EPTPartner "A" has been in this line of work for ~15 years. She has had problems with her back for a good number of those years. She is constantly in and out of work on compensation and what have you. She talks about the Union accommodating her with another job but believes she would be unable to perform the duties involved in being a janitor or cafeteria service worker due to the lifting and moving. I inform partner that either of those jobs is incredibly less taxing on the body than being a Paramedic. She proceeds to tell me that her doctor and physiotherapist believes that she should no longer be in this career as it will inevitably lead to more back injuries. However, she believes she can tough it out.
My issues arise from several different things here. The first is that we are a rural service, we do not have any other agencies to respond to our calls to help with combative patients, heavy lift assists or drudging through swamp and mud to rescue someone. These are scenarios I have faced in the last six months, luckily without her. She can not lift, and her inability to perform her job on a physical level puts my back and well being at risk, unacceptable.
Another issue I have with her is the lack of clinical knowledge. She does not know her drugs, assessments or how to adequately perform her skills. She is absolutely no help on serious calls and more so of a hindrance. I will use the saying 'Chicken with their head cut off'. She has skated by on previous partners who would do the work or cover for her, unacceptable.
The problem with anything being done is that our Union would jump down the employers throat over these issues. I was a Union rep for 5 months until I resigned. I could not deal with their inability to see the middle ground, to define what is and what is not a priority or important. They neglect our Collective Bargaining Agreement when it suits them, and make closed door deals with the employer and then implement these bastardized documents as MOUs (Minutes of Understanding) that negatively affect the Paramedics the Union is suppose to protect.
I guess the previous paragraph leads me into another source of Frustration, our Union. I think I pretty much summed a lot of what bothers me up in that paragraph. I could not in good faith hold the union position in my station and accept profits paid to the union by union members and then to me for union events when I felt that it was unfair, especially when they refuse to listen to its members.
Partner "B" has been in this line of work for ~5 years. She has aspirations of becoming a doctor, which will never happen. Her assessments are horrible, although better than Partner "A". Her skills are decent and she often needs direction. She questions everything with a know-it-all attitude and this is really grading my last nerve.
Both Partner "A" and "B" are incredibly negative and it makes doing a 12 hour shift a strenuous and long ordeal. They do not take any constructive feedback and refuse to admit they are wrong, when they most certainly are. I take great pride in my profession and the job that I do and when I see people who are "winging it", it starts to really get to me. I don't know how these two are not terrified when the pager goes off and a call comes in. They potentially walk into situations where they are responsible for the lives of their patients and in reality have no idea what drug to give, what dose, which delivery method, what signs and symptoms to coincide with what or any pertinent negatives or associated symptoms for that matter.
I've contacted the Union, I've contacted our Quality Improvement department and yet nothing has been done so far. I'm sure it's being investigated, but that does not help the here and now. Unacceptable.
/Rant
