Giving thanks

Batman25 · Dec 30, 2009

Thank you. That's sweet. And I'd like to thank all the wonderful EMTs out there as well.

MissERN · Dec 30, 2009

I agree with Batman! I appreciate what you do immensely! I can only imagine that the conditions in which you provide care are often less than desirable. Thank you for your thanks!! :)

ramkatral · Dec 31, 2009

Thank you. More than you know. It's nice to hear that sometimes, ya know? Heh, and less than desirable becomes absolutely horrible in a thunderstorm. :cry: I know one thing. We complain of our frequent fliers a lot, but you get WAY more in the ED. I love sitting at the nurses station, watching the screen that monitors the waiting room cameras, listening to the nurses name off every single person out there and what it is they want, without looking it up. I get a chuckle. If it's a slow day for us at EMS, I'll often bring the patient back, get em hooked up to the monitors, do an EKG, push an IV, or whatever else it is they need so that the nurses can tend to the patients who truly need it. I'm tellin ya, I have never ever had a problem with any nurse. I love ours. They always have some fresh coffee and donuts set aside just for us in the morning, and we grill out every sunday afternoon and take them lunch.

Simba&NalasMom, LPN · Dec 31, 2009

Thanks so much for posting that! I know I gave my two cents on the thread that's now closed, but I feel I should add there are some awesome EMTs out there as well.

I would like to emphasize that I have had TONS of patients with psych diagnoses who are very difficult. While working agency, I had one woman who the DNS instructed me to send out against her will for a suicide eval. All of us involved, including the attending MD, were under the mistaken impression that all we needed was an MD order to send her out. When the EMTs arrived and requested the necessary paperwork, I'm sure they were greeted with a big "DUH" expression on my face. When it became obvious that we did not have the correct paperwork in place for the pt. to be taken against her will, it was the very skilled and professional EMTs who were able to talk this very depressed person into going voluntarily. I've seen EMTs do that time and again with difficult patients. Kudos to all of them. :)

ramkatral · Dec 31, 2009

Yup, that's an extensive part of EMT training at all the levels up to Paramedic. 'Talking down' pts with altered mental status, and dealing with dangerous patients/scenes. We got called over to the ED to assist the nurses with such a patient a few weeks ago. It took about half an hour, but he finally gave in.

ramkatral · Dec 31, 2009

The one thing I'd like to add is how very little people think before they speak. Medics don't think about how their words can hurt an aspiring nurse. I hear CNAs get bashed a lot, and I'm sure that hurts badly. They're just trying to make it to the top most of the time. Just like it hurts to be treated the way some of us medics are. Don't people realize I come home to a wife and 2 children making a less than desirable salary, yet working conditions that have almost gotten me killed on occaision. (How many 'normal' nurses have had to climb into a burning car to get a C-collar on and pull a patient from it? That's a scary feeling. I've also been on the scene of a shoot out, assessing a patient when we then discovered the shooter was still there.) I get told several times in a year I'm substandard to nurses and whatnot because I'm 'just a medic'. People around me keep pushing me to get RN or PA so I'll 'make more money'. Why is it that people can't just realize how much their words hurt? Maybe this is what I love, and EMS is in my soul? Perhaps it's not all about the money. Sure, I'd like to be able to give my family more than I do. Maybe one day the pay differentials will even out. Whether or not they do, I'll do this till I die, and high-five the nurses who love doing what they do.