Fortunately, in most cases, my good friend the Ambulance Driver usually has a way of making painful truths funny as with his recent EMS 1 article entitled EMS: The Low Information Voters of Healthcare.
Kelly (oops, Ambulance Driver) nails it right on the head when he talks about so many EMS types immediately making decisions on emotion and superficial knowledge. He’s also right when he talks about certain posts/stories becoming viral among EMS Facebook groups. I observed the same thing in August when a years old article from JEMS about a jury verdict from a court in Florida turned into an opportunity for the average EMS social media user to show that they could never pass the bar exam.
I’m going to go one step further, and this is coming from someone who is a borderline addict to Facebook for socializing. The growth of Facebook EMS groups is going to end up harming EMS professionally. I’m not old enough to be an EMS dinosaur, but I vividly remember when clinically relevant discussions and professional networking were exceptionally common online, especially in the heyday of Yahoo Groups.
Now, we’ve devolved into a Jerry Springer/lowest common denominator of EMS networking online. Facebook groups like “Paramedics on Facebook” and “The Most Interesting Ambulance Crew in the World” end up becoming little more than an opportunity to air our dirtiest laundry for the world to see. Whether it’s active promotion of ignorance (e.g. “My buddy’s third cousin’s EMT instructor once said that someone got sued because they didn’t stop at a car wreck when they had an EMS sticker on their truck.”) or just willful ignorance (e.g. “I never was gud in skool and I can’t pass NREMT-B? Can ne1 tell me how to get thru it so I kin git hired and start paramedik skool? THX –And don’t use my name.), these groups are showing the underbelly of EMS — the uneducated, the inarticulate, the buffoons, and the lazy medics (of all certifications). Additionally, factor in the “anonymous” questions that these groups post about medical-legal issues and employment issues where anyone with an internet connection or smart phone can share their ignorance and actually make a situation worse. In short, the denizens of these Facebook groups are little more than the online equivalent of the people at the EMS conferences with the “Big Johnson EMS” t-shirts. And when your posts are full of misspellings and feeble attempts at mastering basic rules of grammar, I’m not surprised when you post about being unable to pass the National Registry and/or find a job in EMS.
In my other career, I’m a practicing attorney (and not completely incompetent, despite what a few state purchasing agents may say…). I’ve yet to find Facebook groups like “The Most Interesting Law Office in the World” for attorneys. And I’m pretty sure that, jokes aside, most attorneys consider what we do to be professional work and take it seriously. Having said that, the best attorney jokes usually do come from attorneys. It is possible to take the work seriously, yet still have fun with it.
Sadly, the majority of what passes for EMS social networking these days proves why EMS isn’t considered a profession. It may well prove why so many places pay their EMTs and paramedics what they do, though.
The fact of the matter is, you would never hear some of the things that are “cool” to say come out of the mouth of any other health care provider. It isn’t cool to threaten a patient with multiple IV sticks or RSI… EMS providers want to whine and complain about the disparity between EMT and RN salary, just on professionalism alone nurses have EMS beat. Clinical hours alone for a 2 year RN are more than some people’s whole paramedic program. Want to make more money? A sure way is via education, professionalism, and patient advocacy.
Another factor is the mentality of your average EMT-B or Paramedic. They have a decidedly blue collar outlook. By which I mean that being smart is frowned upon, independent thinking is discouraged, and there is nowhere to go except into management or (shudder) dispatching once you are a medic. Kind of like a plumber or a mason or an electrician or an auto worker or whatever. With engineering or lawyering or accounting or the like, there is somewhat of a path to advancement, at least for awhile. Not so with EMS.
Also, I remember when I was taking my EMT-1A class back in 1989, the instructor got really P.O.ed one day when too many of the students were basically playing grab-ass during class. He loudly remarked that this was a college level class and “you people damn well better pay attention.” And yes, it was kind of college level, but I put in more work on my Calculus-1A class of my Comp Sci-151 class (in 197x) than I had to put into my EMT class. And that class has been dumbed down since then. I know for sure the Comp-Sci classes are harder now. Calculus, probably not so much.
When EMTs and Paramedics start getting taught like professionals, acting like professionals, and getting paid like professionals, they will be professionals.
The lowest common denominator is sadly becoming the benchmark.
EMS needs a makeover….badly.
Well I never wanted to pass the bar anyway so :-p.
I have been in EMS for 9 years paramedic for 4 of those. I remember when i first started. We all have the same goal and aspiration. To help people. We get excited at first because this is in fact, an amazing job. However the issue of being seen as a profession comes from more than just the few baffoons that where their EMT shirt everywhere. Part of it is from the public not having any idea what we do. Part of that reason is the variety of services in this country.By that I mean, EMS does not make a lot of revenue and therefor some services are only able to provide BLS. But then the service next town over has fulltime paramedics. To say that social networking is going to be the fall of EMS is bold because i beleive we see several people of different “professions” air their dirty laundry. And Kelly, please keep that in mind when you accuse EMS of trying to be “cool” by threatening IV’s and RSI. We work in uncontrolled environments with and without police around. Nurses MOST times have several people in an er with them. And please get your facts correct, I had twice the clinical hours for paramedic than the RN program.
You know what else most nurses don’t do? Make excuses for poor behavior by their colleagues.