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Work Issues? |
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Linus 
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Strike 1 - language 6.29.10 Joined: 10 November 2002 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 7908 |
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 Topic: Work Issues?Posted: 03 December 2011 at 9:48pm |
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So, talk about a rock and hard place. I'm at a new agency doing my FTO period (essentially riding with another medic who makes sure I know what I'm doing and wont kill people for fun)
My FTO has been a Paramedic for decades and has been with the agency for a while. He and I have had differing views on certain calls with the way certain things are ran... his views are of the older generation, and mine are the general consensus in medicine as it is now. (Essentially, I can back up what I do with scientific proof, but he still says I'm doing it wrong). As such, he's recommended that I stay in training a bit longer. My clinical department forwarded this to me and asked if I had thoughts or comments. (This length of time can be as little as a month, or can be longer. During this time, I will be making considerably less in my position, and it essentially sets my career back however long it takes. Plus, it's a strike to my ego... and you know how egos are with Type A personalities!  )
Now... do I keep my mouth shut, do the extra time, or do I bring up my issue? My concern is coming off as an ass because the other guy has been a paramedic longer than I've been alive and has been with the agency for a while, so even if he IS wrong on something, he automatically has more weight to his word than I, as the new guy, do, and I feel it will come off as me trying to make excuses, might burn a bridge from a mentor, etc etc. Edited by Linus - 03 December 2011 at 9:53pm |
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DeTrevni
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b-YOU-ick. Was that so hard? Joined: 19 September 2005 Location: Houston, Texas Status: Offline Points: 11957 |
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Posted: 03 December 2011 at 9:59pm |
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Well, how much do the higher-ups know? Does this vet paramedic file a detailed report on what he thinks is wrong? If so, you can explain your actions, back them up with justification (what you said you had) for your actions, and let the higher-ups decide what to do with you. You don't have to attempt to prove the other guy wrong, just you right. If you say, "I'm right, you're wrong," then his word has weight. If you say "Well, this is what I did, and here's why," his word shouldn't be an issue.
That said, I tend to treat all people on a similar level, so I don't really pay any mind to hierarchy. May not be the best way to do things, but it hasn't hurt me yet... On the flip side, if he just said you need more training, then going into detail may cast a negative light on you. Don't place the spotlight on your screw ups, just answer for them as they are brought into the light. If you can identify and fix what you are doing "wrong" without drawing negative attention to yourself, do it. This may mean you need to do the additional training. Once again, this may not be the best way to handle things, but it hasn't hurt me...
Edited by DeTrevni - 03 December 2011 at 10:00pm |
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Evil Elvis: "Detrevni is definally like a hillbilly hippy from hell"
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stratoaxe
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Posted: 03 December 2011 at 10:07pm |
I'd say this sums it up. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get ahead, and more often than not that involves biting your own pride and doing it the way the person above you wants it. I know from working in hospitals that this is especially the case in the medical field. Unfortunately, this is sometimes to the detriment of the patients-a doctor at my last hospital argued with a nurse for quite some time that he was correct in giving a patient medicine for A-Fib, when in reality she had the opposite condition (I tend to know almost nothing about the medical field, fill in the blanks here) and the medicine would have likely killed her. But egos clash in the medical field, and as far as your career is concerned, I'd say do what your mentor tells you unless there's a life at stake as in my example. Otherwise, you could find yourself at an extreme disadvantage in your area.
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Lightningbolt
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Posted: 04 December 2011 at 10:12am |
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I think you answered your own question. His word has more weight than yours and you might burn bridges. Two real biggies man. Essentially you could be even dealing with someone that is operating under the pretense of falsities which happens every day and IMO is the norm. Get used to it and lay low for a long while. Emphasizing "long while" This applies outside of the medical field as well but here's a real-world example. My wife is "the new" employee of about 2 years at a hospice center which employs about 200 people. She is employee of the month and does it with hard work, keeping her mouth shut and staying out of the gossip. The keeping your mouth shut part is exactly why I'd never win employee of the month. Another example is a friend of mine has a University of Michigan heavy education in nursing and has constantly butted heads thru the years with people with one-horse-town educations in her field. I think she wants to puke due the stupidity sometimes but getting involved has done nothing other than create problems for her. I just think that most people don't really want to know the truth and that they like to make up their own. Maybe it's more fun and stuff. If you wanted to start a mano y mano brawl with him you could take your text book and highlight the information that would correct his thinking then leave it open on that page in a place where he will see it. Let the fighting begin........... what's doin' slappin' hot iron to bullet wounds? Edited by Lightningbolt - 04 December 2011 at 10:37am |
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rednekk98
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Posted: 04 December 2011 at 2:06pm |
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This is one of those situations where your idea of being a young, educated, over-achieving hotshot hits the brick wall that is reality. I had a professor who was teaching a class for the first time and clearly did not understand what the course needed to actually teach of how to make it happen. It was a history-ed class geared towards lesson design and curriculum, a prerequisite for student teaching and a license. He wanted to ramble about cowboys. I'm sure I could have enjoyed a US History class or one of his classes when he taught high school, but he was not actually explaining what we needed to be doing when we student-taught. I butted heads with him a lot, sometimes publicly. It came back to bite me hard when one of his good friends ended up doing my student-teaching observations and made life difficult for me, despite ultimately giving me an A.
