Fire219man
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I am still a bit hot over an incident that happened in EMT-B class this past Saturday.
As I stated in my Hello message to the forums. I was previously an EMT-B for about 3 years. Then I had to re-locate for my primary job as a software engineer. Hence I left the EMS business for a period of time. I have since returned. Thats been about 7 years since the last time I ran a call as an EMT-B.
During our class introductions on the first day, I spoke about how I was an EMT-B, and I ran for a few years, but it has been several years now since I have gotten back onto a deparment to run EMS calls. My EMT-B license expired due to I wasn't running on a department, hence I have to take the class all over again.
I am familiar with alot of the terminology and procedures that we are covering in class. It is almost like I am picking up on all those things I forgot about from my extended period of time away from the EMS business. I am scoring pretty high on tests. I am carrying a 98% in the class at the moment. I am the oldest in the class, and at times some of the students look to me for my opinion on things. Some of them I can answer, others I can't.
What I am fuming about is the situation that happend on Saturday. We now are doing patient assesments for both trauma and medical patients. Where you get a scenario from the instructor, and have to run the call like it was real. Verbalizing BSI,Scene Safe, MOI/NOI, C-Spine control, consider additional personel....etc.....
The class has been doing these for about 2 weeks now. Mostly the instructor partners you up with someone and you run the fake call together. I haven't been picked to do any of these scenarios until Saturday.
I am pretty familiar with how the Assessment Tree goes. I am also fairly confident in the skills you need to verbalize and execute during the scenario.
I wandered why I wasn't picked to participate in any of these, but I assumed it was because to give others the opportunity to get their feet wet, since I had already been doing this prior.
I was given a scenario on Saturday. Long and short of it was a male that fell from a ladder, semi-concious. So I took it from there.
BSI,Scene Safe, # of patients, MOI, consider c-spine, consider additional personel.
Form my general impression, AVPU to determine patients level of Conciousness, ABC's, determine level of transport.
Thats exactly how it is in our book. No problem up this point.
Then it is a Rapid Trauma Assessment....As I verbalize this and say I am going to do a rapid trauma assessment, I tell another student to get a c-collar and put it on.
I get scolded for putting on the C-collar prior to the assessment, and was asked how I am going to look at the back of the neck with a c-collar on. I told the instructor that I would look at the back of the neck and palapate it prior to putting on the collar. That must have pissed him off....
I begin DCAP-BTLS starting from the head. Our instructor wants you to say each of the words in that phrase, for each section of the body. So rather than saying DCAP-BTLS on the head, he want's you to say...Is there and Deformities, Contusions, Abrasions, Penetrations, Burns, Tenderness, Lacerations, and Swelling? Thats cool with me. I know the nemonic back and forth, so I spew it out fairly quickly.
He say's none noted....
I then move to the neck, and quickly speak the DCAP-BTLS just like he wants. He then says....It's obvious that you know DCAP-BTLS, you don't have to say it all now...So basically all I gotta do is say DCAP-BTLS rather than all the words in it....Cool by me....
I move to the chest and say DCAP-BTLS....in my mind I was thinking abdomen as well. I dunno why, but I was....After going from the chest, I went to the pelvis to press down and invesigate for crepitus....
The instructor stops me again...and this time attempts to make an example out of me....
He scolds me like a child, trying to prove to me that he knows more than me, begins asking me questions about blood in the abdoment and how that would feel to palapate, and how would I know the abdomen was bleeding, bla bla bla... Mind you, the class never covered how an abdomen would feel if you are guarding, or blood in the abdomen....I just kind of knew it from running in the past.....This must have pissed him off more....He then continues to make an example out of me.....He has never done this sort of grilling to anyone else in the class, of which alot of them miss the ABC's.
I take it like a man, not blowing my cool. I let him feel superior to me, the class, and whomever else he was trying to impress.
After the session was over, I went to lunch with another student. I mentioned nothing of the events that occured. But I was approached by 2 students that asked me why he went off on me so bad. I told them I don't know, maybe he holds me in a higher standard than others.
Holding me in higher standards of anyone else isn't fair to me in my opinion. I haven't ran calls in 7 freaking years. Making an example out of me isn't fair either. And to attempt to show dominace over a student is completely unprofessional for an instructor to do.
I am still steaming pissed about this situation.
Yes, I didn't palpate the abdomen, I was thinking it in my mind but didn't do it. God forbid that on my first scenario, of which others had been doing for several weeks, I forget something.
After being scolded like a child, I continued on with the scenario, without missing a beat, and completing it with a tight lip.
As a student, should I bring up my disappointment in how I was treated?
Or
Should I stay tight lipped, and pass the class, pass the registry, then bring it up?
Or
Say nothing at all.
