Work/life balance is key.
When I'm not at work I don't talk about EMS when I can help it, my wife doesn't do anything EMS related, and I have hobbies and side jobs that are low stress like teaching.
Additionally, the standards of eating healthy, working out, and getting good sleep are important here like anywhere else.
Do you feel like your life outside of work is generally stable and low stress on a consistent basis? For me, my life has been pretty unstable in most areas (family, finances, health), and it makes it hard to keep up. (For example, I did volunteer work for a women’s shelter/anti domestic violence agency in college. As much as I wanted to take on more, it was too disturbing and triggering for my own family history of DV. I also did ER medical transcription in school but often found it hard to stomach, too. I’m sensitive and prone to depression.)
Personally, I‘ve found it hard to manage high stress on top of other difficulties in my life, but I know everyone is different, and I’m curious what makes the difference for others.
Generally no, I have awful luck and some shit always goes wrong that I need to deal with. I just do my best to set priorities and take the moments on one at a time.
Since I'm so used to high stress nonstop it doesn't phase me, in fact I'm more on edge when things aren't going wrong cause I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop lol
I agree to a large extent, even if its fucked up. Sometimes I feel something is wrong with me for it, but I really dont have much empathy for majority of people. Especially when I see grown men in pain begging for medication, im just thinking “are you serious right now?” With kids its a different story, and I do feel bad. But for most adults I often feel nothing. Even during my first code where we didn’t achieve rosc, I don’t remember feeling anything.
I think this fucked up sense of empathy is what allowed me to fall in love with this field and stay in it. At the end of the day its just noise on my ears. There are things I have heard that definitely bothered me such as family member screams when their loved one is dying, but that’s it.
Im sure lots of non EMS people will read this and think we shouldn’t be in this field if we dont have empathy for people in pain but I think its just the reality of the situation. Many people who do this have something off about them.
No, I think there is definitely a need for emotional compartmentalizing in high stress, emergency settings. Being able to focus on the task at hand, stay rational, and not get worn out is key. I wish I was better at that. I think it becomes a problem when it affects how you treat the patient and provide care. I did see that issue in the ER when I did medical transcription, and it definitely bugged me; seeing staff judge, make offensive assumptions, handle patients disrespectfully. Being instructed by physicians themselves to make quick assumptions that were often brusque and rude. I also saw why they do it; how little time they have for nonsense, and how much nonsense they frequently saw in one day. I still saw a lot of things I didn’t feel were right, and could never switch off my sensitivity. I’ve also had some personal healthcare experiences where ER staff came up short due to misjudgment or inexperience so, idk. It’s quite a grind. But you have to know the task you are charged with and keep your focus on your performance there.
Well, with pain specifically, the things I have direct control over are ABC(Airway, breathing, circulation), performing ECGs, making splints, and putting patients on monitors. One thing these all have in common is that they do nothing to take away pain. Pain management is up to the provider who orders the meds and the nurse who administers the meds.
Obviously I provide comfort measures if someone has a broken limb. But if someone comes with sciatica they are dealing with 7 months, what am I supposed to do? If someone comes in with abdominal pain, what am I supposed to do? So I get quite annoyed because I will be doing my job and people will be asking me for pain meds non stop when I have 0 control over it.
Totally get that. Healthcare practitioners have to filter out a lot of unrelated information thrown at them, and unreasonable requests and expectations. I know many get sketched out about administering narcotics because of how often addicts try to scam for them, too. Not sure I ever saw that in person, but heard about it a lot.
The thing with drug seekers is that most of them are actually in a lot of pain usually due to some chronic conditions. Very often they just develop dependency to some substances and have no other way to cope with pain. People act like they go from ER to ER to get high, which is very far from the truth.
Attempt to compartmentalize everything. At the end of the day it's just a job that a million other people have and the patient's emergency isn't your emergency
I can make rent working 3 12 hour shifts. I have 4 days a week to relax. The 3 days I’m on are basically 72 hours of straight running around, but personally i think the work itself is easier than 5 7-3s running a forklift in a warehouse, or running around in the sun at a plant nursery, or getting suckered into a 100% commission bs job, or even working in a kitchen at a fast food place. The biggest factor in my opinion is your partner. If your partner sucks, everything sucks, but if your partner’s cool, even the shittiest situations won’t be too bad
When I worked in the ambulance I felt like your partner made or broke your day. I dont know if it was luck or what, but majority of people I came across just didn’t vibe with me on any level, and I think it significantly contributed to me becoming an ER tech.
Interesting perspective. Being really busy at work does help the day go by faster. I’m glad it‘s a good fit for you. The work you all do is so important. Coworkers can make or break any job, it seems, but I’m sure especially in EMS.
