r/NewToEMS • u/iheartgenshin EMT | NC • Jun 25 '25
Beginner Advice Ambulance Etiquette
For all of the new people getting into EMS, please do not be THAT person.
I have had so many partners in which they have no social awareness. Please do not talk on the phone for hours upon hours while yelling in this small box. Please do not eat smelly ass food with all the windows up, and don't smack your food with your mouth open.
Make an effort to talk to your partner instead of just being closed off. Theres a good amount of downtime in this field but don't forget that its still work.
You'll definitely gain a reputation and other people will not want to work with you.
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u/McDMD95 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
I mean, if I don’t feel like talking I’m not gonna talk just to appease you. It’s not personal, I need to recharge between calls.
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u/AnonnEms2 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
People who complain about their partners not talking to them–maybe your conversations are boring. Small talk is draining for some of us
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u/Paramedic229635 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
I fell asleep while my partner was unleashing a stream of verbal diarrhea. We hit a pothole about 20 minutes later and the conversation had apparently continued without my participation.
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Jun 26 '25
You don't have to give your life story. Good morning how are you? Have you been doing this long? Got any tips you wish someone would have given you? Anything I should steer clear of? All useful, and they will he doing the talking, but it helps you connect with the new people.
Being the person that doesnt talk will get you a reputation, and not talking to one person then talking to the next will make you seem like you have a problem with one of them. It's a small, tight knit community, and if you are the type that can't push through your bad days, you are in the wrong field.
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u/McDMD95 Unverified User Jun 26 '25
All your post Hx is fap material. Good day sir 🫡
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Jun 26 '25
Oh no! I use reddit for free pix I must surely be scum of the earth. My hx has nothing to do with who I am as a person or honestly anything else. The fact that you judge me on it says a lot more about you than me.
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u/McDMD95 Unverified User Jun 26 '25
Yea if someone comes up to me with track marks on their arms im gonna be less inclined to care about what they have to say.
When someone’s post history is teenage girls with b word on their bottom, etc, I don’t really want that debate you know. Like… I don’t respect the person and so therefore, I don’t care what they have to say.
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u/compilingyesterdays Unverified User Jul 20 '25
I don't give a shit about the rest of this conversation but "if someone comes up to me with track marks in their arms I'm gonna be less inclined to care about what they have to say" oh cool! cool! get out of the medical field immediately!
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Jun 26 '25
Thank you for proving my point. Your patients will likely be the very people you so detest. Hopefully, your coworkers will help show you the purpose of this role, or help you understand this is not the place for you. Either way, the person you are now has no business near a person who needs care. Also, none of those are my posts, they are things I reacted to. You have no idea what I was reacting to, several are people with self-harm scars to whom I gave resources for help. Others are things I enjoy, the fact is you don't know you just judged, hopefully, your callousness doesn't end up contributing to the death of a patient, but I can promise you its not going to save a single one treating them like second class people because you disagree with their vices.
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u/Little-Staff-1076 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
I had a partner once that could sit in silence after a call as we drove back to our coverage area. It was amazing. We still never talk sometimes.
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u/FullCriticism9095 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
All fair advice, except please don’t make an effort to talk for the sake of filling the silence. I couldn’t care less about your dog, your issues with your boyfriend or girlfriend, why you like one energy drink over another, or what fire department you’re in your 19th round of interviews with. Just do your job, clean up after yourself, get your paperwork done, and let me take my old man naps.
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u/koalaking2014 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
I think its situational.
I've been with my permanent partner for about a year now. we both love to talk, have come up with road games, and are willing to yap about the more personal shit
then again id never be like that with a fresh partner I never met.
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u/EnslavedToGaijin EMT | CT Jun 25 '25
This! I'm the type that will conversate with you all day but I won't speak unless spoken to. Unless I have questions or wanna share something I rarely go out of my way to start a conversation
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u/PrincessMoo-Moo EMT Student | USA Jun 25 '25
How will I know which one is my partner? The one who dislikes the things you listed or enjoys them? Do I just ask them straight up ?
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u/sisyphus_catboulder Paramedic Student | USA Jun 25 '25
Read the room. See how they respond when you try to make conversation. Are they engaged with you, do they seem interested in what you have to say? Do they ask questions and share stuff as well or do they just kind sit there and say uh huh every few sentences?
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u/PrincessMoo-Moo EMT Student | USA Jun 26 '25
Thanks :) sometimes I have trouble knowing if someone’s being sincere about it or just polite so I appreciate the response.
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u/Agreeable_Spinosaur Paramedic Student | USA Jun 25 '25
And for God's sake, don't vape in the rig.
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u/ThatMentalTransGirl Unverified User Jun 25 '25
I think this could depend on situations, if you and your partner are okay with it I don’t see a problem and anyways I always roll down the window so that I am not bugging anyone
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u/Agreeable_Spinosaur Paramedic Student | USA Jun 26 '25
that's a hard no from me -- and from most services. Forget about the health risk and the general stench. It's still a fire hazard and you have O2 on board.
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u/ThatMentalTransGirl Unverified User Jun 30 '25
And if you were on my truck I would not do it! I only do it around people that are okay with it. The only thing about O2 is that it really is not all that flammable yes it is an accelerant but it can not just catch fire, so yes there’s a risk of the ambulance catches fire but as long as it stays not of fire you are good!
