islandmedic
Forum Probie
- 26
- 9
- 3
Let me start by saying I recently left Pacific after working there for 10 months. I will say the only reason I left was for that ever elusive 911 position that I have been dreaming about since EMT school. I cannot say a word, good or bad, about Lynch other than they seem well established and the paramedic program sounds hopeful.
Here is a brief synopsis of my time at Pacific and I hope it helps some.
-If you have no prior EMS experience, Pacific has a habit of throwing new hires on a shift at their contract hospital, Fountain Valley Regional. If you are unfamiliar with the hospital, the patient admit rooms are in a separate building and pacific is contracted to do the transports from building to building for new admits or diagnostic tests and the like. This is done in a van and requires no paperwork or vital sign monitoring. Get used to running 15-20 of these per day on a 12 hour shift. My record was 25. It can get tedious to say the least.
-Pacific also does the in-house patient transportation for Fountain Valley Regional. Meaning hospital bed and wheelchair transport from ER to X-Ray, Ultrasound, Telemetry, etc. I have heard from some new hires that in their interview this was described as an ER Tech job. Be advised. It is not. You are a transporter. Dispatched by someone 25 miles in a separate building. I don't know. Pacific does have a pretty great supervisor at Fountain Valley though.
-If you manage to land a spot on an off-campus car, as of my last day, there was about 10 BLS shifts and 4 CCT shifts.
-Dispatch is dispatch. Some days are good and some are bad. I have given up on trying to solve that rubik's cube. It does pay to be nice though. They are people too. Sometimes.
-I was lucky enough to go from Fountain Valley straight to a CCT car and it was a great experience. I learned more from my CCT nurses than from any teacher or ride along I have done. If you show the initiative and want to learn they are a great resource. I can say that while most days were full of less than exciting calls, I did get to do some fun stuff. Saw my first STEMI, bagged my first patient, drove code, blah, blah, blah. I know Lynch has a CCT program as well.
-Supervisors here were generally pleasant. Bi-polar at times but if you know how to play the game and which rules to follow you'll be fine.
-In the end, Pacific was perfect for what it was. My first EMS job. I was humbled by the 14 hour, 20 transport days and learned a plethora of information and had quite a bit of fun doing it. Were some days horrible? Sure, but that's gonna happen wherever you work.
I hope this helps and sorry for rambling. I think that was somewhat therapeutic to get that off my chest, haha. ^_^
Good Luck!!
Here is a brief synopsis of my time at Pacific and I hope it helps some.
-If you have no prior EMS experience, Pacific has a habit of throwing new hires on a shift at their contract hospital, Fountain Valley Regional. If you are unfamiliar with the hospital, the patient admit rooms are in a separate building and pacific is contracted to do the transports from building to building for new admits or diagnostic tests and the like. This is done in a van and requires no paperwork or vital sign monitoring. Get used to running 15-20 of these per day on a 12 hour shift. My record was 25. It can get tedious to say the least.
-Pacific also does the in-house patient transportation for Fountain Valley Regional. Meaning hospital bed and wheelchair transport from ER to X-Ray, Ultrasound, Telemetry, etc. I have heard from some new hires that in their interview this was described as an ER Tech job. Be advised. It is not. You are a transporter. Dispatched by someone 25 miles in a separate building. I don't know. Pacific does have a pretty great supervisor at Fountain Valley though.
-If you manage to land a spot on an off-campus car, as of my last day, there was about 10 BLS shifts and 4 CCT shifts.
-Dispatch is dispatch. Some days are good and some are bad. I have given up on trying to solve that rubik's cube. It does pay to be nice though. They are people too. Sometimes.
-I was lucky enough to go from Fountain Valley straight to a CCT car and it was a great experience. I learned more from my CCT nurses than from any teacher or ride along I have done. If you show the initiative and want to learn they are a great resource. I can say that while most days were full of less than exciting calls, I did get to do some fun stuff. Saw my first STEMI, bagged my first patient, drove code, blah, blah, blah. I know Lynch has a CCT program as well.
-Supervisors here were generally pleasant. Bi-polar at times but if you know how to play the game and which rules to follow you'll be fine.
-In the end, Pacific was perfect for what it was. My first EMS job. I was humbled by the 14 hour, 20 transport days and learned a plethora of information and had quite a bit of fun doing it. Were some days horrible? Sure, but that's gonna happen wherever you work.
I hope this helps and sorry for rambling. I think that was somewhat therapeutic to get that off my chest, haha. ^_^
Good Luck!!
