One of the most important skills a person can possess whether they’re working in the streets as an EMT or a paramedic, or they’re sitting behind the desk as a supervisor or manager is the ability to actively listen.  It’s not a very easy skill to perfect. Too many people confuse active listening with actively hearing what is going on around you.  There’s a distinct difference between the two. When a person hears something, they are acknowledging that there is noise.  Have you ever said to someone, “did you hear that?”  If the person’s response is confusion, or a lack of recognition, it’s almost instinctive to follow that up with a one word answer: “Listen!”  Listening involves the actual processing and recognition of what a person hears.  Hearing is instinctive.  People do it, animals do it.  Listening though takes focus and higher brain function. Now, let’s apply this to a situation in the field.  It’s our job to listen to our patients, and it is really one of the biggest pieces of our assessment.  It is what gives us a story, and a history of the events leading up to what led them to call 9-1-1 in the first place.  While it’s important to hear the story that you are being told, it is much more beneficial to the patient if you listen to what they are saying.  There might be more to what is going on, and by not paying attention (not listening) you could miss that little piece of the story that puts everything together. As a supervisor or manager, the act (art?) or listening to something that one of your employees has to say is a great way to make them feel involved, and lets them know that you truly care about the input they have to share with you.  It’s a great way to show an employee that they are valued.  Not every idea is achievable, I think most people realize that, but that doesn’t mean that an idea can’t be explored or even entertained. Body language says a lot about whether or not a person is listening.  Are you facing me or staring at your computer screen?  If it’s...

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about NJ State Bill S-818 which was set to change the landscape of EMS in New Jersey.  In the year since that article was written, the bill and a second one also making its way through the New Jersey legislature have been revised, but the opposition has remained. I got my start in EMS at the Jersey Shore on a small volunteer first aid squad.  We ran, on average, around 400 calls a year, pretty busy for a town of our size.  Often times, it was not uncommon to have two or three, or sometimes even four EMTs standing in your living room in my town ready to render you emergency care.  The communities around us were no different than we were.  We all took pride in what we did, and knew that we could deliver better service than any paid provider who came into the area because we held ourselves to a very high, very professional standard. To this day, I am still proud of my accomplishments as a volunteer.  I was an active member of two excellent services, and the staff of those services taught me to be the caring, compassionate, knowledgeable provider that I am today.  My roots in New Jersey run deep, and I have been very troubled by what I have been reading lately. As time has progressed, and the political and economic climate in this country has changed, volunteer EMS has taken a turn, and is not as prominent as it was even ten years ago.  Families are working harder to support themselves, and the call volume and expectations of care have grown and evolved.  Some might say that these factors spell the end of volunteer EMS, and I hope every day that it isn’t the case.  It’s not the time to expect less from our volunteers; it’s time to expect more for our patients. Sadly though, the New Jersey State First Aid Council seems content with the past.  Their staunch opposition to Bill S-818 has taken the focus off of where it needs to be: the patient and put their stress on what EMS is about on the provider. ...