Practical EMS
My mission is to use the stories we all have in emergency medicine to encourage and uplift you where you are. EMT, Paramedic, nurse, PA, NP or physician. Emergency medicine is a very difficult specialty with unique challenges, and it calls us all to be better than the average person in order to stay healthy for our patients, our families and own mental wellness. I want to connect with EMS crews, fire crews, ER RN's, ER techs and new ER advanced practice providers to better understand their current struggles. I also want to bridge the gap between prehospital medicine and the emergency department and to encourage those seeking to become an advanced practice provider. Disclaimer: All Practical EMS content is opinion only. It is unaffiliated with any company or organization and does not represent any company or organization that Aaron currently works for or has worked for in the past. No content should be taken as medical advice.
Practical EMS
83 | Is medicine your entire personality? | Get off on time | Burnout | Compassion fatigue | A physicians personal experience with the ER
Don’t make your career your entire personality, extra shifts will affect you over time. Sometimes the extra money is not worth the burnout
The culture is shifting from working a ton to a better work life balance
Your family will remember that extra shift you worked far longer than your employer
Get off on time
Control the variables you can control that give you higher chance of getting off on time
Leave work at work
Burnout can be short term or long term, acute or chronic
If you cannot take care of yourself, you cannot take care of others well
Strive to live a healthy lifestyle
Don’t let your relationships falter because you are too busy
Don’t take those patients that are terrible to you personally. We are seeing patients on the worst day of their lives
The environment we work in is one of the most challenging out there
Learn what burnout looks like for you individually
Schedule time to relax and spend time with friends
Have a system for overcoming burnout, maybe therapy, maybe exercise
You have to manage and recognize compassion fatigue to avoid taking out your stress on other people that don’t deserve it
Don’t wear things as a badge of honor that are not good things: like not drinking water all shift
Avoid the bad habits that allow a short-term benefit for a long-term detriment
Selflessness is a big part of who we are, but this can be a point of damage if you don’t take care of yourself
Understand that we are all working as a team. You have to understand your role and work efficiently within that role
Lucas talks about a very personal experience with EMS, law enforcement and the ER. He realized that anyone of these people could have been the last to see his son alive. And we are that for other people many times. We are a tribe.
Full show notes can be found here: Episodes - Practical EMS - Content for EMTs, PAs, Paramedics
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Everything you hear today from myself and my guests is opinion only and doesn’t represent any organizations or companies that any of us are affiliated with. The stories you hear have been modified to protect patient privacy and any resemblance to real individuals is coincidental. This is for educational and entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice nor used to diagnose any medical or healthcare conditions.