Looking For A Sense Of Purpose
Writing for prehospital care publications and books keeps me constantly thinking about my own paramedic practice, with purpose, although I hadn’t realised it until now.
Teaching has always given me something of a boost towards sharpening skills and enhancing knowledge, it’s an easy habit to follow. When I know what I need to deliver, I know what I need to be doing.
But it’s been a whole different ball game over the past two years, with the focus has firmly fixed on attitude and approach, rather than clinical and cognitive skills. Almost eight months behind schedule, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Paramedic Student Handbook is finally finished (to be published on 28th February). As much as some part of me will be glad to see an end to such a time consuming project, I’m also going to miss the motivation it provided.
In recent times, frontline paramedicine has altered in many ways. Some positive, some not so. But writing has turned out to be my saving grace in growing my own good, reflecting on the realities of my practice, seeking further study options and searching for satisfaction.
Changes are taking their toll on almost everyone, unfortunately. I have heard from students, support staff and staunch veterans about the challenges they face, from different parts of the world. Not only related to COVID-19 (although this factors in enormously) but a whole range of issues:
Limited contact hours in preparation for exams, assessments and confidence building.
Waiting hours, sometimes entire shifts, day or night, with one patient in one corridor.
Fear of making mistakes in uncertain times and being critiqued or convicted online.
The struggle to stay motivated in meeting continuing professional development hours.
Loss of satisfaction through the decreased application of clinical and critical thinking skills.
Constant change in the demands of patients, employers, registration bodies and hospitals.
The problem is, nothing is going to change in the immediate future. Pandemic precautions and associated issues have been around for almost a year, and it looks like they will remain for a while. Ramping and waiting have been around for nearly two decades (see my recent article in Volume 21 of The Australian Emergency Services Magazine) with no end in sight. Social media and online news can be a hot-bed of hot-heads hoping to make their comments count, so any profession in the public profile can suddenly suffer at random. Despite difficulties in mustering up motivation during challenging times, continued professional development and academic studies are necessary, compulsory and will remain constant.
With no simple solution to any of these issues, it makes sense to stick to a constant search for that elusive, everyday sense of purpose. Look out for the rewards, large or small and keep them firmly in our sights. Noticing how initial ideas of what we hoped to provide may have changed. Without us even realising when, why or whether they did.
This TED article and accompanying talk are full of suggestions for finding or regaining a work based sense of purpose:
https://ideas.ted.com/want-to-discover-or-re-discover-your-sense-of-purpose-at-work-heres-how/Harvard Business Review has an article specifically aimed at seeking motivation and purpose during times of crisis, worth a quick read:
https://hbr.org/2020/06/what-to-do-when-work-feels-meaninglessSmall Revolution has put together interesting statistics and tips for figuring out how to get back on track:
https://www.smallrevolution.com/impressive-ways-lost-motivation-at-work/
I have no answers, and have similar moments of motivation malfunction, with many more to come, I’m sure. But the thing that keeps bringing me back to being in uniform is knowing my sense of purpose. I may have to re-define it more often than I used to, but if that’s what it takes to keep me on track, I’ll do it over and over until it’s time to move on.
Thankfully, despite the end of the book writing process, I have enough publications expecting monthly articles that I can still regularly take stock of what I want to focus on within my own paramedic practice. But it makes me wonder how everyone else stays mindful of theirs. I’d love to hear from you with any ideas or words of wisdom.
Thanks for reading.
Tammie
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