December Panel - Real Stories Part 4 - Overlooking the simple and advocating for a patient

Practical EMS

Welcome Dr. Les to the show. Finished his EM residency in 1999, 24 years spend as an attending, estimates 130K patient seen in that time. He tells us about a busy night shift in the ED where he had to take care of an easy laceration but how the busyness of the night made him overlook something simple.

I follow this up with a story that makes me look like an idiot but sometimes it’s okay to laugh at yourself.

Les would tell his younger self that all the work he has done is worth it but some things don’t matter. Grinding is not always appreciated so killing yourself for the convenience of people is probably going to go unnoticed a lot of time.

Nathen talks about how EMT’s are often not listened to. If you aren’t listening to your EMT, you are missing a lot of valuable info and they can help you avoid getting stuck on a differential that no longer fits the picture.

Ashaley talks about challenges in critical care and flight vs the ambulance. The benefit of listening to/valuing volunteers and how much they care about their communities.

Casey talks about how TV shows will often depict paramedics as stupid and give the impression that they save everyone when the reality is they have a huge knowledge base and saving lives isn’t always possible.

Kierra gives us a story about advocating for your patient and sticking with it even when the provider disagrees.

I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. We have one more December panelist episode coming next week where we discuss a big topic I think you will really appreciate.

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