DCFD - Paramedic/Firefighter

[Fish]

Could you be more specific? (I.e., departments/oppurtunities)

I'd like to be a busy 911 paramedic in a fairly large department.

What he is saying, is that in the US. DCFD EMS is known as top 10 one of the worst, they rank up there with San Antonio, LA County, LA City, etc....... Large Fire Based EMS system tend to have bad performance.

How big is big in your mind?

There are plenty of large EMS system that are busy, but practice good medicene. Lemme slap ya down with a Few.

Mecklenburg County NC, 30+ Units
Austin-Travis County EMS Tx 30+ units
Williamson County EMS Tx 16+ Units
Montgomery County EMS Tx 15+ Units
Denver Health EMS CO 12+ units
Medstar EMS Tx 40+ Units
Wake County EMS NC 25+ Units

All of these system are large, But non fire based. They all have room for advancement... ie, officer/supervisor postions. And all of these systems are busy. All have participated in studies and have advanced EMS in the US as we know it, all have excellent statistics and patient outcome.


That being said, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Pheonix Fire are a few of the good fire based EMS systems

 

[terrible one]

Add Seattle FD, they are known for good paramedicine

 

[Fish]

Add Seattle FD, they are known for good paramedicine

I wasn't sure how large they are, he said he wanted large and I was just going off the top of my head who i knew was large

 

[Chief Complaint]

Having seen the DC EMS system first hand, I can verify that they are somewhat of a joke. The medics I met were very lazy/poorly trained/unmotivated.

The DC hospital system stinks as well.

 

[MedicBender]

Fairfax is fairly big and has a great system from what I hear. They picked up a couple people out of my medic class.

 

[Fish]

Fairfax is fairly big and has a great system from what I hear. They picked up a couple people out of my medic class.

Yeah 46young works for them, I think he said something like 35 ALS units?

 

[Chief Complaint]

Yeah 46young works for them, I think he said something like 35 ALS units?

Yea i think its 35 or 37, something around there.

Fairfax is a great department but its VERY tough to get hired...although i guess we could be saying that about the majority of agencies in the USA!

Once you complete their application process, your name goes into a pool that they pull from when the decide to put a class through recruit school. Its a very large list.

 

[Fish]

Yea i think its 35 or 37, something around there.

Fairfax is a great department but its VERY tough to get hired...although i guess we could be saying that about the majority of agencies in the USA!

Once you complete their application process, your name goes into a pool that they pull from when the decide to put a class through recruit school. Its a very large list.

Yeah, good services usually our. We have a 11% pass rate on our testing process and of that we hire maybe 75% of the 11% that passed?

 

[Everett]

What he is saying, is that in the US. DCFD EMS is known as top 10 one of the worst, they rank up there with San Antonio, LA County, LA City, etc....... Large Fire Based EMS system tend to have bad performance.

How big is big in your mind?

There are plenty of large EMS system that are busy, but practice good medicene. Lemme slap ya down with a Few.

Mecklenburg County NC, 30+ Units
Austin-Travis County EMS Tx 30+ units
Williamson County EMS Tx 16+ Units
Montgomery County EMS Tx 15+ Units
Denver Health EMS CO 12+ units
Medstar EMS Tx 40+ Units
Wake County EMS NC 25+ Units

All of these system are large, But non fire based. They all have room for advancement... ie, officer/supervisor postions. And all of these systems are busy. All have participated in studies and have advanced EMS in the US as we know it, all have excellent statistics and patient outcome.


That being said, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Pheonix Fire are a few of the good fire based EMS systems

Thanks for that. Great information.

I'd like to go to Miam-Dade however being that NREMT-B or hopefully a few years from now NREMT-P isn't accepted there its kinda crappy for those who don't live or aren't licensed/certified out of FL.

 

[46Young]

Yeah 46young works for them, I think he said something like 35 ALS units?

37. Wikipedia says 38, but they're counting the fire academy as a station. We have 37 ALS units, 14 of which are PTU's. We have only four BLS ambulances, at the stations with the highest call volume. The square mileage is 395, and we have 1,080,000 residents.

Here's the hiring thread at FH if anyone's interested:

http://www.firehouse.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77487&page=51

 

[46Young]

Fairfax is fairly big and has a great system from what I hear. They picked up a couple people out of my medic class.

You from Ohio? We get a lot of Ohio refugees.

We're also ramming through a few classes real quick - they're supposed to do some renevations to the fire academy in the near future.

 

[46Young]

Yea i think its 35 or 37, something around there.

Fairfax is a great department but its VERY tough to get hired...although i guess we could be saying that about the majority of agencies in the USA!

Once you complete their application process, your name goes into a pool that they pull from when the decide to put a class through recruit school. Its a very large list.

Believe it or not, most of our failures after the entrance exam is the CPAT. That's a good thing, because that test is quite easy compared to what they have you do in the academy, which is easier than what you actually do on the job. If you can't be bothered with training properly for the CPAT, you must not want the job too badly. The polygraph knocks out a lot of people as well.

Nearly every class, someone initially accepts the position, then turns it down a couple of weeks or a couple of days before the academy starts. If you keep in contact with recruitment, and let them know that you can take the job on short notice, you might get lucky.

 

[MedicBender]

You from Ohio? We get a lot of Ohio refugees.

We're also ramming through a few classes real quick - they're supposed to do some renevations to the fire academy in the near future.

Nope, Maryland. Fairfax came in to our medic class twice to recruit. From talking to medics from other schools there are all over the place trying to recruit.

 

[46Young]

Nope, Maryland. Fairfax came in to our medic class twice to recruit. From talking to medics from other schools there are all over the place trying to recruit.

Makes sense. If the new hire is local, they'll be less likely to quit and move back home.

 

[Everett]

How is Baltimore City's reputation for EMS?

Worth a shot after I graduate college?

 

[MedicBender]

How is Baltimore City's reputation for EMS?

Worth a shot after I graduate college?

Most of Maryland has a terrible reputation for EMS. Everything is fire based with the exception of the eastern shore. If you want to get a ton of experience in a high volume system, those departments are great. But if you want to truly practice medicine, I would look else where. The attitude towards EMS is still fairly poor. There are a couple good services, don't get me wrong, but I think there are far better options out there.

 

[MedicBender]

Makes sense. If the new hire is local, they'll be less likely to quit and move back home.

Understandable. I would have applied if I wasn't so desperate to get off the east coast.

 

[Everett]

Most of Maryland has a terrible reputation for EMS. Everything is fire based with the exception of the eastern shore. If you want to get a ton of experience in a high volume system, those departments are great. But if you want to truly practice medicine, I would look else where. The attitude towards EMS is still fairly poor. There are a couple good services, don't get me wrong, but I think there are far better options out there.

Is EMS looked down upon in Baltimore? As being seen as not a real emergency department?