With all due respect to my much esteemed colleagues Kelly Grayson (who uses the term “ambulance driver” mostly in jest) and the writer being Captain Chair Confessions (henceforth called “CCC”), this post is in rebuttal to the notion that it’s OK in the year 2012 for the general public to have the perception that we’re all just a bunch of happy go lucky, zany and otherwise inept ambulance drivers.
Back in the very infancy of what we today call Emergency Medical Services, ambulances were largely a side enterprise of the local undertaker and sometimes the local hospital. In most cases when an ambulance was called, a crew consisting of a driver and someone to sit with the patient (if the patient was lucky this attendant would have some sort of first aid training) would screaming to the scene in a converted hearse with a red light and siren, load the patient and go screaming to the hospital. Care en route might consist of oxygen if even that. In 99% of these calls, ambulance service was nothing more than simply a ride to the hospital in which the patient could lie down. Of course today we are capable of much more than simply giving a ride to the ER (whether all patients need more than that is another debate). Today we are more or less a mobile emergency department that renders sometimes life saving treatment on the way to the hospital as opposed to giving the patient a ride, some oxygen, a pat in the head and a prayer than they’re still alive when everyone arrives at the hospital.
We’re medical practitioners.
As cliche as it probably sounds, I didn’t go to school for two years to learn how to drive an ambulance. Yes, I realize that sometimes I do drive the truck (usually on the way back to town after a long transfer) and I realize that the EMT on a 911 ALS truck is often the driver but I and that EMT are hardly simply drivers of a big white box on wheels with red lights and a siren.
CCC has no doubt received many negative comments about his assertion that we should “get over” being called ambulance drivers. Many have suggested that calling a nurse a “butt wiper” or calling a firefighter a “hose monkey” isn’t any better (and it’s not), he (I assume CCC is a man anyway) says:
It would be inappropriate call a nurse an “Asswiper” because, again, that’s not what they do. Sure, nurses are occasionally tasked with cleaning bowel movements. It’s a thankless part of a noble profession. Nurses spend the vast majority of their time assessing patients, writing care plans, completing orders written by physicians, and taking care of sick people. They certainly don’t spend 75% of their time wiping asses.
He’s absolutely right. But EMS is also very similar. It’s a thankless job in which we spend 24, 48 or more hours at a time away from our families – often with little sleep – and we write PCRs, follow protocols written by physicians and take care of sick people (whether they are or not). Yet, if someone calls us am ambulance driver we should just shrug it off?
Not this medic.
When it makes sense to do so, I will correct someone who calls me an ambulance driver. The blood, sweat, tears and time I gave getting my patch were too preciously given for me to just accept someone thinking all I do is driver an ambulance for a living. While we do drive the truck, it’s not all we’re capable of doing and the term “ambulance driver” implies that driving is the extent of our training. True, I pick my battles just as we all should but there are times when we have to stand up for ourselves. It doesn’t make sense to allow the public to continue having an untrue viewpoint of what we do. If we want to establish EMS as a true profession and a part of the healthcare system we have got to start having some pride in ourselves. We have to start standing up for ourselves.
If we don’t stand up for ourselves, who will?
No one.
Lighten up Francis
Well stated. I agree with what you say 110%. I do drive the ambulance when it’s not an emergent call or one that requires me to play with my toys, but I put far too much time, energy, blood (literally), sweat, tears (lots & lots), & money (not sure what everyone else’s college’s charge but mine was around $8,000+ for everything) that an ‘ambulance driver’ would do. It’s disrespectful to me, my education, & my career. I once corrected a man on scene after we pronounced his rigored girlfriend. Walked in, called her, & while getting as much information as possible, his phone rings & he says, “the ambulance drivers are here now…” and as soon as he got off, I said, “while I know this is a stressful time, we are not ambulance drivers, we don’t employ such a rank at this agency; we are EMT’s & Paramedics. In this current time frame, we are extensions of emergency room physicians, ambulance driver is a term from the late 60′s & early 70′s.”
Insensitive some may think, but it didn’t phase him, & he quite frankly wasn’t anything but annoyed over the *cost* that his now deceased girlfriend was now going to cause him.
The public needs to be educated on all aspects of medicine. What the ranks are for EMS, briefly be aware of what they can do, & the education it takes to become one; it may not be 12 years of specialty medical school but 7 years of medicine is crammed down your throat in as little as 1-2 years (some places, 8-9 months!) & we deserve the right to be called what we earned.
1.) Getting your panties in a wad and correcting someone in front of their deceased significant other garners respect how?
2) You spend somewhere between 8-24 months in school and expect to be treated as a professional, and to get respect?
The education we get in paramedic school is hardly “7 years of medicine.” We barely even skim the surface of what medicine is. Nursing students at my local college take 4 semesters of school, 15 hours each, and that is AFTER 1 year of prerequisite courses.
As a participant in EMS for the last 17 years and Fire Service 10 years prior to that I believe I have a pretty good view of EMS. When on duty, my main focus is to serve. I don’t mind being called Bub. hey you, or ambulance driver I am there for the patient, not my ego. I also don’t mind doing 12 or 24 hour shifts. I knew what they were when I signed on the dotted line. No one pulled the wool over my eyes. I would hazard a guess and say that 50% of the EMS people working in the field would quit the profession if they had to work 5-8′s a week rather than the 2 out of 7 days a week. I consider myself a professional when on the job and do not refer to my very expensive equipment as “toys”.
