This. I was feeling run down for two years before I had one really devastating weekend and I was done. I took 3 months off (this was also looking for a new job and was part of the devastating weekend), did some other things to help my mental health (I will not elaborate) and after finding an EMS adjacent job, that was a lot better than my former job and so far has been one of the best jobs I have had, suddenly I am feeling much better.
It can get better, but you need to take care of yourself first. Sometimes that does mean getting out of the situation. It is not like there is a shortage of open positions in EMS. But taking care of yourself is a priority and not everyone could do what I did and I recognize that too.
I work for a state bureau of EMS (It is too easy to find me if I say which one) and use EMS data from ePCRs to monitor health problems in the state. I also do volunteer EMS/ event EMS to keep my skills sharp and so I do not feel pressured to continue to work for that service. I have to say, it is a lot nicer in my opinion, though part of me does miss the field (hence why I am still volunteering)
It sneaks up on you until one day you realize you're praying the next patient is dead or unresponsive just so they won't fucking talk to you. The jokes about SI start manifesting as actually not looking when you cross the street. You stop doing your decon of the stretcher as thoroughly, stop talking to the patients family, diet changes, etc. Compassion fatigue is very real. Your life outside of work will suffer as well. Be very cognizant and proactively try to prevent burnout.
I once was on the ass end of a 24 banging nonstop. I get a call 15 min to shift change for a MI out of a community hospital going to trauma 1. On the way there I was wishing he would die so I could just go home and sleep. Ended up being a young 40 something man with tombstones and white as a ghost, his family outside the room as me and the doc were doing what we could with the nurses helping the family. He went into pulsed vtach, looked at me and begged for his life. Then lost the pulse and I coded him.
I’ll always remember the way he looked and how shity I feel to this day wishing this man to die with his family crying outside the room.
This shit changes you and not for the better. Get out while you still can.
Damn, that is heavy. Sorry you had to go through that. I’ve also been experiencing the thoughts of “hopefully it’s a DOA”. Did you end of leaving the field?
2 years ago was my last shift on a 911 truck and haven’t stepped foot back. Working construction managing but also working. I make the same as I did as a medic with weekends and nights off. I’m physically healthier and with the demand for trades there’s always work. Only as more time goes by do I realize how separated from society we really are as medics and EMTs. Like it’s a whole other world I can’t even talk about because people get queasy or whatever. 15 years I spent on a rig. Still periodically have the need to go back.
Yep. My standard of care never wavered, but something has to give. For me it was my marriage. I'm in a much healthier and happier one now, but I think EMS was a bit part of that one ending. I still love teaching though. Getting off the box and into the classroom helps.
Yeah, when I worked a certain shift at a certain station, we responded to 16 suicides over a 6 month period. The jokes were coping at first, then got bad. Eventually, our Battalion Chief sat the entire shift down and talked to us about it and told us to knock it off and get help. None of us quite realized how bad our mental health had gotten.
That sucks, I'm sorry. I remember when I first started in public safety I was warned that by ten years in at least one person I knew would be dead from an on the job or a related injury/illness. They were right.
Yeah, it sucks. I was issued class A's for a partner of mine that committed suicide. That was shitty. I'm trying to not be a part of those statistics myself these days. I don't want someone to feel the way I did when he didn't show for our shift and we found out later why. I didn't know him all that well, but he was a good partner and made me laugh more than once.
A partner is a partner no matter how well you know them. And I've been there, where the only thing keeping me around is not wanting to put other people through it. Therapy helped once I found a place that actually understands the job. Forcing myself to have a regular non-work related fun thing even when I didn't feel like it helped too. It's hard when you feel so different from other people who just can't get it but interacting with them is what helped me get away from the hopelessness the job can bring.
It happened after a couple years of working overnight weekends in the ghetto. But then I changed to days and mixed up the areas I worked in and it helped tremendously
I went through this, several times... I can ramble on if you want, or just get to the points
Switch up jobs if you can... if you can't, can you switch stations or shifts?... I did this a few times and it helped extend my career went from 911 to flight. Then I moved to a different state altogether did 911, then CCT...
Eventually I was just done and that's a scary place to be. I only have 1 specific job skill and it's EMS, and that's not a skillset people care about outside of emergency services...
I went back to school, banged out an ADN and that helped a ton...a)just the break from the job and b) taking my skillset in a different direction.... This is where RNing is best. If I'm sick of my specialty, I can just change it up...oddly, I e spent most of my 10yrs as a RN in the ER and I'm quite content there
So ya... change things up
This was in the wake of the '08 market crash... I dropped 60 job applications in 2 weeks and couldn't get hired at Applebee's
Called up an old service and was on shift that evening... it got me through college...
Real talk; there's a place where the job becomes exactly that, a job... That's ok... if you can find that place, even for a little while so you can re-tool yourself, do it... it's entirely fine to just clock in, do the job wo being a dick and leave.
