What I do.

Hi.

I'd like to talk about a little bit about my job in the medical field. I'm currently an EMT and working for a private ambulance company. Not too long ago, I was just a driver for people in wheelchairs needing transportation to various medical appointments and procedures. I've been doing this for a little over three years now. Learned a few things about the people I interact with. I won't bore you with a lot of details. I just want to share some of the highlights.

You see, one of the things people not involved in the medical field often don't understand, is that's it's more about dealing with people, not so much what their medical issues are. Now, when I encounter someone needing my services, it's never on their best day. Often it's on one of their worst. You think working in customer service sucks? Try it in my field sometime. We human beings can be really bad at interacting with each other. The jerk in line at the coffee shop who treats the barista like crap. The nasty customers at a restaurant who bad mouth their server and don't tip. The person trying to return an item that clearly isn't returnable and goes off on the clerk. The idiot who fried his computer and can't understand what tech support is trying to tell him. We've all got stories and some of us have ourselves been those unfortunates engaging in that lousy behavior. I plead the fifth, ahem. 

Now take that less than perfect person and give them a medical problem to deal with. They are now in a situation that affects them deeply on an emotional and physical level and is often well past their ability to easily understand. What happens to them now is at least partially and often totally removed from their control. If they have to be admitted to a hospital or similar facility they also lose quite a bit of privacy, independence and their dignity. It's not a pretty sight. 

And that's when I get to meet them. Regardless of whether or not they need it from a medical perspective, I'm required by state law and my supervising doctor (whose authority is what guides my actions and carries the legal liability for anything and everything I do) to do a bit of poking and prodding of every patient I transport, every single trip, both ways. It's a good rule, it keeps everybody medically safe and legally protected. It is however, often annoying to my patients. I ask them questions they've been asked a dozen times already. I take their vital signs, which is sometimes difficult and uncomfortable. I get to know a lot of very personal information that could cause them a great deal of harm if I were to steal or share it. Most patients don't really seem to be bothered as much as they could be by that last bit. Some are. Then they get to sit or lay down on a relatively uncomfortable cot in the back of my ambulance with me. You feel every bump, curve, stop and start about ten times more back there than in a normal car seat. It can really suck on long trips. A lot of people get car sick and some even throw up.
At either end of a trip, my patient and I also get to deal with staff at the facilities offering them their care. These places are often understaffed and overworked. This does not always lead to an easy exchange. We have to wait on them and we aren't usually their highest priority. 

Now, most of the time, things go relatively smoothly despite all the potential for it not to. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes I'm late, usually due to having a previous transport take more time than expected or just a really busy schedule with not enough crews to fill the gaps. Paperwork gets misplaced and has to be tracked down. Facility staff is having an especially trying day with their other patients or even mine. Patients of mine often aren't able to do much for themselves when these hiccups happen and it's my job to step in for them and deal with it. 

I'm good in a crisis, better in a disaster. I stay calm under pressure. I have a knack for smoothing out wrinkles and making things work even when everything seems to be trying to go wrong. People instinctively like me. I have the ability to empathize with their problems and help them cope a bit better. I've found that this talent is often the most important part of my skill-set, more so than my ability to drive an ambulance or take vital signs. Yeah, I can restart a heart or splint a broken bone and those are great things. However, what I'm more concerned about is talking to the elderly lady with dementia or consoling a child that doesn't understand why mommy won't wake up after the car accident. Not everybody has both the compassion to do those things and the strength to do it, every single time. We EMT's, Medics, Nurses and Doctors, we have to be able to do both. And I'm glad I can. 

So, if the day comes when you see me walk up to you after you've been through the ringer, just know that you're not just a job to me. You're my patient and I'm going do whatever it takes to understand what you're going through and give you the best I have, every time.