Why do I have a feeling this is how it really is?
If you don't love what you do, then you won't make it far. Seems like EMS is no different.
Burnout rate
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Why do I have a feeling this is how it really is?
If you don't love what you do, then you won't make it far. Seems like EMS is no different.
This thread has had 21 post (22 now). In such, you have had four post, those don't count so we're down to 17. Of these, two have said EMS is a great field to work in, one of whom by their own admission may not have enough time to have seen the bad parts yet. So we'll throw that one out (no offense Amycus). So we're down one saying EMS is awesome, and 15 saying proceed with caution. Meaning 94% of post by experienced, long-time EMS providers(most of whom are WELL past the 5 year mark, myself included) are advising you to proceed with caution.
Don't roll your eyes and focus on the unicorn and rainbows aspects of the job. One guy does not an average experience make. If you don't go in with open eyes, you will end up in the percentage that has drifted away to something else. I've enjoyed the hell out of EMS and still do. However, I still know when it's time to change career fields.
I hope you at least heed this post some. Unfortunately I fear I'll be chalked up as "another burnout" and my advice ignored.
Don't roll your eyes and focus on the unicorn and rainbows aspects of the job. One guy does not an average experience make. If you don't go in with open eyes, you will end up in the percentage that has drifted away to something else. I've enjoyed the hell out of EMS and still do. However, I still know when it's time to change career fields.
I hope you at least heed this post some. Unfortunately I fear I'll be chalked up as "another burnout" and my advice ignored.
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How many of your coworkers have breen doing this job thirty years, maintained a marriage and are financially sound?
You are the exception not the rule, it takes a special breed to punch this clock for thirty years. Well done.
Not everybody can nor will.
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DesertMedic66
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I know alot of career EMTs and Medics that have been married for a long time and have a nice house and everything. It all depends on the person. If you are good at conserving money then you should be fine depending on your area. Firefighters in this area make over 2 times as much EMTs and Medics so down here alot of people go into fire (myself included.). I love being out in the field. I have been offered positions that aren't field work but get paid more and I have declined them. I am still extremely young but have been in the fire/EMS service for 6 years now and I'm still interested in it. Yes some people get burnt out but some people don't. It solely depends on the person.
My original EMT class had about a dozen people in it and I am the only person from that class that is still working. My advanced class had 18 people in it and there is still two people from that class working the streets. Two from my advanced class have retired. My paramedic class had ten people in it and there are just two of us left on the streets. Two from my medic class have retired and two are now managers.
I could have retired a few years ago but I am waiting for my mentor to retire and the other old fart from my medic class to pull the plug before I go. :blush:
I didn't intend to come off as ignorant. But this thread is discouraging me from the field. I'm just looking for a positive here.
My intended path inside my head goes: EMTB cert>>>Paramedic cert>>>EMS associate degree>>>burned out the field unless I get a management position>>>go into what I love(computer field) or stay in medical field(lab tech??)
Wishful thinking, I know, but I like to look ahead in the future. -_-
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If the computer field is what you love, why not make a career out of that? Not trying to talk you out of EMS, but as others said, it takes a special breed to make a career out of this field. Personally, I love working EMS. I look forward to being on shift every day! (not a grammatical error, I'm on shift damn near every day
) But even I don't plan on making a lifelong career out of it. You have to truly love the job to stay in it for any amount of time (as with most jobs). If you already have a field you love, what's stopping you from making a career out of it?The reason I won't go into the computers field, at least not now, is because, unlike how the general public believes, you don't need much schooling to make it a career. You get your certs, which can be done by studying from a book, gain experience and move up. Also IT is always changing.
I figure, since I'm young, I might as well go into whats cooking right now(medical field) and see where I am after (hopefully) I'm married.
Is this bad thinking? I know this isnt a career advice forum, but...I don't know. I'm always changing my mind. :wacko:
I figure, since I'm young, I might as well go into whats cooking right now(medical field) and see where I am after (hopefully) I'm married.
Is this bad thinking? I know this isnt a career advice forum, but...I don't know. I'm always changing my mind. :wacko:
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Why not gain experience and start moving up while you're young, and not have to completely start over when you're older?
Reasoning behind me not making it a career: Paramedic isn't enough for me. There's too much to learn in medicine, and you learn so very little in paramedic. For me, EMT-P is too restricting (which is absolutely necessary due to lack of education), you (or at least I) typically work with a bunch of morons whose idea of intelligent conversation when related to medicine is "Let's see what our protocol book says", and because working with said morons is the bulk of who work in EMS, you get very little respect and no opinion. As soon as I finish my BS, I'll be moving to either PA or MD.