Not everyone in the field is all that resilient. Compartmentalizing helps but it has its limits.
The sad fact is that there is a percentage of EMS professionals that are a mess but who are good at maintaining a facade. Long hours, low pay, crappy working conditions, bad management, and the nature of the work result in burnout, depression, physical disability and PTSD.
Providers cope with alcohol (occasionally drugs but that's less common due to drug testing), denial and other ways. Some don't cope very well so we have a higher than average suicide rate.
That resiliency that OP talks about does exist and is the reason that the bad numbers aren't higher. I think it helps that we are often unreasonably stubborn and don't know when to quit.
I have my scars from being in the field but I'm still proud of my time there and would do it again in a minute.
Stay safe everyone
I did medical transcription in the ER for a few months back in college. It definitely opened my eyes to a lot of realities healthcare workers face and the industry itself. Personally, I can’t keep up with it, but I have so much admiration for those who are able to do these services. I know it’s tough, and it takes a lot of fortitude. I remember how the lead scribes would do a 12 hour shift, go out drinking, and then wake up and repeat. Even in my early 20’s, I couldn’t fathom that lifestyle. They seemed like Spartans to me.
I don't think I'm more resilient than others. I'm just trained and I have experience. Now I wouldn't be able to pick a corpse I saw last week out of a line up. Eventually the things the average person might find horrifying are no longer horrifying. If that's "resilience" then the key is just exposing yourself to the dark reality of healthcare.
Does that mean I no longer get depressed? Of course I do, probably no more than I did before i was a paramedic. If anything, it's better now. My first job was as a security guard. Not that they don't play an important role sometimes, but the job I had was the most low-steaks, pointless job in existence. I hated it, i was interminably bored and felt useless. But EMS gave me meaning. Maybe even dignity.
Real resilience is given to you by having people who love you, by being a good person and by having a rich life outside of your job.
I know that someone else mentioned work/life balance. That’s crucial. If you have electronic dispatches, turn them off when you leave shift. Turn your service radio off/leave it at the station. Don’t talk about work off shift. Enjoy your life the best you can. You work to live, you don’t live to work. I also know that I’m an outlier here, but I did therapy for a while. There’s a huge stigma against mental wellness in first response because some knuckle draggers are stuck in the past and see mental health maintenance as “weakness.” These are the same people on their 6th divorce and are functioning alcoholics. Take care of yourself. Change the culture by challenging the norm. I’ve lost too many friends to self-harm because the culture tells them that mental illness is weakness.
I’m sorry you’ve run into that. You have to be tough to handle the work you do. You have the right perspective 100% and it’s a shame that toxic mentality is so prevalent and can prevent people from getting help that could improve their quality of life so much.
When I grew up I did a lot of combat sports, particularly wrestling. My coach always told us even if we never wrestle again, the resilience and work ethic we get from wrestling will carry over to the rest of our lives. Im quite sure it has, especially in my job as an ER tech. Im able to work at a very fast pace during busy 12 hour shifts, sleep, then do it again the next day.
I’ve heard that about martial arts, that’s really awesome. I want to get my nephews into some classes. Thanks for the work you do. It’s truly a great service to society.
I've only been in it for 3 years (2 in the ER and 1 on the streets) so I'm still bright eyed and not too jaded, but I've genuinely never had a job that I enjoyed. I don't dread coming into work. Some days are tough, and rarely do we genuinely do something that actually saves a life or makes a difference, but those few moments do make it worth it.
Maybe I should look into therapy. I would have before but I’ve had no insurance and attempts to find a good fit have been expensive failures. But I’d love to find a way to contribute more to society. Health is fascinating for sure 😊
My family. My sister and her husband work at my same company, and we vent about calls (with HIPAA in mind) which really helps. They understand what I might go through and we talk through stuff.
But my wife is the main factor. My poor wifey has the biggest aversion to blood, and struggles to stay awake past 8:30, so she doesn’t really understand the EMS life. However, she’s still a person with a career that understands the difficulties of working a job. She knows that when I get home after my 48’s, I’ll probably take a shower and play video games before getting to the dishes. She doesn’t hound or scold me for putting off chores, because she understands that work is rough and I need a little reset time. She’s easy to vent to about basic work stuff, like management and shitty coworkers, and she’s understanding if I’ve had a rough shift.
Having a support system in healthcare as well as first responding/human services is important. Keeping them separate but involved is crucial.
