Three Things Teaching Teaches You

Even after several years of teaching EMT, BLS, ACLS, and even PALS courses, I was once too intimated to step into the role of instructor at a paramedic academy. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to answer every question every bright-eyed, eager-to-learn paramedic student would ask. I was afraid I wouldn’t remember every single pediatric drug dosage at the moment someone inquired. I was nervous I couldn’t properly explain the disease process of right- and left-sided heart failure. I was afraid they’d conclude I was simply a fraud, no more an expert than the person sitting next to them. 

Looking back, it would have been much easier to simply lean into the process and fear, because teaching students was always going to be the final step of learning before it would repeat itself in a continuous and never-ending cycle. See one, do one, teach one—this step cannot be avoided. It is impossible to bypass and indeed must take place if you are to become the best version of yourself in this world we call EMS. So come along with me as we dive in to just three of the many things teaching a paramedic student will, in fact, teach you.

It will teach you that being the best at IV starts and intubations is actually the least important thing when it comes to being a great paramedic.

It’s almost as if it’s a prerequisite to applying to medic school that you come with a competitive edge, fueling this innate drive to be the best at any skill you can compete against your classmates to master. I’m sure you can remember being that student—wanting to get the highest test score, be the first to get an intubation in your clinical rotation, the first to successfully place an external jugular during the live IV stick day at school, the one to give the most medications during their field internship. It doesn’t take long on your own in the field to figure out none of that actually matters. What does: Did you put others before self? Were you a patient advocate? And did you do what was right for the patient even though your bladder was full, your stomach was empty, and you were running on zero hours of sleep? 

Under circumstances like these it is the greatest challenge to simply be kind. Those are the moments that matter most and the successful moves that add credibility to your reputation. They are the moments when no one else is keeping score—the ones you don’t mention to others, the ones no one else sees, except for the only person who matters: the patient. The most important skill you can ever improve is your ability to be a patient advocate. And it is, hands down, the most important skill to pass on to your students.

It will teach you humility, if you’re brave enough to show it.

“Be humble, or this job will humble you.” When these words were delivered to us in a speech, it was almost as if they were prophesizing the future of my graduating class. These were some of the wisest words ever passed on to me. Be prepared to be wrong sometimes. In fact, depend on it and welcome the learning experience with an open mind to be better next time a situation pushes you outside your comfort zone. It is in those places where growth happens. And it is messy and uncomfortable. 

You don’t earn respect from your students by telling them how awesome and flawless you were on that mass-casualty collision out on some desolate highway where additional resources were an hour away or that shooting with multiple victims in a city already riddled with crime. You earn it by sharing the moments when you, yourself, made mistakes, especially when students are down on themselves about their own. Trust is built where the connection between student and teacher is made. If they cannot relate to you because they are infested with self-doubt and feel they can never be on your level, then they will never connect with you as a person, much less as the paramedic trying to teach them. Show them your flaws like scars you’re proud to wear, the mistakes you’ve learned from and the maturity that’s enabled you to look back and admire how far you’ve come. That’s true humility, and I promise they will respect you more for it. 

It will teach you the value of passing on your legacy. 

Can’t stand the way “kids these days” act out in our field? Change it. Fed up with the mediocrity that plagues some organizations? Change it. Frustrated with the culture of the company you work for? Change it. Change it first by being that change and then by teaching a CPR course, becoming a skills instructor at your local college, guest-lecturing on a topic you’re passionate about, or becoming a preceptor for a student whose shoes you once occupied. Never forget you were once them: nervous, even scared, but ambitious and eager to learn everything you could before setting out on your own.

You can spend your career posting selfies on social media of yourself in your uniform with that shiny badge and hoping the newspaper catches your good side on that career call you secretly look forward to, or you can make a true impact by taking one of these students under your wing and inspiring them to be more and do more because you believe so passionately about the values you’re imparting to them. Ultimately this creates a ripple effect where you’ll create another paramedic who will be influenced to take on students of their own one day—you know, because you made sure to instill the importance of paying it forward when they were under your watch, thus creating some momentum in the learning cycle. Now that’s something to aspire to.

You will come up with every excuse as to why now just isn’t a good time to take a student. I’m studying for a promotion, I’m getting married, I have a vacation coming up, my station’s too busy, my station’s not busy enough, I don’t think my crew will want to have a medic student, we don’t have anywhere to put them, etc. But eventually you will realize that it really isn’t about you—it’s about them.

The reality is that most individuals are hesitant to take on a student because, admittedly, it’s a lot of work, a lot of responsibility, and a lot of sudden angst about not being able to answer every question they may have. But I’ll let you in on a little secret: You don’t have to know the answer to every single thing to be a truly influential teacher. You simply have to possess an ability to spark excitement, engage curiosity, and influence your students to be better versions of themselves. That, in turn, creates the same effect in you. And that doesn’t take much more than a little heart, which I am certain you have if you are taking the time to read this article about educating the future of EMS. 

You have exactly what it takes to make a positive impact on a paramedic student—so what are you waiting for?

Alexandra Jabr is a paramedic in San Bernardino County, Calif. She teaches in the EMS Department at Victor Valley Community College and is continuing her education in mental health.