No one should ever pass up an opportunity to learn. It was so easy to say those words. A close friend Ian MacLeod shared his wisdom years ago when he suggested taking the emergency management training at the Canadian Emergency Preparedness College in Arnprior. His advice: “There is no such thing as bad education.” He was on the mark with that tip.
Although I took his suggestion several years into my career, I was actually referring to the practice of learning from the get-go. I already subscribed to the notion of the value of education, though it was a subconscious belief. Regardless of the foundation of your training, education must be a continuous process, both the formal and informal versions. My only regret looking back is that I should have pursued more of the traditional version. Sadly, after completing a few credits at our local university, I did not get the bug to do a degree.
Conversations with several great mentors at the Fanshawe College School of Public Safety suggest that I should have been born in 2004 instead of 1954. Their paramedic program is heading to a three-year format. Something I wholeheartedly subscribe to for everyone starting out today. If there was a credit for the woulda, coulda, shoulda program, I would have graduated magna cum laude. That’s not saying much.
Instead, I retired from the emergency medical services with a handwritten note from the school of hard knocks. I lived the thesis of trial and error, often exploring solutions through information exchanges with colleagues. Progress could be attributed to dumb luck until regular educational opportunities and the government brought in the regional base hospital structure that still leads Ontario paramedics in the field today. That is not to say that I did not continuously add to basic training offered back in the day. The nostalgic in me is singing the song by Cher: “If I could turn back time.”
The scope of practice for paramedics in keeping with medicine, in general, has swelled to unimaginable heights. Information and skillsets initially reserved for physicians are the standard of care on the street and in patients’ homes. After all the lectures and practical labs are tested, and behind budding paramedics, there is still that continuous onslaught of education. New and revised methods, procedures, and delegated medical acts are a fact of life in emergency medical services.
Reminding readers of the obvious was not the actual thrust of this message. It was merely a segue to another lesson from an old school casualty care attendant. You will never succeed in paramedicine without the formal education that you earned in college. However, you will never be comfortable on the street until you acknowledge and embrace the wisdom and experience of coworkers, mentors, and other professionals you encounter. Behind every EMS response and a lot of conversations with like-minded practitioners is knowledge.
There is something to be learned at every turn of the way once your formal lessons seem a distant memory. Situational awareness and “tricks of the trade” are not tricks at all. They are a seamless blend of road time and judgement that accentuates your seemingly endless training.
For a drop-dead obvious example of a life lesson, pick up a copy of RUNNING REDS and check out the call “Pick up sticks” in the chapter Strictly Crashes. Having someone yell at you at a scene can be a liberating moment. It was for me! David Ross of Ross Towing caught me, risking my safety at an accident scene. Paying his knowledge forward, the operation is now a three-generation icon in our region and the subject of the reality series Heavy Rescue 401. Thanks, Dave.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?