Orientation by region

Midazzled

Midazzled

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After reading the "Wake Ems" and "FTO extended me" threads, I've been thinking about the variability of new hire training, and its role in future employment/relocation choices.

How long is your agency's orientation process for Paramedics? How is it organized and structured? What area are you working (in leiu of naming your agency, general area will suffice)?

I live in Summerville, SC, which is part of the Charleston metropolis. Both agencies I work for do 2 4-hour classroom sessions (one the sessions for each consists primarily of watching a supervisor try to click a dozen broken video links) and 5 12 hour 3rd rider shifts. There are no designated FTO's. One of the agencies then releases you to function as crew cheif with an EMT partner. The other releases you to work with a Paramedic partner for an unspecified time period.
 
Central Texas. 4-6 week classroom academy with scenarios, skills and 12 hour operational rides mixed in followed by a 3-12 month FTEP program with an assigned FTO that's divided into 4 phases, well 5 technically but phase 1 is the academy. Clearing the final phase involves rides with a second FTO then a clinical officer then the Medical Director prior to being cleared to practice independently.


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My current system has an FTO program but it's length and intensity varies by candidate. In many cases it is wholly inadequate. I was (unfortunately) cleared to function as a lead medic following a day of classroom death by PowerPoint, a short clinical skills show and tell and 2 third rides. Close to 2 years later and I'm still asking policy/procedure questions that should have been explained during the on boarding process.

The Delaware "out of state medic certification process" is significantly more involved and can take a candidate anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months to complete. When I did it, it involved some class time and a very specific FTO evaluation. Perhaps @chaz90 can elaborate further, as it's been a while since I've been in DE.

When I worked in Washington, at one service I received an extremely basic 48 hour FTO shift and was cleared to work as a lead medic after that. At another service, I was shown how to restock meds and where the hospital was and then turned loose. "Here's the keys, do you know how to get to Tacoma?"
 
Houston area, wildly variable here. Left an agency where the orientation was 2 9-hour Death by Powerpoint/video slogs and entered one where orientation is 3 weeks of classroom time focused on agency expectations, assessments, 12-leads and neuro assessments, protocols and such, with 60 hours of driver's training mixed in, then entry into a tiered medic system that I anticipate clearing within a relatively short amount of time.
 
2 weeks of 0900-1700 classroom stuff followed by 2 more 8 hour classes for paramedics and then a 4-8 hour division orientation class followed by 10-15 FTO shifts that can be extended if needed. Area is SoCal.
 
KernCal, 1-2 weeks classroom orientation on company policies, a dispatch day, billing day, supply day, supervisor ride a long day.

New hire EMT and paramedics 5 weeks minimum as stated in a previous thread, but can be longer. This is for paramedics with a license already, and/ or any EMT regardless of their experience. Paramedic interns obviously get the full paramedic internship, and/ or extended.
 
Souther Ontario, Canada.

One month of orientation covering P&P, some operational training, MCI exercises, certification with the regional base hospital, driving, etc. One month riding third with a mentoring crew. Not a formal FTO process, the crew isn't evaluating them, just expected to guide them, show them the ropes; though if there's a problem they'll bring it to management. Total of six months probationary period where although we don't have a high turnover at all, wholly unacceptable candidates (who somehow made it through the testing, interviews, etc.) are likely to get fired before it's significantly harder to get ride of them. (Maybe 2-3 a year if that, out of 50-60 new hires turn out to be bad apples that are caught pretty quick.)
 
Denver.

2-week academy (I think, it's changed since I was hired). Then the field training program is broken into medical and driving phases. There's 3 stages to medical and 2 to driving. During the medical phase, you only attend. There's no set lengths, it depends on the individuals. 4 months seems to be the low end, some people have spent 12+ months in the program.
 
Ensihoitaja said:
In general, high expectations. The people on the longer end tend to have little experience but great people skills/personality.
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OOF! Double whammy for me! How do they feel about 24-month orientations??:D
 
Wow, thanks for the replies everybody. DEmedic: you're in Savannah, correct? Ensihoitaja, Denver sounds pretty appealing. I would like to work at a place that cares enough to train you on their system, and address shortcomings with training.
 
Midazzled said:
Wow, thanks for the replies everybody. DEmedic: you're in Savannah, correct? Ensihoitaja, Denver sounds pretty appealing. I would like to work at a place that cares enough to train you on their system, and address shortcomings with training.
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I am in Savannah, but the service I work for is not.
 
My service relies on the orientation programs at other services... But actually, you get six third ride shifts and a task book and that is kind of it. We rarely hire external full time applicants and when we do they have to have considerable outside experience. We don't hire new medics PRN and while we do hire super green EMTs into PRN spots, the expectations build over the year. As an agency, we tend to avoid super burdensome polices, our SOGs are intentionally vague to allow for the crews to make the right decisions. Geography wise, it's 600 square miles of rural backroads and one highway, we don't expect anyone to know much more than how to read a mapbook.

New people get put with people who've been here for a bit and over the first year the taskbook assignments get more and more in depth until a new hire is fully "onboarded" and able to function as a solo provider. We are often shortstaffed so for us, if we can find paramedics a good clinical knowledge base, we will work with them on their operational deficiencies over time rather than not have several months where they might not be able to run calls.
 
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