ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITES OF THE EMT-B

3. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITES OF THE EMT-B Professional Characteristics • Flexible: To meet demands of the ever-changing emergency scene • Confident leader Excellent judgment Ability to prioritize decisions Develop Rapport Function independently at an optimum level

4. Standards • Duty to Act • Negligence • Abadonment • Battery • Reporting requirements • DNR

5. Relatively young, the field of emergency medicine is now recognized as a part of the health care system As an EMT-B YOUR ARE A TRUE HEALTH-CARE PROFESSIONAL

6. Roles and Responsibilities • Evidence-Based Medicine Basic physical fitness • Strength and stamina on the job Back Safety • Keep your back fit • Proper lifting techniques • Correct posture • Heed your own body signals

7. Local protocols, policies and procedures • Patient assessment • Appropriate disposition • Patient transfer • Documentation

8. Professionalism Conduct or qualities that characterize a practitioner in a particular field or occupation Professional attitude • Patients • Staff • Co-workers

9. Professional attributes • Self-confidence • Established credibility • Inner strength • Ability to remain in control • Ability to communicate

10. Willingness to make decisions • Willingness to accept responsibility for the consequences of the team’s actions all leads to the attributes of. . . . .

11. L E A D E R S H I P Professionalism also includes the qualities of………………………………………….

12. Integrity • Empathy • Self-motivation • Appearance and personal hygiene • Communication • Time management • Teamwork and diplomacy • Respect • Patient advocacy • Careful delivery of services

13. Well-Being of the EMT-B Personal responsibilities • Self –examination Stress and Stress Management • Eustress Positive stress but can produce physiological and psychological signs and sx. What is stress?...........

14. A hardship or strain; a physical or emotional response to a stimulus Adapting to stress: • Defense strategies Helpful in the short-term but denies and distorts the reality of a stressful situation • Coping Active process. Confronts and changes or adjust as necessary. May not be the best for the long-term

15. Problem-solving skills: ability to analyze a problem and recognize multiple options and potential solutions Healthiest approach to everyday concerns. Mastery generally comes only as a result of extensive experience with similar situations

16. Stressors: Stimulus that causes stress Administrative stressors • Waiting for calls • Loud pagers • Inadequate pay

17. Scene-related stressors • Violent and abusive people • Flying debris • Vomit • Loud noises • Chaos

18. Emotional and physical stressors • Fear • Demanding bystanders • Abusive patients • Frustration • Exhaustion • Hunger or thirst • Heavy objects

19. Environmental stress • Siren noise • Inclement weather • Confined work spaces • Difficult decision making ALL can result in

20. Can strain family relationships • Can lead to conflicts with supervisors and co-workers These added to common personality traits such as the need to be liked and unrealistically high self-expectations can lead to disturbing feelings of guilt or anxiety

21. You should be aware of • Your personal stressors • Amount of stress you can take before it becomes a problem • Stress management strategies that work best for you

22. Three phases of stress response Stage 1: Alarm • “fight or flight”; the body physically prepares itself against a personal threat • Pituitary releases adrenocortiotropic hormones which continue to flood the body via the autonomic nervous system coordinated by the hypothalimus

23. Epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal glands increase heart rate increase blood pressure dilate pupils increase blood sugar slow digestion relaxes the bronchial tree

24. The reaction ends when the situation is no longer perceived as dangerous Stage II: Resistance • Coping becoming desensitized or adapted to stressors Stage III: Exhaustion • Resistance to stressors declines

25. Signs of stress • Physical • Cognitive • Emotional • behavioral

26. Specific EMS stress: Daily Stress • Pay • Working conditions • Dealing with the public • Administrative matters • Other hassles of day-to-day living

27. Small incidents • Incidents involving only one or two patients Large incidents and disasters

28. MANAGING STRESS Two main groups of defense mechanisms and techniques for managing stress • Beneficial • Detrimental

29. Detrimental • May provide temporary sense of relief but does not cure the problem • They only make things worse Includes • Substance abuse • Overeating or other compulsive behaviors • Chronic complaining

30. Freezing out or cutting off others and the support they could give you • Avoidance behaviors • Dishonesty about your actual state of well-being- - - - “I’m just fine”

31. Beneficial Controlled breathing • Focus attention on your breathing • Take in a deep breath through your nose • Exhale forcefully but steadily through your nose so that you can hear the air rush out • Press all the air out of your lungs with your abdomen

32. Do this two or 3 times until you feel steadier Why do this? Helps to reduce your adrenaline levels and slows your heart rate

33. Reframe • Mentally reframe interfering thoughts such as “I can’t do this” or “I’m scared” These thoughts however must be dealt with at some point in time

34. For long-term The best stress management technique is to TAKE CARE OF YOUR SELF Hence THE WELL-BEING OF THE EMT-B