• Paramedics need to know how to ensure their own well-being.
  • Wellness has at least three dimensions: physical, mental, and emotional. It is important to keep all three dimensions healthy and balanced.
  • Nutrition plays a key role in maintaining day-to-day energy and maintaining a healthy body for life.
  • Practice proper lifting techniques to protect your body and lengthen your career.

–Minimize the number of total body-lifts you have to perform.

–Coordinate every lift in advance.

–Minimize the total amount of weight you have to lift.

–Never lift with your back.

–Don’t carry what you can put on wheels.

–Ask for help anytime, without embarrassment or hesitation, and offer it liberally to others.

  • Learn how to effectively control stress so that it does not affect your wellness. Take appropriate action. Initial management techniques include:

–Controlled breathing

–Reframing

–Progressive relaxation

  • A patient’s reaction to stress may include fear, anxiety, depression, anger, confusion, denial, regression, projection, and displacement. Most of these reactions are not under the patient’s conscious control. Remember, under emergency situations, everyone is under stress.
  • Health care professionals are not immune to the stresses of emergency situations and experience a multitude of feelings, not all of them pleasant. These feelings are normal, but it is better to keep them to yourself during an emergency.
  • Burnout is a consequence of chronic, unrelieved stress. Perfectionist beliefs are likely to produce stress.
  • As a paramedic, you will be present when a lot of people are born and you will be there when a lot of people die. Every one of these encounters is an honor.
  • The patient who is dying may be aware of that fact, and may want to talk about it. One of the most important things you can do for a dying patient is to let him or her know that it is OK to talk about it. Be prepared to listen and provide empathy.
  • Critical incident stress debriefings (CISDs) are provided to emergency personnel who have been involved in traumatic calls or other painful incidents.
  • An emergency vehicle is an instrument that can either earn its crew a living or kill them. It deserves respect and it warrants understanding.
  • Protect yourself by washing your hands; using hand lotion; wearing gloves, eye protection, and a mask and gown (when necessary); cleaning your ambulance and equipment; and properly disposing of sharps.
  • Decontamination of equipment and supplies that have been potentially exposed to body substances require a different cleansing routine than just soap and water; sterilization may be required.
  • Keep yourself on “yellow alert” while you are on duty. Do not be afraid to ask for the police to enter a scene first. You will not be able to treat a patient if you or your partner is hurt.
  • The most dangerous calls are your everyday ones because you become comfortable with them and let down your guard.
  • Your primary concern at any scene is safety—safety for yourself as well as those around you.