Should I be an EMT or emergency room technician?

[Thindian]

You need to be careful about putting out information that broad brushes a particular profession and what is required in said profession. Not all ER Techs are CNA's or have job descriptions that require them to clean up after patients. In five years I have had way less contact with the above in the ER than I have had in the field. If your running with a 911 service your seeing and dealing with alot more of the above on a more frequent basis. If your IFT I know what you have to deal with because almost every patient we get from the outside care facilities comes preloaded with a BM or at least the residue of the last BM.

You see as tech its my job to make sure the RN's tow the line and have their patients as tolerable as possible before I preform my duties. This comes with experience and time on the job, does it always work, no and when needed I jump in and get the job done. If poop and pee and all the other fine things that come with this profession are objectionable to a prospective provider then I strongly urge them to find another way to make a living.

My poor attempt at humor was in no way intended to be a serious statement. I have nothing but respect for ER Techs, since most of them do more and know more than I do. It's a tougher job with much less down time. Not to mention you guys get paid more. I've got a buddy on these forums who's an ER Tech, and he recently got a couple bad code brown days in a row so I was just yanking his chain. Didn't mean to offend, I apologize :blush:

 

[Level1pedstech]

My poor attempt at humor was in no way intended to be a serious statement. I have nothing but respect for ER Techs, since most of them do more and know more than I do. It's a tougher job with much less down time. Not to mention you guys get paid more. I've got a buddy on these forums who's an ER Tech, and he recently got a couple bad code brown days in a row so I was just yanking his chain. Didn't mean to offend, I apologize :blush:

Roger that,no appology needed. I just want to make sure that we are sharing helpful and reliable information with the others who may not know what our various jobs require. We all know you field guys have the tough job.

 

[DrParasite]

ER Tech = nurses b i t c h. you will do everything they don't want too, are paid poorly, and there tends to be more nurses then techs. and you are the b i t c h for all of them, but you will learn how to do a lot of things.

EMT = society's b i t c h. you will get called to things that make your head hurt, you will be a taxi cab, but you will occasionally get to treat a sick patient. and you will get paid poorly, but not as bad a a tech. and you will subjected to working in all type of environments, some gross, some really gross, and it's just you and your partner and maybe a medic depending on the call.

If nursing is in your future, become an ER tech. it is experience that will be invaluable to you in your career.

if not, become an EMT

 

[eveningsky339]

ER Tech = nurses b i t c h. you will do everything they don't want too, are paid poorly, and there tends to be more nurses then techs. and you are the b i t c h for all of them, but you will learn how to do a lot of things.

EMT = society's b i t c h. you will get called to things that make your head hurt, you will be a taxi cab, but you will occasionally get to treat a sick patient. and you will get paid poorly, but not as bad a a tech. and you will subjected to working in all type of environments, some gross, some really gross, and it's just you and your partner and maybe a medic depending on the call.

If nursing is in your future, become an ER tech. it is experience that will be invaluable to you in your career.

if not, become an EMT

I know a couple of ER techs. Initially they were doing dirty work, but as they gained experience and earned the trust of the ER staff, they did a little bit of everything-- bandaging wounds, EKGs, some were even called in when a nurse called in sick.

 

[VentMedic]

ER Tech = nurses b i t c h. you will do everything they don't want too, are paid poorly, and there tends to be more nurses then techs. and you are the b i t c h for all of them, but you will learn how to do a lot of things.

EMT = society's b i t c h. you will get called to things that make your head hurt, you will be a taxi cab, but you will occasionally get to treat a sick patient. and you will get paid poorly, but not as bad a a tech. and you will subjected to working in all type of environments, some gross, some really gross, and it's just you and your partner and maybe a medic depending on the call.

If nursing is in your future, become an ER tech. it is experience that will be invaluable to you in your career.

if not, become an EMT

Hospital ED Technician:
Decent pay, good benefits and paid CEUs and/or college credits.
Nursing or other medical career tuition may be paid in full at some hospitals.
A wealth of resources to learn from and not just another burnt out EMT in the back of a truck with a bad attitude towards patient care.
You will find that in the ED they do offer treatment and not just a speedy cab ride to the hospital.
If you are in it for the patient care aspect, ED Tech would be a better choice.

 

[Seaglass]

You might not have to choose right away. A few people in my department get paid as ER techs and also volunteer on 911 calls. That's a huge time committment, but it might be nice if you're trying to decide between nursing and prehospital.

