New Partner/ Bad attitude

[medicp94dao]

Lat night I met my new partner. He was cool at first till he opened his mouth. I have heard of people having a bad day but this guy took the cake. I am new at this Transport company and he has been there for a while. As i Introduced myself he bagan a tyrade on how bad the company as and what a sh*thile he thought it was. Th real topper was we had an transport at 0530 this morning everything e=was good till we got on scene. As he was exiting the rig he just p;ainly staed "Man I hate this F*cking B*itch." I was shocked to hear him say that.after we got her transported to the hopsital as soon as he got in th Ambo he said " I hope she F*cking dies!!!!" I was blown away to sy the least. He bagan another tyrade calling her a number of names and just couldnt stop .. I asked him to chill and relax but he then started snapping on me telling me that he was the lead EMT amnd i would learn about this place an a while. I am sorry i thought we were EMS, compassion is something that goes with the job. I overheard him geting rude with our patient in the back as i was driving. I almost pulled over and traded him but i didnt want to make a scene either. I spoke with about this with our training officer and a few senior members of our department due to the fact he was lead tech last night and i am the probie. I was told to write an incident report on it but i dint know if i should have jsut let it go. I mean I am new there and dont want to cause waves, but on ther other habnd it is our job to make sure our pt. is taken care of in a polite and courteous manner no matter how bad our day is. Ti my understanding this is not the first incident with him doing thisd. so i am here asking for all of you help and input as to what i should have done or need to do...........

 

[firecoins]

First, use paragraphs and proper spelling. Just makes it easier to read. Second, yes that pretty bad. There is nothing you can do about it. Just let him vent. He needs to vent. Let him do it. Just ignore it.

 

[emtd29]

I overheard him geting rude with our patient in the back as i was driving. ...........

Uh, there's no need to get nasty with your patients. write his a** up.

 

[Ridryder911]

As bad as that sounds, and very unprofessional, this is what I usually hear and see in about 95% of EMS personal. Not very unusual in the "real world" setting.

R/r 911

 

[BossyCow]

As bad as that sounds, and very unprofessional, this is what I usually hear and see in about 95% of EMS personal. Not very unusual in the "real world" setting.

R/r 911

Not in the system where I practice! Wow Rid, if that figure is accurate, it explains so much about posts you have made. While we have our 'bad apples', that kind of behavior is only evidenced back at the station, over beers when off shift, but never, ever on a call.

That kind of behavior would not be tolerated by any system, private, civil, paid or volly. Anyone using profanity on a scene, being rude to a patient or acting at all like the guy in this scenario would be looking for a new job more in keeping with their personality.

There are two sides to this kind of behavior, one is an employee so immature that they are unable to keep it from spilling out verbally, and the other is a system that will tolerate it.

On the whole, very, very sad.

 

[Ridryder911]

I agree, most is usually at the base, but some does carry over to the clinical area. I thought this might be limited to my local area, but I have traveled to other states, and regions and have seen this occur, no matter whom the EMS sponsor was (FD, Private, Hospital, etc).

I do understand "burn out" and being over worked, stress, etc. Although, I do not believe it is always indicators or related to those problems. Rather, I am seeing more and more new and younger people expectations of EMS not being what they thought it was going to be. I believe this is where the supposed "Paragod" syndrome sometimes evolve. They attempt to "mold" the job to meet their needs, and not meet the jobs needs.

Then after a reality check, they find out that it does not matter what level, where one works at.... it is all the same. It is a job, it is nothing similar to the television shows they had seen, not all calls are REAL emergencies. Even if they do receive multiple emergencies, they are the first to complain that they are "over worked".

I contribute non-realistic expectation of the job, as the number cause to "burn-out" not over burden as many attempt to describe. As well, why we in EMS have multiple partners because of people leaving the field within two to five years after they enter.

R/r 911

 

[MMiz]

What I've learned in life:

If you don't like your job, quit. No need to be a jerk.

Last year I thought I had the world's worst job. I pissed, moaned, and complained more than anyone. In retrospect I realize the horrible effect it had on me, my students, and my colleagues.

Working in private/transport EMS isn't a lot of fun. The monotony of doing the same stuff over and over again gets old really fast. I'd rarely work for more than a week at a time, because after a week I noticed that I was no longer a great EMT. My attitude and demeanor changed significantly for the worse.

