A social media plea

We’ve all been there.   Whether it’s the 4 AM tones for a self-entitled diva who feels that her prescription refill needs a ride to the big city hospital or a drug addict who claims allergies to aspirin, Tylenol, Toradol, and ibuprofen, we’ve all felt abused, mistreated, and neglected by the public we serve and our colleagues in medicine and public safety.

Venting among friends and colleagues is a perfectly normal, reasonable, objective way of letting some of that frustration and anger go.  Been there myself.  I vividly remember being at the end of a 36 hour shift and getting toned out for mutual aid one town south of me with less than 45 minutes to go.  That ended up being a 40+ hour shift with a patient, who on arriving at the large academic medical center said, “Maybe I don’t need to go to the hospital after all.”  I remember letting flow a non-stop stream of obscenities the entire way to the call and back from the call.  (By the way, sorry about that, Michelle and David!)

What I don’t do (at least I hope I don’t) and what most of the rest of us don’t do is to show this side of us in public.  It’s not professional and it doesn’t inspire confidence in the EMS system.

But here’s what we keep doing — we keep posting memes and pictures on social media about “EMS abuse,” “drug seekers,” and every other perceived person or complaint that we don’t deem worthy of our time as medical providers.  Amongst ourselves as EMS providers, that’s one thing.  But when you share it publicly on your “wall,” or worse yet, when a major EMS website shares these kind of messages, it sure as heck denigrates our profession and takes away from our message of being compassionate providers who are there as public servants.

I’m not saying not to complain, gripe, moan, or vent.  Let’s just keep it to ourselves.  Because when the public sees this underbelly of EMS, we can’t really complain when they call us “ambulance drivers,” can we?

 

Comments

  1. Val Moczygemba says

    You make some extremely valid points about when and where to vent. And when you live and work for EMS in small, rural community, where almost everyone knows everyone else AND is probably related to most everyone, venting in public can be the kiss of death not only for you, but for the service for whom you work. Reputations can be destroyed by a mis-spoken sentence. My advice to the rural agency volunteers, keep your mouths shut in public.

  2. Michael Hatfield says

    Can you imagine walking into an HEB and seeing a cashier wearing a shirt that said “You paid for your groceries, not my smile. Get over it!”

    Yet somehow, many people think we get a pass on the same idea.

  3. Kenneth E. Bouldin, Jr says

    You hit it right on the head Wes, and we wonder why we can’t be considered as professionals!!