# New to EMS.  IFT question...



## mbadcompany (Aug 11, 2009)

Ok I'm a recently hired EMT-B for an IFT company in the Los Angeles area.

My question is a very simple and rather dumb question but, what exactly is an IFT company and what do we do _exactly_ and what are some things I should focus on doing and not doing?  Tips?

I know what a 911 response company does and how they work because of ride-alongs that I have done. All know know of IFT companies is that they are not as rushed as a 911 company would be, allowing for practice of your taking of vital skills.  

From what I've heard IFT deals with diabetics and other non-emergency situations and transport such as certain diabetic emergencies.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.


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## MMiz (Aug 11, 2009)

I worked for a service that provided did both 911 and IFT calls.

An IFT company is a company that primarily does Interfacility Transfers.  A majority, if not all of your calls, will be transporting patients from their home or nursing home to and from the hospital/medical appointments.  It is also common to transport patients from one facility to another.  

When I worked an IFT truck I would usually do one or two dialysis transfers in a shift, though it really is dependent on your service.  We would pick the patient up at their home or facility, transport them for dialysis, and then pick them up when the day's treatment was complete.

It is common that a nursing home will actually call a service directly instead of 911 if they need EMS, and you would respond as any emergency ambulance would.  It's not uncommon to be called for a "routine" call to a nursing home or residence and find the patient in full cardiac arrest.  It happens.

One of the great things about IFTs is that you really get to know the patients and frequent flyers.  I was genuinely happy to see many of them when I picked them up for dialysis, and they were happy to see me and catch up on the latest news and company gossip.  You really don't have that kind of opportunity when working only 911 calls.

I couldn't imagine working for an IFT company full time as a career, as I'd find the work very monotonous.  Some of my colleagues at the same company worked on dedicated BLS IFT trucks and loved it.  Personally, I enjoyed one or two 911 calls in a shift with the rest being busy IFT work.

Hopefully this is a stepping stone for you and you use the time wisely to hone your skills and further your education.


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## Sasha (Aug 11, 2009)

I *LOVE* IFT. I think it's great. Depending on the type of call, you may or may not be "rushed". Taking a patient who needs some kind of intervention not available at one hospital to another hospital can be a true emergency and requires being treated as such and is not time to poke around and chill out with the nurses a bit before taking the patient. However if it's not an emergent transfer, then yes, it's not rushed, and basics and medics alike have a lot of time to work on their assesments and vital taking and getting over their shyness of talking to people.

Like MMiz said, you may get called for nursing home to ERs. Nursing home calls that are seemingly "BS" (Abnormal labs, hip pain s/p fall etc.) can be really interesting and educational calls IF you put forth the effort to learn about them and possible causes and complications.

I've learned about diseases and disorders and procedures I would have never learned about on 911, like ALS, how to suction a trach, a foley is not the only kind of urinary catheter there is, learned about PICCs, central lines, ports, chemo, and also the quickest way to get the nurses attention is to bring a patient in with a N95 mask on on. 

If you take the time to talk to your patients and nurses and go through their chart, you may also learn what may lay ahead a 911 patient when they get to the hospital. 

I think every EMT at least should spend time at a good IFT service, not as a punishment, but as a learning experience.


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## firecoins (Aug 11, 2009)

IFT=interfacility transfers

Nursing home patients to the ER.  These can be legit emergencies to routine evaluations.  And several hours later, the return trip from the ER to the nursing home. If they get admitted, than several days later, you take from a hospital floor to the nursing home. 

Hospital/Surgical Center's discharging non ambulatory patients to rehab facilities. Usually had orthopedic surgery but also post cardiac or stroke patients as well.

Nursing home patients to doctor's appointments and back.  

Non ambulatory patients from home to dialysis or doctor appoitnments and back

Jail medical emergencies to the ER.

Patients transferrring from one hospital to another. Usually the hospital in question does not have the services needed for the patient. Also insurance issues, patient preference and other reasons.


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## mbadcompany (Aug 12, 2009)

Alright, thanks for your help.  That was really informative.

Well I'm gonna start my first day of EMS work this coming monday.  Im really excited!!!:lol:


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## SanDiegoEmt7 (Aug 12, 2009)

IFT is truly a great time to expand your knowledge of everything that is health care.  You will get to see a great variety of patients with a large variety of health issues.  

My suggestion to you is read charts.  Practicing vital taking is great but don't stop there,  try to read every patient's chart.  Get a good pathophysiology book and look up the diagnoses you read in the charts.  You will see common groupings of diseases/health issues that are interconnected in many ways.

As you see something new, look it up.  If you see something that you have forgotten, look it up and refresh on it.  The amount of knowledge you can gain in your time spent IFT is all up to you.

Then after the mandatory one year spent in IFT, run away as fast as you can!!! and go to medic school  just kidding, but seriously


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## triemal04 (Aug 12, 2009)

mbadcompany said:


> Ok *I'm a recently hired EMT-B for an IFT company* in the Los Angeles area.
> 
> My question is a very simple and rather dumb question but, *what exactly is an IFT company and what do we do* _exactly_ and what are some things I should focus on doing and not doing?  Tips?


Seriously?  You have a job but you don't know what it is?  You work for a company but you don't know what they do?  What your role is?  The expectations you will need to meet?  Isn't there another thread about this type of question in the HUMOR section?  :wacko:

Maybe these are the types of things you should have found out before you applied for a job, let alone accepted it.


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## daedalus (Aug 12, 2009)

BLS IFTs in Los Angeles (at most of the companies) will include, at the most, taking people home from dialysis and home from the hospital at discharge. You will not be preforming EMS duties, and will not be able to practice skills because most of your patients will refuse vital signs (you would not want a new EMT taking your blood pressure everytime you got picked up from dialysis 3 times a week). 

You will probably be paid poorly and treated badly by your management. I recommend highly (as someone who was in your shoes two years ago) that you quit your current job, pick up a "normal college job" at starbucks or the book store, and continue your education in college or to the paramedic level, so you can find yourself a real job. This is the stress free way to do it, and if I could go back in time, this is what I would do. There are only four ambulance companies out of the 150 companies in LA county that can provide you with 911 expierence, and they are rarely hiring.


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## Sasha (Aug 12, 2009)

Oh daedalus. Just because your experience was bad does not mean everyone's will be.



daedalus said:


> BLS IFTs in Los Angeles (at most of the companies) will include, at the most, taking people home from dialysis and home from the hospital at discharge. You will not be preforming EMS duties, and will not be able to practice skills because most of your patients will refuse vital signs (you would not want a new EMT taking your blood pressure everytime you got picked up from dialysis 3 times a week).
> 
> You will probably be paid poorly and treated badly by your management. I recommend highly (as someone who was in your shoes two years ago) that you quit your current job, pick up a "normal college job" at starbucks or the book store, and continue your education in college or to the paramedic level, so you can find yourself a real job. This is the stress free way to do it, and if I could go back in time, this is what I would do. There are only four ambulance companies out of the 150 companies in LA county that can provide you with 911 expierence, and they are rarely hiring.


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## daedalus (Aug 12, 2009)

Sasha said:


> Oh daedalus. Just because your experience was bad does not mean everyone's will be.



You have a great IFT job, Sasha, however, I know a lot about Los Angeles private ambulance industry. Any calls like the ones you get are handled by a very select group of reputable companies that are not within the reach of a new EMT. 85% of the IFT companies in LA do dialysis and discharges. Not worth the sweat and tears of a new budding medical professional. 

I give the advice I do because I care about it.


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## mbadcompany (Aug 13, 2009)

triemal04 said:


> Seriously?  You have a job but you don't know what it is?  You work for a company but you don't know what they do?  What your role is?  The expectations you will need to meet?  Isn't there another thread about this type of question in the HUMOR section?  :wacko:
> 
> Maybe these are the types of things you should have found out before you applied for a job, let alone accepted it.



Ok genious, I asked _exactly_ what would an IFT job include, I had a general idea of what it was, but I wanted a more detailed description from someone with personal experience.  You would have known that if you kept reading my inital post.


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## Sasha (Aug 13, 2009)

Hey, watch the attitude dude! 

Once you post, you can't censor the kind of responses you get. And I thought the exact same thing as trie when I read it because that's how your post comes off.


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## SanDiegoEmt7 (Aug 13, 2009)

daedalus said:


> BLS IFTs in Los Angeles (at most of the companies) will include, at the most, taking people home from dialysis and home from the hospital at discharge. You will not be preforming EMS duties, and will not be able to practice skills because most of your patients will refuse vital signs (you would not want a new EMT taking your blood pressure everytime you got picked up from dialysis 3 times a week).
> 
> You will probably be paid poorly and treated badly by your management. I recommend highly (as someone who was in your shoes two years ago) that you quit your current job, pick up a "normal college job" at starbucks or the book store, and continue your education in college or to the paramedic level, so you can find yourself a real job. This is the stress free way to do it, and if I could go back in time, this is what I would do. There are only four ambulance companies out of the 150 companies in LA county that can provide you with 911 expierence, and they are rarely hiring.



The more I read your posts, the more I agree with your point of view.

I am currently pre-med, and I was easily able to pay my bills by working at a restaurant.  But since I decided to get clinical experience by working in EMS, I now work 40+ hours a week at an IFT job to make the same amount of money I made working 18/wk as a waiter.  

The more I think about it, I think I may have been better off working at the restaurant, using the extra time to work in a lab, and volunteering to gain clinical experience.


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## Dominion (Aug 13, 2009)

I liked IFT, I won't go into what it is cause people seem to have covered it well.  The only topic I don't see covered is that MOST IFT private companies also hire out to events to do standbys and that was awesome.  

Would I want to make it a career as a basic?  Absolutely not, would I do it again as a medic OR a basic part time?  Of course.  You get to know your patients really well, you get more medical knowledge (atleast I did and you have to try to learn it), and you get to get more insight into much of the inner workings and departments of a hospital.  For example most of my compatriots in my paramedic class have never worked long term at an IFT company.  I had and when we were talking about some of the more 'unknown' facilities to take patients while talking about environmental emergencies I was the only one who knew where each hyperbaric chamber in the county was (which hospitals had one and how many)  I mean this is a very minor example.

As far as education whenever you pick up a discharge, read their discharge paper work and find out what they were there for.  If you don't know what it is, write it down and learn about it later find out what the complications are, if it can spring up quickly again, etc.  Ask the patient about their condition if they're into talking about it.  

Overall IFT can be a rewarding experience but it DOES take a toll. The hours CAN be long.  The management CAN be overbearing and come down on you.  You WILL run into VERY shoddy medics and basics (most of these companies will hire anyone with a pulse).  

And be prepared to have a crappy reputation at the ambulance bay, but take things in stride.  Get some experience if you want to stay a basic for awhile.  But I urge you to go straight into your paramedic course and go that route.  If LA is a place where they don't hire new guys for 911, stay IFT, get your paramedic and then go to one of those companies.


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## FeatherWeight (Mar 7, 2012)

mbadcompany said:


> Ok genious, I asked _exactly_ what would an IFT job include, I had a general idea of what it was, but I wanted a more detailed description from someone with personal experience.  You would have known that if you kept reading my inital post.



*Genius. Haha ironic


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## epipusher (Mar 7, 2012)

triemal04 said:


> Seriously?  You have a job but you don't know what it is?  You work for a company but you don't know what they do?  What your role is?  The expectations you will need to meet?  Isn't there another thread about this type of question in the HUMOR section?  :wacko:
> 
> Maybe these are the types of things you should have found out before you applied for a job, let alone accepted it.



no need to be an *** fella


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## triemal04 (Mar 9, 2012)

epipusher said:


> no need to be an *** fella


Being an ***?  Hardly.  And hardly uncalled for even if that was the case.

The bonehead got a job that he (or she) knew nothing about.  Does that sound like a smart move to make?


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## firetender (Mar 9, 2012)

How about we knock this off right now and get back on topic, remembering our Primary Rule: Be Polite!

Thank you.


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## JPINFV (Mar 9, 2012)

I'd just like to point out that this thread started in 2009.


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## Jon (Mar 9, 2012)

JPINFV said:


> I'd just like to point out that this thread started in 2009.




I'm going to spin off the bumping post... because it really isn't on topic to the thread.
If you want to keep going on that discussion - Click HERE


So now I get to do something I almost never get to do.

Post this picture:






And close the thread.


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