Week 1 Reflection

At the end of the first week of Senior Project, I can look back on the past 7 days with an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion but also a strong sense of accomplishment. To recap, I did two 24 hour shifts at Franklin Fire Department, one 10 hour shift with Penacook Rescue, visited the 911 center, and responded on several other calls during my off days with Andover Rescue. One goal of my Senior Project was to gain exposure to Advanced Life Support care. Ironically, my first call of senior project was a prime example. It was at the beginning of a long 24 hour shift at the Franklin Fire Department when we got a call for a breathing difficulty and later discovered the patient was in a postictal state. This was not an ordinary call and from my seat in the back of the ambulance I saw Captain Goldthwaite, the Paramedic on our shift, give ALS care that has been a highlight of my project so far. Back in Andover on my days off, I responded on two med calls with Andover Rescue. Responding on these calls allowed me to practice basic skills, such as taking vital sign assessments and cardiac monitor use with EMTs who already know me, in Andover's ambulance, whose layout I have memorized. Penacook Rescue was a completely new experience for me and reinforced the idea of how group dynamics and the leadership of the Captain play a key roll in how productive the shift is. Penacook's different equipment and different hospital gave me a great angle on learning practical skills, as I learned there are multiple manufacturers of standard ambulance equipment. It is important as an EMT to be flexible and have an understanding of everything. Responding on calls in each setting this first week set a tone for the rest of my senior project to take advantage of any opportunity to participate in patient care. Looking ahead, I would like to build off of the experiences I had this past week and take my understanding a couple steps further. I would like to practice completing fake TEMSIS run forms, similar to the ones all EMTs and Paramedics write to record the care they gave after a call. I also plan to discuss more calls with the primary caregiver so I can discover what made that EMT or Paramedic make that decision, based off of their experience or just knowledge. I am grateful to all of the EMTs and Paramedics and who haven taken their time to teach me thus far, and I'm looking forward to two more weeks of shifts at the Franklin Fire Department and Penacook Rescue Squad.