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Apu
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Posted: 04 December 2011 at 2:59pm |
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Justify your actions with your training. For example, in my nursing classes, I had an instructor who has been an RN for over 30 years. And she often told us stories and examples of how differently ideas, procedures and treatments have changed. While I have very little First Responder experience(i've volunteered several times but haven't done EMT-basic classes yet, if at all), say "Well, I was instructed to do this in my training, as it is now considered the better technique" I hope this makes sense, and you can get the gist, because as you obviously know, medicine is a field where new discoveries happen every day, and things are ALWAYS changing.
Like rednekk said, you being young and recently trained may make it hard. In my clinicals, there was this one LPN, who was double my age, who seemed to carry a grudge(there's always one of these people in every workplace, heh) and often tried to correct me, even though I had just been trained to do it, and she had 15-20 years to develop her own bad habits. Edited by Apu - 04 December 2011 at 3:01pm |
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impulse418
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Posted: 04 December 2011 at 6:04pm |
How much are we talking percentage wise? 10%? More? |
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Linus
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Posted: 04 December 2011 at 6:30pm |
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Apu, been a Paramedic for nearly 2 years, which I guess actually makes it worse as in his eyes "I should know by now"... (all the more funny)
Impulse, nearly 10%. Edited by Linus - 04 December 2011 at 6:30pm |
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oldpbnoob
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Posted: 04 December 2011 at 11:42pm |
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Unless the differences in techniques or procedures causes a higher chance of issues for the patient, I would put up with the crap and do it how the old fart is telling you to. If he is telling you to do something a certain way that will possibly result in a negative outcome of the health of the patient, stick to your guns and plead your case. Be 100% sure you are correct before you do this though or you will look like even more of an ass.
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"When I grow up I want to marry a rich man and live in a condor next to the beach" -- My 7yr old daughter.
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brihard
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Posted: 05 December 2011 at 12:00am |
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The most ethically defensible position, ultimately, is 'what will result in me providing the best possible care for the patients?'
If you genuinely believe that you are trained to practice better paramedicine than has been made to be the case in how you handle calls, then there is a moral onus on you to respectfully and tactfully bring it up, and this is a perfect forum in which to do it. By framing it as an ethical issue internal to yourself you transcend the more petty element that could be perceived. It places a moral onus on your service to determine whether you are in fact correct and simply up to speed on more modern techniques, or you you are acting on knowledge or assumptions that is *not* the best path to take, and consequently in need of correction. At the end of the day, what is best for the patients who will be under your care is the standard you must hold yourself to, and to which you must do your level best to get others to hold you. |
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"Abortion is not "choice" in America. It is forced and the democrats are behind it, with the goal of eugenics at its foundation."
-FreeEnterprise, 21 April 2011. Yup, he actually said that. |
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Tolgak
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Posted: 05 December 2011 at 12:48am |
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Aviation is similar in regards to the egos and generational gaps. I haven't experienced the Captain - First Officer relationship but the situations are quite the same. People use old methods that are dangerous (knowingly or now) and stake their ego on it. As a guy with low experience, it's tough to say no.
The best thing I can say is to do your best and do as he tells you. Unless he's about to do something you know will seriously harm the patients, roll with it. When you're the guy in charge of the situation, you can act with the best techniques you know. But if you have to do 2 months of extra training vs. 1, that's a month that you aren't providing the best possible care you know as the guy in charge of a situation. If the company is as oriented towards safety as it should be, your comments should still have merit. It's worth expressing the issues and just accepting the extra time you need to do to get cleared. Just be careful not to come across as the arrogant know-it-all newbie. As correct as you may be and as strongly as you may back up your arguments, you'll never get over that stigma in the company.
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The Guy
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Posted: 05 December 2011 at 1:17am |
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I notice that one concept hasn't been brought up. Now bear with me, this may seem crazy...
but just maybe... he knows more than you. I know, radical idea.
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Skillet42565
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Posted: 05 December 2011 at 12:05pm |
This. I've learned throughout my life that perhaps the oldschool way can be a perfectly fine way to do things as well. |
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Linus
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Posted: 06 December 2011 at 6:31pm |
While not a far off concept, it doesn't hold merit in this case. For those medically inclined: He advocates giving nitroglycerin to anyone that utters the words "chest pain"... even if the chest pain is not cardiac in nature, the patient has no cardiac history, is on no cardiac meds, and the 'chest pain' is caused by another issue... that's not cardiac... that nitroglycerin is intended for. Edited by Linus - 06 December 2011 at 6:31pm |
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procarbinefreak
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Posted: 07 December 2011 at 12:13am |
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that does seem a little bit silly.
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evillepaintball
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Posted: 07 December 2011 at 2:13am |
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Nitroglycerin...
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PaiNTbALLfReNzY
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Posted: 07 December 2011 at 2:32am |
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I have a similar working environment. My boss has been in the Navy for 25 years and is probably the smartest man I've met. He also comes from the "old school" Navy where beating people up in fan rooms was a method of attitude adjustment. He still carries on those beliefs, but the Navy has changed since then. I have to determine what the good and not so good practices are and use them to my advantage so I can make it to the next level NOW, not 20 years ago.
Either way, experience is experience. When someone gives you the opportunity to train, take it. |
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Linus wrote: