Many individuals would have made a declaration to the world last month that “something” gets accomplished during the upcoming year.
Whether it is personal, health related, financial, educational or professional, a “New Year’s Resolution” is commonplace for many of us. We have all made and attempted to keep resolutions. While some have greater success than others, those that have the resolve to declare a goal should be given his or her due credit.
Personally, like many others, I have had successes as well as failures in achieving goals. I can usually attribute failure to setting a goal not realistic for me at that particular time. For example, two years ago my new years resolution was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Needless to say I was nowhere near the mark. Last year, I revised my resolution and set the goal of shaving 10 minutes off of my overall marathon time.
This was much more realistic for me and better yet, achievable. While I still aspire to one day run Boston, it will not be this year. I have, however, avoided something that many of us do: set ourselves up for failure and then become discouraged when we fail.
So what does this have to do with air medical transport? One thing that I have learned by working in this particular specialty is that air medical transport providers tend to be very goal-oriented. It is an inherent and unspoken job requirement.
Regardless of what motivates them to want to do this job, getting hired as an air medical transport provider becomes the ultimate goal in, and of itself. But before that can occur, several other goals must be attained. These may include certain clinical experience, obtaining requisite certifications or alternate licensure.
Believe it or not, obtaining all of the certifications, licensures, clinical experience and ultimately hearing those magical words “when can you start?” is the easy part.
What differentiates exceptional clinicians from strong clinicians is the desire to “stay sharp” in their clinical arena and attitude towards the job. Complacency and thinking that one has “seen it all” are two very dangerous attitudes.
As I was walking in to the gym yesterday I heard the familiar sound of a Bell 430. I stopped and gazed at the sky to the west and saw in the distance the familiar “maize and blue” helicopter. I felt a bit strange. I fly in that aircraft all of the time. What was the big deal?
What made me feel good at that particular moment was the realization that the fire is still there for me. I realized that after all of this time I still am proud of, and extremely thankful for what I do. I care for critically ill and injured individuals.
Sometimes the decisions that I make save lives and most of the time I am merely a “cog” in the tertiary care machine. Regardless, it is a job that I have worked extremely hard for and continue to do so in order to meet the bar that is always being raised by my colleagues industry-wide.
I enjoy writing for EMS1.com and have hopefully offered some interesting clinical caveats along the way. I have certainly learned much while writing; about myself and my practice. I appreciate those who read the columns and I find the comments and questions most valuable.
Rather than reflecting on where I have taken those who participate in my little corner of the air medical community over the past year, I thought that I would offer some insight in to what my personal goals are for the upcoming year. This is with the intention of encouraging others to analyze their own practice and see where they may be able to contribute to the profession as a whole.
Regardless of whether or not you find this useful, if you walk away from your computer asking yourself “how will I improve my own clinical practice in 2011?” I will have done my job this month and a service to my profession.
With that said, this is what I intend on accomplishing in 2011:
- Take the first 10 minutes of every shift to review a self-perceived clinical weakness or to learn something entirely new.
- Mentor one of my junior colleagues to publish or lecture.
- Get involved in a research project.
- Reduce the stress on the Velcro of my flightsuit (in direct correlation with my goal to become a faster marathoner and positively affect aircraft weight and balance).
Each of the above goals are measurable and in my opinion, will make me a better clinician, foster the professional growth of my colleagues and ultimately, will make a positive impact to the air medical community. I will report my results in 10 months. Have a safe and professionally satisfying 2011!
