Well my wife in an anesthesiologist MD, so fail on Dr's helper, and my daughter is a PICU nurse. They've both seen a fair share of Paramedic F'ups. Not to be disrespectful there are good and bad in every profession.
I will not disagree with that statement. There are ER Docs that I would take any family member to, ones I’d drink with, and ones I take pts to other hospitals when they are working. My wife is a
NP in a Level 2 Trauma Center Pediatric ER, she has been there for 16 years and all her coworkers run the entire spectrum. Hell, I have coworkers that the only pt I’d feel comfortable with them having would be my ex wife if she was dying, take care of a lot of problems I have.
Yes I was a little harsh, I’m sick of all the nurses that disrespect Paramedics. I can and will run circles around a lot of RNs in an emergency and that’s not a god complex, that’s 25 years of service with more than 1 combat deployment as a flight medic. That’s knowing nothing will be thrown at me to shake me and surprise me.
People take it as arrogance and RNs don’t understand that. I did a surgical airway in the ER the other day, I did way too many in combat and one of the RNs complained because I did it instead of the doc. The reason was the doc had only ever done one on a pig trach and this guy was a nightmare scenario. They do not understand what we do and what we can do. I respect the hell out of the anesthesiologists, I learned so much from them flying pts from a forward surgical teams to trauma teams in combat. If you want to learn how to resuscitate a pt thats who you talk to. We spend about 40 hrs 1 on 1 in Paramedic school with one for airway training. But, when was the last time she RSId a pt pinned in a vehicle on the side of the highway in a snow storm? Or in the living room on the floor during a cardiac arrest? Or in a 8 by 8 bathroom at 3am? We do a very unpredictable job in very austere conditions compared to an operating room suit. We are expected to perform without mistakes and without hesitation. All while being the only advanced provider on scene 99% of the time. I get to do all this with the closest trauma center 2 hours away by ground.
The job we do is 1000 times different from anything the hospital staff does. When your daughter has a pt crash there is an advanced provider in the room to run the code. That’s me where ever it happens. I’m the doc, nurse,rt, and registration clerk rolled into one in someone’s house or wherever the call happens to be. One of the best ER docs I know failed as a Paramedic, he couldn’t perform in those conditions. Almost all RNs that become Paramedics suck at working prehospital. Almost all experienced Paramedics that become RNs excel.
I’m very good at my job and happy as a Paramedic. I may be a little arrogant at times but, I’ll back it up anytime I need to. I’ve been wrong and I’ve learned from it. I learn something every shift I work.