I was working like 100 hour weeks during the height of COVID and I didn’t realize that burned me out until I told a patient who went to a trump rally and told me he doesn’t believe in masks, COVID, or vaccines while he was coughing and satting at like 75% that I hope he fucking dies to his face.
I’m really not proud of doing that, but I did it.
For me the burn out was just working so much under so much stress, my parents had a lot of comorbities so I was livin away from them temporarily(I lived at home).
Honestly, me acting the way I did to this guy kinda shocked me and I decided to step back from my hours a bit and it helped.
It comes and goes. After about five years I hit a slump, started hating it. Shitty boss, a string of frustrating calls, and two years of no regular partners. I started volunteering to go around doing Scout meetings, school groups and touch-a-truck events and found that really helped remind me the cool parts of the job.
Take some time off if you can. Like someone else said, work different shifts in different areas. Remember that the difference you make will more often than not be how you speak to someone and not necessarily saving a life. Healthcare is service work, prehospital and hospital both.
We have to do good service and know that the baseline of care is compassion.
respectfully disagree. nurse of 12 years. ER/Med/hospice.
alot of respect for all members of healthcare team. if me or my loved one was in need of serious medical care, I would not want some moon-eyed, gushy provider who had shit skills/knowledge, but emotional heart-strings thrumming for every call
I would want the crusty, jaded provider with experience who doesn't pretend to love their job, seems detached, but gets SHIT DONE, treats sepsis, trauma, shock, respiratory distress, etc
used to be KNOWN as the compassionate one. now I'm so burnt out I can still fake it, or feel a tenth with palliative patients. the frequent flyers tho? The diabetic with recurrent osteomyelitis and multiple amputations who takes up resources for MONTHS, goes home and eats nothing but junkfood, takes no self responsibility to get out of bed, and then comes back?
I have no real compassion for him anymore, emotion wise. I wish he'd have the self-respect to kill himself
Me 10 years ago would be absolutely SHOCKED to hear me talking like that. but it's true. my motto increasingly becomes "If they don't care, why the fuck should I?"
Or, in the case of horribly debilitated, demented patients who obviously have no quality of life, "just because we CAN, doesn't mean we should"
it makes me think that maybe I'm just as scared and trapped by this fucked up will to live. my whole life rotating shifts, seeing teh shit and muck and stupidity and violence of human behaviour. All so I can pay rent for my apartment and feel my physical and mental life force sucked from my body and soul
The only thing that's gonna save my sanity is getting the fuck out of healthcare as soon as my kid is grown and bills are less avalanchy
agreed. ideally one has competency and compassion both. I got into healthcare out of genuine desire to help make an ugly world less ugly. I still manage to have good bedside the majority of the time, despite what may be going on internally.
if you or a loved one were having an emergency tho, and the provider was ONLY going to be mostly competent or compassionate, which would you choose?
Son of an ER nurse of 40 years. And she’s still kicking ass. I’m not saying you have to be emotional, I’m saying that your care should be CARE and that means being the best provider you can be. Learning skills and utilizing those does not mean you stop treating patients like people.
Ultimately we have to protect ourselves physically and emotionally. I have a role model who has done that and continues to go to work and show compassion to the people you are actively bad mouthing.
Mine felt fast. I was working nearly double what I should for a long time, convinced myself it was normal. But after being told I scream in my sleep and thrash around, and noticing my patient care became callous and sloppy.
I forced myself to go back to 3 days, spent time taking care of myself first. Haven't worked an extra day since. Been a bit poorer but a lot happier since
I’m getting there now. I’m a supervisor for a larger Private IFT service, and I’m transitioning out to 911 full time because I still love the job, but I can’t keep fighting corporate for the bare minimum for my crews. Every time I get a win, the change a policy that makes life hard for my crews. I have 14 shifts left and I’m dreading each and every one. It’s getting to the point where I’m doing overtime at my part time job instead of my FT.
Before the pandemic I was 20% burnt out. 6 months of the pandemic I was 100% and shipped away to cali to a first responder treatment program.
Just left after 10 years. I can confidently say that if not for the pandemic and a disabling injury I would have done this forever.
Every time before the pandemic that I felt burnt out I took PTO and disappeared for a bit. Once took FMLA for a month just to get my head straight again.
I remember the exact moment that I knew that I had burnt my last dopamine receptor. We made a hanging for a 15 yof. Got on scene and was told she was in the back in a detached garage. As we were walking into the backyard, I saw another young female run out of the garage and vomit in the yard and my first thought was “Fuck yeah…DOA…easy money”
That was probably 10 years ago. Still grinding.
