Which Paramedic Type are You?

As I leave my career from a private EMS company, I am trying to review my performance as a paramedic. Looking back over my past 11 years in EMS, I have encountered numerous paramedics in the field. Some were awesome, others were awful. At the same time, I noticed distinctive types of paramedics that I was able to categorize through my direct observations. I'm sure these categories are not unique to my area of operations, so I would like to share my thoughts on this "paramedic typing."

Bad Reputation with Questionable Performance

Melanie is an experienced paramedic. She was certified in the 1980s, so she's been "around." However, she also had a bad reputation. She was unable to stay employed by a single company for a long period, mostly due to her repeated termination from the service for which she worked. Some of the many issues she had with companies were misconducts on the job such as sexual harassment and intimidation of her co-workers, etc. Even though she had been certified for a long time, she also had problems with her skills as a field paramedic. She often did not make a proper working diagnosis, resulting in an improper intervention. Her paramedic skills were so questionable other paramedics felt sorry for citizens in the communities in which she worked. In addition, she was not well liked by fellow EMTs. Many refused to work with her, either because of her poor skills as a paramedic or because of her poor social skills as a partner. She was not fun to work with. One EMT even called her "creepy" and he kept the door shut to his room while he worked with her.

Entertaining and Eager to Learn

Harold was a brand new paramedic with very limited street experience. He was an EMT for a very short time when he was accepted to a paramedic program. For obvious reasons, he was not a "strong" paramedic. He was unsure of his skills and was not considered to be aggressive enough by other paramedics. However, Harold was very sociable. People liked to work with him because of his social skills. He was fun to work with and he never treated his partners badly. He was entertaining. Even though many EMTs thought he was not the best paramedic in the field, they didn't mind working with him because they knew he was trying to learn and they thought they could help him. There were few EMTs who refused to work with him.

Super Paramedic Skills with Mood Swings

Frank was very smart, and very committed to his job as a paramedic. He held many certifications in EMS, and his name was usually followed by multiple sets of abbreviations. He had experience in various fields of EMS including the flight medic program and in the emergency department. He had an excellent knowledge of emergency medicine and he maintained his paramedic skills very well. However, despite his great work as a paramedic, many did not wish to work with him because of his social skills. He didn't treat his fellow EMTs fairly. His mood swings were almost diagnosable in DSM IV. EMTs yelled out several profanities when they saw his vehicle parked outside the station.

Well liked and Knowledgeable

Finally, Paul was a popular paramedic. He started his career in EMS later in his life so he brought his years of life experience into EMS. He maintained a good knowledge in emergency medicine and applied it properly to his field of work. He was our "dad" in the service. EMTs talked to him not only about their issues in EMS but their personal problems. Paul was well liked by everybody in the service. We have not yet found an EMT who refuses to work with him. There were very few negative comments made about him by his fellow paramedics and EMTs.

True Traits Categorized

Do you know these paramedics mentioned above? All of the paramedics I listed are fictional, however, based on true traits I found in my fellow paramedics. I'm sure you can find your own Melanie, Harold, Frank and Paul in your community. These categories are the results of a combination of two distinctive characteristics of a paramedic: paramedic skill and social skill. When we divide paramedic skill into good and poor, and social skill into good and poor, it will create four categories as we see in the chart below.