Over the past few days, I've been able to reconnect with a lot of folks from my Marine Corps days. Mostly, it's been a bunch of people I served in Desert Storm with, that I haven't seen in the last 20 years. It's funny- all it took was a couple of people on Facebook, and the cascade began. This guy knows that guy, who knows someone else, who knows a couple other people, and so on. Before you know it, the friends list is expanding rapidly.
I know that most of you reading this are mainly in the EMS community, with some innocent victims from my life outside work thrown in for good measure. I enjoy writing about my life in the wacky world of EMS immensely, but it was my time as a Marine that really shaped who I am and how I operate today. I'd really like to pass some of those lessons on, but it's all stuff that can be learned, but not taught. I'll try to pass a little of it along, though.
Lesson 1: Always remember the 6 P's.- Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. It seems obvious, and can be summed up even more simply. Set yourself up for success. That means that you need to take stuff like checking in the ambulance seriously. Check that the laryngoscope is going to light up when you need it to. Run a test strip on the monitor EVERY MORNING. Open the nitro bottle to make sure there are some tablets in it. As you pull up to a scene, figure out your egress route. Simple stuff that can make or break your day in an instant, all preventable with a few seconds' thought.
Lesson 2: Time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted. Neither is time spent eating, sleeping, or peeing. On every scene, take a minute to look at your surroundings. Is there something that poses a threat to you? I once responded to a difficulty breathing call at an upscale residence. My partner took the paramedic student in to the patient, followed by several firefighters. they assessed and treated the patient, loaded him on the cot and were heading out to the ambulance when one of the fire guys finally saw the .357 magnum revolver next to the patient's wife on the coffee table. I saw it when I looked around the room as we entered the house, and made a point of getting between the wife and the gun, then asking if I could make sure it was unloaded. I could, and did. Nobody else had seen it.
Lesson 3: One is none, and two is one. Carry at LEAST one spare of everything. Murphy's Law dictates that if you only have one of any particular item, you will lose or break it at the exact moment you need it. Especially pens. Never buy pens in less than a 4 pack, and carry as many as possible with you at all times. We still use paper reports, so I have a banged up aluminum clipboard that rides with me. It contains at least a half dozen pens at any given time, along with a dozen reports, two dozen EKG mounting sheets, two accountability tags, and a handful of paper clips. Every time I get on an ambulance, it goes with me. I have a cheap plastic clipboard back at the station, just in case. (Irrelevant side note: My aluminum clipboard is older than my current partner.)
Lesson 4: Never eat the MRE chicken ala king. Or the sweet and sour chicken from the hospital cafeteria. Both things look, smell, and taste like someone already ate them once. And the fruitcake makes it rain. (You 9th Comm people will remember that, I'm sure.)
Lesson 5: Nobody gets left behind. If three of you go into a scene, you better make sure all three come back out before you transport. Everyone that's been in EMS any length of time can tell you horror stories of the hoarder house with the rotten floor that someone fell through and got their foot stuck, or the wreck where someone slipped and slid into a ditch, or any of a million ways you can get into bad trouble on the job. So watch out for each other. Not just physically, too. If you've been on the job a while, you're going to be seen as a mentor, and the hard learned lessons need to be passed on. I'm a firm believer that only the painful lessons stick, but it's OK to forewarn the new kids so they don't get hurt as bad as you did.
I'm sure there are more, but I have a short attention span tonight, so I'll stop there for now. Stay crazy, my friends.
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