Thanks for letting me vent.
fire219man
As I stated in my Hello message to the forums. I was previously an EMT-B for about 3 years. Then I had to re-locate for my primary job as a software engineer. Hence I left the EMS business for a period of time. I have since returned. Thats been about 7 years since the last time I ran a call as an EMT-B.
During our class introductions on the first day, I spoke about how I was an EMT-B, and I ran for a few years, but it has been several years now since I have gotten back onto a deparment to run EMS calls. My EMT-B license expired due to I wasn't running on a department, hence I have to take the class all over again.
I am familiar with alot of the terminology and procedures that we are covering in class. It is almost like I am picking up on all those things I forgot about from my extended period of time away from the EMS business. I am scoring pretty high on tests. I am carrying a 98% in the class at the moment. I am the oldest in the class, and at times some of the students look to me for my opinion on things. Some of them I can answer, others I can't.
What I am fuming about is the situation that happend on Saturday. We now are doing patient assesments for both trauma and medical patients. Where you get a scenario from the instructor, and have to run the call like it was real. Verbalizing BSI,Scene Safe, MOI/NOI, C-Spine control, consider additional personel....etc.....
The class has been doing these for about 2 weeks now. Mostly the instructor partners you up with someone and you run the fake call together. I haven't been picked to do any of these scenarios until Saturday.
I am pretty familiar with how the Assessment Tree goes. I am also fairly confident in the skills you need to verbalize and execute during the scenario.
I wandered why I wasn't picked to participate in any of these, but I assumed it was because to give others the opportunity to get their feet wet, since I had already been doing this prior.
I was given a scenario on Saturday. Long and short of it was a male that fell from a ladder, semi-concious. So I took it from there.
BSI,Scene Safe, # of patients, MOI, consider c-spine, consider additional personel.
Form my general impression, AVPU to determine patients level of Conciousness, ABC's, determine level of transport.
Thats exactly how it is in our book. No problem up this point.
Then it is a Rapid Trauma Assessment....As I verbalize this and say I am going to do a rapid trauma assessment, I tell another student to get a c-collar and put it on.
I get scolded for putting on the C-collar prior to the assessment, and was asked how I am going to look at the back of the neck with a c-collar on. I told the instructor that I would look at the back of the neck and palapate it prior to putting on the collar. That must have pissed him off....
I begin DCAP-BTLS starting from the head. Our instructor wants you to say each of the words in that phrase, for each section of the body. So rather than saying DCAP-BTLS on the head, he want's you to say...Is there and Deformities, Contusions, Abrasions, Penetrations, Burns, Tenderness, Lacerations, and Swelling? Thats cool with me. I know the nemonic back and forth, so I spew it out fairly quickly.
He say's none noted....
I then move to the neck, and quickly speak the DCAP-BTLS just like he wants. He then says....It's obvious that you know DCAP-BTLS, you don't have to say it all now...So basically all I gotta do is say DCAP-BTLS rather than all the words in it....Cool by me....
I move to the chest and say DCAP-BTLS....in my mind I was thinking abdomen as well. I dunno why, but I was....After going from the chest, I went to the pelvis to press down and invesigate for crepitus....
The instructor stops me again...and this time attempts to make an example out of me....
He scolds me like a child, trying to prove to me that he knows more than me, begins asking me questions about blood in the abdoment and how that would feel to palapate, and how would I know the abdomen was bleeding, bla bla bla... Mind you, the class never covered how an abdomen would feel if you are guarding, or blood in the abdomen....I just kind of knew it from running in the past.....This must have pissed him off more....He then continues to make an example out of me.....He has never done this sort of grilling to anyone else in the class, of which alot of them miss the ABC's.
I take it like a man, not blowing my cool. I let him feel superior to me, the class, and whomever else he was trying to impress.
After the session was over, I went to lunch with another student. I mentioned nothing of the events that occured. But I was approached by 2 students that asked me why he went off on me so bad. I told them I don't know, maybe he holds me in a higher standard than others.
Holding me in higher standards of anyone else isn't fair to me in my opinion. I haven't ran calls in 7 freaking years. Making an example out of me isn't fair either. And to attempt to show dominace over a student is completely unprofessional for an instructor to do.
I am still steaming pissed about this situation.
Yes, I didn't palpate the abdomen, I was thinking it in my mind but didn't do it. God forbid that on my first scenario, of which others had been doing for several weeks, I forget something.
After being scolded like a child, I continued on with the scenario, without missing a beat, and completing it with a tight lip.
As a student, should I bring up my disappointment in how I was treated?
Or
Should I stay tight lipped, and pass the class, pass the registry, then bring it up?
Or
Say nothing at all.
Thanks for letting me vent.
fire219man
