I've been away doing other business-type things. Am back on duty soon.
I have added a new feature to the site, the blog community thingy (scroll down, you'll see it). Join if you can, then I can see the 'regular' readers amongst you. I haven't actually read all about how it works yet but I'm sure it's safe!
And can I remind you that the little voting feature is perfectly secure and private! I can't see inside your house with the Google map! It's an approximate location only. If you do or say something illegal then I can always track your IP address, right? :-)
I've also had one person (ambulance service) complain about how graphic I am. I didn't publish the comment because, as you know, they get messy and pointless after a while. I have considered what was said though and I am sure of 2 things:
1. I have cut RIGHT back on my graphic descriptions of bad jobs. The description I gave of recent horror jobs was very diluted, I can assure you.
2. I completely understand patient confidentiality and have studied it in some depth, so don't worry about that. This blog complies with all stated internal and legal policies on the definition of patient confidentiality. Next time you are chatting to your girlfriend or boyfriend about a job, you should consider the definition of patient confidentiality.
If you have a 'negative' comment to make, please feel free but DO NOT get personal or insulting, especially if you are hiding behind anonymous. If you know who I am I much prefer a level playing field. Come and talk to me.
Right. Back to work.
Be safe.
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- Xf
- I am a Registered Paramedic, with a degree in Paramedic Science. I work for Central London. I have been involved in pre-hospital care at every level (including the army)since 1992. This diary reflects my daily routine in my own words, as accurately and honestly as possible. It does not purport to reflect the views of my employer. I cannot identify patients or locations and may change certain facts in order to protect patient confidentiality and I hope you understand why that needs to be done. Feel free to join my community and keep reading!
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14 comments:
Well said. I think way too many people leave damaging and hurtful comments on other peoples blog and are so brave in making the comment (not) that they cant even put their name to it. shameful!!
Morning
Keep the gore and graphic stuff in please. If you've got a regular readership then why change it?
It's your blog, empty your head onto the page, censorship according to taste will only dull the interest
hey xf,
I'm glued to your blog! I read every entry and I love it!
I'm 16 with aspirations of becoming an LAS Paramedic (like yourself) and wondered if i could ask you a question...
Is going to uni the best way into the service?
Keep up the amazing work!
Dan
Dan, I'm also interested in becoming a paramedic and was told by a friend of the family who is a paramedic that our ambulance service (SECAmb) tends to look more favourably upon people who join by going 'up the ranks' ie. PTS, EMT and then paramedic. The people who come from uni don't get as much on-the-job experience as those who started with PTS.
>>so brave in making the comment (not) that they cant even put their name to it. shameful!!<< oh I totally agree, hiding behind a pseudonym tsk tsk, what do you think “Xfileman” and >>Keep the gore and graphic stuff in please<< proves my point exactly!! For your added information I do not discuss my work with my family and friends, I leave it behind when I go home to my loved ones. Hardly a comparison anyway! You publish your stories on the worldwide web!! I only started reading your blog on hearing other people complaining about it and it’s content. Would a newspaper print the graphic depiction of the poor young lady lying naked in a pool of her own blood pleading for help?? You reach out to a mass audience much the same as the general media, you should be able to answer and take responsibility for your writing. I’m asking you just to think more carefully in future. As for going on about IP addresses… is that supposed to frighten me?
I am not hiding, just glad to see you are back and your graphic descriptions are diluted as I doubt if anyone would read your blog again if they were as most of us are squeamish I am. Keep up your good work
Anon.
The way I see it is that this is your blog and if you need to write stuff about jobs then you should do. People can choose to read or not read.
I'd rather see you write about something than keep it all bottled up. I've got a blog on LiveJournal which I often write graphic things in, if my friends list want to read then they can and when they complain to me about being graphic they usually get a rather impolite response and told not to come back.
You (we) need a space to write things, I'm not a paramedic or a member of any emergancy crew, but I have had life experience of things that are not very nice. I use my blog to get them out of my head and try to rationalise them.
I dont half waffle do I? ;)
I'm trying to say that if you need to write it and I *choose* to read it then I've got no grounds for complaint.
Rosie xx
Anon
Your point has been taken and the only complaints I'm sure you have heard are from those in the service who disagree with such detail generally. My readers aren't here for the thrill of someone else's misery, a lot of them have medical/professional backgrounds too.
The press do, in fact, detail injury when they can, especially when it is in the public domain, outside in the street. My intention was to use detail because this is a diary, but only so much - there was a LOT left out.
I have my blog checked for detail that may cause harm or breach confidentiality and I use my pseudonym for that reason too.
Good for you if you leave your job at home but I find it difficult to believe that you do not discuss the bad calls with anyone else. It's a natural process.
Why did you read it when you heard so much disapproval about it? So you could join in? What's the point in that? You sound like a professional person with your own standard of morality, so what do you gain by involving yourself in what I am doing when I have never received an official complaint and have always run my material past the appropriate people?
I suggest, with respect, that you go and research the many books out there that have been written by doctors and ambulance people. They can be very graphic. What's different about this is that it is written in real time and that, for reasons which escape me, seems to upset and annoy a handful of individuals in the profession.
You could agree that most of what I write is benign and that should prove my intentions are honourable enough.
Oh and the IP reference was general, not directed at you. Come and talk to me and I might at least see your point of view from a better vantage point.
Dan & Petrolhead
That may be true in some areas but I am pretty sure there is now an advantage in taking the degree pathway as services are beginning to look at recruitment from this source now and in the future.
There is always someone who will complain - no matter what you write.
shrimp
True and I have had a few complainers but everyone is entitled to their point of view just as I am entitled to my freedom of speech.
I have been a paramedic for (cough)! lots of years with the now called East of England Ambulance service.We have one Uni guy on our station. He is the nicest, most unpretentious young man I have ever met (and he knows lots of stuff). I climbed the ranks to become a paramedic. I started before paramedics were invented. It's not easy to climb the ranks now, and if the degree bods are all like this guy, I'm all for it.
ps
I wish our PRU's were all like you. You sound like you do a wonderful job.
Sunkisser
Many thanks, its nice to hear a bit of praise from a colleague - now here's some for you. If you ever come across a Uni bod who thinks that a degree is the only thing you need for this job and that YEARS of experience and climbing through the ranks isn't good enough, you have met a bad apple. Thankfully, there aren't many and you have a good 'un.
Some of the best paramedics I work with are EMT's who worked their way up and put decades in before doing it. I have done 4 years with LAS, completed a degree and did over a decade of pre-hospital stuff prior to that but I know where I am in the pecking order.
Incidentally, I'm on the FRU, although I am looking at doing a stint on the PRU in the near future.
I think you are brilliant blogger and dont for a minute think its graphic. Im studying to be Basisc Ambulance Assistant in SA and Im really enjoying reading your stories whilst actually learning something.
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