Sure, not a lot of people have the ability to only work for a week at a time, but people do have the ability to control their own attitude. Attitude is everything, and if you can't keep a positive one, you should take a vacation.

I don't understand how some EMT-Bs can do the same old transport every day, but many do it with a positive attitude. More power to them. To those that don't, I think it's time to start evaluating other career options.

 

[VentMedic]

I don't understand how some EMT-Bs can do the same old transport every day, but many do it with a positive attitude. More power to them. To those that don't, I think it's time to start evaluating other career options.

It's not the same transport every day. Every patient has something knew for you to learn from. It could be a different diagnosis, medication, heart or lung sound. I tried to pick out one thing about each patient that I would have to research later. Eventually, I got to understand a pattern in the way medications were prescribed. I also saw some post arrests (someone's save) that was going to rehab. Those routine transports gave me a chance to network with nurses, doctors, PT, RT and many other professionals for information.

I love medicine and people. I like being there to support the little elderly lady who is frightened at going to the nursing home for the first time and losing her independence, home and cat. I enjoy seeing someone who seriously smashed their body in a car wreck be on their way to an almost full recovery at a rehab facility after weeks on life support. I don't tire of knowing where people have been or where they are going when I hear about their lives and struggles. When I see a BLS team come to take a patient that I have worked with for weeks or even months from the ER to ICU to Med-surg and now ready for rehab, I get a little misty eyed. If I'm nearby, I usually let the EMTs know what a special patient they are transporting and the long road the patient has come.

This also goes for the little elderly lady who fought to stay alive to see her grandchildren one more time after an urinary tract infection that led to sepsis. Yes, one of those BS 0300 calls. But, that is when the people usually spike a temp indicating that something is going wrong. It's not because the nurse was bored.

There's even the alcoholics and drug addicts who are now homeless or on the verge. Some have interesting previous lives. There are a few who were doctors, nurses and EMS professionals at one time.

Everybody has a story. You only have to listen to it for 15 - 30 minutes and then they are out of your life. Patience.

I, too, have seen behavior that is totally unprofessional. I'm to the point now at my age where I can tell a young EMT or Paramedic to tuck in their shirt, comb their hair, take out the earphones and stand up straight before they enter the patient area. If they look at my strange, I show them my EMT-P license number which is a very early number. There are 3 group types that come to pick up or drop off patients at the hospital:
1. slouch and grunt: shows disinterest for patient, other or his/herself
2. rude and crude: show interest only in one's self
3. professional

So, by my calculations, about 33% behave professionally while the other 67% need serious communication skills and behavior modification.

 

[Ridryder911]

Great posts Vent.. I believe it comes down to maturity. Albeit, maturity is not an age or number factor. I do see a lot in the younger generation, and I believe it is no one's fault but our own generation that might have caused the major shift in the new generational gap.

Again, let me emphasize as you pointed out it is NOT all young people.

What concerns me the most is within the next ten to fifteen years, what back lash and type of responses will occur? As our babyboomer generation will be the largest generation to have to be taken care of and according to W.H.O. and other national health care organizations predict that there will be a shortage of health practitioners, what will the standards be? What will the care be like? If the present attitude and apathy is any clue what can the public expect?

What I have seen is a paradigm shift of those entering health care. The reason of entering this profession has changed. This is not isolated to EMS alone, but the whole health care industry. In nursing, I now see many enter strictly due to the financial reasons, and I can definitely tell the difference.

So how do we prevent this from occurring? How do we stop the problems that we have or is there a way?

Something to discuss...

R/r 911

 

[MMiz]

How long are we going to keep waving our fists and blame it on the younger folks? We've been doing it for generations, and times have been changing for generations.

I loved working in EMS when I had an opportunity small opportunity to respond to 911 calls. When our BLS units were delegated to transfers only, I no longer found EMS as enjoyable as it had once been. There soon became a point when working in EMS was more expensive than not working. That's when I stopped regularly working.

Having said all that, it's hard when you have a crappy EMS partner. We didn't have stations, so we'd be stuck in a Type II van for a 12-24 hour shift.

