One would hope that everyone who enters medicine would strive to better themselves each day. But working in healthcare is hard, and finding ways to better yourself can be challenging. Here we will discuss five ways to become a better paramedic.

1. Remember why you became a paramedic

This can be difficult sometimes. I entered EMS almost by accident. Both of my parents were paramedics, so it seemed only natural I follow in their footsteps. As time moved on, however I found my niche and realized that I wanted to help people as best I could. Call it a quest to leave the world a slightly better place than I found it, but that’s what I was looking for. And the more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. What has kept me going through the years is knowing that tomorrow will bring more information and more opportunity to help more people. While we’re on that topic:

2. Be better today than you were yesterday, but not as good as you’ll be tomorrow

Take the time to learn people’s stories. Whether it’s from a patient or from a co-worker. Learn what brought them to where they are. Take the time to read journals and go to conferences. If you had a call that didn’t go your way, or resulted in a negative outcome, talk to people involved with the patient and see what you could’ve done better. This way you’ll know what you can change next time. Understand that in medicine, sometimes you can do everything right and things won’t go your way. Never turn down an opportunity for growth.

3. Practice

You’re going to miss IV’s. You’ll miss tubes. Every paramedic does. The trick is to learn from your mistakes and work to not make them again. This can only be done through practice. This doesn’t mean working 70 hours a week, though I know it’s something that we all do. It does mean that every time you enter a SIM lab, or every time you’re around a mannequin, you should be working on these skills. The average paramedic in the United States intubates less than twice a year. How many tubes have you dropped this year? Is there anything that you do once a year that you consider yourself an expert at? Of course not. So everytime the opportunity presents itself, make sure to tube that dummy. Or put an IV in the fake arm. The more you work at it, the better you’ll be.

4. Know your limitations

You can’t do everything. Maybe you’re nursing an injury, or you’re on the end of a long shift. Maybe you haven’t applied a tourniquet before (See: item 3). If you know what are good at, and what you are bad at, deferring to someone who is better at a skill in the moment will be better for the patient. However, you must not ignore these limitations. It is on you to take the time to better yourself in spite of these limits.

5. Study

The world of medicine is moving at rocket speed these days. Take the time to listen to podcasts, and read new material. Take classes you’ve never taken before. Classes like CCEMT-P  will make you 10 times better than you were when you walked in. The saying goes: “you don’t know what you don’t know.” Taking more classes, reading and re-reading books will help make you better every day.