Austin Travis County EMS hiring Paramedics and paying them as Basics

[gotbeerz001]

"Two years" by policy as a basic.

ATCEMS's hiring policy appears to be designed to exclude the experienced, prideful and not-so-meek.

... Otherwise known as cocky.

There is value to understanding, embracing and thriving in the role that you are given. The organization seems to understand this. Those who believe that they are better than their role maybe dont fit there.

 

[Chewy20]

Chewy

Are employees treated well there? Decent wages, advancement potential and benifets? Basically are you happy there? I am flying in from New England for the exam. I am a paramedic in a busy urban system being busy doesn't bother me. I'm Trying to find a place where I can do a career and be happy. Any opinions you have would be greatly appreciated.

For the most part yes we are treated well, I have not been around long enough to feel what other people do. Wages are good, advancement is there from Medic 1, 2, captain, commander, div chiefs, asst chief, chief. We have Rescue and Tactical to shoot for as well. People that work here say its crazy busy, some days are but it seems to be exaggerated in my mind most of the time. I am also from New England, and I love Austin. Am I happy here? Sure in some ways, it will get better, just a matter of time. Every place has its problems, but this is a good place to work regardless of the stuff going on. Fun city, and good partners for the most part. Huge variety of calls. Great benefits, and our retirement will be fixed soon.

 

[NomadicMedic]

I thought it was an interesting read, maybe a bit biased. I was hoping you'd offer an opinion.

 

[Tripletwo]

Thanks for the honest answer Chewey. people here are the same way, they exaggerate how busy we are and will forever find a reason to complain. I dont mind starting as a basic even though I'm a paramedic. To me it's worth it if it means having a career in a good system... And no more snow

 

[Chewy20]

I thought it was an interesting read, maybe a bit biased. I was hoping you'd offer an opinion.

Maybe if I get more time, probably not in open forum though haha.

 

[RocketMedic]

Cocky is not a bad thing.

 

[Carlos Danger]

Cocky is not a bad thing.

Cocky is ALWAYS a bad thing.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Cocky and confident are NOT the same.

 

[RocketMedic]

I tend more towards confident myself. ATCEMS's hiring policies present confident, assertive personnel with a challenge: bite our tongues for years while accepting the Kool-Aid in a system similar in all regards to every other "high-performance" EMS system, making lower-middle-class wages in an expensive area, and betting on better-than-average long-term benefits being enough to accept hard limits on our work and professional development.

Take me for instance. I have been a paramedic for six years now. I do not know it all, but I know quite a bit, and more importantly, I know I can handle myself and manage a call. I know the workflow, how to work with people, how to delegate and manage, and how to perform. I'm the man, the chief, the leader. Certainly I also know how to help, assist and advise, but I find myself wanting to lead and do and manage, because my place is (to me) that leader's role. I want things to be done the right way, my way, and I am not bashful or ashamed of it. When partnered or assisting likeminded folk, it is smooth and harmonious- work is being done by two well-trained, likeminded teammates- but those partnerships in places I work in are of my design, because I am the leader of the team and my way goes. I am the paramedic, and I like it that way. Certainly I can and do pick up information, knowledge, techniques and tricks from everyone, but I don't have revelations from peers or need to be precepted or mentored to be functional, competent and confident in any EMS system. Even crazy ones like Presidio would come fairly quickly to me, because I have the confidence and knowledge of how to work and learn already. Systems like ATCEMS, particularly ones with Lots Of Good Hospitals and Protocol Bibles and Limited Prehospital Care, are the kiddy pool of EMS and take about as much practice as learning to wade for me to be confortable, competent and excellent at. Put me in Houston, or Las Vegas at AMR or MedicWest, in Denver, in Albuquerque or Fort Worth or OKC or Austin or San Antonio (Fire EMS or Acadian) or Pafford or Hall or AMR or anywhere where English is spoken and I can hit the ground running. Tell me how I get paid, tell me the door and radio codes, tell me where your protocols are and what QI expects and I can work well. I know how to be a paramedic.

That's confidence. You call it cocky, but that's because you associate that confidence with what you have always been told is "cocky", dangerous and unstable. It's anathma to the leadership at most "high-performance" systems, because that confidence leads to more than just clinical assertiveness- it leads to a desire to improve our lots in life the easy way, the aggressive way, the American way. It breeds questions, challenges and expectations that can never be met, so it is labeled as recklessness, cowboy, unstable, bad and undesIrable.

Austin-Travis County doesn't want that attitude. They'd rather take someone and train them by repetition until thet only know how to work the ATC way. That's not wrong, but their entire approach relies on deprogramming the habits and attitudes of the Rest of the World and replacing them with the sanctioned, approved thoughts of ATC. New guys who know little or nothing but ATC do well, because they are "the best" and they know it; they can master their systems and promote and perpetuate the myth, legend and mentality and measure themselves with their chosen yardstick to be the best- but they need more than just local new talent to staff and replace, so they reach out and target everyone else's new folks too, in the hopes of getting them before they are set in their ways. Sometimes it works, and they get Chewy20s and other new paramedics and EMTs, lured by the different locale, the promise of Texas-style bigger and better, the organizational structure and the retirement and the illusion of job security. It's tempting, and admittedly objectively better than a lot of other places offer. Me in 2012, fresh out of the Army, patch and pulse and eyes wide open, would have been perfect for ATC- but I went elsewhere. The ATC recruiters don't just get new people though. They get (and sometimes hire) people of all sorts of backgrounds, as they see fit. Sometimes they get experienced people who fit in, who can play the game and bite their tongues or just don't mind the Kool-Aid- but sometimes they get people with initiative, with drive and desire. People like me, who question and eventually get frustrated and stagnant. People like Ryan.

