the 100% directionless thread

[Tigger]

Mixed feelings about this one...I finally joined the local BLS volunteer service as a member. Quite honestly, I have very little interest in being heavily involved and none at all in hanging around the station and playing Ricky Rescue, but I'm getting pretty tired of hearing calls go out and the local station not being able to get out for second emergencies.

I don't like sitting at home on a day off when I'm not busy and know I could easily go grab the ambulance and take this patient to the hospital, and I really don't like hearing a cardiac arrest go out with the local ambulance and medic unit already out on another call. As much as I strongly dislike modern volunteer EMS and the mentality that often goes along with it, I'm going to semi be a part of this thing for a while at least. Wish me luck all!

This is why I keep a few part time jobs around. I don't like doing nothing and I'm kind of a one trick pony when it comes to employment. I realize that given your area this may not be an option. Good for you for at least getting into the system and hopefully making some change happen from the inside.

 

[RocketMedic]

ATCEMS accepting apps...due feb 17 (?)

Never, ever, ever never. ATCEMS is built to attract the new and the desperate. Two years as a Basic before upgrading- nope.

 

[Angel]

but...youll still accrue benefits, pension ect. 2 years will go by fast, especially if all one will do is work a dead end job in the mean time.
im likely going to apply...itll suck but better than most anything CA has to offer.

 

[Akulahawk]

All I gotta say is that it's been a LONG time since I've seen a two fish face slap...

 

[RocketMedic]

but...youll still accrue benefits, pension ect. 2 years will go by fast, especially if all one will do is work a dead end job in the mean time.
im likely going to apply...itll suck but better than most anything CA has to offer.

Eh, there's better options that don't require two years of prostration.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Eh, there's better options that don't require two years of prostration.

Many better options.

 

[Chewy20]

Eh, there's better options that don't require two years of prostration.

Yeah, go all the way out to West Texas where the only thing to do is chase dirt blowing around in the wind!

Where do you work? Out of curiosity.

 

[triemal04]

Yeah, go all the way out to West Texas where the only thing to do is chase dirt blowing around in the wind!

Where do you work? Out of curiosity.

Don't bother; just remember who you're talking to and that should explain everything.

 

[RocketMedic]

Hey, you're more than welcome to work for ATCEMS, many people find it to be nigh-unbeatable and the pinnacle of medicine and the long-term benefits are pretty sweet.

Trimal04, you seem to be under the impression that being selective and finding fault with employers is a sign of elitism and arrogance; I see it as absolutely necessary. Certaintly no company or service is perfect, but I refuse to settle for agencies that do not meet my minimum standards and will not work for places that I do not agree with at least broadly.

 

[TransportJockey]

Yeah, go all the way out to West Texas where the only thing to do is chase dirt blowing around in the wind!

Where do you work? Out of curiosity.

Hey I get paid decently well to chase dirt and provide good medicine out here in west Texas

 

[teedubbyaw]

inb4 chewy defends atcems.

oh, wait.

 

[RocketMedic]

I think that the requirement to ride for years as a Basic is asinine, silly and is blatantly the sort of protectionism that a civil-service bureaucracy adopts to keep outsiders out, insiders in and promote The Way. It's not wrong, but it does illustrate quite clearly to me that ATCEMS wants a certain type of employee- one that does not often question or seek to improve (or test improvements), one who is predictable and always looks within the box for answers and who is loyal because they have invested a lot in getting to their level. If it were truly progressive, that would be one thing, but the ATCEMS system is a high-functioning normal one.

Their recruiting is designed to get the new, the extremely humble and the extreme perfectionists. That's not a bad goal, but it does mean that everyone who comes in there is trained essentially identically, presents a similar range of solutions and acts fairly similarly. Not bad from an operating perspective, but demonstrates the sort of inflexible thinking I would not thrive in. I sense several of the likes this may get feel the same.

It's somewhat of a conundrum- private services have a massive amount of potential to do great, innovative things, but are hamstrung by a broken business model and regulations that make innovation dangerous and difficult unnecessarily and an industrial culture that tends to kick innovation in the face by driving off those passionate, intelligent and motivated to innovate on a small scale (an innovative desert) while government services that have all of the protections, incentive and need in the world to innovate often sit complacently and complain about the status quo.

