50 Pearls of Wisdom for New EMTs

No book is big enough to contain everything you need to know about being an EMT, and no author is smart enough to write such a book.

Besides knowledge, a good EMT needs to be equipped with other things as well. Wisdom, for instance. Kindness, intelligence, situational perceptiveness, quick reflexes, emotional stability, physical strength, a sense of humor, perhaps a reverence for the beauty of life, and certainly a giving heart.

Most of those things are gifts–talent, that we’re either born with or we’re not. If you’re born with the right gifts, being an EMT can seem like the most reasonable, most sensible, most comfortable thing in the world for you. Without them, EMS can seem more like a feat of endurance. And as any field training officer can tell you, there are plenty of book-smart people who get into the field but just can’t seem to put it together.

Wisdom is special and rarer, and I can think of only two ways for an EMT to accumulate it. Exposure to a great many sick people is the deepest source of wisdom, although that requires years of experience and usually involves some mistakes. Exposure to a great many experienced caregivers is a much quicker source of wisdom, because it encompasses the benefits of their collective wisdom–including what they’ve learned from their own mistakes (and those of others before them.)

I retired from EMS almost two years ago and have spent some of that time thinking about the mistakes I made in my career. I learned a lot from those mistakes and from scores of great colleagues as well. I’ve often wanted to share some of the lessons I learned with new EMTs just embarking on their careers. I’d like to offer 50 or so of them here, which I consider pearls. I wasn’t wise enough to think of them all myself, but fortunately, I had many fine teachers. I’ve attributed their ideas to them the best I can.

Pearls are some of the most popular treasures in the world. There are plenty of imitations, but real pearls are elegantly simple, and available in a variety of colors and lusters. Pearls originate as grains of plain sand, made beautiful through years of suffering by humble, unremarkable-looking shellfish. Yet even when unembellished by gold chains, settings, trinkets or trim, they’re intrinsically and uniquely beautiful–so much so, the word pearl has become a universal metaphor for something valuable.

I hope you find the following pearls helpful, whether you’re just starting out or you’re a seasoned EMT with students of your own. Please feel welcome to expose them to scrutiny from other providers. No doubt, they’ll offer you some pearls of their own.

1. Insist on your right to come home safe, shift after shift and year after year.

2. See much more than you accept from the testimony of others. Listen much more than you speak. And keep your mind wide open to stuff you don’t know.

3. No part of an EMT’s training qualifies you to arrest, indict, judge or punish somebody you’ve never met for doing something you didn’t witness.

4. Life ain’t easy for a trained observer.

5. A whole lot of stuff is funnier than you think. (Bix Bender)

6. Burnout is not a static, terminal event in one’s career. It’s not unpredictable, and it’s certainly not inevitable. Instead, it’s more of a dynamic in the ongoing management of your personal balance. Those of us who are being honest will admit we’ve grappled with it more than once.

7. Nobody knows everything. Nobody’s done it all. And nobody has the right answer to every question. Be wary of people who are sure they do, especially if you become one of them.

8. Where there’s a rule, there should be a reason. The reason should be explainable, and the explanation should make sense.

9. As an EMT, you’ll encounter many situations for which you’ll have to make up your own rules. When you do, go easy on the “never,” and avoid more than a sprinkling of “always.”

10. When someone overreacts to something you’ve said or done, stop doing it. Instead, back off a little and see what they do next. (James Carter)

11. If you find yourself working with someone whose driving scares you, it probably should. And no matter who they are, if they say they “can handle it,” you should bet your life they can’t.

12. EMTs get lied to for a living. All people lie sometimes. That’s not personal; it’s one of the ways we all handle stress.

13. People who lie routinely are liars, and liars lie. That’s not personal, either.

14. Some people are just bad. When they’re sick, and you don’t take good care of them because they’re bad, they win.

15. An EMT’s work is about serving others. Expecting it to be about you, even once (your sleep, your schedule, your vacation, your family), would be your mistake.

16. Some systems are toxic. If you find yourself working in one, make a change before it changes you. (Yes you can, and you must, because it will.)

17. We gossip too much. Gossip destroys people’s lives, and that makes it a safety hazard.

18. If you find yourself wondering whether or not you’re gossiping you probably are.

19. A whole lot of people you encounter as an EMT will neither respect you nor appreciate what you do for them. As a professional, it’s your job to be nice to every single one of them.

20. Most street people don’t live where they live or eat what they eat by choice or laziness. The vast majority are victims of a single calamity, over whose occurrence they had no control, and from whose consequences, without help, there is no escape.

21. You probably won’t make a lot of money as a caregiver, but you can make enough. More important, your loved ones will never have to be ashamed of what you did with your life. And neither will you.

22. Never do anything you know is stupid.

23. Modesty matters, when it’s yours.

24. Touch only with permission, and then gently.

25. People have names, and their names are important.

26. Caring counts. Kindness heals. Service elevates. And humor begets endurance. (Chris Olson)

27. Respect and be honored by the gift of trust. And make no mistake, it is a gift–never an entitlement.

28. Many people clamor to be called heroes. Only a few are awarded that distinction, and those awards are often based on faulty information. It’s enough in life to be recognized daily by the owner of that face in your mirror, and those who love it.

29. Honor people’s right to live, their right to die, and the impact of their deaths on those who love them.

30. When someone trusts you with their life, try to be truthful toward them and silent about them.

31. You’ll never be omnipotent. Admit your limitations openly and without embarrassment.

32. Sick people deserve as many pillows and blankets as they think they need. (Robert Hartson)

33. Life is full of people who know more than you do and people who know less. Try to learn from the ones who know more, and share with the ones who know less.

34. A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small package. (Ben Franklin)

35. Don’t be in too big a hurry to get promoted. If you’re a good EMT, and you like being an EMT, be an EMT. (Chris Olson)

36. Your certificates authorize you to do things for people, never to them.

37. As a caregiver, you dignify yourself most when you lower yourself.

38. What is popular is not always right. And what is right is not always popular. (Les Federoff)

39. Some of the most beautiful people you’ll ever meet as an EMT will be plainly wrapped.

40. No one loves and understands EMTs like other EMTs do, so it’s easy for us to regard our colleagues as family. Just remember, your family at home is the one to whom you’ve made your lifelong commitments.

41. Don’t be too sure you’re better than anybody.

42. Nobody gets out of here alive. (Jim Morrison) All people die someday, despite our best efforts. That’s okay.

43. EMS is a serious business, and you have to take it seriously. But try not to take yourself too seriously.

44. People have emergencies every day that have nothing to do with medicine. We’re here to help those people along with the rest.

45. Western medicine is based on the premise that sick people are impotent, and the medical establishment is omnipotent. Eastern medicine, which is more ancient, is based on the premise that all people have the capacity to heal themselves, and a few special people have the capacity to facilitate healing.

46. Fake smiles don’t do diddly for sick people. Real smiles come from inside of us.

47. Sick people and their diseases are supposed to have different names.

48. People who’ve just lost someone they love don’t always want to hear what you believe God is thinking or what the angels are doing.

49. Skeptical observations are usually framed as questions. Cynical ones are usually framed as judgments. (Mike Taigman) Skepticism is one of an EMT’s most valuable tools, but you need to turn it off before you get home from work.

50. It’s not your emergency. It’s somebody else’s emergency, and what you can do to help may not be enough. That’s okay.

Thom Dick has been a passionate advocate of sick people and the safety of their field caregivers since 1970. He has written hundreds of articles and three books on those subjects, including the People Care books. You can reach Thom via Facebook, or at boxcar414@comcast.net.