911 vs IFT company

JPINFV said:
Something else to think about, just because you're working for a 911 company doesn't mean you're on the 911 side of the company. All of those companies still run ambulances doing non-emergent transports. The only option, and this is only valid if you're looking for a fire job, is the ambulance operator position a lot of fire departments have.

Huntington Beach's website has a good description of this type of program.
http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/go...tRecruitmentInformation/ambulance_program.cfm
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yeah i have been looking at Ambulance Operator Poisitions, alot of them are on a hiring freeze though because of the economy. Glendale is hiring for AO's i am gonna take a shot at them but itll be hard because i dont have a clean driving record
 
Linuss said:
Except the EMT level of education isn't tailored to understanding most disease processes, so you're essentially looking at something without understanding what's going on, unless you have further education on pathophysiology or studied more yourself.
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As an EMT I still found working IFT to be really educational. But you actually have to put forth the effort to learn, you can't expect to put minimal effort in and for the education to magically come to you.

I carried around a little note pad and everytime I found something I didn't know I wrote it down to google later, or ask someone later. Worked well.
 
MusicMedic said:
i think working IFT before working 911 is a good idea, as in IFT you learn alot about illnessess and the Nature of Illness. im currently in the same boat as you Esteban, i really wanna do 911 also as i wont feel like such a Taxi Cab driver in La County.

But right now with the Market in CA, its almost near impossible to get into a 911 company
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not only this, but it gets u in the mode for how to deal with patients , being in the field writing reports all that "fun" stuff.

when you get to the ALS emergencies it will be second nature:)
 
Or you can drive out to Riverside/San Bernardino counties and at least put in an app with AMR, there you will still have to do BLS IFT for awhile but you can pick OT on ALS units and have a medic partner, who may be more willing to help you learn and prepare, whenever I have an EMT who wants to be a medic, pt condition permitting, I let them do assessments and try to answer as many of their questions as possible.
 
jgmedic said:
Or you can drive out to Riverside/San Bernardino counties and at least put in an app with AMR, there you will still have to do BLS IFT for awhile but you can pick OT on ALS units and have a medic partner, who may be more willing to help you learn and prepare, whenever I have an EMT who wants to be a medic, pt condition permitting, I let them do assessments and try to answer as many of their questions as possible.
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im planning applying at AMR Riverside, i hear the EMT/Medics get to do alot more and pretty much run the scene

as opposed to LA/Orange Counties where fire runs the scene
 
It sounds like...

you've already made up your mind. In your initial post you asked for advice, in every subsequent post you say that you're going to transfer or switch over.

You're in for a very rude surprise if you think you'll be getting any substantial patient care experience working for a so-called 911 company in Los Angeles county. At best, if you even get stationed at an active post you'll be tearing tape and opening packages for a Los Angeles County FD Paramedic. At worst, you'll be driving that same Paramedic and your more "experienced" partner while he or she tears tape and opens packages. You'll work terrible hours for less money than you'll make doing IFT's.

If your goal is to become a Paramedic, why bother switching, you're not gonna learn anything that you won't learn in Paramedic school and you'll be earning less money.

I wish that every EMT program in and around Los Angeles county were forced to explain how the EMS system actually works here instead of filling the heads of impressionable young people with the idea that they're going to be out there doing ALS procedures and saving lives on a daily basis.

Sorry if anyone considers writing frankly as "bullying", lifes tough, it's even tougher when you make dumb decisions.

Good luck.

John E
 
If you want broad experience in the field, you should continue doing IFT. If you want to have only emergency experience, move to a company that mainly does 911. When someone is hiring either an emt or paramedics there are some standard criteria that everyone looks at. What type of experience you had, how long you worked at one particular company, is your dl clean etc. Most of us will also call your previous employer(s) and ask them if you're eligible for rehire and some other questions as you sign release for such info when you apply. The point is, having just 911 experience means nothing as company looks from many difference point of view.

Edit:Forgot to mention, please also learn how to write. Nothing makes billing and management more pissed then when every other word is misspelled and/or your hand witting is so bad that no one can read it(for those companys not doing electronic reports)
 
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looker said:
If you want broad experience in the field, you should continue doing IFT.
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Unless he gets hired at the fire department, all of the companies that provide 911 services also provides IFT services.
 
JPINFV said:
Unless he gets hired at the fire department, all of the companies that provide 911 services also provides IFT services.
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True,but they do much more 911. As such exposure to IFT is much less
 
best thing to do is go to Riverside/Kern/San Bernardino county?

hows EMS in San Diego County?
 