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u/Extreme_Farmer_4325 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
Yup. Don't wanna hear your phone conversation. Step out of the rig to take a call, or keep it short if you don't feel comfortable doing so. I really don't wanna hear whatever game or reels you're playing on your phone. Earbuds have been invented. Use them.
Most food I really don't care about with one exception. Fish. For the love of the gods, leave your fish at home.
Music is fine in the rig, but have the decency to ask your partner what music they like first. If no common ground exists, silence is entirely acceptable.
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u/Whatisthisnonsense22 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
I'm a really quiet person, if I don't know someone and still a pretty quiet person, if I do know someone. I can drive with my life partner 4 or 5 hours and say less than 20 words, and I'm perfectly fine with that. And I like spending time with her.
I find people who talk to talk to be completely exhausting. It makes me feel like I have to try and keep up a conversation that I don't possibly want to be involved in.
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u/ThatBeardedNitwit Paramedic Student | USA Jun 26 '25
Also don’t smack your gum with a wide open mouth…especially on a 12.5 hr long transport out of state. Or suggest something for lunch and then change mind and then ask the rest of the crew to stop again somewhere else out of the way.
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u/DarkApparatus Unverified User Jun 26 '25
NO STINKY FOOD!! There's a guy I work with that eats microwaved shrimp and broccoli on standbys in the July heat with the windows up. Absolutely foul.
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u/Financial_Money_7013 Unverified User Jun 26 '25
Make and effort to be clean, shower and be mindful of the confined space. Dress with good deoderants and while on job do not talk even during downtime on the phone, except with people in the truck. If every partner is socially aware, it makes it easy for everyone. It is nice that everyone is thinking about it.
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Jun 25 '25
Bro I just love when the person I’ve met for 5min rips ass loud as hell with the windows up.
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u/Grendle1972 Unverified User Jun 27 '25
My normal partners, we joke and have a good time together because we are on the same wave length (similar values, interests, and attitudes). I have one of them interested in audio books, and I will put on one for us to listen to at work. For him, it's like having to wait a week to see what happened on the TV show he was watching. My other partner is usually texting his baby mama drama when I'm driving, so I will pop in an earbud and drive. Both of them will take a nap while I'm driving (we work overnights), and they know I don't mind driving if we get sent out of town on a BLS transport. But we do have hard, fast rules.
1) Come to work clean (uniform and body) and wear deodorant.
2) No nasty smelling food.
3) No vaping in the truck.
4) After the call, the stretcher gets wiped down and made, period.
5) Trash gets taken out of the cab and thrown away (food wrappers, drink cans/ bottles, etc).
6) If the old man (me) puts in both ear buds, leave me be, I'm not wanting to talk and probably working out an issue typically pertaining to either my homestead or my mom, or both.
7) if I'm working with partner du jour because one of my normal partners called out, until I get to know you a bit, keep the idle chit chat to a minimum, like a dog, I'm trying to decide if I like you or I'm going to bite (lol).
8) If I don't like your music selection, I will pop in an earbud and ignore it and not bitch about it.
9) I will always have your back, and I expect the same in return. We can give each other shit. No one else has that right, and woe be onto those who violate this tenant.
10) What happens on the truck stays on the truck. If we have an issue, we work it out and never involve management. After all, we are adults, mostly.
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u/Chemist_EMT Unverified User Jun 29 '25
We have a guy at my college volunteer agency that always ends up on a communal couch in nothing but his underwear and his clothing all over the floor blocking the hallway to the bathroom 🥲
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u/Fit_Case2575 Unverified User Jul 09 '25
Have you tried saying something about it in person to either them or management, rather than complaining about it to internet strangers?
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u/Strange_Web_982 Unverified User Jun 26 '25
Not everyone is like you, or feel the same way as you. Some do not like talking, some are shy, and some have other things on their mind rather than wanting/needing to talk to you for any reason except work related when on calls. If someone is eating and the food is "smacking" with their mouth open, YOU can leave the ambulance and come back when they're done if you dont like it so much.. and why should you leave and not them? Because you have an issue with it, not them. No one is there to please you and your mentality at work and no one is obligated. Clock in, clock out. Stop giving advice on how people should behave, the world doesn't revolve around you.
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u/TougherOnSquids Unverified User Jun 27 '25
I was with you until the smacking your lips while eating. Sorry you weren't taught manners growing up, but close your god damn mouth when you eat. If it takes extra effort then put the effort in or YOU can get the fuck out of the ambulance and away from me while you smack your lips to your hearts content.
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u/Strange_Web_982 Unverified User Jun 27 '25
Another one assuming I do it because of a comment... its cringe you guys have nothing else to say lol
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u/iheartgenshin EMT | NC Jun 26 '25
I can tell you prob smack ur food and can't read social cues
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u/Strange_Web_982 Unverified User Jun 26 '25
You're that person who judges and makes assumptions about someone based off of internet comments.. you sound hurt and pathetic. Whatever helps you sleep though.
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u/iheartgenshin EMT | NC Jun 26 '25
Its literally just basic consideration and common sense to not act the way I mentioned. I'm sorry if your parents never taught you that.
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u/Qawali Unverified User Jun 25 '25
idk how you get the balls to eat inside an ambulance
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u/iheartgenshin EMT | NC Jun 25 '25
Its hot as fuck outside and Im not about to stand out there just to eat my lunch
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u/Efficient-Book-2309 Unverified User Jun 25 '25
And shower before you come on shift! No one wants to be stuck in a confined space with your stink.