How to be a good leader in private EMS?

[squirrel15]

I've ran Medic/Medic, Medic/Basic, Medic/Intermediate. Had times where I was the top dog, times the other guy was. When I'm in charge, My truck/my rules. I am taking care of the pt. in the back, I tell whoever is driving to step it up, they step it up. They can argue about it later if they didn't like it. If they are in the back taking care of the pt, and I am driving, their truck/their rules, doesn't matter if my patch is bigger, my Basic partner in the back tells me to step it up, I step it up. While I'm stepping it up I'll ask him if he needs me back there, needs me to call more hands in, whatever, but I ain't gonna tell him no and refuse to do it. I ended up friends with all my partners, whether I was the boss or not, but even though we were friends and partners, we all knew where the friend/boss line was, if you or your partner don't like an order, suck it up, follow it up, ***** about it later when the pt is gone.

Sorry, but if you tell me to step it up, and I deem its not safe to do so, its not going to happen. I'm not going to risk further injurying the patient, or injurying myself or my partner, all because someone in the back said to step it up. That is not me saying I won't try, but I'm going to still only do so if safe.

 

[johnrsemt]

I have been in the back with the patient on a 'routine' transport to the hospital for admittance and told my partner to light it up because pt was crashing. my partner that day refused, telling me there is no reason to run emergent for a BLS patient (I was a medic at the time she was a basic). Wish I had a camera when we got to the hospital 25 minutes later, and she opened the back door and saw me bagging my recently intubated patient. She then asked why I was doing so, when there "was nothing wrong with the patient". I guess my answer that I always try to do so when patients stop breathing made her mad, because she wrote me up for "refusing to give her enough information to make an informed decision.

 

[akflightmedic]

Ahhh, the glory stories of bovine excrement. If you chose to intubate solo, not request additional help nor pull over, then you are part of the problem. That is a big ol can of Badassery you got there....to manage this critical patient and only ask once for a "light up", to not receive it, yet then do all those ALS interventions and then sit back and chill for the 25 min ride...simply amazing. (I am sure there is more to the story, however your presentation lacks credibility).

Call it like I see it sir...

 

[NomadicMedic]

And EMTs always like to light it up. Any time a medic okays it, its a great day.

Agreed. This smells like bs.

 

[bizzy522]

Dude just go to work and do your job. Be a patient advocate and lead by example. If you do that your partner will respect you. Don't think of it as being your truck.. think of it as being you and your partner's truck, you guys are working as a team. Your partner already knows that you outrank him, now it's your opportunity to prove thay you have what it takes to effectively work in that leadership role. Anyone can go from zero to hero..don't be that guy. Be that guy that the new EMTs look up to.

 

[MackTheKnife]

He's in Rhode Island, home of the cardiac tech, aka: "the almost medic"

The EMT-Cardiac was top shelf in many states before EMT-P was the universal standard. I don't know why the OP is not a PM nowadays, but it is what it is. Don't need the derogatory comments as to his current certification level. There might be a legitimate reason he's not a PM yet.

 

[MackTheKnife]

I'm still stuck on "DILIGAF."

I'm familiar with the gist of it, but not all of that one...

In any case, a good leader is probably the opposite of a "DILIGAF." That is to say, they give a ****.

It's actually DILLIGAF. Does It Look Like I Give A F##K?

 

[NomadicMedic]

The EMT-Cardiac was top shelf in many states before EMT-P was the universal standard. I don't know why the OP is not a PM nowadays, but it is what it is. Don't need the derogatory comments as to his current certification level. There might be a legitimate reason he's not a PM yet.

Right. And then everyone else realized that advanced skills without additional education was a bad idea. (But you get extra points for being an Internet white knight.) Rhode Island still uses CTs and Paramedics pretty much interchangeably for ALS. Providence Fire staffs their rescues with CTs.

However, my description of CT as an almost medic isn't derogatory, it's factual.

 

[Tigger]

The EMT-Cardiac was top shelf in many states before EMT-P was the universal standard. I don't know why the OP is not a PM nowadays, but it is what it is. Don't need the derogatory comments as to his current certification level. There might be a legitimate reason he's not a PM yet.

It's not a dig at the provider, it's a dig at the state for not getting with the times. It is an "almost-medic" certification with not nearly enough education for its skill set. But that's the standard the state has set, no one is blaming the OP for not exceeding it as I doubt it would help him in any financial way.

 

[johnrsemt]

What other ALS procedures did I have to do besides intubate the patient? IV was started, and I had put her on the monitor as she was going down hill, along with increasing her O2. Then when she stopped breathing on her own I intubated her.
I did neglect to say that I had my partner pull over for the 4-5 minutes it took to intubate the patient and asked her to get in the back to assist me for a few minutes (but she never came into the back, even though she pulled into a parking lot when she stopped the truck): and maybe that is part of the reason my partner didn't feel that we needed to run emergent, I don't know, she refused to talk about it afterward. before she wrote me up.

 

[akflightmedic]

Hmmmm.....heck of a system you got there.

 

[johnrsemt]

Write up didn't go anywhere; from what I understood she was writing me up to get her point across to management so that when my write up arrived to them they would understand; which I thought was funny, I wasn't going to write her up and the only reason management ever heard about it from me was they made me respond to her documentation.

 

[triemal04]

Wow...that situation just get's worse and worse...