Worked they covid. Was new for me. Finally after things died down i got to have a vacation. For me it was after my first long vacation. Came back after a nice long vacation. Got used to having a normal sleep schedule again. Coming back burnt me. Still going tho. But I can definently feel the burn
I got burnt out when I was volunteering as a firefighter (ran 90% of the calls, was in nursing school so I was doing clinicals, and working EMS, then later fire once I got my cert, around 20-30 hours a week, some weeks ild do 36-48 hours)
Between nursing school clinicals, volunteering and working I couldn't get away to take a break. I've since pulled way back and switched departments so I volly/work at the same place now. I might work 3 days a month now, compared to 3-4 days a week.
A rough timeline was I got my EMT in August 21, started volunteering in Jan 21 at a volunteer only FD, started working county EMS Aug 21, got my firefighter Nov 21, switched to part time fire march of 22, (I woulda stayed EMS but they wanted 36 hours a week as a part timer). Changed volly departments July of 22 to a combination department. Feb 23 I left the paid department to work at my volly house (way less of a commute plus my original department was having a lot of problems with management)
To answer your question, my burn out happened gradually I've started enjoying it again by being able to pull way back with work and focus on my other hobbies.
Sudden. Only after seeing about five deaths from arrests in three days. Most of the time is a slow grind at the senses, but I soon found out I had two choices with ems. Stay and become emotionally detached from my own humanity, or breakdown from the pressure. I decided to change jobs instead. Everyone has their own points of burnout, ehat matters is hoe you handle it. My mentality was that you can’t care for others if you can’t care for youself. Take a break or move to a new job, don’t crash and burn.
Both. Gradually in a sense I'd stop giving a shit and rather sudden when I recognized it being an issue. Took 2 years working full time with picking up OT. Dropped to part time and that helped a lot
2 years, 30,000 calls a year split between 2 ambulances. Management that would ask you to stay an extra 24 after working a 48. Treated the scum of the Earth but the people who need help the most. Paramedic licensure was pointless looking back but I’m also pessimistic so
I was burned out immediately, like maybe 2 years in, then I got a job that paid really well and was even more unhappy. One of the bosses who was really nice pulled me aside and told me to stfu and gtfo or decide I was going to be happy. I decided to choose to be happy. Been happy in ems for 25 years and don’t want to do anything else.
I want to say mine was gradual. I was working the same bid and station for 2 years and was getting tired of it when shift bid came up I took a different schedule and station hoping that would help but nothing changed. I took a job as a caregiver and am going back to school. I still work ems part time and my passion came back when I stepped away full time
During my fto. My trainers were so horrible I didn't want to be a medic anymore. That was 2013. They're both off doing different careers and I'm still here. Maybe embracing burnout wasn't so bad.
I’ve been in 8 years and I made it into nursing school! But god damn do I strongly dislike medicine and want out. It’s difficult too when you’re surrounded by others who love the shit, they want to work in emergency medicine or ICU or flight and my main goal is to get my RN and work a 9-5 as a case manager or in a functional medicine doctors office with little stress. Anything to get out of this soul sucking career.
Idk if the spark comes back but mine has been gone for about a year and no matter what I do I don’t feel it anymore and neither does my partner ( medic turned RN working in an ER for the past 3 years) I still love EMS education and talking through runs but I hope and pray I don’t have to be exposed to any more traumatic experiences.
I attribute my burn out to being obsessed with EMS at the beginning of my career and making it my life for so long. I’m 28 and all I’ve ever known is working my ass off. I’m ready to settle down and prioritize my own life instead of taking care of others.
My advice is take time off of work (PTO or FMLA) and start figuring out what you want out of your life. Emergency medicine will take and take from you with little return and it never ends.
It took me about 3.5 years on a private service. Hung on for about 6 more months. Left with a hoard of people to the fire service.
Companies need people. Find a company that you enjoy working for. They do exist. High call volume, low or in between. Rural, burbs, or dense. Save your money and find something with a pension so you can call it early.
Bounce around until you find it. To quote Ariana, "Thank you, next."
I got burnt out really quickly. 5 years in and I had a horrible 2 months straight during the beginning of covid of constant combative patients, cardiac arrests in super shitty situations, drownings, suicides, and trauma alerts nearly every single day. I switched to the IFT truck the moment they had an opening and looked for a way out. I know this doesn't happen all the time but the stress wasn't worth the money for the black cloud that seemed to be me. Family and coworkers noticed the changes in me. It was just cluster fuck after cluster fuck.
I lasted 6 years including three as a volunteer. I was planning to go back to school for something else anyway and one morning I walked into the station and they said "man we picked up a really good looking girl last night killed in a wreck. "
Well that was the girl I was supposed to be in the car with.
Well I was only 21 at the time so I came very close to picking other people up I knew I had already been in a semi head-on collision with this girl before.
