NSR Week 2

Welcome to Normal Sinus Rhythm! This week, we've posed the topic of relationships of EMS with others for our writers to consider in their posts. Posted with each link is an excerpt of the original post; head over there and leave a comment if you have the time!

If there is a theme you would like to see in a future NSR, leave a comment here or send an email to nsrblog@gmail.com. We would really appreciate input on this project!

Peter brings us Countless Many.

My EMT friend takes great delight in passive aggressively blocking a hallway to transfer a patient from the stretcher to the newly found ED bed. He sets the transfer up so that there is only the narrowest passage for a person to get through, but like a miniature golf windmill whenever a nurse tries to get by, a slight adjustment in body position or stretcher and the passage is blocked. If the nurse says excuse me, I need to get through, he'll smile and ask her to help with the patient's legs. If a doctor needs to pass, he'll courteously point out to the doctor that passage can be effected by a quick short cut through the soiled laundry room that opens just around the corner.

Next, we have a story of Relationships In EMS from Witness

Laura was not your typical college sophmore. She was a bookworm, and studied hard - too hard, almost. She got good grades, of course, but there was always a repressed side of her that wanted to be one of the wilder girls. Perhaps it was her apparent innocence that originally attracted me to her, or maybe her intelligence, or perhaps it was just that she was pretty, but she was a fun person to be with.

Lucid tells us who The Real Heroes are.

Although a music industry studies major with absolutely no interest in science or medicine, he pretended to be interested when I selfishly recounted my passionate interest in the pathophysiology of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and commotio cordis.

CrzeGrl writes about impressions in The C Team and Impressions: Medic and Nurse

Here I am, transporting a ATV + ETOH = trauma and I have to interact with two separate EMS crews, ride in their ambulances with my equipment and have to function. It is a bit like a duck out of water.

So, during my patient transport, the part of my brain not involved in what I was doing, was thinking about the post I wanted to write regarding the interaction between EMTs and Nurses. I was able to remove myself and see the impressions they were leaving me and I was leaving them.

Verrrrrrrry interesting.

Epi reminds us that They Don't Want to Know.

“So, Epi... How's work going?”

My family is sitting around the dining room table. The chatter has stopped as they wait with baited breath. My one drunk Aunt even sets her wine glass down.

Sam ponders the plausibility of EMS Couples

I have three jobs. I get paid for two of them, but I have three jobs. I'm a private transport EMT, I'm an ER tech, and I'm a 911 EMT. At the present time in my life, I am surrounded by more EMS providers than I am anyone else. It's a blessing: EMS workers understand each other better than most, and our sick senses of humor keep me incredibly entertained. It's a curse: I'm a nineteen year old college girl; I date.

In his post Nearly Silent Respirations, Rogue Medic discusses the difference between the care given by hospice and EMS workers.

Few things are as frustrating as dealing with other health care providers who do not see things the same way we do. One area where we are especially short sighted in EMS is in dealing with hospice patients and their care givers. The misunderstandings are similar to those between the doctors and nurses in the hospital on the one side and EMS on the other. We have little, if any, training in dealing with hospice patients.

And finally, Gertrude brings us Profesionalism, Medic X, and ED Relations.

I have heard people talk about ED staff who “ hate medics, don’t care or don’t listen.” I have even seen it in action. Many EMS providers feel the same way about doctors, nurses and techs. This attitude has the potential to damage interpersonal relationships with the ED staff and more importantly interfere with our patient care.