MarilynEagle
Forum Crew Member
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Yesterday, I was at my EMT class and had a rather awful experience with some of the instructors and a few fellow classmates. My class meets every week for lectures and once a month for practical skills. I am not sure why, but one of the instructors was a complete jerk. When we were going over our skills he just sat on his phone, acted very uninterested, made no effort to help, and clearly was unhappy to be there. When I asked for help, he just said maybe if you studied it wouldn't be so hard. There was an RN of over 30 years in the class who studied religiously and had difficulties.
Other instructors on previous weekends have told me I was doing fine, but now I am being told how I won't be able to even pass the registry. I do not understand why the particular paramedic would act to incredibly uninterested and rude towards the students. That paramedic, along with others at the program (most definitely not all) seem to have a mindset of it has to be perfect or you are a complete failure because in the field errors cause people to die. EMS is serious business because your abilities may be the only thing in between life and death for a patient, but we are not in the field quite yet may I remind them.
Often, whenever I make a mistake they just tell me how I just lost a patient and then make no effort to show me the right way. It is frustrating to me because they approach education the same way they approach it in the field. The classroom is the place you should feel it is alright (to a certain degree) to make a mistake occasionally without being attacked. We need to get errors out of our system as students so that in the field we know that a particular approach does not work. Then you can show us the right way.
I had another paramedic instructor there that took her job very seriously and was one of the best instructors I had. At the skills stations she would teach in a way that was not condescending or rude. Instead of just saying things like "study more", she would offer concrete tips such as communicating with the patient by explaining what you are doing, or being more clear when you explain interventions. I was able to excel in her skill station by the end of the day because of her incredible efforts to help out the students.
Some of the other adult students in the class have been rather rude to me as well. I am not sure if it is because I am only 17 or what. I'd like to consider myself to be a nice person. If I was being a know it all and disrespectful to them in the class that would be one thing, but I most certainly am not acting that way. Like them, I am just there to learn. One asked me what I was even doing there and asked what my fisdap scores have been, so I told him. I have scored in the upper 70s (before the curve) and I am one of the top students in the class, so I feel like that is a good indicator I am taking this seriously.
Don't get me wrong though, I have met some of the most kind and caring paramedics that have been an incredible help to me. I am just a bit confused about the not so kind ones. Why even come in to teach if you are not going to make any effort to help. I understand they might not be getting a solid 8 hours of sleep, but that is kinda how it goes in EMS so don't take it out on the students who are only here to learn.
I do not want to come off as a pathetic teenager that can't take criticism however. My main focus of this post was to try and understand the behavior of the paramedics that were not so kind. It just seems so bizarre to see someone who lacked so much compassion in a field that is pretty much all about having compassion to help those in need.
If anyone experienced anything like this as a student I would be interested to hear. Thanks
Other instructors on previous weekends have told me I was doing fine, but now I am being told how I won't be able to even pass the registry. I do not understand why the particular paramedic would act to incredibly uninterested and rude towards the students. That paramedic, along with others at the program (most definitely not all) seem to have a mindset of it has to be perfect or you are a complete failure because in the field errors cause people to die. EMS is serious business because your abilities may be the only thing in between life and death for a patient, but we are not in the field quite yet may I remind them.
Often, whenever I make a mistake they just tell me how I just lost a patient and then make no effort to show me the right way. It is frustrating to me because they approach education the same way they approach it in the field. The classroom is the place you should feel it is alright (to a certain degree) to make a mistake occasionally without being attacked. We need to get errors out of our system as students so that in the field we know that a particular approach does not work. Then you can show us the right way.
I had another paramedic instructor there that took her job very seriously and was one of the best instructors I had. At the skills stations she would teach in a way that was not condescending or rude. Instead of just saying things like "study more", she would offer concrete tips such as communicating with the patient by explaining what you are doing, or being more clear when you explain interventions. I was able to excel in her skill station by the end of the day because of her incredible efforts to help out the students.
Some of the other adult students in the class have been rather rude to me as well. I am not sure if it is because I am only 17 or what. I'd like to consider myself to be a nice person. If I was being a know it all and disrespectful to them in the class that would be one thing, but I most certainly am not acting that way. Like them, I am just there to learn. One asked me what I was even doing there and asked what my fisdap scores have been, so I told him. I have scored in the upper 70s (before the curve) and I am one of the top students in the class, so I feel like that is a good indicator I am taking this seriously.
Don't get me wrong though, I have met some of the most kind and caring paramedics that have been an incredible help to me. I am just a bit confused about the not so kind ones. Why even come in to teach if you are not going to make any effort to help. I understand they might not be getting a solid 8 hours of sleep, but that is kinda how it goes in EMS so don't take it out on the students who are only here to learn.
I do not want to come off as a pathetic teenager that can't take criticism however. My main focus of this post was to try and understand the behavior of the paramedics that were not so kind. It just seems so bizarre to see someone who lacked so much compassion in a field that is pretty much all about having compassion to help those in need.
If anyone experienced anything like this as a student I would be interested to hear. Thanks
