So, this morning, my Facebook feed subjected me to a post from a fellow EMS provider who shared a maudlin post from a Facebook EMS group about how important it is to be nice to patients on nursing home transfers because, OMG, you’re like the only person in their life. Or something like that.
Ok, here’s the deal. Be nice. It’s simple. It’s easy. Honestly, it’s probably even part of the job, despite the number of people who think that a t-shirt with the tagline “EMS: Here to save your ass, not kiss it” is perfectly appropriate. And studies show that nice medical providers get sued less often.
BUT…. Don’t give me some made-up, tear-jerker story or Facebook post to shame me into being nice. I don’t need that kind of juvenile coaching. (This kind of stuff is why I hate so many of the customer service and/or ethics speeches, articles, and presentations in EMS.) And if you do need that kind of reminder to actually be nice, I saw a couple of fast food places that are hiring.
I must agree. If you can’t be nice to patients without some PowerPoint to prompt you, then you need to move on. You might be good enough to teach, but still, if can’t advocate for your patients appropriately, how are you going to advocate for your students? Wes, you are right… fast food might be a better calling.
You need to include a cheerful image, such as –
https://demotivators.despair.com/viewalldemotivators/positivity.jpg
Chris Montera has convinced me that we need to start with people who care, because it is easier to teach assessment and treatment to nice people, than it is to teach niceness to jerks with technical skills.
Happy Monday. 🙂
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I totally agree. I see young up coming EMS providers piss and moan about going to a nursing home to treat someone. Attitude is everything in this profession. I piss poor attitude will reflect the type of patient care you preform. I guess the thing ask those that seem to can’t or don’t want to be nice is, why did you actually choose this profession? Because it obviously didn’t choose you. Be nice, talk to your patient, do a detailed exam regardless the time of day, people at 3am deserve the same assessment as those at 1pm, and above all threat them like you would want your parents treated. You can screw totally up on a call and do something wrong or miss something but the one thing the family will remember is how kind and well mannered you was to them. Leave your problems and bad attitude at the car when you get to work, the patients don’t deserve it.