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A funny thing happened at work last night...
13 years ago
So for those of you who do not know, I work for an ambulance corps up at my place of higher learning. It's purely volunteer, but I call it work because it's the equivalent of a part-time job in some aspects, and because it's setting me up for a potential career/volunteer position in my future as an EMT.
Anyway. You ever get those moments where it's like, something happens to you or you watch something happen and you just like...freeze?
That happened to me last night. One of my patients' presenting problems were WAYYY out of my comfort zone and I just...completely froze. Forgot my protocols. Forgot my training. I just...stopped. Completely motionless, deer in headlights, the whole nine yards. I had to have one of my Senior EMTs talk me out of bashing my head into a wall soon afterwards, too.
And I've heard of this happening to people in the Emergency Medical Services before, too. We oh-so-lovingly refer to those types of alarms as "Epiphany Calls", because they wake us up and make us realize what we do in this line of work and why we do it.
Unfortunately, most people (once they get their first "Epiphany Call") tend to have a minor nervous breakdown and immediately stop their progress and training. Some even quit the agency altogether. Some of them vow never to return to EMS.
Then there are people who have those alarms, and they channel that into making themselves a better EMT or a better firefighter or a better Aide.
I'm one of them.
Last night's call made me realize what it really means to be in EMS, and what I need to work on in order to make myself the best EMT I can possibly be. I'm going in to the class next semester at my college, so hopefully by December I can say that I'm on to my next level of training.
I just hope I don't have another out-of-my-comfort-zone alarm any time soon. That shit's FREAKY, yo.
Anyway. You ever get those moments where it's like, something happens to you or you watch something happen and you just like...freeze?
That happened to me last night. One of my patients' presenting problems were WAYYY out of my comfort zone and I just...completely froze. Forgot my protocols. Forgot my training. I just...stopped. Completely motionless, deer in headlights, the whole nine yards. I had to have one of my Senior EMTs talk me out of bashing my head into a wall soon afterwards, too.
And I've heard of this happening to people in the Emergency Medical Services before, too. We oh-so-lovingly refer to those types of alarms as "Epiphany Calls", because they wake us up and make us realize what we do in this line of work and why we do it.
Unfortunately, most people (once they get their first "Epiphany Call") tend to have a minor nervous breakdown and immediately stop their progress and training. Some even quit the agency altogether. Some of them vow never to return to EMS.
Then there are people who have those alarms, and they channel that into making themselves a better EMT or a better firefighter or a better Aide.
I'm one of them.
Last night's call made me realize what it really means to be in EMS, and what I need to work on in order to make myself the best EMT I can possibly be. I'm going in to the class next semester at my college, so hopefully by December I can say that I'm on to my next level of training.
I just hope I don't have another out-of-my-comfort-zone alarm any time soon. That shit's FREAKY, yo.
