Are Private ambulance really EMS?

[AfxEMT]

Is there any upside of working private EMS??

 

[TransportJockey]

Is there any upside of working private EMS??

You might be working 911 and it's a start.

 

[AfxEMT]

You might be working 911 and it's a start.

What if you don't end up doing 911?? And you became content with doing private ems /IFT. Are you less of an EMS provider than others??

 

[NomadicMedic]

Depends on who you ask.

I don't belive that agencies doing mostly BLS dialysis trips AND "granny go homes" should be considered EMS. And many agencies that do this type of service call it NETS, non emergency transport service. I believe that to be more right than wrong.

A paramedic that does stable monitor/IV transports will certainly develop rust out of his/her skills. It's non emergency and really shouldn't be considered "EMS".

Doing 911 calls or emergent/stat calls from outlying community hospitals to the big city? Yeah. That's EMS.

 

[AfxEMT]

OP here.
So me & my girlfriend were watching TV last night & there was a commercial about a discount for First Responders & I said "Hey I'm a First Responder!" & The look on her face was kinda like "are you high? Are you serious? No you are not." & She said "you don't do emergencies right?" It's been bothering me since last night. Like why would I wanna go through Medic school & be the best possible Medic I could be & people would still not consider me a "Paramedic" cuz I work private & I'm not part of FD. It's frustrating.

 

[AfxEMT]

I'd say 8 out 10 calls most EMS departments do are BS calls & most people in EMS know that. Wether Private or FD or whatever, we all go to the ER where the patients can be fixed, all have the same certifications & half the time the patients don't care if we're private FD or whatever as long as they get to the ER in one piece. Diesel is the strongest liquid we carry.

 

[TransportJockey]

I'm sorry but the idea that diesel bolus is what every patient needs is outdated ********

 

[AfxEMT]

I'm sorry but the idea that diesel bolus is what every patient needs is outdated ********

It might be but unless you have the appropriate equipments, manpower etc in your rig to do TPA's or a Cardiac Cath or whatever then we as EMS or whatever you wanna call yourself, our job is to transport the patient ASAP.

 

[NomadicMedic]

It might be but unless you have the appropriate equipments, manpower etc in your rig to do TPA's or a Cardiac Cath or whatever then we as EMS or whatever you wanna call yourself, our job is to transport the patient ASAP.

It sure isn't... and with the outlying exception, hasn't been for years.

 

[johnrsemt]

When I worked Private EMS Ft (and fire 911 PT): I had more true emergencies on the private side than the 911 side. I did more IV's and medication pushes. had more critical patients, intubated more, etc etc.

You learn more about patient care on the private side. Very seldom do you have families to ask about the patient and most times you don't get good answers from the ECF staff, so you have to figure out what is wrong with them a lot more.
I had an app on my phone that would show what medications are for and drug interactions. I don't remember how many times that I would figure out what the patient was taking was what was making them so sick.
911 is usually 5-15 minute transports (in major metro areas anyway) private I did up to 22 hour transports. totally different animal. ALS, sick patients.

 

[Jeremy Gerberg87]

You're working a job, even a BLS "taxi" job, you still take vitals, you still monitor you're patient, you are still operating under a medical director and using your state numbers to care for a patient. Then yes, you are EMS. You may not run emergency, but when your patient goes into cardiac arrest and you know what to do, you are more than just a "glorified taxi".

 

[Tigger]

You're working a job, even a BLS "taxi" job, you still take vitals, you still monitor you're patient, you are still operating under a medical director and using your state numbers to care for a patient. Then yes, you are EMS. You may not run emergency, but if your patient goes into cardiac arrest and you know what to do, you are more than just a "glorified taxi".

Fixed that. The very vast majority of IFT patients (especially the BLS ones) won't be dying with you.

 

[AfxEMT]

Just out of curiosity. Out of 10 calls in your district, department whatever how many are actually "true" emergencies?

 

[Tigger]

Just out of curiosity. Out of 10 calls in your district, department whatever how many are actually "true" emergencies?

1.
And that seems a bit high, but I'm just looking at the book.

 

[Daniel G]

In the eyes of alot of nurses, no. We are viewed mainly as a glorified taxi service. This is purely anecdotal from my 10 years doing this in the Army/civilian world.