The current state of private EMS:
1) Horrendous wages.
2) Little education requirements.
3) High turnover.
4) Little sense of professionalism (see 1-3).
5) Seen as a job, not a career.

There are those that rise above it all and are amazing at what they do, but it seems to be the exception in EMS (see 1-4).

 

[Glorified]

This can be applied to any workplace. If I were you, I would wait it out a bit, until you are more well known and respected by the more sane people at the company. After a period of time, if your partner is still being rude and unprofessional, then file a complaint or request a new partner if possible. He'll drag you down eventually, but wait it out a little bit.

 

[MMiz]

I agree with Joe (Glorified). I've worked with some awesome partners in EMS. Unfortunately [for me] most of them became Paramedics.

 

[medicp94dao]

I agree with the both of you. I am going to wait to see if he chills. But, on the other hand i did document it in a incident report to cover my a** as well.

 

[triemal04]

Lat night I met my new partner. He was cool at first till he opened his mouth. I have heard of people having a bad day but this guy took the cake. I am new at this Transport company and he has been there for a while. As i Introduced myself he bagan a tyrade on how bad the company as and what a sh*thile he thought it was. Th real topper was we had an transport at 0530 this morning everything e=was good till we got on scene. As he was exiting the rig he just p;ainly staed "Man I hate this F*cking B*itch." I was shocked to hear him say that.after we got her transported to the hopsital as soon as he got in th Ambo he said " I hope she F*cking dies!!!!" I was blown away to sy the least. He bagan another tyrade calling her a number of names and just couldnt stop .. I asked him to chill and relax but he then started snapping on me telling me that he was the lead EMT amnd i would learn about this place an a while. I am sorry i thought we were EMS, compassion is something that goes with the job. I overheard him geting rude with our patient in the back as i was driving. I almost pulled over and traded him but i didnt want to make a scene either. I spoke with about this with our training officer and a few senior members of our department due to the fact he was lead tech last night and i am the probie. I was told to write an incident report on it but i dint know if i should have jsut let it go. I mean I am new there and dont want to cause waves, but on ther other habnd it is our job to make sure our pt. is taken care of in a polite and courteous manner no matter how bad our day is. Ti my understanding this is not the first incident with him doing thisd. so i am here asking for all of you help and input as to what i should have done or need to do...........

So, I'm guessing that you're working for a private BLS service that does BLS transfers (interfacility?) only. (if I'm wrong please clarify). Couple things to remember:
1. You just started working there; your partner very well could be right about the state of the service.
2. If I'm right about the type of service, he very well may have met that pt multiple times before, and she very well may be far from the worlds nicest person.
3. How did he treat the rest of his pt's?

Now, you say that he was rude to the pt? How so? Yelling at her? Calling her names? I need a bit more clarification. I only bring this up because anyone who says that they have never been rude to a pt is a liar. Or has never worked in the field for more than a week. (that's not to say that you shouldn't be nice to your pt's; you should, but there will always be people who it is appropriate to not be nice to.)

Regardless, don't jump to judge him; it's been a few days, have you worked with him again? If so, was he in a better mood? Did you try asking him if something was wrong? Find out from other people how he normally acts? Sit down and just talk with him? Do anything other than file a complaint?

Of course, if this guy really is an a$$hole...well...then you've got some problems you're going to have to deal with. But unless this is an ongoing issue, he very well may have been having a lousy day. Or be burnt out on doing interfacility transfers from nursing homes.

 

[triemal04]

As bad as that sounds, and very unprofessional, this is what I usually hear and see in about 95% of EMS personal. Not very unusual in the "real world" setting.

R/r 911

Wow...you work in some real lousy systems don't you?

 

[RMApok]

Well, I've seen plenty of this where I work. Occasionally, I am the one who acts like this.

First off, work in transport for a couple of weeks (months, years, decades) and you will see that your partner's attitude is not uncommon. It may not even be the minority, depending on your system.

I've put two years into a transport company. I am still there, not because of the work, or the patients. I am there because the pay is decent, the benefits are alright, and the hours are good. The job itself sucks.

The company I work for has been constantly bad to its employees. They change shifts constantly, your off time is 'negotiable' which means you may get off up to four hours after your shift ends, and the general attitude of management is indifference. I constantly get into my units truck to find missing equipment and a dirty cab. If I report it, nothing happens. Thus, my partner and I have stopped cleaning our truck. It doesn't matter what we do, it's going to get messed up, and I refuse to clean up someone elses mess.