Me? Tired of making less than $50,000 a year, tired of diabetes-inducing street-corner posting, tired of looking for county services that try to be everything except a fire department and end up acting like Delta Force but performing like the Keystone Kops, getting tired of private EMS where quarterly profit margins are more important than employee health andsafety.

 

[Jim37F]

So I filled in the header data of the log book (two hours into shift no calls to log yet), my partner starts flipping through the last few days, chuckling at the people who accidentally wrote in "2014" and had to write in the 5 over the 4, then he starts laughing out loud at me, because I managed to write in "2013" instead. Oops

 

[SandpitMedic]

I think that the requirement to ride for years as a Basic is asinine, silly and is blatantly the sort of protectionism that a civil-service bureaucracy adopts to keep outsiders out, insiders in and promote The Way. It's not wrong, but it does illustrate quite clearly to me that ATCEMS wants a certain type of employee- one that does not often question or seek to improve (or test improvements), one who is predictable and always looks within the box for answers and who is loyal because they have invested a lot in getting to their level. If it were truly progressive, that would be one thing, but the ATCEMS system is a high-functioning normal one.

Their recruiting is designed to get the new, the extremely humble and the extreme perfectionists. That's not a bad goal, but it does mean that everyone who comes in there is trained essentially identically, presents a similar range of solutions and acts fairly similarly. Not bad from an operating perspective, but demonstrates the sort of inflexible thinking I would not thrive in. I sense several of the likes this may get feel the same.

It's somewhat of a conundrum- private services have a massive amount of potential to do great, innovative things, but are hamstrung by a broken business model and regulations that make innovation dangerous and difficult unnecessarily and an industrial culture that tends to kick innovation in the face by driving off those passionate, intelligent and motivated to innovate on a small scale (an innovative desert) while government services that have all of the protections, incentive and need in the world to innovate often sit complacently and complain about the status quo.

Me? Tired of making less than $50,000 a year, tired of diabetes-inducing street-corner posting, tired of looking for county services that try to be everything except a fire department and end up acting like Delta Force but performing like the Keystone Kops, getting tired of private EMS where quarterly profit margins are more important than employee health andsafety.

I have a new best friend....

110% what he said about the current EMS model.

 

[Chewy20]

inb4 chewy defends atcems.

oh, wait.

Just think its getting a bit ridiculous that outsiders feel the need to jump on every ATCEMS post with negative crap to say when someone is interested in applying. Every company and department has their issues, if yours doesn't then tell me where it is. ATCEMS is currently trying to fix theirs. We all know ya'll think this place is terrible, the whole forum knows.

I don't think I have bashed one other company on here, if they want to apply then why do you care? No one is forcing you to work here. (and yes I know you will say thank god for that).

This will be my last post regarding ATC. Ya'll will need to argue with someone else lol.

 

[Anjel]

Sooo much bickering.....

In other news.... I can't get the smell of burnt flesh out of my coat. Hoping the dry cleaners will do the trick.

 

[teedubbyaw]

Just think its getting a bit ridiculous that outsiders feel the need to jump on every ATCEMS post with negative crap to say when someone is interested in applying. Every company and department has their issues, if yours doesn't then tell me where it is. ATCEMS is currently trying to fix theirs. We all know ya'll think this place is terrible, the whole forum knows.

I don't think I have bashed one other company on here, if they want to apply then why do you care? No one is forcing you to work here. (and yes I know you will say thank god for that).

This will be my last post regarding ATC. Ya'll will need to argue with someone else lol.

We're just giving a warning to those gullible enough to want to work for them. And by fixing the system, do you mean they're hiring 18 year old kids straight out of EMT-B with no life experience?

 

[DesertMedic66]

We're just giving a warning to those gullible enough to want to work for them. And by fixing the system, do you mean they're hiring 18 year old kids straight out of EMT-B with no life experience?

As does the majority of companies. Nothing new about that statement

 

[teedubbyaw]

As does the majority of companies. Nothing new about that statement

Maybe private companies, but county 911 systems in Texas don't play that game often.

 

[irishboxer384]

Sooo much bickering.....

In other news.... I can't get the smell of burnt flesh out of my coat. Hoping the dry cleaners will do the trick.

you sound like a serial killer