New To EMS

[judo510]

Hi everybody,

I recently got hired as an EMT for a transport company in the bay area. This is my first job as an EMT. Like most I had goals to be a firefighter. I put that away as soon as I realized the competition. Not that I don't want to be a firefighter, I still have it in the back of my mind. I happen to come from a family of nurses so the medical field seems more my personality. I have a goal to be a paramedic. I want to go to medic school to be a paramedic and not so it will look better on my resume to get into a fire department. From there I will decide if I want go medic to nurse or medical school or fire. I'm taking it step by step.

So I have a few observations and questions.

Being an EMT for a ambulance transport company is a stepping stone for other jobs in the medical field. FACT from what I hear.

If a high percentage of people in BLS transport want to be firefighters and I want to learn more in medicine then I should work in an ED. Correct? My theory is if most of my co workers know just as much medical knowledge as I do then I'm not learning anything new. But if I work in as an ER Tech I will be around doctors and nurses, people that I can learn more from and I will be busier oppose to the waiting for calls in a rig.

Why do I meet so many EMTs in my job (BLS Transport) so burnt out after only a few months of work?

The EMS field can burn people out quickly? Why?

I'm sorry if this is a repetitive post.

 

[AJ Hidell]

Hi everybody,

I recently got hired as an EMT for a transport company in the bay area.

There are a lot of bays in this world. Can you be a little more specific?

I have a goal to be a paramedic. I want to go to medic school to be a paramedic and not so it will look better on my resume to get into a fire department. From there I will decide if I want go medic to nurse or medical school or fire. I'm taking it step by step.

Wandering aimlessly, stumbling through various steps without an ultimate goal is not a good way to go. It is important that you decide very soon whether you want to be a medic, a nurse, or a doctor. Medicine is not a ladder to be climbed. Choose one and do it. Because if you decide you want to be a physician, you are completely wasting your time and money pursuing EMS or nursing. And if you are pursuing nursing, you are completely wasting your time and money pursuing EMS. However, if you can narrow it down to either EMS or nursing, that's a good starting point. The prerequisite educational foundation for both is the very same. A year of physical and social sciences, including college A&P (2 semesters), microbiology, chemistry, algebra and/or statistics, intro psychology, developmental psychology, and sociology are the minimum preparational foundation necessary for either profession. By the time you finish that, you should have a better idea of where you want to go, and will be ready to do either.

Even if you decide that you really want to be a paramedic, those in the know would strongly recommend that you still pursue the nursing degree first. It establishes such a strong foundation of medical knowledge that it assures that you become the very best possible paramedic, and definitely heads above those who are not nurses. That also gives you a job making excellent money right away. And let me assure you, it is a LOT easier to attend 6 months of paramedic training on a nurses salary than it is to attend two years of nursing school on a paramedic salary. It's a no brainer. And, if you're lucky, you'll decide that you really don't want to be a medic after all, and just stick with nursing. If not, it's never too late to go back to medic school as a nurse.

Being an EMT for a ambulance transport company is a stepping stone for other jobs in the medical field. FACT from what I hear.

Incorrect. It gives you some experience interacting with sick and injured persons on a psycho-social level, which can be helpful. And it helps you decide if working with sick and injured people is really what you want to do with your life, if you have not yet decided. Other than that, it is not a "stepping stone". It's just a time killer, and a very low paying one at that.

If a high percentage of people in BLS transport want to be firefighters and I want to learn more in medicine then I should work in an ED. Correct? My theory is if most of my co workers know just as much medical knowledge as I do then I'm not learning anything new. But if I work in as an ER Tech I will be around doctors and nurses, people that I can learn more from and I will be busier oppose to the waiting for calls in a rig.

If you figured that out on your own, then I have high confidence in your common sense reasoning abilities, and I think you will be a success in any medical field. That is an excellent observation, and one that is almost completely overlooked by most EMTs.

Why do I meet so many EMTs in my job (BLS Transport) so burnt out after only a few months of work?

The EMS field can burn people out quickly? Why?

Let me count the ways, lol! First and foremost, it is the fault of the EMTs themselves. None of them ever bothered to do a serious job market analysis before signing up for that EMT course. They all just assumed that 120 hours of night school was going to make them a hero, and that there was some shortage of heroes in their community. Both are false. It makes you nothing but an ambulance driver or first responder, and there are very few jobs involving real EMS for EMTs. So they end up on an IFT truck, doing nothing more than taxi work and they resent it. Nobody goes to EMRGENCY medical technician school so that they can have an exciting career making nursing home and dialysis transfers. So that's a recipe for disappointment from the very beginning. Then there is the crappy training system in EMS in this country that reinforces that whole misconception by lying to their students with a lot of backslapping and cheerleading about how awesome and valuable they are going to be with all these sexy "skills". The entire class is spent preparing you for the worst case scenarios in EMS. Then again, you are qualified for nothing but IFTs, seeing none of those things you trained for, and yes, your attitude is going to go to crap very quickly. Then add to that the petty commercial "customer is always right" and "profit first" environment that exists in most IFT jobs and the frustration just increases. Plus, you are getting your *** worked off for less money than the guy at McDonalds makes. And to top it all off, you are surrounded by a lot of low intelligence, low motivation idiots who are in EMS only because they thought it was a "stepping stone" to something else, who are just as frustrated as you are because they are unable to make that step to "something else", and there is no way that this can be a happy atmosphere.

