Replying to LO30494 --
Economy of effort can be a basis for continuous improvement, and there can
be so many more. When I was a young boy my father saw me doing push ups,
he said he had a better way to build muscles and gave me a dull saw and a
cord of wood. I knew the wood had to be cut and I also knew I had to get
stronger than my two older brothers. I even went as far as to cut the
pieces very small so as not to run out of muscle building potential. I got
big and fast, and years later in Boot camp at Cornwallis Nova Scotia the
same work ethic carried me to the front of any line I chose to be in.
Economy of effort and the opportunity to stay fit in your labor is a very
real incentive for me. I have worked as a paramedic for the past 24 years
and enjoy the physical part of the work as well as the customer service
and patient care.
The Art of being able to lift, push, and pull people about while making
them think they are having a great time is very much economy of effort and
thinking ahead to stay ahead. An ambulance call has three main parts,
access, Interaction, and egress. The approach to an accident scene starts
when you get the call. You can waste your time believing the story the
dispatcher tells you or you can stay calm until the ambulance stops at the
scene. As I exit the ambulance I scan the area starting at the horizon and
working back to me. I am looking for hazards Dogs stairs and other
obstacles that may hurt my self my partner or my patient (in that order)
on the way back out. I haven't even moved away from the car yet and I am
preparing my egress already. I am always looking out for my partner's
safety, because we are a team, and if some how they become my patient, it
would be devastating. The show must go on.
This is an act. We put on our work face and we act like we care, we act
like the patient is our kin. We act like our name is on the side of the
truck and our family is watching. We act like our favorite teacher is
along for the ride, and we can show him or her, what a great job they did
of teaching us. We are centre stage reflecting the spot lights onto the
patient and their family, because they are the stars. We know our lines
and we have every move rehearsed. We pay close attention to detail and
economy of effort because we want to be here to do this again tomorrow. My
Calvinist work ethic, strategies and definitely relationships are a huge
part of continuous improvement in my work. Its continuous learning and
putting your heart in your action that are a driving forces for
improvement for many of us. It's leadership, just to step up into an
ambulance, and its leadership that gets us to the call in one piece
without insulting every driver on the road. Its leadership that washes
down a patient that has been making crap angels on their floor for the
past three days and delivers them clean to the hospital. And its
leadership that keeps an old fart like me teaching young people how and
why to do the job with economy of effort and personal discipline and
caring for the act, because its all just an act.
I didn't create the calamity that brings me to your side, I don't take
credit for the wins and I sure as heck don't take blame for the losses. If
God wants you to pay more taxes, he will send my ambulance to you and I
will ensure the government gets all they can out of you for as long as it
is Gods wish. If god has another plan for you, that's his business.
That was an awfully long way to say that heart, ethics, hard work and
Leadership play a great role for me while I work in relationship and
community.
Regards Glenn Wainman
Paramedic Unit Chief
BC Ambulance Service Sooke BC.CA.
--"Glenn Wainman" <gbwainman@telus.net>
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