Changing Attitudes

[Asclepius]

I've recently returned to work at the birthplace of my EMS career. My family and I relocated roughly three years ago and, thus, I had to terminate my employment at this company. Since I've returned, I've noticed very little change. Oh sure, some protocols are a little different, some faces have changed, and we have a new medical director.

One major change has taken place at this company and is the subject of this thread. He used to be a supervisor/preceptor and has been in EMS a good while. He hurt his back and is no longer able to work in the field and so he took over a position at our company, among other things, as QA. I have nothing but the utmost respect for this person as I have learned a great deal from him over the past years.

We're a private agency, but we handle all the 911 calls in the 22+ communities that we service and we do scheduled transfers as well. We average around 40K a year.

Our company, I'm sure, is not so unlike other companies. We have employees who have been around for a long time and are burnt out. We have new employee's who think they know it all. We have our share of negative people. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of very qualified and good people as well, but I'm not here to discuss those people with you.

Our QA person believes, as I do, that our company has so much potential and that all of us have room for improvement, no matter how long we've been doing this or how good we are at it. To that end, he has formed a team to get at the root of issues that are hindering our potential for greatness. He is passionate about this subject and I believe that his determination to positively impact this company is going to bear measurable fruit.

I believe that no matter how much we don't want to be at work today, or how much we're sick of taking this same patient to dialysis, or how much sleep we didn't get last night, or how busy we've been today, our job is patient advocacy and our actions and attitude should always be in the best interest of the patient. Unfortunately, not everyone where I work, based on their action and attitudes, agrees with me.

These consistently difficult people to work with and their attitudes and actions are infectious and just a few can really bring down the rest of the company. So our team has been tasked with seeking solutions and proactive ways to weed out and/or help the difficult people adjust their outlook and attitudes.

To that end, I was wondering what any of you have done or witnessed in your company that has yielded positive results. Or perhaps you've seen something tried and didn't get the positive results you expected. I'm specifically looking for creative ideas that are reproducible.

Thank you in advance for your thoughtful consideration of and innovative ideas on this topic.

 

[Chimpie]

First let me mention that I have never worked for a private ambulance agency. Most of my EMS experience comes from the industrial fire protection and emergency response. I've also worked for a few companies outside of EMS.

With that in mind, I'd recommend taking those who are feeling burnt out, who are looking for something new, and have them come up with ideas on how to change things, if they need changing at all. Have them pick two or three ideas that are most important to them. Once they have picked, have them come up with a way to implement them. Have them do a cost anaylasis, SOP/SOGs (if needed), how to roll out the new idea, etc.

Getting people involved usually sparks interest again. And having them do a lot of the work also takes the load off of you or your QA.

(If the above doesn't make sense I apologize. I'm writing this as a nasty storm is rolling in and my mind is not here 100%.)

 

[Asclepius]

Thanks for the advice Chimpie. That makes great sense and I've already brought it up to our QA person. He likes it as well.