The reason ATC has so many morale problems is because they are stagnating. In the early years of the millenium or the 90's, they might have been legitimately cutting-edge, but they really aren't any more. The rest of the world has caught up to ATC and surpassed it, so now ATC is just another high-performance urban EMS system.

 

[RocketMedic]

I reckon a person like me would actually be happier at Hall or AMR or a nowheresville county service than at ATC. Sure, the protocols might leave something to be desired, but there's satisfaction immediately, not "years later".

 

[Carlos Danger]

That's confidence. You call it cocky, but that's because you associate that confidence with what you have always been told is "cocky", dangerous and unstable.

No, I'm quite clear on the difference between confidence and cockiness. There's no confusion about that here. My reply was specifically directed towards your rather inexplicable statement that "cocky is not a bad thing".

Confidence is not a bad thing. In fact, it's essential IMO.

Cockiness on the other hand is, at its best, unprofessional and unappealing. And at it's worst, it's downright dangerous.

 

[Tigger]

There are many great providers who are both confident and cocky. They provide great care, but receive no support from their coworkers and cannot develop in the system. That attitude is not for me.

 

[medicsb]

Isn't Austin a nice place to live? Don't most medics want to be busy and see a variety of calls? It's a busy system, but it's not THAT busy. They have a career ladder. They do "community paramedicine". Protocols seem on-point. They track outcomes. They have an involved medical director. They are a true public service. They have an academy that they put new hires through. Seems like they do a lot of the right things that so many here want to see, but yet so many want to tear them down?

Do they actually live up to the hype? I don't know. Probably not, but I doubt any place that many tout as "great" actually live up to the hype. I recently read an abstract on intubation from one of the EMS' in TX that so many here seem to hold up as a "great" system and the results were abysmal. Really it just seems that people rebel against any service with good PR, even if the service is ultimately better than most.

 

[gotbeerz001]

There is a very real difference between confidence and cockiness. Confident people rarely demand that they be recognized for the awesomeness that flows steadily from their pores.

Confident people often understand how to weigh out the culture of a given agency, swallow their pride and find a way to fit in.

Confident people also realize that you have to earn your voice at any new job and 2 years is not a long time to wait before you start trying to change things.

Confident people can play their role without feeling like they are selling out.

If you really are as good as you think you are, an agency will find a way to move you up to an appropriate level of service if there is an internal need.

 

[RocketMedic]

....or you could just go to a place that actually respects you, your professionalism and opinion from the start.

Does a doctor who moves have to work two years as a PA to "earn his voice". An engineer? A plumber or mechanic or pilot or nurse?


If they can perform at a high level, how does retarding them develop them?

 

[Tigger]

As the saying goes, respect is given and not earned.

 

[RocketMedic]

As the saying goes, respect is given and not earned.

It's not necessarily respect, it, it is the job we were hired to do.

 

[Chewy20]

All I get from you @RocketMedic is that you think you are gods gift to pre-hospital care. We get it, you have a drive like no else on this planet. We get it, you would be much happier at some other company. We get it, ATC does not fit your unicorn standards. We get it, you can step foot in any system and hit the ground running. We get it, you believe the morale issues are due to being stagnant (dead wrong by the way). We get it, you do not like the way ATC hires. We get it, you think everyone here is a robot. We get it, you would never work for ATC.

Guess what, no one cares. The only reason I am writing back (this will be the last time I post in regard to anything you say) is because it seriously baffles me that you feel the need to write paragraphs about a place that you have never worked, when people are trying to figure out if they want to work here or not. Let me answer the questions eh? I will tell them like it is, if I have to PM them answers I will/have. Find a new hobby bud, continue on that ever long journey of finding the perfect job so you can finally find some inner peace. Holy crap.

 

[Chewy20]

Isn't Austin a nice place to live? Don't most medics want to be busy and see a variety of calls? It's a busy system, but it's not THAT busy. They have a career ladder. They do "community paramedicine". Protocols seem on-point. They track outcomes. They have an involved medical director. They are a true public service. They have an academy that they put new hires through. Seems like they do a lot of the right things that so many here want to see, but yet so many want to tear them down?

Do they actually live up to the hype? I don't know. Probably not, but I doubt any place that many tout as "great" actually live up to the hype. I recently read an abstract on intubation from one of the EMS' in TX that so many here seem to hold up as a "great" system and the results were abysmal. Really it just seems that people rebel against any service with good PR, even if the service is ultimately better than most.

Yes, Austin is an awesome place to live, it does not get much better from what I have seen (besides the traffic...). No it is not THAT busy. Will you get slammed some days? Yeah, that's why you rotate to slower trucks. My last shift I had one call in 24 hours. Downtown trucks obviously are more busy. Its a city. If you are downtown for a 12hr shift, expect to run 10 calls.

I have plenty of money left over every month to do whatever I want. That coupled with 2-3 day work week, plus tons of vacation time, makes it easy to do the things you want. ATC has problems, just like any other company, ever. In the EMS world, there are a million worse places you could be.

 

[gotbeerz001]

If they can perform at a high level, how does retarding them develop them?

Most issues with employees have little to do with their actual production but rather their attitude.

It sucks to hire a pain in the ***.... Especially if the only way to shut them up is to go along with their agenda.