 

[46Young]

Hospital ED Technician:
Decent pay, good benefits and paid CEUs and/or college credits.
Nursing or other medical career tuition may be paid in full at some hospitals.
A wealth of resources to learn from and not just another burnt out EMT in the back of a truck with a bad attitude towards patient care.
You will find that in the ED they do offer treatment and not just a speedy cab ride to the hospital.
If you are in it for the patient care aspect, ED Tech would be a better choice.

+1. Also consider that you can schedule school around ED shifts much easier than EMS field shifts. There's no holdover or mandatory OT in general. No rotating schedules where you're working different days every week. Some EMS agencies change everyone's schedule every 6 months or so.

At the very least you have a stable job, with decent working conditions and no office politics to deal with while you work on getting hired at your dream dept. Some have chosen to work in the field, and then find it difficult to impossible to continue their education when their jobs keeps holding them late, calling them in during their days off, not willing to change the schedule to allow attendance for school.

 

[Jeremy89]

Depending on what you want to go into, I'd suggest different routes.
I'm planning on going for nursing, so this is the perfect job for me.
If you wanted to go for Medic, I'd suggest getting a job in the field first. Fire could go either way. One of my coworkers wants to go for fire and he's a tech. I think field experience might benefit a little bit more though, I dunno.....

Like someone mentioned, you're the nurse's, uh, "helper"... hehehe

As an ED tech, my job duties generally include stocking the rooms, drawing blood, doing 12 lead EKG's, doing different diagnostic tests with urine, and some with blood, charting vitals, setting up for procedures, transporting patients, some procedures- wound, eye, and ear irrigation, foley catheters, suture and staple removal, and upon approval, starting IV saline locks, basically just helping out with whatever needs to get done.

Personally, I love my job. I am so grateful to be working at a teaching hospital- everyone is so used to students and people asking questions, so most of the docs and nurses are really cool about answering pharmacology questions, most MD's answer my EKG questions, and everything. I love soaking up the info.

Either way, you'll get some good experience- even on granny transports.

Sometimes I wish I worked in the field, yet other days I think of how much I love my job. Yes I have to deal with code brown and yellow but thats all part of what I do.

RE: school... We do self scheduling so it is very flexible, however, there are certain requirements (every other weekend, at least 3 mon or fri's per sched). But management is very receptive of school schedules, as most techs are in school.

Let me know if you have any questions about being an ED tech. I know its different at each hospital but I can give you a basic "day in the life of" story.

 

[Level1pedstech]

ER Tech = nurses b i t c h. you will do everything they don't want too, are paid poorly, and there tends to be more nurses then techs. and you are the b i t c h for all of them, but you will learn how to do a lot of things.

EMT = society's b i t c h. you will get called to things that make your head hurt, you will be a taxi cab, but you will occasionally get to treat a sick patient. and you will get paid poorly, but not as bad a a tech. and you will subjected to working in all type of environments, some gross, some really gross, and it's just you and your partner and maybe a medic depending on the call.

If nursing is in your future, become an ER tech. it is experience that will be invaluable to you in your career.

if not, become an EMT

I must have a better than average tech job when I compare it to the information you offer up. I have to ask have you ever worked as a tech or are you going on experience you gained on a clinical shift or second hand from someone who worked it in the ER? I'm just curious. At the level one where I work the nurse to tech ratio is about 5/1, it can be more depending on the shift but you also need to be available for the PA's,MD's the unit secretary and anyone from the specialty services (Trauma,RT,Ortho). Many people are not able to multi task in a fast paced often stressful environment and will consider the work load abusive when to be honest its all part of the job. A good tech can do many things at once and make it look like a walk in the park,its not a job for everyone thats for sure.

Our nurses for the most part are very careful about pushing their less than desirable tasks off on the techs. Most of our nurses know if they overly abuse or get on a techs bad side we might not be "available" to help when they have those special tasks (code browns and such). Plus many nurses are former techs and know how to play the game. I am treated very well by all the ER team and because I have some time in I have learned how to make the system work for me not against me.

As far as pay goes you are way off and should be careful in the future about spreading information you may be unsure of or are unable to source. I don't know of any hospital that pays ER techs less than field basics. In some ER's they have CNA or PCTs that may make less but they don't do the procedures that techs with EMT training and an EMS backround do on a daily basis. In my region of the country EMT B's start at 9.00-10.00,Intermediates a buck higher and medics a buck or two higher than that. We start techs at 13.00 plus shift differentials for evenings and nights so you have the potential of coming in off the street and making 15.00 to start,not bad when you figure in benefits and some other perks . After five years with night shift differential I currently make 17.27. The last job I applied for on the outside was as a PMA (paramedic assistant) making 10.50. The last tech I know that went full time with AMR after medic school started out at 15.00. Like 46 young said the flexibility in most ER's scheduling works to the benefit of students. You have many more patient contacts per shift and will many times find yourself doing things that you would never be able to do in the field. You wont spend your shift sitting in a rig posted at Burger King listening to your senior medic complain about how much his job sucks. In the ER you will find plenty of very talented and highly motivated people that are always willing to share knowledge with those that show an interest in learning.

