I saw a visitor to the Paramedic Blog who searched “EMT running” for whatever reason. I was struck that an EMT would or ever should be running, other than for physical exercise.
I often see images of healthcare professionals rushing and bustling about in the media. Footage of a Medic running up to aid someone is not hard to find. I think running in EMS is downright dangerous. When pressure mounts and events demand an instant response, I suggest you slow the heck down.
If you ever see me run at the scene of an EMS call, it is because someone has a gun drawn. Moving fast makes your heart beat fast. When your heart beats fast you don’t think so good.
Adrenaline is something you want to avoid when walking a tightrope. I remember the video on 60 Minutes of climber Alex Honnold whistling as he free-climbs a mountain without ropes, hundreds of feet in the air. He said, “If I get an adrenaline rush, something has gone horribly wrong.” The same thing is true for doing good EMS.
Adrenaline is the enemy; it slows the intellect and gives you a bad case of tunnel vision. One trick I can share I learned years ago from a great ER doctor. I noticed that whenever he worked a code, he always talked with almost an exaggerated politeness to the entire team.
Everything he said was like “Ma’am, would you please hand me the IV catheter”, or “Sir, would you please stop compressions for a second?”. It struck me as a bit odd, because he was normally so casual with everyone. But I remembered that I liked it and his codes always ran like a Swiss watch.
So one day I asked him about it and he explained, “When everyone is under pressure, a very polite tone calms everybody down” “It helps everything to go right the first time.” I tried it out myself and found out that he was absolutely correct.
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