EMS Internship Spain

[Michael DAmato]

Hi, im a college student from UW-Madison. Im trying to find any information on working or interning as an EMT abroad, specifically Spain. I have scoured google and not found much about do short stints as an EMT abroad, I found one in Peru, but it wasn't typical EMS ambulance work, it was in a clinic. Will my certification transfer over to Spain's version of EMT certification? Would private ambulance companies or hospitals even hire an Abroad EMT? My Spanish is pretty good, not perfect, but I can hold a conversation.
Any information on a short (4-6 month) EMT stint abroad would be helpful.
Thanks

 

[Giant81]

I'm sorry I can't help you with the internship question. I just stopped to say hi to a fellow cheesehead. I work in Madison.

 

[Underoath87]

These sorts of programs are not common. Especially not in countries with first responders trained to a much higher level than our EMT-B.

 

[hometownmedic5]

I'm not an expert in anything, and certainly not in ExPat EMS; but a brief stint on google seems to show that since 2007, the standards have been higher than prior to that. I can't find and actual line by line comparison, but generally it would seem the lowest ranking person on an ambulance has at least intermediate level training. I would also wonder how much work there is for the bottom of the barrel guy in a system on the rise, training wise; not to mention somebody challenging reciprocity based on international training.

I'm not the guy that can say it's impossible, but from what little I've read I'd be pretty surprised to hear you pulled it off.

A while back, I researched working abroad and found out that the most of the rest of the developed world looks at our EMS like we look at foreign Med schools, I.e. not good enough. There's always the third world, but finding anyplace that was even willing to discuss actual street EMS work was a bust for me. As always, your mileage may vary. I looked at places I was actually interested in going, not an anywhere but here type situation. Maybe there are place to go that I don't know about.

 

[SpecialK]

I got a very quick look at an ambulance when I was in Spain. They use a SAMU-type system similar to France.

The ambulance service is provided by the health authorities with some combination of Doctor, Nurse and a Technician. Much like in France; the "Technician" is just a nicer way of saying "driver".

You should see if your uni has an agreement with one of the Australasian or English paramedic degree programs like AUT, UQ, Monash or any in England to do a "semester abroad" type thing. The vehicles, uniforms and accents might be different but the clinical decision making is all the same really.