In my time I have seen very good EMS personnel and an equal number who should not be in the profession. Many, if not for the EMS field, could probably not function doing what the rest of society has to do to earn a living.
Just because one passes a test and gets a certification does not automatically get you the respect and adulation of the public. If making a difference in someone’s life at their time of need AND getting paid to do so isn’t gratifying enough one should probably look for another profession.
Yes, I am a male.
Your gender is irrelevant; males & females are both asshats, some just happen to be more of one than others & make it well known.
I simply told a story & you come behind me & bash my education even further. You probably ARE an ambulance driver with your aforementioned 19 letters after your name. Sure you were “signed off” to drop an ETT, & perform a chest decompression, however it sounds as though you get your jollies from saying that after your partner tells you to “get up front & drive!”. Bravo, good for you & an even bigger applause for attending school for the amount of time you did. Unlike your 4+ years of school, I also attended school: 2 years of pre-med, & then EMT-B & Paramedic school; the initials following my last name are 4 simple letters: EMT-P & I’m proud of those. I’m no longer apart of NREMT, no desire to, & it certainly doesn’t make me any less of a MEDIC.
My agency does NOT employ “ambulance drivers” & we frown on that as a term; our ER docs, our medical director, & our administration doesn’t use it, I am the Paramedic in charge on my truck & I have an EMT as a partner. When it’s a non-emergent call then I drive the ambulance to the hospital, but I don’t put a sticker over the title on my shirt to reflect AMBULANCE DRIVER. No where on my ambulance does it say driver; in all caps it says PARAMEDICS.
And I never said I went to school for 8 months but maybe you should take a second to read national EMS news on how some schools are dropping the time frame of these classes. I certainly don’t agree with an EMT going to an accelerated class for 5 weeks (equivalent to a CNA in my state) & not having a clue on how to take a palpated blood pressure or a medic being done in 8 months & now has my life, or my child’s life in their hands. Furthermore, my comment about medical school in a year or two was quoted by an actual ER physician who said he couldn’t do our ‘thankless’ job & admitted that the ER is a hell of a lot more controlled than what he has. He said he enjoys the fact knowing he doesn’t have to intubate someone still pinned in a vehicle or running a code with just one other person. MOST (not all) docs appreciate what we do, & have to offer in the line of providing medical care. Yes, nurses go to school for 2-4+ years but unless they are working with a ground service that employs RN’s, or with an aeromedical agency as a flight medic/nurse, they are doing less in the ER, & even less on a floor. I have tons of coworkers that have their RN as a backup & work in the ER’s too…the have stated that it is very difficult to know you have the ability to perform a surgical cric in the middle of the highway at 0300 without having to ask, then get out of that uniform, put on a pair of scrubs & have to ask a doctor, mother may I please give some pain medication to this elderly woman with a fractured hip? So don’t compare crap when it comes to Nurse Vs. Paramedic….two completely different practices that will never agree to disagree & will always have pissing matches on who is better. I really don’t want to be a nurse, I enjoy being a PARAMEDIC. I enjoy the “lowly” 4 letters (in comparison to your 19) after my name, I’m proud of my job & where I am in life. I earned my damn respect & will continue to fight for it. It’s not too often that I have to correct people, but when I do I do it well. I make sure they understand that 911 employs a wide range of ranks, every agency in the world is different, & some have just drivers, but mine does not. And in your next breath you’ll spit out & define ParaGod Syndrome; I don’t even have to know you & that is the type a person that you show yourself to be. I don’t make any claims to be better than a doctor, or a nurse, or anyone for that matter, but I know my job & I do it well & if you challenge me you’ll get an earful (or eyeful).
Call me a Medic, Paramedic, or EMT, but don’t call me an Ambulance Driver. My job consists of more than driving an ambulance.
The point behind defining myself as a male was to show the author of this blog that he was correct in his assumption that I am a man:
” he (I assume CCC is a man anyway) says:”
In deference to Medic51, allow me to say that the rest of your comment only reiterates my previous statements.
You talk about “earning respect” , while at the same time you state that you corrected your title to someone whose girlfriend just died??? IMHO, that kind of self-absorbed, arrogant bulls**t makes you LESS deserving of respect. We are there for the patient and their loved ones, NOT so that we can be thanked and “respected” by people having an emergency.
No, I don’t like being called an “ambulance driver”; but I’m more concerned with doing my job right than how someone in pain or ALOC talks to me on-scene. If a RN on an IFT calls me a “driver”, I consider the context; and address any bad attitude rather than a specific title they call me. Dealing with a surly or insulting person is one thing; demanding to be addressed by a specific title just makes you sound arrogant and more interested in being treated like a professional than BEING a professional.
Medic 51 here: mpatk wanted it made clear that this is in response to MM and not CCC.
I believe the correct term is Emergency Medical Vehicle Operator. And that’s a plus over being an EMT or Paramedic.
Then so… What should you be called when you drive an ambulance?