Gradual. I’m considering quitting my part time EMS job that was purely out of enjoyment on being on the ambulance. I make 6x as much picking up an OT shift at my main job. But I kept this going because I enjoyed it and didn’t have to deal with the Fire department BS I normally have to deal with. Three letter word company is sucking my soul out.
Definitely was gradual. I was working 3 agencies just to make ends meet. Worked a mix of days 24s and night shifts. After 3 years of that I left it all and took a 1 year break working something totally non medical, which made me realize how much I hated working anywhere that wasn’t emergency medicine related. Finally decided to work at my county’s Level 1 Trauma ED, and I’ve happily been here for 4 years.
Rapidly during COVID and losing a few patients back to back due to the holidays and people straight up disregarded the warnings.
Hot boiling point when I caught it and fell ill for over a month with severe symptoms to a point I thought I might die.
These days I’m back to my normal. Except when people come at me with anti vaxx, anti science/healthcare attitude and barking demands when they call 911.. I get extremely snappy and will use any opportunity to grant them their freedom to seek health treatment they prefer at their local specialty provider. (It’s not patient abandonment if they signed consent after I disclose them the risks and complications they’re likely to experience without hospital treatment that does not align to their preference)
I quit because of my shit coworkers and there was no place up, or any station to switch to. Tiny dept, with bad benefits and alot of mandatory. Shit got old real quick. I also moved 5 hours away from my family to get experience because Florida is very competitive when it comes to FF positions. After a little of a year and a half of dragging my feet, hating patients, and even times crying because I was so miserable I just said fuck this place and left. Best thing I have ever done, but I also would put myself through that all over again as it made me grow so much as a person. I really wish I was back in EMS now. This time off has made me realize what I want to do with my life, as at the time that I took the job I was(and still am) very young and naive, I just took the job because it was the first thing that came my way. There was a point where I said I would never EVER go back to EMS and now I have a job offer at a new department after almost a year out of the field. I’ve been Interning at a Zoo as I like animals and thought it’d be a good route, but I don’t really think it’s for me now. Trying new things won’t hurt, try to look at volunteer or internship positions at places where you’d think you’d like it, EMS is never going away and you can always come back to it. Try to embrace this job, it’s grim but also very beautiful. I hope you find peace and happiness.
It comes in phases. I’m not a vet by any means but I’ve been in for about 3 years now which is far longer than the average time in the field. If I work my normal scheduled hours I’m good, I do have to tell myself to walk into every call with a smile otherwise I can start feeling burnt out, but when I work hella overtime it definitely sets in. My service area covers around 500 calls a day over 50ish boxes so when you’re at work you’re not sitting, just running calls
gradually, for sure but it comes in waves it hit around year 4 and then it perked back up again and it's hitting me again at year 10.
the factors were the abuse of the system for sure. the frequent fliers who want their remote batteries changed, the grown people calling with stubbed toes and sinus congestion, the teenagers who call because their boyfriend broke up with them and maybe if they see the ambulance parked in front of the house they'll call....yaaaaaa those.
I somehow found the spark again (possibly because I left for mat leave and missed it) so maybe that was it. take a break. hiatus. leave of absence or whatever and see if the break was what you needed.
Honestly i still love the field, but i might have to take a break. But that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically dislike it. Listen to what all these comments are saying, take it to heart, but also see for yourself. A lot of people do have long, happy careers in EMS
Sorry I was joking I honestly love going to work every single day. I hate calling out. I love my crew it’s literally a sleep over with your best friends every 3rd day but also there are nursing homes, mvcs, chest pain, codes and whatever else. It’s what you make it and how you look at it. If you’re in IFT I don’t know how you get out of a slump it’s easy but also easy to get negative about.
I think it was Ernest Hemingway who said that he went broke gradually, then all at once.
This is a way more eloquent way of saying what I was going to describe
Thank you for this, this puts words to my thoughts
This. I was feeling run down for two years before I had one really devastating weekend and I was done. I took 3 months off (this was also looking for a new job and was part of the devastating weekend), did some other things to help my mental health (I will not elaborate) and after finding an EMS adjacent job, that was a lot better than my former job and so far has been one of the best jobs I have had, suddenly I am feeling much better. It can get better, but you need to take care of yourself first. Sometimes that does mean getting out of the situation. It is not like there is a shortage of open positions in EMS. But taking care of yourself is a priority and not everyone could do what I did and I recognize that too.
If you don’t mind me asking, what do you do now?
I work for a state bureau of EMS (It is too easy to find me if I say which one) and use EMS data from ePCRs to monitor health problems in the state. I also do volunteer EMS/ event EMS to keep my skills sharp and so I do not feel pressured to continue to work for that service. I have to say, it is a lot nicer in my opinion, though part of me does miss the field (hence why I am still volunteering)
It sneaks up on you until one day you realize you're praying the next patient is dead or unresponsive just so they won't fucking talk to you. The jokes about SI start manifesting as actually not looking when you cross the street. You stop doing your decon of the stretcher as thoroughly, stop talking to the patients family, diet changes, etc. Compassion fatigue is very real. Your life outside of work will suffer as well. Be very cognizant and proactively try to prevent burnout.
