One of the things I enjoy about being a paramedic student is learning the rituals. All the tried and true patterns of practice. I take comfort in the fact that mnemonics and acronyms have been coined and refined to make the actions of the job automatic so my mind can focus on interviewing the patient and getting to crux of the problem.
A firefighter in my class said, “If you go blank on a call, just fall back on VOMIT HAM.” I looked at him questioningly. “VOMIT HAM,” he said again. “It’s easy to remember when all else fails. Vitals, oxygen, monitor, IV, transport. And History, allergies and medications.”
I love all of those abbreviations, memory aids and mnemonics. OPQRST, MONA, “My Baby Looks Hot Tonight” and the Rule of 9’s. All simple ways for us to remember the basics, so your hands can do the work automatically while your brain looks at other things. Of course some are used so infrequently that you know they mean something, but you just can’t quite remember what it is … like APGAR.
I spoke with a friend of mine who sneered when I told her I liked mnemonics. She told me that I wasn’t getting an education, I was only getting trained. I disagree. If I don’t know WHY I should give ASA, Nitro, MS04 and O2 to a patient with chest pain, it would be a different story. Is it bad that I use the “Big Lie, Little Lie, No ass at all” mnemonic to remember the sections of the heart that are interpreted by the various leads? Or how about what we all learned when we first put leads on a patient, “white on the right, smoke over fire”.
Frankly, I have so much information and education to soak up, I’m happy to have a few mnemonics to stick in my back pocket to help me out. As long as I don’t have to VOMIT HAM too often, all will be good.
How does your friend propose paramedics be trained to organize chaos if they aren’t allowed to use memory aids?
Good question. When I asked her that question, she just shrugged.