# ER rotation



## firecoins (Mar 26, 2007)

I went through my EMT class in 1996. My ER rotation was split between 2 hospitals. Did nothing  This time I did it all at once. Didn't stop working.

I helped one 300 lb pt to the bathroom 4 times.  I helped tranfer him to and from the X Ray machine.  

I was one of 6 guys holding down a combative pt. 4 security guys, a male nurse and myself. 

Wheeled in a sickle cell patient who drove to the ER.  

Tranfered a dozen pts from stretcher to stretcher.  

Disinfected and made up 2 dozen stretcher. 

Juggled patients stuck on stretchers in the hall way bcause their was no place to put them.  

I respect the ER nurses alot more now than I ever did.


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## fm_emt (Mar 26, 2007)

Wow!

The first time I did EMT courses was in 1994, and we didn't do ANY clinical stuff at all. No ride alongs either!

The next time was just over a year ago and we did 12 hour ride alongs with either a fire department or an ambulance company (I picked AMR over fire. More interesting and I learned a lot!) and we did 12 hours in an ER.

The ER we got sent to was the most god awful boring place on the entire peninsula. Most of the staff acted like we were just in the way. The first thing that they 'taught' us was "Here's how we change the bed sheets.. oh btw I'm going off shift in 30 minutes.." 
I finally told one guy "Uh, I'm not here to learn how to change bedsheets. Can you show me some of the patients?" Since it was dead slow, there were only a handful of patients. But I did get to watch the doctor put in some sutures.


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## firecoins (Mar 27, 2007)

you have to find an ER that filled past its limit.  

I did spend alot of time changing bed sheets which I had no problem with. It saved the nurses time because each one had 5 patients.


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## Recycled Words (Mar 27, 2007)

I only just got certified in January, but I didn't do an ER rotation, I got my 10 hours on a rig. I sort of wish I worked in the ER a bit because I'm going to [hopefully] be riding on rigs for years but won't get to do the ER rotation until I hit med school.


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## firecoins (Mar 27, 2007)

Recycled Words said:


> I only just got certified in January, but I didn't do an ER rotation, I got my 10 hours on a rig. I sort of wish I worked in the ER a bit because I'm going to [hopefully] be riding on rigs for years but won't get to do the ER rotation until I hit med school.



Now that your an EMT, you should about working part time as an ER Tech.


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## Recycled Words (Mar 27, 2007)

I didn't realize that I was able to do that. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it!


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## Ridryder911 (Mar 27, 2007)

Reading posts on the lack of clinicals amazes me. I was required to perform ER clincals 30 years ago, and they have been mandated in increasing number of hours in my state. 

I do not see how any program would not require ER clinicals (at the least of >60 hrs) and field clinicals (at >120 hrs) at the basic level. 

Of course, that would do away with those two week programs.. 

How can we expect anyone to have any knowledge and exposure to emergencies and the duties of the job ? No wonder, we have a 3/4 turn around in less than two years, of people leaving the business. 

R/r 911


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## firecoins (Mar 27, 2007)

I did not get enough ER time.  The only reason I got enough ambulance time was because I was a volunteer. I was allowed to ride as long as I had CPR certification which I had since 16.


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## Epi-do (Mar 27, 2007)

We had to do two 12 hour shifts in the ER when I went through my EMT course.  I think we only had to do 20-24 hours as a third person on the ambulance as well.  

We couldn't do any extra time in the ER, but were lucky that it was a busy level 1 trauma center with the only adult burn center in central Indiana.  Since I was a volunteer for the department that we did ride-alongs with, I was able to put as much time in on the ambulance as I wanted, and I took advantage of it.  I can't remember how many hours I ended up with, but it was well above and beyond what was required.

I totally agree with RR that more clinical time should be required at the basic level.  We have a couple new guys that are just waiting to get their certs back, but the department sent them through a two week course.  Over the last couple shifts, I have more or less taken one of them under my wing.  (The other one works on a different shift.)  He seem pretty relieved after I took the time to better explain to him how his time spent precepting would work.  I most likely will be the one precepting him, and am thinking that it is going to take a little bit longer than the usual requirement of 10 unassisted runs to get him released.  I just don't think he feels confident enough yet to be the one in charge of patient care.  He is a smart guy, and has been a third person with me for a couple shifts, and I haven't hesitated to have him take vitals, give report at the hospital, etc., but he has tons of questions right now.  Fortunately, he isn't afraid to ask them, and wants to learn, despite his own concerns about the two week course that he was put through.


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## fm_emt (Mar 27, 2007)

Epi-do said:


> I totally agree with RR that more clinical time should be required at the basic level.



I do as well. I think our state only requires 10 hours, but we did as many as we could.

From what I've heard, it's difficult to get more ride along time because of insurance reasons. Damn lawyers getting in the way of something else! :|


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## Recycled Words (Mar 27, 2007)

In NJ it's ten hours that you can either do in a hospital or on a rig (actual calls, not just 10 hours at the building, etc). I think more ride along/clinic hours should be mandated, but I got the feeling that the people who were serious did more than the bare minimum.


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## BossyCow (Mar 30, 2007)

fm_emt said:


> I do as well. I think our state only requires 10 hours, but we did as many as we could.
> 
> From what I've heard, it's difficult to get more ride along time because of insurance reasons. Damn lawyers getting in the way of something else! :|




Washington required 10 hours too.

And it's not the attorneys dictating that, its the risk management professionals responding to the large cash settlements awarded by insurance companies to keep the fear alive.


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## firecoins (Mar 30, 2007)

You figure the risk management people would want better trained EMTs to reduce risks of lawsuits.


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## BossyCow (Mar 31, 2007)

firecoins said:


> You figure the risk management people would want better trained EMTs to reduce risks of lawsuits.



Have you ever worked for a large conglomerate, institution or agency?  Risk management may 'want' better education but to mandate that would be overstepping their authority.  Only the education department or whoever oversees the training budget can mandate training requirements.  Risk Mgmt can set policy to reduce the impact of poor training but seldom is given the power to actually solve the problem.


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## m33kr0b (Apr 12, 2007)

Wow, I just finished my basic and I was required to do 48 hours with busy ambulance services(they would not let us go with rural services) and 12 hours ER. I went way over on my hours(480 Ambulance 12 ER). People in my class wondered why i got all the good calls


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## Alexakat (Apr 13, 2007)

We were required to have a certain number of patient contacts (30 patient contacts) to meet our ride-along requirement.   If someone rode at a slow station, they were there for a lot longer than others who were right in the city with busy stations.  I had a pretty busy station, but like others who've posted, I went above my required patient contacts b/c I really enjoyed it.

We had to do ER clinicals 6 times through out the 3.5 month course.  They were all with a precepter present from the college, so he directed us around & served as a liaison between the students & the ED staff.  If we had "down" time, we would go over material/discuss things we saw, etc.  This was in Florida...

My sister is a FF/paramedic & all of her clinicals here in Virginia were just a set number of hours without a precepter present.  She spent a lot of time standing around waiting for something to happen.  She also always felt like she was treated as being "in the way".  She offered assistance, but was often told "no thanks".  Her experience wasn't as good...


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## TheDoll (Apr 15, 2007)

Epi-do said:


> We couldn't do any extra time in the ER, but were lucky that it was a busy level 1 trauma center with the only adult burn center in central Indiana.


hooray for the wiz! ...and people like you who work your butt off! i did my ER rotation there, as well. then, got hired at the burn center. remember, if any of y'all are there for a visit, i'm right upstairs! jk!


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## SwissEMT (Apr 15, 2007)

The "elite" Northeastern University EMT-Basic course requires NO clinical hours.

None.
Nada.
Zip.

It's out of a feeling of uneasiness about the lack of on-the-ground experience that I took on hundreds of hours riding with EMS before getting certified.


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