The EMS1 community recently submitted comments to its “Question” website (EMS1.com) about “15 habits paramedics can’t shake.” The list includes habits EMTs and paramedics find hard to break even when off the clock or after retirement. The comments gathered by its members include a list of humorous observations and antidotes.
- “I leave enough space at a red light to be able to pull out and around if needed.” – Josh Sharpe
- “Pulling the shopping cart behind me like I’m at the front of the stretcher.” – Tim O’Connor
- “When someone else is driving and making a turn I always yell ‘clear right!”- Lisa Bogowith Schaffer
- “I always consider coughing a foreign body obstruction and prepare to do the Helmich.” – Tamatha Arendall
- “Where’s the closest hospital and how long of a response time am I looking at if something was to happen right now?” – Rene Rogers
- “I catch myself watching people when I’m in a crowded room; always looking for signs of someone in distress.”- Scott Lisman
- “I always back into a parking space so I’m in response mode.”- Phil Murphy
- “When meeting a new person I start taking a sample history as part of getting to know them.” –Alex Lisa Brown.
- “I use my wife as a backer, and honk twice when backing.” – Justin Martinets
- “Passing large open fields thinking ‘good place for LZ.” – Sherry Lynn
- “If I get a ‘maple syrup” odor out of context, I look for the diabetic. When I hear a harsh cough in a restaurant all conversation stops until I locate them and await evidence of a clear airway. The guy nodding off in church or at the movies better show rise and fall or chest expansion or I’m tapping on his shoulder.” –Guido Jannetti
- “Driving private care with friends and shout ‘bump ahead.”- Timothy Lyn O’Ceallaigh
- “Still can’t make myself use the ‘Q’ word. After many years on a truck I have removed it from my vocabulary.” – Eddie Battros
- “Always checking to see if ‘my scene is safe.” – Angela Grace
- “When I go to my doctor for a routine physical, I start with “47 year old male patient presenting with…”- Bill Butler.
Source: EMS1.com, THE QUESTION with the EMS1 Community, “15 habits paramedics can’t shake,” February 2016
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