Tired of the confines of EMS?
Annoyed with what “little” you can do in the scope of practice?
Wishing there were more respect discutes at us?
Its all novel ideas, but what have you done to fix it?
What have you done to change EMS?
Maybe last week the universe aligned against me to frustrate me and test my patients. Or maybe it was rather to point something out and reinforce something. The fact that we need an attitude change from our providers. I know me saying this is not new, nor is it earth shattering and frankly it by its self will not change a thing. I know this and so do you the reader. So then what? What do I expect from writing this? Nothing. I expect nothing to happen. See much like above, I feel simply by writing about the problems we face and expecting things to get better is as foolish as saying we need expanded scope of practice and expecting it. It is all talk, and nothing will change from talk. Action is the key to change.
A few years back when I was working with a great partner, it was pondered as to why our region did not have an anti-emetic where other regions in the state did. She wished we could have such a simple drug for so many reasons, MI patients, General illness patients, patients that got car sick. Instead of just sitting there and complaining about why we don’t have it, she did something about it. She printed off research and articles as to the benefits of anti-emetics off the internet. She researched the other regions in our state protocols and drafted one that would fit our region. She presented a binder of information to our Medical Director and our Operations Director. After a trial with in our company it was drafted and implemented on a regional basis with appropriate approvals.
What I’m getting at is this, she put in time and effort to this project, if it was easy we would already have accomplished it. Scary as this is for some of you to hear, it takes hard work to achieve that what we want. You have to put forth the effort to make a difference. Nothing will get done if all you do is sit around and complain. Instead of sleeping through your shift, get on that world wide web and find supporting articles for your idea. Don’t know how to do that? Ask Google. It really isn’t Rocket Surgery. Build a case and present it to someone, if it doesn’t go over build a better case. If it doesn’t seem to go anywhere find a new angle to work to try and get it accomplished. It takes time and effort but it can pay off.
Instead of complaining about everything EMS isn’t…go out and make change. I will gladly listen to any case and research you have put together but until then its just complaining and I’m tired of it.