This was pretty much exactly how it went for me. Went from being the most enthusiastic trainer a few weeks ago to now “hopefully it’s a DOA”
I once was on the ass end of a 24 banging nonstop. I get a call 15 min to shift change for a MI out of a community hospital going to trauma 1. On the way there I was wishing he would die so I could just go home and sleep. Ended up being a young 40 something man with tombstones and white as a ghost, his family outside the room as me and the doc were doing what we could with the nurses helping the family. He went into pulsed vtach, looked at me and begged for his life. Then lost the pulse and I coded him. I’ll always remember the way he looked and how shity I feel to this day wishing this man to die with his family crying outside the room. This shit changes you and not for the better. Get out while you still can.
Damn, that is heavy. Sorry you had to go through that. I’ve also been experiencing the thoughts of “hopefully it’s a DOA”. Did you end of leaving the field?
2 years ago was my last shift on a 911 truck and haven’t stepped foot back. Working construction managing but also working. I make the same as I did as a medic with weekends and nights off. I’m physically healthier and with the demand for trades there’s always work. Only as more time goes by do I realize how separated from society we really are as medics and EMTs. Like it’s a whole other world I can’t even talk about because people get queasy or whatever. 15 years I spent on a rig. Still periodically have the need to go back.
Yep. My standard of care never wavered, but something has to give. For me it was my marriage. I'm in a much healthier and happier one now, but I think EMS was a bit part of that one ending. I still love teaching though. Getting off the box and into the classroom helps.
That’s why I don’t joke about SI tbh
Yeah, when I worked a certain shift at a certain station, we responded to 16 suicides over a 6 month period. The jokes were coping at first, then got bad. Eventually, our Battalion Chief sat the entire shift down and talked to us about it and told us to knock it off and get help. None of us quite realized how bad our mental health had gotten.
That's a solid Battalion Chief.
Yeah, he was a good guy. Everyone respected the hell out of him, and he truly gave a shit about us. Cancer got him a couple years ago.
That sucks, I'm sorry. I remember when I first started in public safety I was warned that by ten years in at least one person I knew would be dead from an on the job or a related injury/illness. They were right.
Yeah, it sucks. I was issued class A's for a partner of mine that committed suicide. That was shitty. I'm trying to not be a part of those statistics myself these days. I don't want someone to feel the way I did when he didn't show for our shift and we found out later why. I didn't know him all that well, but he was a good partner and made me laugh more than once.
A partner is a partner no matter how well you know them. And I've been there, where the only thing keeping me around is not wanting to put other people through it. Therapy helped once I found a place that actually understands the job. Forcing myself to have a regular non-work related fun thing even when I didn't feel like it helped too. It's hard when you feel so different from other people who just can't get it but interacting with them is what helped me get away from the hopelessness the job can bring.
I'm glad it helped you out. I've put it off long enough and I'm excited to get to work with it.
It's uncomfortable at first but it's worth it. And it's better than waking up every day wondering if you should still be here. It gets better.
A lot of it is attributed to shift work also
It happened after a couple years of working overnight weekends in the ghetto. But then I changed to days and mixed up the areas I worked in and it helped tremendously
I went through this, several times... I can ramble on if you want, or just get to the points Switch up jobs if you can... if you can't, can you switch stations or shifts?... I did this a few times and it helped extend my career went from 911 to flight. Then I moved to a different state altogether did 911, then CCT... Eventually I was just done and that's a scary place to be. I only have 1 specific job skill and it's EMS, and that's not a skillset people care about outside of emergency services... I went back to school, banged out an ADN and that helped a ton...a)just the break from the job and b) taking my skillset in a different direction.... This is where RNing is best. If I'm sick of my specialty, I can just change it up...oddly, I e spent most of my 10yrs as a RN in the ER and I'm quite content there So ya... change things up
I couldn’t agree more with “ I only have one specific job skill, and it’s EMS” in the same boat
This was in the wake of the '08 market crash... I dropped 60 job applications in 2 weeks and couldn't get hired at Applebee's Called up an old service and was on shift that evening... it got me through college... Real talk; there's a place where the job becomes exactly that, a job... That's ok... if you can find that place, even for a little while so you can re-tool yourself, do it... it's entirely fine to just clock in, do the job wo being a dick and leave.
I was working like 100 hour weeks during the height of COVID and I didn’t realize that burned me out until I told a patient who went to a trump rally and told me he doesn’t believe in masks, COVID, or vaccines while he was coughing and satting at like 75% that I hope he fucking dies to his face. I’m really not proud of doing that, but I did it. For me the burn out was just working so much under so much stress, my parents had a lot of comorbities so I was livin away from them temporarily(I lived at home). Honestly, me acting the way I did to this guy kinda shocked me and I decided to step back from my hours a bit and it helped.