I guess that's kind of a drawback with my company. You make more doing IFT's than you do 911. So you have to take a sacrifice somewhere. Either less money for more experience, or more money doing something that in turn could get monotonous and less experience.
 
we typically get 20 + calls a day. We run IFT along with some hospital stuff prisons and private residences. We get more calls than AMR, the SNF and hospitals call us instead of 911. Trauma is rare, mostly geriatric and pediatrics medical calls, with a fair share of NICU calls. A lot of people put IFT down but we get more calls and more experience dealing with medical patients than any 911 company. We rival busy FD EMS units (sac metro gets less calls on average than our ALS rigs). Ive talked to AMR 911 medics and they typically get 10-20 calls a day and sometimes as few as 1 or 2. Of those maybe 1 (out of 20) are code 3 transports. our ALS rigs can get as many as 10 or more code 3 transports a shift. Even our BLS rigs get more calls than AMR and run more code 3 transports. 911 is the glory job, but you can get more experience working for a good IFT company. Just do some research get on with a larger company and dont be shy about asking what kind of calls they get. I was like a lot of others and thought IFT was a glorified bus driver. When I saw the call volume and saw how many code 3 transports they did in a day, I was overjoyed.
 
Focallength said:
we typically get 20 + calls a day. We run IFT along with some hospital stuff prisons and private residences. We get more calls than AMR, the SNF and hospitals call us instead of 911. Trauma is rare, mostly geriatric and pediatrics medical calls, with a fair share of NICU calls. A lot of people put IFT down but we get more calls and more experience dealing with medical patients than any 911 company. We rival busy FD EMS units (sac metro gets less calls on average than our ALS rigs). Ive talked to AMR 911 medics and they typically get 10-20 calls a day and sometimes as few as 1 or 2. Of those maybe 1 (out of 20) are code 3 transports. our ALS rigs can get as many as 10 or more code 3 transports a shift. Even our BLS rigs get more calls than AMR and run more code 3 transports. 911 is the glory job, but you can get more experience working for a good IFT company. Just do some research get on with a larger company and dont be shy about asking what kind of calls they get. I was like a lot of others and thought IFT was a glorified bus driver. When I saw the call volume and saw how many code 3 transports they did in a day, I was overjoyed.
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It all depend which area your company opeates in. Some areas do not permit ambulance to respond code 3 unless directed by emergency dispatcher or company dispatch that has 911 contract with the city. Other areas permit you to respond code 3 if you're contracted with that facility. So while your company does more 911 calls compae to amr that is not true in other areas.
 
looker said:
It all depend which area your company opeates in. Some areas do not permit ambulance to respond code 3 unless directed by emergency dispatcher or company dispatch that has 911 contract with the city. Other areas permit you to respond code 3 if you're contracted with that facility. So while your company does more 911 calls compae to amr that is not true in other areas.
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I don't see anywhere where he talked about code 3 responses. Code 3 transports? Yes. Responses? No.
 
Focallength said:
we typically get 20 + calls a day. We run IFT along with some hospital stuff prisons and private residences. We get more calls than AMR, the SNF and hospitals call us instead of 911. Trauma is rare, mostly geriatric and pediatrics medical calls, with a fair share of NICU calls. A lot of people put IFT down but we get more calls and more experience dealing with medical patients than any 911 company. We rival busy FD EMS units (sac metro gets less calls on average than our ALS rigs). Ive talked to AMR 911 medics and they typically get 10-20 calls a day and sometimes as few as 1 or 2. Of those maybe 1 (out of 20) are code 3 transports. our ALS rigs can get as many as 10 or more code 3 transports a shift. Even our BLS rigs get more calls than AMR and run more code 3 transports. 911 is the glory job, but you can get more experience working for a good IFT company. Just do some research get on with a larger company and dont be shy about asking what kind of calls they get. I was like a lot of others and thought IFT was a glorified bus driver. When I saw the call volume and saw how many code 3 transports they did in a day, I was overjoyed.
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The hell? 10 L/S transports a shift?

I've done 2.5 in the past 2 weeks, one was of an organ transplant and the other was a crashing CCT patient. The 0.5 was for a canceled organ transplant.

I can't think of any reason for trucks to get 10 a shift for normal ALS? Or are your ALS trucks also doing CCTs?



As for looker--- a dispatchers view on whether or not I should run code is moot... if I'm transporting and I deem it necessary, I have the green light.
 
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He's an EMT-B, so it's very much possible that he's being sent on calls, either because his county or company sucks, that he should never be sent on at all. As such, he arrives, assesses, determines immediate advanced care is needed, determines that transport time is less than paramedic ETA, and elects to transport in leu of calling paramedics.
 
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