My Paramedicine

In the shifts following my last post, I've had a significant number of runs involving some seriously ill patients. From that, my level of confidence in my knowledge and skills has increased dramatically. My first successful field intubations occurred in the last few shifts, I've dealt with serious overdoses, I've been assaulted by a belligerent drunk, and I continue to interact and meet wonderfully diverse and interesting patients.

Right now I'm long and hours and short on calls and my shifts have slowed to the point I'm concerned. I had planned to be able to test for my Paramedic certificated in June, but at the rate of progress I'm making it's more realistic to think July or August. I'm disappointed, not in myself, but in the lack of call volume the company has had and how it has adversely affected my progress. It's not anyone's fault, it's just how things are.

Sometimes things are surreal, sometimes mundane. My Paramedic preceptor and I worked a cardiac arrest for over an hour while we transported the patient in from far out of town. The patient was in their 90s and during the course of the transport, Louis Armstrong's "What A Wonderful World" came on the radio. The driver turned up the radio so we could hear it in back and it was possibly one of the most surreal experiences of my life. My partner and I sang softly for the patient and felt we had done more by that, than all the CPR and drugs and such that we'd done to try and save her. Ultimately, the patient was gone, but it didn't feel like we'd lost. And ultimatley, the call didn't matter to me as far as the skills I was able use, it mattered because it was a human experience and I cared for the patient.