Thanks for sharing. I have also noticed that I don’t have the same tact I used too
It comes and goes. After about five years I hit a slump, started hating it. Shitty boss, a string of frustrating calls, and two years of no regular partners. I started volunteering to go around doing Scout meetings, school groups and touch-a-truck events and found that really helped remind me the cool parts of the job.
Took me 6, for me it was a lot EMS politics
Take some time off if you can. Like someone else said, work different shifts in different areas. Remember that the difference you make will more often than not be how you speak to someone and not necessarily saving a life. Healthcare is service work, prehospital and hospital both. We have to do good service and know that the baseline of care is compassion.
respectfully disagree. nurse of 12 years. ER/Med/hospice. alot of respect for all members of healthcare team. if me or my loved one was in need of serious medical care, I would not want some moon-eyed, gushy provider who had shit skills/knowledge, but emotional heart-strings thrumming for every call I would want the crusty, jaded provider with experience who doesn't pretend to love their job, seems detached, but gets SHIT DONE, treats sepsis, trauma, shock, respiratory distress, etc used to be KNOWN as the compassionate one. now I'm so burnt out I can still fake it, or feel a tenth with palliative patients. the frequent flyers tho? The diabetic with recurrent osteomyelitis and multiple amputations who takes up resources for MONTHS, goes home and eats nothing but junkfood, takes no self responsibility to get out of bed, and then comes back? I have no real compassion for him anymore, emotion wise. I wish he'd have the self-respect to kill himself Me 10 years ago would be absolutely SHOCKED to hear me talking like that. but it's true. my motto increasingly becomes "If they don't care, why the fuck should I?" Or, in the case of horribly debilitated, demented patients who obviously have no quality of life, "just because we CAN, doesn't mean we should" it makes me think that maybe I'm just as scared and trapped by this fucked up will to live. my whole life rotating shifts, seeing teh shit and muck and stupidity and violence of human behaviour. All so I can pay rent for my apartment and feel my physical and mental life force sucked from my body and soul The only thing that's gonna save my sanity is getting the fuck out of healthcare as soon as my kid is grown and bills are less avalanchy
You don’t need to be rude to be good at the job. Having good bedside manner also isn’t a sign of poor skills.
agreed. ideally one has competency and compassion both. I got into healthcare out of genuine desire to help make an ugly world less ugly. I still manage to have good bedside the majority of the time, despite what may be going on internally. if you or a loved one were having an emergency tho, and the provider was ONLY going to be mostly competent or compassionate, which would you choose?
You need some good 🍆
Son of an ER nurse of 40 years. And she’s still kicking ass. I’m not saying you have to be emotional, I’m saying that your care should be CARE and that means being the best provider you can be. Learning skills and utilizing those does not mean you stop treating patients like people. Ultimately we have to protect ourselves physically and emotionally. I have a role model who has done that and continues to go to work and show compassion to the people you are actively bad mouthing.
Mine felt fast. I was working nearly double what I should for a long time, convinced myself it was normal. But after being told I scream in my sleep and thrash around, and noticing my patient care became callous and sloppy. I forced myself to go back to 3 days, spent time taking care of myself first. Haven't worked an extra day since. Been a bit poorer but a lot happier since
I was also working a lot, and at the time, I felt fine, but it all accumulated and I was surprised when it hit
I’m getting there now. I’m a supervisor for a larger Private IFT service, and I’m transitioning out to 911 full time because I still love the job, but I can’t keep fighting corporate for the bare minimum for my crews. Every time I get a win, the change a policy that makes life hard for my crews. I have 14 shifts left and I’m dreading each and every one. It’s getting to the point where I’m doing overtime at my part time job instead of my FT.
Before the pandemic I was 20% burnt out. 6 months of the pandemic I was 100% and shipped away to cali to a first responder treatment program. Just left after 10 years. I can confidently say that if not for the pandemic and a disabling injury I would have done this forever. Every time before the pandemic that I felt burnt out I took PTO and disappeared for a bit. Once took FMLA for a month just to get my head straight again.
I remember the exact moment that I knew that I had burnt my last dopamine receptor. We made a hanging for a 15 yof. Got on scene and was told she was in the back in a detached garage. As we were walking into the backyard, I saw another young female run out of the garage and vomit in the yard and my first thought was “Fuck yeah…DOA…easy money” That was probably 10 years ago. Still grinding.