Forget the "stepping stones". See your future. Be your future. Good luck.

 

[sir.shocksalot]

Hi everybody,

I recently got hired as an EMT for a transport company in the bay area. This is my first job as an EMT. Like most I had goals to be a firefighter. I put that away as soon as I realized the competition. Not that I don't want to be a firefighter, I still have it in the back of my mind. I happen to come from a family of nurses so the medical field seems more my personality. I have a goal to be a paramedic. I want to go to medic school to be a paramedic and not so it will look better on my resume to get into a fire department. From there I will decide if I want go medic to nurse or medical school or fire. I'm taking it step by step.

So I have a few observations and questions.

Being an EMT for a ambulance transport company is a stepping stone for other jobs in the medical field. FACT from what I hear.

If a high percentage of people in BLS transport want to be firefighters and I want to learn more in medicine then I should work in an ED. Correct? My theory is if most of my co workers know just as much medical knowledge as I do then I'm not learning anything new. But if I work in as an ER Tech I will be around doctors and nurses, people that I can learn more from and I will be busier oppose to the waiting for calls in a rig.

Why do I meet so many EMTs in my job (BLS Transport) so burnt out after only a few months of work?

The EMS field can burn people out quickly? Why?

I'm sorry if this is a repetitive post.

Some people with very low aspirations in life will stay as an EMT for a long time, simply not bothering to pursue any further education.

As far as learning it is really self motivation that will get you far. If you are working a BLS ambulance you will have to be self motivated to study up on disease processes on your own time, I personally take a medical dictionary and PDR with me every time I go to work to read up on things I don't know. Granted if you work in an ED it is far easier to turn around and just ask someone who went to school for a bizzillion years. The reason I wouldn't personally work in an ED is that I like the independence of working on an ambulance, the ability to think on your own.

And yes most BLS IFT EMTs burn out quick, they get sick of no lights and sirens, and dealing with people that aren't really that sick. They either learn that their job is to take care of people, sick or not sick, or they burn out and move on to other things.

 

[smvde]

I guess I'm not "most" as described by this poster, I for one have NO FREAKING DESIRE to be a firefighter.

I disagree with shocksalot's statement about staying in EMS, but I will say that it's a young mans field, and those of us getting long in the tooth tend to leave for less stressful and hard occupations, for example nursing or the like.

To make a blanket statement about Most wanting to be firefighters is however not a valid statement.

One of the main problems in EMS today is being hampered by Fire Dept. who sensing the impending doom of their exalted existance, have tried to gobble up EMS.

Fire and EMS should be two entirely separate entities.

 

[Ms.Medic]

Why do I meet so many EMTs in my job (BLS Transport) so burnt out after only a few months of work?

The EMS field can burn people out quickly? Why?

Because the people with "woowooitis" who are all about putting lights and sirens on there personal vehicles when they get their first patch, get a real job on an ambulance, and realize its not a "hero" making business like they think it will be. Not only that, but the "bs" calls can take a toll on someone who is looking for a "thrill" 99 % of the time. Stay as "normal" as you can with your life outside of ems, dont make your entire life about a siren and some lights. ie: carry your work pager/radio when your 500 miles out of range of your district/territory, or when your out with your friends, loved ones, or whatever your doing. Learn to keep it fun, by "no overkill". Not to mention, you look kinda goofy to the rest of the ems world "running hot pov". LOL.

 

[judo510]

Thanks to all for your invaluable advice I will really take it to heart.

Strange how I can get some of the best career advice from an internet forum and so quickly at that.

To Symde: That EMT firefighter statement was just a general statement. It just so happened thats how it happened. 28 out of my 30 EMT class wanted to become firefighters. I doubt half of them will keep that goal.

To AJ Hidell: Thanks for telling me like it is. I thought I knew what I wanted. It turns out I don't. These first couple days on a Rig got me thinking more down the line. I was warned about BLS Transport, but EMT schools graduate EMTs to be hired by BLS companies. It showed on my burned out coworkers faces that they hated their job.

Despite what people say about the pay. It is slightly better than my former job. A part time handler at Fedex. It is also a step in the right direction on the career path I want to pursue. This one job opened my eyes to many other options.

Best,

Judo510

San Francisco Bay Area

 

[AJ Hidell]

San Francisco Bay Area

There was a news item not long ago about something like 6 thousand applicants showing up for around 15 openings with the Oakland FD. That's a basket that you definitely do not want to put all your eggs into! Hedge your bets. Get a nursing degree. If you love it, great. If you don't, well you're more than halfway to something else, like EMS. If you get hired by an FD, excellent. And you'll have your part-time job already set up too.

Good luck!