Reasoning behind me not making it a career: Paramedic isn't enough for me. There's too much to learn in medicine, and you learn so very little in paramedic. For me, EMT-P is too restricting (which is absolutely necessary due to lack of education), you (or at least I) typically work with a bunch of morons whose idea of intelligent conversation when related to medicine is "Let's see what our protocol book says", and because working with said morons is the bulk of who work in EMS, you get very little respect and no opinion. As soon as I finish my BS, I'll be moving to either PA or MD.
bigbaldguy
Former medic seven years 911 service in houston
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I'm a flight attendant for a major airline. I am writing this post from the balcony of a hotel that overlooks the ocean while I earn money doing nothing. Ive had 20 hours to wander the water front drinking my coffee and watching the cruise ships come in. I make good money and rarely do any real work on the plane I just make small talk with customers and occasionally help an old lady put up her bag. I've been doing this for 15+ years and I love my job. In short is as close to the perfect job as you can get. The two women I'm working with on this trip are working under the same conditions, making even more money and if anything do less work than I do and they are the two most burned out, hateful, and miserable flight attendants I've ever run across. Burnout isn't related to what your job is or how long you've been doing it. Burnout has everything to do with your attitude. Burnout comes from within and the only way you can prevent/overcome it is by addressing that internal cause. Be happy and you'll be happy 
cruiseforever
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I'm a flight attendant for a major airline. I am writing this post from the balcony of a hotel that overlooks the ocean while I earn money doing nothing. Ive had 20 hours to wander the water front drinking my coffee and watching the cruise ships come in. I make good money and rarely do any real work on the plane I just make small talk with customers and occasionally help an old lady put up her bag. I've been doing this for 15+ years and I love my job. In short is as close to the perfect job as you can get. The two women I'm working with on this trip are working under the same conditions, making even more money and if anything do less work than I do and they are the two most burned out, hateful, and miserable flight attendants I've ever run across. Burnout isn't related to what your job is or how long you've been doing it. Burnout has everything to do with your attitude. Burnout comes from within and the only way you can prevent/overcome it is by addressing that internal cause. Be happy and you'll be happy
Well said. I had a partner that would look at the clock at the start of a 16 hour shift and say. " Great 15 hours and 55 minutes to go." It got to be a very long shift. 10 minutes later, " great 15 hours and 45 minutes to go." and on and on.
Sorry for the double post but...
I'm curious to those who don't want to make this a career. What exactly are you thinking about doing post-medic?? I know theres various transitional programs from paramedic, so please post whats in your mind.
What exactly are you thinking about doing post-medic??
I am going to be a retired medic and throw fruit at retired firefighters.
usafmedic45
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Very true, but a good number do exactly what he suggested. Just because you don't agree, does not make it BS.
Not to mention, mentally sound. I've yet to meet anyone doing this job over five years full-time that isn't packing around some serious emotional baggage of one sort or another. There are a lot of folks who try to deny it but you can see it in the way they carry themselves.
abckidsmom
Dances with Patients
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I'm a flight attendant for a major airline. I am writing this post from the balcony of a hotel that overlooks the ocean while I earn money doing nothing. Ive had 20 hours to wander the water front drinking my coffee and watching the cruise ships come in. I make good money and rarely do any real work on the plane I just make small talk with customers and occasionally help an old lady put up her bag. I've been doing this for 15+ years and I love my job. In short is as close to the perfect job as you can get. The two women I'm working with on this trip are working under the same conditions, making even more money and if anything do less work than I do and they are the two most burned out, hateful, and miserable flight attendants I've ever run across. Burnout isn't related to what your job is or how long you've been doing it. Burnout has everything to do with your attitude. Burnout comes from within and the only way you can prevent/overcome it is by addressing that internal cause. Be happy and you'll be happy
Absolutely. EMS will drive you crazy if you let it.
I am 17 years into a part-time/intermittant full-time EMS career, and I love it. I do not go into each shift looking for heroism, just making a difference in whatever little ways I can.
Hubby is 20 years in, absolutely not burned out, earns money doing what he'd do for free, and enough to support a household of 8 people.
We're happily, permanently married, in a marriage that has been tested and strengthened by trials. Trials brought on by EMS and burnout.
