In the debate over how to make our EMS systems and ourselves better at what we do, there is an underlying danger that’s worth mentioning. After we’ve examined the research, explored the systems and best practices, fought to advance our scope of practice, supported competence, raised minimum standards and advanced ourselves as a profession, there is an underlying danger that we should mention. There’s a pitfall that we should take care to avoid. The danger is that we may begin to do our work for the sake of the work itself, instead of for a deep and abiding respect for life. Life in general and the lives we specifically serve. We strive for competence, not out of a misguided need to build ourselves, but out of an earnest desire to be capable of meeting the needs of the patient. We seek knowledge, not to feel or sound superior in clinical conversations or worse, to make our coworkers feel inferior. We seek knowledge so that we can bring it to bear on our patients condition and understand what they need to be whole again. We want our systems to be more efficient, not to make our jobs easier, but to better serve our citizens. We want to advance our scope of practice, not to improve our compensation or our worth, but to broaden the tools at our disposal in the service of our patient. We pay attention to research, not because it allows us entrance in to a privileged, high-brow debate over efficacy. We mine the research for evidence that will guide us, like a light in the dark, to better serve our patients. Our work is meaningful in-and-of itself because we exist to serve. The path to the future is far from clear. The debate about what we should do next is complicated. It will require patience. It will demand our time and thought. What we should do next is complicated. Why we should do it isn’t The patient is the why.

Original Source of A Deep And Abiding Respect