Saturday, August 21, 2010

How to simulate Paramedic life

Do you have a friend or family member who works in EMS? Do you want to work in EMS? Have you always wondered what it is like to be a paramedic? Well, wonder no more, I have come up with a way to simulate the life of a paramedic:

- Write down every task that you need to perform in the house and how it is to be done, such as lawn mowing, painting, sweeping the floor, etc. Place all of the sheets in a notebook titled "Protocols." Memorize the entire book. Then have your neighbors call you at random times throughout the day and night, so you can go to their homes and perform these tasks. Change the protocols at least once a month, and take a test to ensure that you have the new way memorized.

- Your neighbor gets bonus points if the task needed isn't in the protocol book, or if the task is gross, disgusting, or a complete waste of time. A good example would be calling you to come change the thermostat for their air conditioning, or rub cream on his hemorrhoids. If the task to be performed isn't in the book, you must call your father in law on the phone, describe the situation, and ask him what to do.

- Stay dressed all day so that you can make it to the car in less than 30 seconds. To test this, have a neighbor run through your house periodically with a megaphone yelling "Copy code three" whereupon you jump up and run to your car. Every fourth time, after you have gotten in the car, have the neighbor tell you that you are canceled, and you can return to what you were doing. Bonus points if you were in the shower, cooking or eating dinner, or sitting on the toilet.

-  Every day, write down the contents of your medicine cabinet and pantry. Then check the car out, paying close attention to fuel and oil levels, and the condition of the tires. Also, confirm that the headlights and horn work. Write this all down and stuff the papers in a drawer where no one will ever see them again.

- If you need something to replace missing items needed to carry out your protocols, send an email to a relative, who will go to the store and shop for you. Make sure they either buy the wrong thing, or get too much or too little of whatever it was.

-  To simulate your coworkers, when you perform a task, have another person stand behind you and comment on the way you did it, either telling you that you aren't following protocol, or pointing out that they would have done it differently.

- Every time you perform a task, write down everything you did in the form of a report. Have someone randomly pick out every fourth report from a week ago and point out that you misspelled a word, got the zip code of the grocery store wrong, or that you missed a step in the protocol for whatever task you performed.

- For at least 4 hours a week, you should watch training films that you have seen at least a dozen times.

- For another 2 hours a week, have someone "teach" you how to do something that you already do on a daily basis by reading an article from a two year old copy of JEMS out loud. It helps if they do this by reading the article verbatim from a power point that you could easily read for yourself.

- Make sure that there is no toilet paper in the bathroom, and at least once a day have your neighbor call you to come to his house while you are on the toilet.

- When preparing dinner, have that neighbor call you to come over while it is cooking. This will force you to either recook the food, forget to turn the food off and burn it, or just say forget it and get something to go from McDonalds.

- Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do for the day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 7am and read it to you.

- Sleep in your car in the driveway. To simulate move ups, at random times between midnight and 5 AM, drive several miles and park in a random parking lot, sleeping in the parked car for 15 minutes, and then drive home to sleep in the parked car in the driveway. Make sure that whoever is asleep in the car with you farts at least twice an hour.

- Wash the car every morning with a scrub brush and brillo pad, then have your wife come in and complain that you missed a spot.

Did I miss any?

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