chicken or the egg

In my attempt to keep myself sane and still do something medical, I did an ambulance shift this past Friday. Usually I do nights and see no action, barring the occasional elderly person who doesn't feel well and decides to call 911 at 4am. So during this day shift, we had 3 jobs between 0700 and 0845. And apparently the surrounding towns were busy too because we did mutual aid to 2 other towns as well. 

My crew was 3 of us under 25, which I think is refreshing in an EMS community where the day shift always fields retirees, but it has always made me nervous. Our experience is much less and I usually worry unnecessarily- we can't really do anything to actually KILL a patient, after all.... (can we?). Anyway, on this day, I felt totally confident in myself and my partners... but more importantly myself. I talk a big game, but I do still get the shakes on squad calls. I think on Friday some sort of switch flipped and I somehow knew exactly what to do and how it should be done. FINALLY. 

So now I wonder- I always thought the squad helped me with patients in med school, but has med school now turned around and helped me with the squad?