10/29/2026
If your students are afraid to tell you they don’t understand, you need to change how you teach.
Because “Any questions?” means absolutely nothing when the last person who asked one got humiliated in front of the crew.
We keep saying we want providers who ask for help, recognize their limitations, and speak up.
Then somebody says, “I haven’t done this before,” and gets treated like an inconvenience.
What the f**k are we teaching them?
And understand this: their time with you teaches them a whole lot more than how to take a blood pressure or give a radio report.
You’re setting the precedent for what they believe this agency accepts. How problems get addressed. How coworkers treat each other. How drama and pettiness are handled. How patients are spoken to - and spoken about.
They’re watching all of it.
Do you address a problem respectfully with the person involved? Do you follow the appropriate chain of command? Or do you bypass your supervisor over an ordinary disagreement because you don’t like them, then expect your student to respect the same process you just disregarded?
When gossip starts, do you redirect it or pull up a chair?
When a patient needs patience, do you offer it- or teach the student that compassion depends on how much you like the person calling?
And when it comes to learning, do you make space for teaching before the student even knows what questions to ask?
Do you explain what you’re doing and why? Invite them into the conversation? Check their understanding?
Or do you make them fight for every explanation, then belittle them for not understanding something you never took the time to teach?
“Just ask questions” is a pretty f**king lazy approach when you’ve made asking feel unwelcome.
Teach the skill. Explain the reasoning. Give specific feedback. Let them practice. Correct them clearly, and give them a way to improve.
You can hold a high standard and still be someone a student trusts.
You can be direct without making somebody feel stupid.
And if a student goes home and cries because you belittled them, embarrassed them, or made them feel worthless under the excuse of “instruction,” you have failed at your job as a training officer.
Calling it “preparing them for the field” doesn’t excuse how you treated them.
Ask yourself what they learned from that interaction. Did they learn how to improve, or did they learn to hide their uncertainty from you?
The thing you’ve done a thousand times might be the thing they’re trying desperately to get right for the first time.
The truck, the equipment, the terminology, the responsibility, it’s a lot when you’re new. Your attitude shouldn’t be another obstacle they have to overcome.
Your student may carry your habits into every truck they work on after yours. Give them habits worth carrying.
One day, that student will be caring for somebody without you standing beside them.
Teach like you care about that patient, too
~ Lizzie,
Medic Humor