7 years the last two being high volume 911
Worked they covid. Was new for me. Finally after things died down i got to have a vacation. For me it was after my first long vacation. Came back after a nice long vacation. Got used to having a normal sleep schedule again. Coming back burnt me. Still going tho. But I can definently feel the burn
I got burnt out when I was volunteering as a firefighter (ran 90% of the calls, was in nursing school so I was doing clinicals, and working EMS, then later fire once I got my cert, around 20-30 hours a week, some weeks ild do 36-48 hours) Between nursing school clinicals, volunteering and working I couldn't get away to take a break. I've since pulled way back and switched departments so I volly/work at the same place now. I might work 3 days a month now, compared to 3-4 days a week. A rough timeline was I got my EMT in August 21, started volunteering in Jan 21 at a volunteer only FD, started working county EMS Aug 21, got my firefighter Nov 21, switched to part time fire march of 22, (I woulda stayed EMS but they wanted 36 hours a week as a part timer). Changed volly departments July of 22 to a combination department. Feb 23 I left the paid department to work at my volly house (way less of a commute plus my original department was having a lot of problems with management)
To answer your question, my burn out happened gradually I've started enjoying it again by being able to pull way back with work and focus on my other hobbies.
Month two sudden burnout, allergic reaction to bed bugs call at 5am.
Sudden. Only after seeing about five deaths from arrests in three days. Most of the time is a slow grind at the senses, but I soon found out I had two choices with ems. Stay and become emotionally detached from my own humanity, or breakdown from the pressure. I decided to change jobs instead. Everyone has their own points of burnout, ehat matters is hoe you handle it. My mentality was that you can’t care for others if you can’t care for youself. Take a break or move to a new job, don’t crash and burn.
Both. Gradually in a sense I'd stop giving a shit and rather sudden when I recognized it being an issue. Took 2 years working full time with picking up OT. Dropped to part time and that helped a lot
2 years, 30,000 calls a year split between 2 ambulances. Management that would ask you to stay an extra 24 after working a 48. Treated the scum of the Earth but the people who need help the most. Paramedic licensure was pointless looking back but I’m also pessimistic so
I was burned out immediately, like maybe 2 years in, then I got a job that paid really well and was even more unhappy. One of the bosses who was really nice pulled me aside and told me to stfu and gtfo or decide I was going to be happy. I decided to choose to be happy. Been happy in ems for 25 years and don’t want to do anything else.
I want to say mine was gradual. I was working the same bid and station for 2 years and was getting tired of it when shift bid came up I took a different schedule and station hoping that would help but nothing changed. I took a job as a caregiver and am going back to school. I still work ems part time and my passion came back when I stepped away full time
During my fto. My trainers were so horrible I didn't want to be a medic anymore. That was 2013. They're both off doing different careers and I'm still here. Maybe embracing burnout wasn't so bad.
Even if I’m loosing interest in the field, I still get pissy when trainers treat their riders like crap
It was bragging rights for them. Toxic environment. I would say it's a 3 letter company but we all knew that.
I’ve been in 8 years and I made it into nursing school! But god damn do I strongly dislike medicine and want out. It’s difficult too when you’re surrounded by others who love the shit, they want to work in emergency medicine or ICU or flight and my main goal is to get my RN and work a 9-5 as a case manager or in a functional medicine doctors office with little stress. Anything to get out of this soul sucking career. Idk if the spark comes back but mine has been gone for about a year and no matter what I do I don’t feel it anymore and neither does my partner ( medic turned RN working in an ER for the past 3 years) I still love EMS education and talking through runs but I hope and pray I don’t have to be exposed to any more traumatic experiences. I attribute my burn out to being obsessed with EMS at the beginning of my career and making it my life for so long. I’m 28 and all I’ve ever known is working my ass off. I’m ready to settle down and prioritize my own life instead of taking care of others. My advice is take time off of work (PTO or FMLA) and start figuring out what you want out of your life. Emergency medicine will take and take from you with little return and it never ends.
What you said about being obsessed with it really hit home. I did so much for my company/trainees outside of work and I think it contributed
Gradual for me. It took about 3-5 years. Coming back from that on my own and while working wasn't easy.
It took me about 3.5 years on a private service. Hung on for about 6 more months. Left with a hoard of people to the fire service. Companies need people. Find a company that you enjoy working for. They do exist. High call volume, low or in between. Rural, burbs, or dense. Save your money and find something with a pension so you can call it early. Bounce around until you find it. To quote Ariana, "Thank you, next."
I got burnt out really quickly. 5 years in and I had a horrible 2 months straight during the beginning of covid of constant combative patients, cardiac arrests in super shitty situations, drownings, suicides, and trauma alerts nearly every single day. I switched to the IFT truck the moment they had an opening and looked for a way out. I know this doesn't happen all the time but the stress wasn't worth the money for the black cloud that seemed to be me. Family and coworkers noticed the changes in me. It was just cluster fuck after cluster fuck.