Run the same dialysis patient a dozen times, each time they are cussing at you and striking at you, because they are so demented and angry that they will attack anybody that even touches them. You will wonder exactly why they are still alive (at roughly one million dollars a year to the taxpayers, according to figures I have gathered). All because some family member is too selfish to allow them to pass. LET THESE PEOPLE PASS, IT IS THERE TIME!!!

That said, I do not act disrespectful to my patients. Regardless of my feelings, I will not yell, cuss, etc at them. Really, what good does it do aside from put yourself in trouble? I wouldn't write the guy up until I had seen if his attitude was justified. Though I say that now. When I had been a newbie, I would have been shocked as well.

Give it time. You will see there is a reason for all the high turnover and burnout.

 

[RMApok]

Sorry, I have no idea why my reply was posted multiple times.

 

[Airwaygoddess]

Attitude and compassion

I would like to take a minute to apologize for the bad attitude and very BAD manners that your new partner seems to have. All I can say is this; be responsible for yourself and your actions. Treat your patients as you would like your own mom and dad treated, do your job with pride and respect. Not everyone out there is a burned out, bitter PIA.

 

[VentMedic]

Again we can go back to the educational system for EMS and see the work that needs to be done. How many patients could you possibly see in the few hours of clinical training in EMT-B? Much of the time might be spent in the back of a truck with very few patients actually seen. This goes for the Paramedic programs also. Everybody wants that "trauma" call. Rarely to the students see the full scope of patient care and the type of patients that need the healthcare system until they start their jobs. Then, they find out that patient care is not for them. Many allied health degrees provide for over 1000 hours of clinics in their professional programs. This gives the students and instructors a chance to see if that profession is a good choice.

We still have 3 week EMT programs and 3 month Paramedic quick marts. Often times you are on your own to find your clinicals. Not everybody chooses a busy station or ER. Some prefer to cruise through this part of their experience.

Everybody refers to the dialysis patient, and yet they are probably one of the sicker patients in our communities. A few hours behind on their dialysis schedule and they can be a true emergency. The number of dialysis patients is growing each day. It is not just a disease of the old and demented. These are just the ones that need your assistance to get to the dialysis machines. There are many young patients that may also need dialysis after long term drug therapy possibly after some trauma that was complicated by infection. Any one in healthcare runs the risk on contacting some nasty infection that could require heavy drug therapy and the possible loss of kidney function.

You will wonder exactly why they are still alive (at roughly one million dollars a year to the taxpayers, according to figures I have gathered). All because some family member is too selfish to allow them to pass. LET THESE PEOPLE PASS, IT IS THERE TIME!!!

There are many other types of diseases that are also costing the tax payers ranging from babies born with birth defects that will require a long lifetime of care to smokers and obese people. Who do you want to start eliminating first?

Deciding who should live and die is an ethical question that this country has a difficult time with. Terri Schiavo and Jack Kevorkian divided the nation in opinions. Those of us in healthcare also have strong opinions. But, until a decision is made to do end-of-life orders, healthcare provides should still care for these patient with the utmost professionalism.

It is too bad that some members of EMS now accept this hideous behavior as "going with the territory" or expected and offer reasons to justify it. More money and education don't always make a professional.

I know many people who work for minimum wage and still smile at their customers. The waitress and bartender at my favorite restaurant probably could get better jobs but they love what they do. Disney pays very little, has very strict rules and expects high turnover. They also have a long line at they HR window for applications. Hospitals actually try to model their patient relations practice after the Disney model of customer service.

Get your probation period over with and put a bid in for a new partner.

 

[GayEMTNJ]

Working in the Zoo

I can't really comment too much on this because the service for which I work is different and being a volunteer means that I don't run day-in day-out like paid personnel do.

However, I had a colleague that worked in a high-stress paid environment in a very urban, dangerous and unpleasant location. He used to say that "when you work in a zoo, it is very important that you are able to distinguish the zoo keepers from the animals." His department used to insist on high-levels of professionalism and I think that had a positive impact on the quality of the care that was provided.

Just my $0.02.

Ed