It isn't perfect, it isn't daily awesomeness, but when I stop and take stock, I am so happy with our life, and thankful to have it.
the_negro_puppy
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I'm a flight attendant for a major airline. I am writing this post from the balcony of a hotel that overlooks the ocean while I earn money doing nothing. Ive had 20 hours to wander the water front drinking my coffee and watching the cruise ships come in. I make good money and rarely do any real work on the plane I just make small talk with customers and occasionally help an old lady put up her bag. I've been doing this for 15+ years and I love my job. In short is as close to the perfect job as you can get. The two women I'm working with on this trip are working under the same conditions, making even more money and if anything do less work than I do and they are the two most burned out, hateful, and miserable flight attendants I've ever run across. Burnout isn't related to what your job is or how long you've been doing it. Burnout has everything to do with your attitude. Burnout comes from within and the only way you can prevent/overcome it is by addressing that internal cause. Be happy and you'll be happy
I agree with this. Ive been working in ems/pre-hospital for around 15 months now, and attitude plays a large part. When you work with people that whinge all day about conditions, management, patients it really brings you down. A positive attitude is much better.
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The only burnout factor I experience is wearing ski boots all day, other than that I love the patient care aspect of my job. But I also haven't been doing it for all that long
firetender
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You asked for it!
If you want to learn about life; face death.
If you want to learn about yourself; face others.
I sometimes get carried away but I don't think there's a better place to learn about being a human being and the experience of being a human being than EMS.
As far as transferable skills go, how about being able to assess the potential danger in a room before your ears get through its threshold, or prioritizing immediate actions to begin a process, or to gain a distressed person's confidence, or defuse a potentially fatal situation, or communicate an idea quickly and succinctly?
When you're in the field, you're playing with the highest stakes of all; human lives. Once you are out of the biz, everything else could potentially be a snap because really, how serious is ANY of this? No matter what you're facing, you've faced worse. (of course, you've got to be willing to face the worst, first!)
I could go on and on, but where else can you learn about stuff like this so fast?
Yes, it costs, but everyone who dives into life so deeply gets taxed.
If you want to learn about life; face death.
If you want to learn about yourself; face others.
I sometimes get carried away but I don't think there's a better place to learn about being a human being and the experience of being a human being than EMS.
As far as transferable skills go, how about being able to assess the potential danger in a room before your ears get through its threshold, or prioritizing immediate actions to begin a process, or to gain a distressed person's confidence, or defuse a potentially fatal situation, or communicate an idea quickly and succinctly?
When you're in the field, you're playing with the highest stakes of all; human lives. Once you are out of the biz, everything else could potentially be a snap because really, how serious is ANY of this? No matter what you're facing, you've faced worse. (of course, you've got to be willing to face the worst, first!)
I could go on and on, but where else can you learn about stuff like this so fast?
Yes, it costs, but everyone who dives into life so deeply gets taxed.
My childhood was less than ideal, so I was cynical long before I ever signed up for my first CPR class. The few years before I started doing this were especially disappointing, and I was pretty much burnt out on everything in general when I started. As a result, I figured I wouldn't be bothered by seeing the worst sides of humanity. I was mostly right.
I didn't count on the moments when I see that humanity isn't entirely awful. The kids who will gladly spend their inheritance to keep Granny in a nicer facility. The spouses who live up to that "in sickness and in health" line. The random bystander who stops to help without caring that he's getting blood on his fancy suit. Even the little things, like how people at my station leave laptops sitting out and don't have them stolen. To me, that's the eye-opening part. So far, EMS has actually made me like humanity more than I did.
Maybe that'll change. I'm still relatively new, so who knows. But for now, doing this has made me a little less burned out on life than I was beforehand.
I didn't count on the moments when I see that humanity isn't entirely awful. The kids who will gladly spend their inheritance to keep Granny in a nicer facility. The spouses who live up to that "in sickness and in health" line. The random bystander who stops to help without caring that he's getting blood on his fancy suit. Even the little things, like how people at my station leave laptops sitting out and don't have them stolen. To me, that's the eye-opening part. So far, EMS has actually made me like humanity more than I did.
Maybe that'll change. I'm still relatively new, so who knows. But for now, doing this has made me a little less burned out on life than I was beforehand.
Sunyata
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How incredibly true. I have been an EMT for a little over 10 years now. It has made me see not only the worst parts of humanity, but also the best. And while it is not my career, it has been a huge part of my life and probably always will be.
As for burnout, it really is what you make of it. And I agree that it depends on your personality. If you are prone to burnout, any career will burn you out. However, if you are expecting something greater to come out of your EMS career (such as being a hero or changing the frequent fliers), then yes, you will be disappointed. It is grueling work and not everyone will be cut out to make a career out of it.
That being said, to the OP... If you really want to work in IT, then do it. Working in EMS is not going to substitute for an IT field. And having to make a career change after you are married with a kid on the way is going to be tough. Not to mention you will probably take a pay cut. Take some IT classes and take an EMT-B course. You can volunteer AND pursue your dream of IT. BAM, win-win! B)