. I try to make sure to log out of computers even at the nurses desk now.

I'm not really worried but I am thinking about bringing it up to someone. Not sure if a charge or the manager would be more appropriate or how to phrase it. I am kind of thing "hey, I heard some medics are complaining when I ask them to do tasks like vitals or take a patient up. Can I clarify if that is part of their job." It is and I know it is. It would be different if I sat at the desk and did nothing but I don't. I'm always doing something like pulling meds or assessing another patient. Oh and our patient ratio is 5:1 nurses.

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    we have medics that work at our ED as well and on general consensus... they don't do jack! they are supposed to restock rooms, transport, help out, etc but will do nothing unless trauma comes in. I asked a nurse why so and she says because most of them are from truck so they are not used to nurses asking them "minute" tasks like restocking and stuff like that, while they love to jump into trauma rooms, intubations, and codes. just as we know, nurses run everything in healthcare. sadly the manager is pretty biased so she won't do nothing about poor workers... politics suck!

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    OP - I've found the help I get from techs varies quite a lot by the individual. Some techs (some of which are medics in our ED) work their butts of and we love them, others well let's just say the work ethic is a tad lacking.

    I have found, that this is one of those situations where making nice first helps me a lot. I always try to get on the good side of techs, and constantly thank them for anything they do to help me or my patients. There are several techs who will do things for me that won't help some of the more grumpy nurses, and once that relationship dynamic develops, it seems to be very difficult to get over it. All I can suggest, is as new techs rotate in and you work with them, you try to develop the best relationship you can with them, and hopefully some will be willing to help you out.

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    • Author

    I think I understand better why people say do not hire primary EMS paramedics for an ER and instead look within privates.

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    I guess it depends if your talking about paramedics as techs or the kind that functions as nurses which is becoming more common. As techs yea you have good and bad apples for sure, whether they're medics or EMT's. Also I would never let someone chart under my name no matter what it was. 5:1 ratio in an ER....wha? That's alot! unless it's fast track.

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    • Moderator

    If someone wants to chart in an electronic charting system, he/she needs his/her own access. You are absolutely CORRECT to not let anyone chart under your login! Yikes. Our techs had their own logins to chart procedures and vitals and other random things.

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    I'm not saying people hired into a job shouldn't do their job, but it seems to me that paramedics are a little over qualified to be hired to stock rooms and simply take vitals, similar to a nurse's aid with no formal training. Why don't they hire nurses aids instead who have a tradition of working well alongside nurses and have a passion for bedside care? Most paramedics I know are skill oriented and like to work independently. Nurses aids make awesome team players.

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    I'm not saying people hired into a job shouldn't do their job, but it seems to me that paramedics are a little over qualified to be hired to stock rooms and simply take vitals, similar to a nurse's aid with no formal training. Why don't they hire nurses aids instead who have a tradition of working well alongside nurses and have a passion for bedside care? Most paramedics I know are skill oriented and like to work independently. Nurses aids make awesome team players.

    Your preaching to the choir, EMS is still in it's infancy, I hope things change in the next few decades. There are ER's that use medic's as nurses.

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    At my ER, they occasionally (couple times a month) have EMS on the floor or in triage as support staff. Not certain if they were piloting it or just filling in spots when we had tech shortages. They're pretty used to having a lot of tasks to accomplish with minimal supervision. But we've been very fortunate that instead of looking at it as a "vacation day", they are always looking for something to do. We don't have them stock just because they don't have access to our omnicells, but vitals, transports, cleaning beds...you name it, they'll do it!

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