Goals

Happy New Year. I wish for 2011 to be prosperous and peaceful for each of you that reads this post.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. Really – do you know anyone that has ever kept one?  But I’ve been thinking about what I want to do for the future, and I have realized that I have to operate in the mode of “one day at a time” to fully realize what I want.  That’s what I’m talking about in this post.

We all have goals. At least most of us do, I suspect. I’ve given thought to the goals I have for myself, and there are a few things I want to do. They go over and above ensuring that my family is healthy, happy, and will. Over the next 12 months, the following is a compendium of where I want to take myself.

 

1. I am always looking for ways to be more effective in the way I do my job. EMS providers are required every two years to do at least 24 hours of continuing education and a 48 hour refresher class in order to stay certified and licensed to practice. My records indicate that I have already exceeded the 24 hour requirement by a considerable amount. But I can, and likely will, continue to educate myself. And there are some specific things I want to learn.

I want to learn more about tactical medicine. I’d like to be able to get into a Tactical EMS course if, for no other reason, to become more familiar with this aspect of emergency medicine.

I’m planning to continue my critical care education. It is an area I’ve been interested in for a very long time – those of you who are regular readers of this blog are probably familiar with what I’ve done over the past 3 years, in terms of the classes I’ve taken.

I would like to learn how to be a better supervisor. To that end I want to find some good management or leadership seminars or classes to reinforce what I already know. I’ve learned a lot about managing and leading over the past few years, but I always want to learn more.

 

2. The other thing that I’ve done is to go back to college. I’m taking pre-requisite courses so that I can apply for admission to physician assistant (PA) school. The course-load includes biology and chemistry as well as some other stuff that is required for me to be able to apply for admission. Most PA programs are Master’s level programs, and it’s a good way to go to graduate school.

I am hopeful that I can be accepted. The process – as well as the programs – are competitive. And to get into a program such as this it is necessary to have direct clinical experience. I’m not too concerned about that, but there are others who are in circumstances similar to mine. But I have good, strong support at home, and I know that counts for something.

 

3. In the words of the late Henri Nouwen, “always we begin again.” With the press that has been given recently to all of the changes coming to the way healthcare is administered in the United States, I’ve decided that it’s in my best interest to ensure I am healthy. Plus, I want to lose weight. To that end I have started working out again. I hadn’t been inside of a gym since before Memorial Day and I was starting to feel it. So it was in my best interest to get back to ensuring my own physical fitness. But it’s tough to get back into it when you’ve been away; parts of my body with muscles I haven’t used for extended periods of time have let me know that they’re not happy about being waken up. But it will get better, I will become more physically fit, and hopefully I will get rid of some of my weight.

 

So in the hope of being able to do all of these things, we go forward. And we pray to succeed.