New Emt 911 Stuggles

[mikepud]

Hi all!
Bear with me while I explain this. I have been an Emt-B for about 9 months. I was the top student in my class and my preceptor said I had the best student assessment skills he had ever seen. I work for a transport company and do Er runs on a regular basis. Although I do make mistakes, for the most part I am on point with my assessment, radio report, and er report. I have been going through volly corpsman training once a week with a 911 squad. When I run 911 Bls calls, somehow I instantly turn into an idiot. I seem to forget everything and get tounge tied. The first 911 call I ever ran I overlooked a few things but did ok. Since then I have expected to steadily improve but somehow I am getting worse. When I was in school, during mid terms I did have a similar experience. I was struggling with a few things and went in for extra practice. I went from maybe missing 1 or 2 things. By the end of the practice session I couldn't even get past "BSI scene is safe"! I over came that and passed with flying colors. However, real life is a whole lot different. Any advice?

 

[Aprz]

Don't over think it. 911 can be chill.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Hi all!
Bear with me while I explain this. I have been an Emt-B for about 9 months. I was the top student in my class and my preceptor said I had the best student assessment skills he had ever seen. I work for a transport company and do Er runs on a regular basis. Although I do make mistakes, for the most part I am on point with my assessment, radio report, and er report. I have been going through volly corpsman training once a week with a 911 squad. When I run 911 Bls calls, somehow I instantly turn into an idiot. I seem to forget everything and get tounge tied. The first 911 call I ever ran I overlooked a few things but did ok. Since then I have expected to steadily improve but somehow I am getting worse. When I was in school, during mid terms I did have a similar experience. I was struggling with a few things and went in for extra practice. I went from maybe missing 1 or 2 things. By the end of the practice session I couldn't even get past "BSI scene is safe"! I over came that and passed with flying colors. However, real life is a whole lot different. Any advice?

With all due respect, it sounds like you put way too much stock in how well you did in EMT school. Congratulations on doing well in class, but you need to realize that classroom and the field are very different. The best academics are rarely the best practitioners, and those who struggle academically sometimes learn really fast clinically. The two (classroom vs. clinical) require different mindsets and attitudes, so it's natural that a person who excels at one might take more time to master the other.

As for getting worse.....I really doubt that's the case. What is probably happening is that, now that you're out in the real world, you are running into things you haven't seen before and scenarios that you didn't practice in EMT school. You are starting to encounter things that don't fall neatly into the easy, pre-defined scenarios that your instructors made up for you, and you haven't yet learned how to deal with those things. That's all.

What you are describing is the classic way that every newbie feels. You are green. You have very little 911 experience. You'll learn and get more comfortable as you gain experience. Don't beat yourself up.

 

[hogdweeb]

With all due respect, it sounds like you put way too much stock in how well you did in EMT school. Congratulations on doing well in class, but you need to realize that classroom and the field are very different. The best academics are rarely the best practitioners, and those who struggle academically sometimes learn really fast clinically. The two (classroom vs. clinical) require different mindsets and attitudes, so it's natural that a person who excels at one might take more time to master the other.

As for getting worse.....I really doubt that's the case. What is probably happening is that, now that you're out in the real world, you are running into things you haven't seen before and scenarios that you didn't practice in EMT school. You are starting to encounter things that don't fall neatly into the easy, pre-defined scenarios that your instructors made up for you, and you haven't yet learned how to deal with those things. That's all.

What you are describing is the classic way that every newbie feels. You are green. You have very little 911 experience. You'll learn and get more comfortable as you gain experience. Don't beat yourself up.

This. I run on a service that runs ~2100 a year, covering 5 towns. I struggled with my assessments in class, 24 calls in the real world I was done with my "probationary" required ride along time.

As he mentioned about the scenarios not being perfect and things falling into place like they in class, such as your cardiac gets 2 baby aspirin and miraculously feels sooo much better every time, is what still gets me from time to time, been running on the service for a year, and had my card for a year and half while running EMR at the local volunteer fire department. doing assessments almost daily, but theres always that little thing that gets you until you see it, deal with it, learn it, understand it.

Dont get discouraged, it will come in time. Keep with it.

 

[TechMedic]

Sometimes the ones who do the best in class struggle with applying it in the field, and those who might not be the best at the bookwork excel in the field. We all have strengths and weakness. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes and realize real life doesn't go by the book. As they say, those who can't do, teach. That might be what you're better at.

I was barely getting by in class no matter how hard I tried but once I started working 911 it started to make sense for me. I started around the time you did and I make mistakes because I tend to overthink things.

Most 911 bls calls don't require intervention and all you can do is keep them comfortable on the way to the hospital. You have the assessment down, but it's OK to do it out of order as long as they get done.

It's the codes that suck most, especially if the paramedic on scene isn't a good leader. Then it's utter chaos. For some reason I never got freaked out by cardiac arrests. I know what needs to be done and I do it. The way our minds process and recall information differs greatly so don't obsess if you don't get things exactly right, and if you need to, take a deep breath recollect your thoughts if it gets to be too much.

Personally I have the most difficulty with the reports. I was just dropped from paramedic because they felt my reports were so bad.

This is just what I've learned in my short time in ems but hopefully it helps