EMS World

MAY 2016

EMS World Magazine is the most authoritative source in the world for clinical and educational material designed to improve the delivery of prehospital emergency medical care.

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EMSWORLD.com | MAY 2016 23 N o book is big enough to contain every- thing you need to know about being an EMT, and no author is smart enough to write such a book. Besides knowledge, a good EMT needs to be equipped with other things as well. Wisdom, for instance. Kindness, intelligence, situational perceptive- ness, quick reflexes, emotional stability, physical strength, a sense of humor, perhaps a reverence for the beauty of life, and certainly a giving heart. Most of those things are gifts–talent, that we're either born with or we're not. If you're born with the right gifts, being an EMT can seem like the most reasonable, most sensible, most comfortable thing in the world for you. Without them, EMS can seem more like a feat of endur- ance. And as any field training officer can tell you, there are plenty of book-smart people who get into the field but just can't seem to put it together. Wisdom is special, and I can think of only two ways for an EMT to accumulate it. Exposure to a great many sick people is the deepest source of wisdom, although that requires years of experience and usually involves some mistakes. Exposure to a great many experienced caregivers is a much quicker source of wisdom, because it encompasses the benefits of their collective wisdom– including what they've learned from their own mistakes (and those of others before them.) I retired from EMS almost two years ago and have spent some of that time thinking about the mistakes I made in my career. I learned a lot from those mistakes and from scores of great colleagues as well. I've often wanted to share some of the lessons I learned with new EMTs just embarking on their careers. I'd like to offer 50 or so of them here, which I consider pearls. I wasn't wise enough to think of them all myself, but fortunately, I had many fine teachers. I've attributed their ideas to them the best I can. Pearls are some of the most popular treasures in the world. There are plenty of imitations, but real pearls are elegantly simple, and available in a variety of colors and lusters. Pearls originate as grains of plain sand, made beautiful through years of suffering by humble, unre- markable-looking shellfish. Yet even when unembellished by gold chains, settings, trinkets or trim, they're intrinsi- cally and uniquely beautiful–so much so, the word pearl has become a universal metaphor for something valuable. I hope you find the following pearls helpful, whether you're just starting out or you're a seasoned EMT with students of your own. Please feel welcome to expose them to scrutiny from other providers. No doubt, they'll offer you some pearls of their own. Besides knowledge, a good EMT needs to be equipped with other things as well By Thom Dick

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