Learning the ropes

Okay, so I've been trying to learn about this whole "saving lives" idea, but I have to admit it is quite different as a job. Three days of in-house orientation consisted of a lot of "company policies" and cya insurance issues and big-brother methods of tracking everyone. Day 1 of riding along consisted of feeling as though I had no idea what was going on. The truck I was riding on was assigned to ALS transfers - which means there were two providers more highly trained than I am to haul people back and forth.

We were in the city in the morning and our first call was actually a 911 response since all the other trucks were busy and we were less than a block from the call. Lights and sirens, check. Patient requiring lights and sirens, no. Second call was actually a transfer for a patient with a heart condition at the local hospital who needed to go to a higher level hospital. Lights and sirens, check. Hour-long drive in pouring rain which included hydroplaning and dodging massive traffic, check. Realization that I think I might just kill someone if I had to drive in that traffic, check. Last call was to take an older gentleman to a rehab facility after being discharged from the hospital. No lights and sirens, lots of nurses with no idea what was going on.

I spent pretty much all day feeling stupid. I have no idea how to do all the paperwork that needs to be completed. I couldn't get their stretcher to work because it is different from the ones I've finally gotten to know locally (although the training officer did spend 15 minutes having me raise and lower and load and unload the stretcher in the afternoon, so hopefully that will go better next time). I couldn't find a pulse on one patient, couldn't get a second blood pressure on another. Hmph. And I don't even get to see the station I'm going to work out of until next week, and even then it will only be one day so I'm not going to have any idea where I'm going. Don't think I'm complaining, I wanted a challenge, I just didn't expect to feel like a moron.