By Michael Morse, EMS1 Contributor
Working in emergency services is hard enough. Explaining your daily thoughts to someone outside the field is damn near impossible. You know you’re a medic, or destined to be, if you find any of these thoughts bouncing around your head.
1. You believe a little puke on the pants does not require a full uniform change.
2. You continually wonder whether you should do paperwork, shower, sleep or eat.
3. You wonder if stifling an overwhelming urge to break into uncontrollable laughter in front of a patient could raise your blood pressure to a dangerous level.
4. You’ve tried explaining to a patient that uncontrolled laughter is a therapeutic tool to help alleviate the symptoms of the Charlie horse that they called you for.
5. You enjoy the radio, but only when it’s talking to you, and you can respond.
6. You wake up to the ever-difficult decision: bed head or ugly baseball cap?
7. You wonder how you can get the nap-induced crease off your face during a seven minute response time.
8. You wonder why most people are attracted to pretty eyes, nice smiles or great hair. Your type has nice veins, good perfusion, and a strong pulse.
9. While on a crazy call you regularly ask yourself, do I really need the police?
10. When getting into bed you wonder, shorts and a t-shirt, or ready wrapped?
11. Normal people pull over to the side when they hear sirens in the distance, medics feel that shot of adrenaline and hit the gas (even when off duty).
12. You’ve actually said, and meant it, “But officer, I thought I was at work when I sped through the intersection!”
13. You find yourself trying to convince friends and family that you really are kind and caring; you are just acting like you are not.
14. You regret that you didn’t request police back-up.
15. You’ve never thought: Hmmmmm what to wear? Hello, blue pants with the blue shirt and the black shoes.
16. You wonder if you’re hungry or just tired. You eat anyway.
17. You think about choking the asshole that abused that kid.
18. You contemplate whether to sleep in your seat or sleep standing.
19. You decide it’s perfectly acceptable to get into bed in your uniform with puke on your leg.
What did I miss? What are some thoughts your non-EMS friends just don’t understand?