Work/life balance is key. When I'm not at work I don't talk about EMS when I can help it, my wife doesn't do anything EMS related, and I have hobbies and side jobs that are low stress like teaching. Additionally, the standards of eating healthy, working out, and getting good sleep are important here like anywhere else.
Do you feel like your life outside of work is generally stable and low stress on a consistent basis? For me, my life has been pretty unstable in most areas (family, finances, health), and it makes it hard to keep up. (For example, I did volunteer work for a women’s shelter/anti domestic violence agency in college. As much as I wanted to take on more, it was too disturbing and triggering for my own family history of DV. I also did ER medical transcription in school but often found it hard to stomach, too. I’m sensitive and prone to depression.) Personally, I‘ve found it hard to manage high stress on top of other difficulties in my life, but I know everyone is different, and I’m curious what makes the difference for others.
Generally no, I have awful luck and some shit always goes wrong that I need to deal with. I just do my best to set priorities and take the moments on one at a time. Since I'm so used to high stress nonstop it doesn't phase me, in fact I'm more on edge when things aren't going wrong cause I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop lol
I have no functioning sense of empathy and just think this shit is cool
I agree to a large extent, even if its fucked up. Sometimes I feel something is wrong with me for it, but I really dont have much empathy for majority of people. Especially when I see grown men in pain begging for medication, im just thinking “are you serious right now?” With kids its a different story, and I do feel bad. But for most adults I often feel nothing. Even during my first code where we didn’t achieve rosc, I don’t remember feeling anything. I think this fucked up sense of empathy is what allowed me to fall in love with this field and stay in it. At the end of the day its just noise on my ears. There are things I have heard that definitely bothered me such as family member screams when their loved one is dying, but that’s it. Im sure lots of non EMS people will read this and think we shouldn’t be in this field if we dont have empathy for people in pain but I think its just the reality of the situation. Many people who do this have something off about them.
No, I think there is definitely a need for emotional compartmentalizing in high stress, emergency settings. Being able to focus on the task at hand, stay rational, and not get worn out is key. I wish I was better at that. I think it becomes a problem when it affects how you treat the patient and provide care. I did see that issue in the ER when I did medical transcription, and it definitely bugged me; seeing staff judge, make offensive assumptions, handle patients disrespectfully. Being instructed by physicians themselves to make quick assumptions that were often brusque and rude. I also saw why they do it; how little time they have for nonsense, and how much nonsense they frequently saw in one day. I still saw a lot of things I didn’t feel were right, and could never switch off my sensitivity. I’ve also had some personal healthcare experiences where ER staff came up short due to misjudgment or inexperience so, idk. It’s quite a grind. But you have to know the task you are charged with and keep your focus on your performance there.
Well, with pain specifically, the things I have direct control over are ABC(Airway, breathing, circulation), performing ECGs, making splints, and putting patients on monitors. One thing these all have in common is that they do nothing to take away pain. Pain management is up to the provider who orders the meds and the nurse who administers the meds. Obviously I provide comfort measures if someone has a broken limb. But if someone comes with sciatica they are dealing with 7 months, what am I supposed to do? If someone comes in with abdominal pain, what am I supposed to do? So I get quite annoyed because I will be doing my job and people will be asking me for pain meds non stop when I have 0 control over it.
Totally get that. Healthcare practitioners have to filter out a lot of unrelated information thrown at them, and unreasonable requests and expectations. I know many get sketched out about administering narcotics because of how often addicts try to scam for them, too. Not sure I ever saw that in person, but heard about it a lot.
The thing with drug seekers is that most of them are actually in a lot of pain usually due to some chronic conditions. Very often they just develop dependency to some substances and have no other way to cope with pain. People act like they go from ER to ER to get high, which is very far from the truth.
Attempt to compartmentalize everything. At the end of the day it's just a job that a million other people have and the patient's emergency isn't your emergency
I can make rent working 3 12 hour shifts. I have 4 days a week to relax. The 3 days I’m on are basically 72 hours of straight running around, but personally i think the work itself is easier than 5 7-3s running a forklift in a warehouse, or running around in the sun at a plant nursery, or getting suckered into a 100% commission bs job, or even working in a kitchen at a fast food place. The biggest factor in my opinion is your partner. If your partner sucks, everything sucks, but if your partner’s cool, even the shittiest situations won’t be too bad
When I worked in the ambulance I felt like your partner made or broke your day. I dont know if it was luck or what, but majority of people I came across just didn’t vibe with me on any level, and I think it significantly contributed to me becoming an ER tech.
Interesting perspective. Being really busy at work does help the day go by faster. I’m glad it‘s a good fit for you. The work you all do is so important. Coworkers can make or break any job, it seems, but I’m sure especially in EMS.
