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ParamedicNat
A paramedic on a mission! Let's talk about mental health <3
Alcohol, death, depression, firefighter, first responder, hope, life, love, meditation, Mental Health, paramedic, police, PTSD, recovery, STIGMA, suicide
addiction, alcohol, anxiety, attachment, codependency, compassion, coping skills, courage, death, depression, dissociation, first responder, healthcare professionals, help, hope, inner-peace, inspiration, life, love, meditation, mental health, paramedic
UpTalk Podcast
Paramedic Nat 
October 4, 2015 at 1:50 AM
you are awesome love you girl
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October 18, 2015 at 8:06 AM
Hi Nat!
Sorry to bother you but I don’t know who else to turn to!
Recently I volunteered as a drinks-and-directions person on the finish line of a local marathon race. It was a long day and lots of people were getting jelly legs and collapsing on the finish line. I’m a paramedic student, so I was helping out making sure everyone was okay, but then this one guy collapsed and didnt move. I ran over and his eyes were blank and staring. I rolled him over into the recovery position so he could vomit if he needed to… without even thinking to check his pulse. 30 seconds later, paramedics were there and discovered he was in VF. We successfully resuscitated him, but I keep beating myself up about this… how could I have just assumed he had a pulse, especially after seeing his eyes like that? I can’t believe I didn’t click into action and do a primary survey, and I can’t stop thinking about this and wondering if those 30 seconds I delayed CPR could have been the difference between brain damage and no brain damage… I’m really angry with myself and feel so guilty, especially because we have been doing a lot of resuscitation scenarios at uni and I’ve been doing well at them! How can I help myself to feel okay about this? I feel terrible…
Thanks so much ♡
E
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October 22, 2015 at 3:05 PM
Hi Emma,
Dear dear Emma…you really don’t need to beat yourself up about anything! You are a paramedic student who did an amazing job dealing with a person (not a mannequin…totally different!) who needed help. My dear, you need to look at this in the opposite manner; he is fortunate to have had you and the paramedics there…period!
At the end of the day, the outcome to this call isn’t in ANY of our hands anyway. As a paramedic you will have the amazing gift of helping people on an extraordinary level, but the results of our treatment is never up to us. You taking 30 seconds to roll him over etc was what was suppose to happen.
It is so understandable that this call is overwhelming in the first place, but take my advice and know that remaining attached to any call outcome will eat you alive. To be a healthy paramedic, we need to only have compassion for patients (and their families) who experience a difficult time. There is nothing wrong with reviewing your actions after a call (we do that automatically) but when you start to feel a sense of responsibility for a negative outcome, when you did your very best at that moment, you need to be able to step back and look at the POSITIVE impact you had. And remember that even if we follow EVERY directive to a tee, the outcome is out of our hands.
I proud of you. You did a GREAT job! Smile and try to see the positive ok?
I hope this helps ease your mind a bit 🙂
~Nat
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