subject: The Characteristics of Effective Paramedics: Humility [print this page] The Characteristics of Effective Paramedics: Humility
Effective paramedics need to have as much humility as they possible can. A paramedic is a first responder who treats men and women who have been injured or who have fallen ill. They then give them preliminary medical treatment and transport the patient by ambulance to local hospitals for further and more extensive care by doctors and nurses.
Humility is a word that means never being arrogant, being as modest as possible, and never being too full of one's self. A good paramedic does not think that they know everything. They act quickly and swiftly to help save the lives of people that have suffered a medical emergency. Some paramedics develop a God complex and this is not having humility. No one person can save everyone and having someone's life in your hands is a responsibility, it is not something that should make people feel powerful and dominating.
These first responders should never be judgmental when dealing with patients in their times of need. They need to be caring, kind, and compassionate and really listen to what the victims have to say. Everything that is said could provide crucial medical information that can determine a person's survival or death. People are very emotional when they are sick and want to be comforted not treated like another nameless case.
Being effective at the job requires a lot of compassion but being able to not be clouded by those emotions and get the job done. In serious accidents, paramedics can become emotional especially if children are involved. It is important to be able to set those emotions aside and focus on the patients themselves and leave the emotions to be dealt with afterward. Having humility and knowing that you cannot fix everything and that you cannot save everyone is an important thing to learn early on.
The best paramedics can do is give one hundred percent and hope that the people that they treat survive. Paramedics are great people who do a job that saves lives and betters communities. They can be very effective by having some humility when dealing with their patients.
