o Hearing – Listening to what is said the first time that patients or others say. Actively seeking new ways to listen to those that the workday comes in contact with.
o Eye Contact – Provide positive eye contact with those that there is contact with throughout the day.
o Attitude – Remember that everyone will have a bad day from time to time. Personal bad days should be left at the door to the station as you start your workday. At no time should a patient or any other person’s bad day or attitude be allowed to affect you in a negative way.
o Respect – All of those who come into contact with should be respected for their complaint or concern no matter what we may personally think of it. At no time should the people that we come in contact with receive nothing but our respect for their complaint or concerns.
o Touch – Remember that appropriate touch should be considered as an interpersonal tool. Such as holding the hand of a child. Inappropriate conduct in this area will not be tolerated.
I think she had some great points !
It is that time of year to practice the art of using our Triage Tag system. The rules for this exercise are as follows:
Pick up your triage cards from the on-duty Supervisor for the drill. (Do not use the triage bag unless you have an actual MCI)
Issue a triage card to every emergency patient you transport between 00:00-23:59 on the drill days. (You do not have to use the zip ties or the red immediate sticker for this exercise)
The side of the card that you would give to the triage officer in a normal MCI, will be turned in to Sierra or Foxtrot at the end of your shift. Outlying stations will turn these in with their paperwork.
When you go en route tell communications what triage designation your patient has. (There is no need to give the number over the radio)
Your radio report to the hospital should include the triage color designation for each patient.
Each patient’s card has a unique number. When using these cards include the patients triage card # in the comment section of your documentation. We are asking the hospitals to include the triage card number in the patient’s record. This improves patient tracking.
If you have any questions contact the on-duty Supervisor.
Brad Delp died last week; this week we learned it was suicide. You may not know that Brad was the lead singer for the Rock band Boston, and now you are wondering way I am writing about it on a MEMS Blog.
I grew up listening to Boston, “More than a feeling” and “Long Time” were the anthems of my life. The music they played was upbeat, positive about life and spoke to me. Boston hit the music scene in the 70’s and left an incredible mark. Since that time the members have gone different ways, yet remained friends. They even had a reunion tour planned. Yet, Brad ended his life. Everyone that writes about him says things like he was the nicest man; he gave and gave, a true friend. No one writes of a dark side. But I think one writer may have hit on the problem. “He gave and gave until he had nothing left, he was tired very tired, maybe he can now rest in peace”
He gave and gave….
I am thinking about the man that sang the songs of my youth, I question, did those he gave to understand what it was costing him? Why did he not take better care of himself? Did he know how to?
How about you, are you giving all you got and not putting something back in?
When you talk of self-care our world sometimes has a selfish view. To many self care means avoiding responsibilities, apathy or dropping out. I think either extreme is wrong, that is not doing any care, and being so totally absorbed that we fail to consider our responsibility.
This is a hard one to get your hands around. The givers of all feel guilty at any thoughts of making sure that they also give to themselves. The selfish souls, not only don’t think about those who count on them, they don’t care. So the answer depends on who you are talking to. There has got to be a balance! In simple terms I believe that self-care is using wisdom to monitor our tanks, to have resources to draw from, a system of refilling, and then to actually use the system. After all our lives are about more than just us. I believe there is no such thing as daily balance. Some days you have to give it everything, you can’t take a nap while the boat is sinking. On the other hand you got to do the things to make sure that the boat doesn’t get in a place that it might sink. We have to use our time wisely to recuperate and refill.
I sound like I understand this topic more than I do. Brad died with a lot of music still to be sung. My prayer for you and I is that we sing all our songs.
“May you live all your life”
Article about Brad Delp
The 6.0L diesel is still having some issues with the EGR valves clogging up. Part of the problem is extended idle time without the high idle set. This is a friendly reminder that anytime the truck is at idle the high idle MUST be set!! Ford is also looking at fuel additives to help but the simplest thing to do is use the high idle. The easiest way to know if you are in a 6.0L is that they have a tachometer (rpm’s) next to the speedometer. When in doubt, set the high idle! If you don’t know how, all you do is set the parking brake! Helpful tip, this also let’s the air conditioner cool better in the hot weather!!!
Thanks,
“The Shop”
