Any Denver Health Medics around?

DFD responds code 10 (emergent) on every medical call, even before it's coded. They don't even know what the nature is before they go. It's a matter of politics. How can they take over EMS if they can't demonstrate that they go on all the EMS calls? Like I said earlier; it's a waste of time and resources because they are not going to acquire EMS, it's just not going to happen. And yes, it's beyond the realms of comprehension.

The 20+ people every Monday are those that have made it through the application/interview process for every department in the hospital and are new DH employees.
 
Shocksalot,
What makes it (applying to DH) so difficult?

Is it your opinion that DH is not, 'a progressive, busy, well respected EMS system'? Maybe I read it wrong, but it reads like you work somewhere that is a progressive, busy, well respected EMS system' and do so despite the lower pay. That DH isn't worth the couple of dollars an hour extra...or am I way off?
Way off. Denver Health is a very progressive, busy, well respected EMS system and. I definitely don't work in a service anywhere close to the respect that DH gets.

And Fire departments positioning themselves to take over ambulance services is a common practice in CO, regardless of how high preforming the ambulance service is. Gotta justify their jobs somehow. Greeley fire recently pulled the same political stunt on Weld County Paramedics.
 
Thank you all for replying.
Shocksalot, since DH is a progressive, respected EMS system AND pays more than yours, why not apply? I was simply curious since you stated that(progressive, respected) was one of your highest priorities...the higher pay being only a bonus. I've heard from other sources that DH is very progressive, and this reaffirms them.

Jeff and Flightorbust,
The fire service is struggling, I agree. I see it, too. What once was a nuisance to them, being 'bothered' with EMS, is now their foundation for numbers. I won't get into this, but I hear ya both loud and clear. Beyond the realm of comprehension. Perfect summation for it.

Jeff,
Any idea on how long the hiring process is? What it entails...background packet? Oral? Written? Practicals? Academy?
 
The application process begins the same way for every position in the hospital. Once the online app is complete, if it meets the needs of the deptartment (in the case of the Division we mostly look at experience) the next step is the Talent Plus phone interview. Talent + is basically a series of questions designed to decide how you perform in a customer service environment and is conducted for every applicant throughout the hospital. If your T+ scores are acceptable we look at background and driving records, if they look OK you move onto the interview process. The interview consist of a medical and andministrative panel. Then medical panel is oral scenarios and the other is basically the "why do you want to work here" type stuff.

We interview the 2nd or 3rd Thursday of the month (I can't recall which) depending on whether or not we have positions open - we nearly always do. Once you have your app submitted it's a pretty short processs from there to job offer or regret.

Day one of employment is the orientation I talked about with people going to other departments. The remainder of that week is some system specific classroom stuff and the violent pt management course. Week 2 you're on the street in the field training program.

The program is 5 phases (3 medical and 2 driving) with no real time limit as long as you are seen to be making progress. Phase I is just evaluating you on hx/PE, you may be talked to about other stuff, but it does not count on your eval. Phase III is being evaluated on every aspect of running a call from the pt care side. hx/PE, treatment, disposition and all that. Once you're good there it's onto the driving phase. In phase I you're evaluated on all aspects of driving (that's all you do) such as routing and playing the roll of the "driver". In phase II you are evaluated on everything. From how you introduce yourself to patients, to how well you route to and from calls, and pretty much everything that entails being a paramedic. Once you succesfully complete all phases, you get your right shoulder patch. Duration in the program varies acording to your abilities. At times it may take a year, for others it may be 6 weeks. It's just dependant on whether or not you are showing progression.

I'm at the end of my rope with autocorrect and as such will no longer care what weird words come out in these posts.
 
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colorado springs is the same way. Every call gets a fire unit. Its because there are now so few fires the city has to justify having 15 stations in a city. They do this by saying that we did 10,000 calls (made up number for example point) and we were able to average 6 minutes response times.

To be fair, AMR in Colorado Springs runs P/B trucks and every CSFD engine company has a medic on board, so every call gets two medics. That's probably rarely needed, but when you need two medics, you probably want them yesterday.

/threadjack.
 
I agree that its nice to have when you need it. Just like all CSFD are basics. There are times where a basic FF will hop in and help on transport. Im not saying its a bad thing. Im just saying that politics come into play and they always respond to help justify having as many stations as they do. 9 times out of 10 fire will beat AMR to a scene. Ive seen on a Sunday where theres 3 AMR units for all of the Springs, Manitou and Fountain because of fire.
 
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