Ideal Partner

A comment on my last post by Michael Morse got me thinking about who my ideal partner would be--or at least the qualities that I'd be looking for.

1. Comes to work with a positive attitude. This is of utmost importance to me. I'm 25-years-old and I've been able to identify in my self that I an easily influenced by other people's attitudes. It's a flaw, I know. But if my partner comes to work with a positive attitude and keeps that attitude no matter how bad the shift gets, then we'll have a great day together.

2. Leave the ego at home. I appreciate my partner's experience, be it 10 years or 10 days on the job, paid or volunteer. I believe everyone has a different perspective they can bring to the job. That being said, I am the senior tech and with that, I'm ultimately responsible for the station, the ambulance, us (as a crew), the firemen, the scene, and the patient. I want my partner's input on things, but if I say this is how we're going to do it, then this is how we're going to do it. Check the ego and go with the flow. You keep me from having to pull the "paramedic" card and you'll save yourself some embarrassment and headache.

3. Want to be an EMT. My company works Paramedic/Basic crews, meaning that roughly 90-95% of patients are cared for by the medic, most of the time relegating the Basic to a driver. And when the Basic has patient care, typically its for the "neck-pain" c-spine patient or the belligerent drunk we (paramedics) don't want deal with. But if you have a want to be an EMT, then you should have a want to provide patient care. EMTs that are here only to be my driver don't deserve my respect. EMTs that want to ride with patients and exercise their skills will be given more opportunities to do so.

4. Have the desire to do your job. Now this goes beyond that of patient care, this encompasses everything we do in our 24-hour shifts. All the boring stuff that we don't really want to do like house chores, inventory, equipment maintenance, training, mapping, ambulance washing, and everything else that takes away from driving around with lights and sirens. I don't like doing a lot of that stuff either and would much prefer to spend my shift on the couch sleeping or watching TV--but as my boss so bluntly puts it, "you're paid to work for 24-hours." So please, take the time to help me take care of the house work and daily chores--it makes my boss happy, which in turn keeps me happy.

5. Honesty, compassion, trustworthyness, strong morals and ethics, and all the other qualities that make up a good person.

I'm still looking for that ideal partner. Oh well.