December Panel - Real Stories Part 3 - Shocking a patient back to life and finding a dead body in a car

Practical EMS

We welcome a new panelist. Flight paramedic Ashaley. She has been in emergency medicine for 11 years.

Ashaley tells us about an impactful story from a patient that told her “Make sure you take moments. Life will always get out of control but, stop and go look at the sunset because sometimes you have things you can’t get back.”

Kierra talks about some stories she has from when she was newer nurse and was overwhelmed vs the ability and confidence that comes with experience. She shocked a patient BACK TO LIFE before a provider could even get in the room to see the patient.

Casey stress the importance of making a difference in just ONE patients life. If you can make an impact on just one person in all your years in emergency medicine, that IS ENOUGH.

Adam describes a scene where he had to go outside of the ED to find a DEAD BODY in a car.

I describe a call when I was an new EMT, running a cardiac arrest and trying to put on a brave face to impress an EMT student that took it really hard and started crying. I realized in that moment that it IS OKAY TO CRY.

Ashaley talks about a pediatric cardiac arrest and a partner that reminded her that it’s ok to take time to process after a call. You don’t always have to be ready to go out again immediately.

Adam stresses the importance of finding someone to help you OFFLOAD the hard things you see. Seek admin time and other uses of your time so you don’t have to spend it all in clinical shifts as an ER physician.

Kierra tells us that ER nurses don’t tend to last longer than a couple of years. She gives the advice that you should avoid working too many hours and overtime. Be patient as you learn. Figure out your why. Why are you doing this work? You need the why because the job is very draining without it.

Casey tells us to start a 401K and keep a journal about things you see and do. You may want that clarity later in life.

Nathan tell us how EMT’s ARE PROVIDERS and should be seeking to gain more knowledge.

This episode has a lot of takeaways. My biggest one was the fact that it is OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY. The culture of holding everything in is not healthy.

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