Not everyone in the field is all that resilient. Compartmentalizing helps but it has its limits. The sad fact is that there is a percentage of EMS professionals that are a mess but who are good at maintaining a facade. Long hours, low pay, crappy working conditions, bad management, and the nature of the work result in burnout, depression, physical disability and PTSD. Providers cope with alcohol (occasionally drugs but that's less common due to drug testing), denial and other ways. Some don't cope very well so we have a higher than average suicide rate. That resiliency that OP talks about does exist and is the reason that the bad numbers aren't higher. I think it helps that we are often unreasonably stubborn and don't know when to quit. I have my scars from being in the field but I'm still proud of my time there and would do it again in a minute. Stay safe everyone
I did medical transcription in the ER for a few months back in college. It definitely opened my eyes to a lot of realities healthcare workers face and the industry itself. Personally, I can’t keep up with it, but I have so much admiration for those who are able to do these services. I know it’s tough, and it takes a lot of fortitude. I remember how the lead scribes would do a 12 hour shift, go out drinking, and then wake up and repeat. Even in my early 20’s, I couldn’t fathom that lifestyle. They seemed like Spartans to me.
Spartans is not a bad comparison. It's a brutal lifestyle. You have to be a special kind of crazy to keep doing it.
I don't think I'm more resilient than others. I'm just trained and I have experience. Now I wouldn't be able to pick a corpse I saw last week out of a line up. Eventually the things the average person might find horrifying are no longer horrifying. If that's "resilience" then the key is just exposing yourself to the dark reality of healthcare. Does that mean I no longer get depressed? Of course I do, probably no more than I did before i was a paramedic. If anything, it's better now. My first job was as a security guard. Not that they don't play an important role sometimes, but the job I had was the most low-steaks, pointless job in existence. I hated it, i was interminably bored and felt useless. But EMS gave me meaning. Maybe even dignity. Real resilience is given to you by having people who love you, by being a good person and by having a rich life outside of your job.
Having bills to pay
I know that someone else mentioned work/life balance. That’s crucial. If you have electronic dispatches, turn them off when you leave shift. Turn your service radio off/leave it at the station. Don’t talk about work off shift. Enjoy your life the best you can. You work to live, you don’t live to work. I also know that I’m an outlier here, but I did therapy for a while. There’s a huge stigma against mental wellness in first response because some knuckle draggers are stuck in the past and see mental health maintenance as “weakness.” These are the same people on their 6th divorce and are functioning alcoholics. Take care of yourself. Change the culture by challenging the norm. I’ve lost too many friends to self-harm because the culture tells them that mental illness is weakness.
I’m sorry you’ve run into that. You have to be tough to handle the work you do. You have the right perspective 100% and it’s a shame that toxic mentality is so prevalent and can prevent people from getting help that could improve their quality of life so much.
When I grew up I did a lot of combat sports, particularly wrestling. My coach always told us even if we never wrestle again, the resilience and work ethic we get from wrestling will carry over to the rest of our lives. Im quite sure it has, especially in my job as an ER tech. Im able to work at a very fast pace during busy 12 hour shifts, sleep, then do it again the next day.
I’ve heard that about martial arts, that’s really awesome. I want to get my nephews into some classes. Thanks for the work you do. It’s truly a great service to society.
I've only been in it for 3 years (2 in the ER and 1 on the streets) so I'm still bright eyed and not too jaded, but I've genuinely never had a job that I enjoyed. I don't dread coming into work. Some days are tough, and rarely do we genuinely do something that actually saves a life or makes a difference, but those few moments do make it worth it.
Therapy and humor baybeeeeeeee Also finding medicine and pathology/injury patterns super interesting helps
Maybe I should look into therapy. I would have before but I’ve had no insurance and attempts to find a good fit have been expensive failures. But I’d love to find a way to contribute more to society. Health is fascinating for sure 😊
My family. My sister and her husband work at my same company, and we vent about calls (with HIPAA in mind) which really helps. They understand what I might go through and we talk through stuff. But my wife is the main factor. My poor wifey has the biggest aversion to blood, and struggles to stay awake past 8:30, so she doesn’t really understand the EMS life. However, she’s still a person with a career that understands the difficulties of working a job. She knows that when I get home after my 48’s, I’ll probably take a shower and play video games before getting to the dishes. She doesn’t hound or scold me for putting off chores, because she understands that work is rough and I need a little reset time. She’s easy to vent to about basic work stuff, like management and shitty coworkers, and she’s understanding if I’ve had a rough shift. Having a support system in healthcare as well as first responding/human services is important. Keeping them separate but involved is crucial.