Friday, April 18, 2008

Lessons Learned Transporting Patients

I've learned quite a few things lately transporting patients. Correction, I've relearned quite a few things transporting patients. It isn't like I did not already know what to do, or what I was expected to do, I'm just new. Green. Wet behind the ears. A pain in the ass for admit nurses.

No matter how much of a Real American Badass(tm) you are, no matter how Rain Man-esque you are with numbers, always have your run sheet in front of you when you call in to the hospital. Nothing makes you look like more of an idiot than rattling off a long set of vitals to the admit nurse and then fumbling a curveball question thrown at you like, "his age?" Your lack of an automatic response to this question lets them know you're now covering the phone to ask the patient.

Also, if you have any doubt what any of the medications your patient is on are for, take the 30 seconds to look them up in your field guide. The physician may only be quizzing you when they ask if the patient is on a specific class of drugs, but wouldn't you rather have the correct answer for them than say you are unsure what one of the medications is for?

The biggest problem I've found is not that I'm lacking any of the training necessary to fulfill my position as an EMT, just that it isn't automatic for me yet. You can imagine the level of frustration with myself considering my talents in other fields.

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