As far as preparing you for the field I can tell you that in the last five years I have seen more techs become medics than RN's or MD's. I am not saying that they don't plan on continuing their climb up the ladder but going medic is a popular choice and almost everyone that has done it would agree that working as a tech is a great help when your going thru school.

 

[DrParasite]

I must have a better than average tech job when I compare it to the information you offer up. I have to ask have you ever worked as a tech or are you going on experience you gained on a clinical shift or second hand from someone who worked it in the ER?

well, you must have worked better places than anywhere in the north east. and no, I never worked as a tech, I couldn't handle the pay cut (despite the nursing director trying to convince me otherwise). but my best friend is an ER tech, and I work for a hospital, so am a little familiar with hospitals and how much each job is.

As far as pay goes you are way off and should be careful in the future about spreading information you may be unsure of or are unable to source. I don't know of any hospital that pays ER techs less than field basics. In some ER's they have CNA or PCTs that may make less but they don't do the procedures that techs with EMT training and an EMS backround do on a daily basis.

most ER techs don't need to be EMTs. they are PCTs, with a little more training to be ER techs. but again, anyone can be trained to be a ER tech, no state wide or nation wide cert is required.

btw, I just started a new job as an EMT, and am starting at $18.15. I am pretty sure most ER techs don't start out anywhere near that. But again, my information is waaaay of and I am only spreading information that I am unsure of and unable to source

 

[VentMedic]

In some ER's they have CNA or PCTs that may make less but they don't do the procedures that techs with EMT training and an EMS backround do on a daily basis.

We like to move our CNAs or PCTs to the ED if they want the job and EMT-B is not required. PCTs do phlebotomy, EKGs, vital signs on various patients and a full range of patient care as well as CPR. It takes quite a bit to get some EMTs up to speed for the fast pace of the hospital environment and the teamwork that goes with it. We know the CNAs and PCTs won't be squeamish about certain patient care aspects of the job. Some EMTs hired as ED Technicians don't make it through their orientation shift especially if they don't know what to expect in the many situations and disease processes they will see. Usually a well placed sheet during transport in an ambulance can shelter them from some realities.

btw, I just started a new job as an EMT, and am starting at $18.15. I am pretty sure most ER techs don't start out anywhere near that. But again, my information is waaaay of and I am only spreading information that I am unsure of and unable to source

It is hard to compare pay between those that work in EMS with those that work in a hospital. The ED technician working 36 hours per week may make as much as you do working 48 to 56 hours. As well, you have to calculate benefits. If you have to pay for your own insurance and only get a week's vacation, that isn't much compared to what they can get at a hospital. If one has education goals and would like it paid for, that again is a plus and an expense they may not have to worry about.

However, you are correct in that many hospitals do prefer PCTs which is a CNA with many more hours of education/skills to which an EMT doesn't come close. If the national phlebotomy cert is required, that is another 150 hours if it isn't included in the PCT program. Some PCT programs are longer than the Paramedic training in some states. CNAs and PCTs can command a very decent wage depending on where they choose to work.

 

[Level1pedstech]

well, you must have worked better places than anywhere in the north east. and no, I never worked as a tech, I couldn't handle the pay cut (despite the nursing director trying to convince me otherwise). but my best friend is an ER tech, and I work for a hospital, so am a little familiar with hospitals and how much each job is.
most ER techs don't need to be EMTs. they are PCTs, with a little more training to be ER techs. but again, anyone can be trained to be a ER tech, no state wide or nation wide cert is required.

btw, I just started a new job as an EMT, and am starting at $18.15. I am pretty sure most ER techs don't start out anywhere near that. But again, my information is waaaay of and I am only spreading information that I am unsure of and unable to source

Stellar work scoring a job working as an EMT at that rate but you have to admit that's way above average and only a very few ever will get anywhere near that rate at least as a basic. Im sure you have seen the threads about the rate of pay, if I had to pick a number I would say 10.00 per hour would be in the ball park for most EMT-B's when they start out. I hear you on the pay cut also, my teamster job is almost twice the pay per hour as my tech job. Im not in it for the money when I started five years ago I had planned on going to medic school,now its a way to keep in the game until our bonus baby starts school.

I should have been careful throwing CNA's and PCT's into our discussion,I know quite well what they can and cannot do and have never looked down on our CNA's. I have trained CNA's that come into the ER from the floors and their skill set and duties are much different. However with some training most make fine techs and they love to do the jobs people from the field are not real crazy about like linens and stocking rooms. The most common observation I hear from the ER RN's is that many CNA's don't posses the critical thinking that is required to be a successful tech at least in the peds ER. Not that all EMT's do but it seems to be a more prevalent trait in field providers especially those at the medic level or that have spent some time in a 911 system. We don't use PCT's but I know the requirements are much the same as what is required to tech in my facility. Like everything else situations differ greatly from state to state but its all good.

 

[ChicagolandIFT]

Our ER uses PCT's which can be either a CNA or a EMT-B/P. We are all on the same pay scale, and have the same job. The paramedics do it for the extra money, but their extra skills are not utilized. I started on the floors, and after being floated to the ED a few times, I was asked to be put on their call list. They are looking for hard workers who know the basics to accomplish the job at hand.

 

[Empress Leo]

Damn. This thread has been pretty helpful to me in my brand new search and curiosity in areas beyond prehospice. I'm in Los Angeles and I have NEVER heard of pay beyond $13/hr unless you go to Vegas or the east coast. $18 is AMAZING! I'm considering ER tech as I am an EMT-B now and have been for about 3 mos. My company does IFT and honestly, I'm not really interested in working in the rig anymore. There are plenty hospitals around here so I guess I should start cold-calling? I don't even have a resume at all and didn't require one when I got my job. It took nothing at all for me to get the job I have now; I was hired as soon as I got my amb driver's license from DOT so I have no idea what it's like to even have to really prepare for an interview. I was just so happy to get out of retail where my checks were <$600. And here I thought I was doing great! Oh well. The worse thing that's ever happened to me is having to tell a pt we couldn't transport because she didn't have a way to get into her residence because the team who dropped her off forgot to grab her purse with her keys in it. That sucked!

 

[sweetpete]

This line of work is one of the most fulfilling a person can find, whether in the field or in the ER (or any other part of the hospital, for that matter). I recommend trying both, field and hospital work.

Both have their ups/downs. You sound like you want to be a well balanced EMT. Which is why most (if not all) EMT schools have you do rotations on a box and in an ER.

When you get to those rotations.....HAVE FUN!!! Enjoy it!!! Ask questions, touch stuff (when you're allowed) Ask to do stuff, volunteer to do stuff!! I kept this attitude in all of my clinicals and ended being offered a couple jobs on top of making a decent "reputation" for myself and my school (and the fire department that I work for).

I love clinicals. Enjoy yours. Above all, maintain an open, respectful atmosphere between yourself and those you work/learn with. Everyone deserves respect in this field. Regardless of where you work or what you do.

Take care,
Pete

 

[OFFROADMEDIC]

This line of work is one of the most fulfilling a person can find, whether in the field or in the ER (or any other part of the hospital, for that matter). I recommend trying both, field and hospital work.

Both have their ups/downs. You sound like you want to be a well balanced EMT. Which is why most (if not all) EMT schools have you do rotations on a box and in an ER.

When you get to those rotations.....HAVE FUN!!! Enjoy it!!! Ask questions, touch stuff (when you're allowed) Ask to do stuff, volunteer to do stuff!! I kept this attitude in all of my clinicals and ended being offered a couple jobs on top of making a decent "reputation" for myself and my school (and the fire department that I work for).

I love clinicals. Enjoy yours. Above all, maintain an open, respectful atmosphere between yourself and those you work/learn with. Everyone deserves respect in this field. Regardless of where you work or what you do.

Take care,
Pete

By far the best advice I heard so far, some of the responses on here make me wonder why any of you do this job at all, the job dident choose you, you chose the job...

Life is what you make of it and if your not hapy ...move on..some people actually like doing this work!

 

[HotelCo]

...some of the responses on here make me wonder why any of you do this job at all...

It pays my bills (barely).

 

[crazycajun]

It pays my bills (barely).

So why not find another line of work?

 

[HotelCo]

So why not find another line of work?

I am. I'm doing my nursing pre-reqs.

 

[crazycajun]

I am. I'm doing my nursing pre-reqs.

Hey thats great and your option. But please don't make EMS look like a bad thing. I have made a very good living from EMS and will retire very nicely. However, I didn't choose EMS for the money so what ever the pay would have been fine with me. I love what I do.