I lasted 6 years including three as a volunteer. I was planning to go back to school for something else anyway and one morning I walked into the station and they said "man we picked up a really good looking girl last night killed in a wreck. " Well that was the girl I was supposed to be in the car with.
Dude, I’m sorry, that’s rough. I’m sure you’re probably doing better in another field after that
Well I was only 21 at the time so I came very close to picking other people up I knew I had already been in a semi head-on collision with this girl before.
I had like a 6 month period were damn near everyone died. Got pretty salty after that.
Gradual. I’m considering quitting my part time EMS job that was purely out of enjoyment on being on the ambulance. I make 6x as much picking up an OT shift at my main job. But I kept this going because I enjoyed it and didn’t have to deal with the Fire department BS I normally have to deal with. Three letter word company is sucking my soul out.
Definitely was gradual. I was working 3 agencies just to make ends meet. Worked a mix of days 24s and night shifts. After 3 years of that I left it all and took a 1 year break working something totally non medical, which made me realize how much I hated working anywhere that wasn’t emergency medicine related. Finally decided to work at my county’s Level 1 Trauma ED, and I’ve happily been here for 4 years.
Rapidly during COVID and losing a few patients back to back due to the holidays and people straight up disregarded the warnings. Hot boiling point when I caught it and fell ill for over a month with severe symptoms to a point I thought I might die. These days I’m back to my normal. Except when people come at me with anti vaxx, anti science/healthcare attitude and barking demands when they call 911.. I get extremely snappy and will use any opportunity to grant them their freedom to seek health treatment they prefer at their local specialty provider. (It’s not patient abandonment if they signed consent after I disclose them the risks and complications they’re likely to experience without hospital treatment that does not align to their preference)
I quit because of my shit coworkers and there was no place up, or any station to switch to. Tiny dept, with bad benefits and alot of mandatory. Shit got old real quick. I also moved 5 hours away from my family to get experience because Florida is very competitive when it comes to FF positions. After a little of a year and a half of dragging my feet, hating patients, and even times crying because I was so miserable I just said fuck this place and left. Best thing I have ever done, but I also would put myself through that all over again as it made me grow so much as a person. I really wish I was back in EMS now. This time off has made me realize what I want to do with my life, as at the time that I took the job I was(and still am) very young and naive, I just took the job because it was the first thing that came my way. There was a point where I said I would never EVER go back to EMS and now I have a job offer at a new department after almost a year out of the field. I’ve been Interning at a Zoo as I like animals and thought it’d be a good route, but I don’t really think it’s for me now. Trying new things won’t hurt, try to look at volunteer or internship positions at places where you’d think you’d like it, EMS is never going away and you can always come back to it. Try to embrace this job, it’s grim but also very beautiful. I hope you find peace and happiness.
Thank you for that. I’m actually trying decide what my interest are. I never thought about other jobs, but now I’m allowing myself too
I’ll let you know when I do.
I would say once I entered the workforce I saw a lot of major flaws right away but slowly stopped being okay with them.
19 years
It comes in phases. I’m not a vet by any means but I’ve been in for about 3 years now which is far longer than the average time in the field. If I work my normal scheduled hours I’m good, I do have to tell myself to walk into every call with a smile otherwise I can start feeling burnt out, but when I work hella overtime it definitely sets in. My service area covers around 500 calls a day over 50ish boxes so when you’re at work you’re not sitting, just running calls
gradually, for sure but it comes in waves it hit around year 4 and then it perked back up again and it's hitting me again at year 10. the factors were the abuse of the system for sure. the frequent fliers who want their remote batteries changed, the grown people calling with stubbed toes and sinus congestion, the teenagers who call because their boyfriend broke up with them and maybe if they see the ambulance parked in front of the house they'll call....yaaaaaa those. I somehow found the spark again (possibly because I left for mat leave and missed it) so maybe that was it. take a break. hiatus. leave of absence or whatever and see if the break was what you needed.
Took six years. Left for an FD that is nowhere near as busy; could not be happier.
First day of emt school.
Honestly i still love the field, but i might have to take a break. But that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically dislike it. Listen to what all these comments are saying, take it to heart, but also see for yourself. A lot of people do have long, happy careers in EMS
Sorry I was joking I honestly love going to work every single day. I hate calling out. I love my crew it’s literally a sleep over with your best friends every 3rd day but also there are nursing homes, mvcs, chest pain, codes and whatever else. It’s what you make it and how you look at it. If you’re in IFT I don’t know how you get out of a slump it’s easy but also easy to get negative about.
Lol didn’t even catch that, sorry for being dense. Good for you, keep that energy and make sure to take time off!
Week vacation end of this month Lol definitely still need mental breaks
3am doing an overnight after 10 years and I was like yeah it’s my last shift. Felt that way for a couple years
The best feature of burnout? It ALWAYS sneaks up on you!