Zak

Oh boy! Do some of these posts bring back the memories. I served as an ambulance officer (EMT) in Central Australia for a year back in 1988. The Aboriginal people are fascinating in many ways, but for many, personal hygiene was not a chart-topper. I found out very quickly that if an Aboriginal tells you something smells bad, you sit right up and take notice. So my partner and I were sent to a "humpy" (small hut) in a camp because an elderly man "smells bad and can't walk." My partner, who was a very young, idealistic woman, was attending. The patient indeed could not walk and we placed him on the stretcher which was then loaded in the back of the ambulance. The pt had indicated that his foot hurt. My partner was about to take off this old, mouldy tennis shoe when I stopped her. "Oh! Don't do that!," I screamed. "Never, ever take off someone's shoes unless you have to treat a traumatic injury!" Well, she said a few things about my level of compassion, etc. I remained silent. We were disinfecting the stretcher after off-loading the pt at the ER when we hear this anguished cry (AAAArrrrrrgggghhh!!) come from the examining room. Apparantly, this was a long-term diabetic pt, and when the resident took off this fellow's shoe, literally half his foot came with it and the smell was, inconceivable. This was winter, no maggots for debridement of the gangrenous tissue. I looked at the pt's foot and it was like an anatomy lesson. Not nice...

I first became an EMT in 1980, earning my paramedic in 1983. At that time the competition for jobs was intense and the pay was low. Guess what? In real terms (cost of living increases, etc) the pay is worse today. I usually received a great deal of satisfaction from the work, but the mental and physical stressors have become too much for me. Keep in mind that many if not most nurses work in their field for most of their working life. You see very few EMTs with more than about 10 years in the field. I'll be going to nursing school in the summer, and hope to be a nurse for a very long and productive time. BTW, JillR is spot on when she describes the feeling that EMS gives you. Anyway, maybe you CAN do both!