What advice would you give to a newly certified EMT?

GreatJob said:
What are some things you know now that you wish you knew when you started working as an EMT? What did they not teach you in class that you think is important to know?
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When all else fails, take the patient to the hospital.

when you are stumped on what is going on, ask someone who is more educated and take the patient to the hospital.

ABC's are important, as long as you have those, odds are the patient isn't going to die on you, regardless of what you do. If the patient doesn't have those, you got to fix them or else the patient is going to die.

There are some times when you can't do anything for a patient, except take them to the hospital.

If they meet you at the curb, odds are you don't need to spend 20 minutes on scene assessing them, it can all be done enroute to the hospital.

your EMT training was the beginning of your education, not the end. Take good CEU classes, hard classes, classes that you actually learn stuff in and have to pay attention to pass. And don't just take them in your agency, go elsewhere to see what others do.

Network, network, network!!! make friends in other agencies, towns and counties.

The grass is might look greener on the other side of the fence, but it isn't always. Sometimes change is good, but don't be surprised if once you get a new job you find it isn't as good as your old job.

Transporting with lights and sirens is usually not needed, especially with a stable patient. Esp when you use L&S with the stable patient, and you T-bone the busload of nuns, and have to justify your actions.

do not date anyone at your agency. it rarely ends well.

you won't save many lives, but you can make a difference, even if it just being nice to someone who needs help.

Slow down, most calls aren't worth getting yourself hurt over, especially if you are rushing to a scene. That being said, if I'm treating the patient and I say "get me to the ER, I got a patient who is circling the drain and I can't stop it," get us there are quick as you can, but please don't kill us in the process. And please tell the ER you are coming, so they can have a bed waiting for us when we arrive.
 
There will be a time when you will freeze when you get to a patient, try to calm down and retrace you thought of mind. It happens to a lot of us.
 
Do not install lights in your car.

Do not make a "jump bag" for the sole reason of looking for an excuse to use it.

Do not follow ambulances to calls, then announce your credentials to everyone; expecting to receive a standing ovation for your assistance.

Never do anything for recognition.

Show work ethic and discipline in even the small aspects of your job--- checklists, cleanliness, care and appearence of your uniform. Superiors rate you on Consistency, not a few stellar performances.
 
Doczilla said:
Do not install lights in your car.

Do not make a "jump bag" for the sole reason of looking for an excuse to use it.

Do not follow ambulances to calls, then announce your credentials to everyone; expecting to receive a standing ovation for your assistance.

Never do anything for recognition.

Show work ethic and discipline in even the small aspects of your job--- checklists, cleanliness, care and appearence of your uniform. Superiors rate you on Consistency, not a few stellar performances.
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I wasn't planning on putting lights in my car but I'm curious why you mentioned that.

All pretty sound advice though I'd say
 
eprex said:
I wasn't planning on putting lights in my car but I'm curious why you mentioned that.

All pretty sound advice though I'd say
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Two words, Ricky Rescue... :D
 
I'm not sure if this has been covered, mainly because I only ready page 2. But, don't be a tool bag. Otherwise have fun and learn all that you can!
 
Only reading page two is toolbaggish.

Jut sayin'

But yeah, don't be a tool bag was mentioned.
 
You've heard pretty good advice already. Learn more though. Ask your partner questions. Ask the nurses questions. Also learn how to take criticism. You'll have a partner, a nurse, or a doc. who's more than willing to point out mistakes. Don't take it personally. Learn from it. When you screw up document it. DO NOT TRY TO HIDE IT. And remember, sometimes the doc, or the nurse, or the partner is having a bad day.
 
As a new cert I'm interested in how to find a job right now. I love all the advice and plan to take the lights out of my car tonight.
 
Well, volunteering is a great way to get experience. Otherwise it's just like getting any other job. Put an application in. And, fyi you should check your local and/or state laws about having lights in your POV. Where I live volunteers are allowed to have lights in their cars but can only use them with sirens on the way to a cardiac event or structure fire.
 
I was kidding about the lights. I don't think anyone would take a medical honda seriously anyway.

Thanks for the advice about the volunteering I'll try that while sending out resumes.
 
use your base hospital!! if you and your partner dont know its better to ask base for advise dont think of it as a pride thing think of it in a patient care aspect. radios are there for a reason
 
supermoto69 said:
use your base hospital!! if you and your partner dont know its better to ask base for advise dont think of it as a pride thing think of it in a patient care aspect. radios are there for a reason
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Not trying to pick a fight but at the BLS level what exactly are you contacting a base physician for? I'm truly curious, we don't use BLS providers in my system at all.
 
NVRob said:
Not trying to pick a fight but at the BLS level what exactly are you contacting a base physician for? I'm truly curious, we don't use BLS providers in my system at all.
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We have a "high-risk refusal policy" that mandates that medical control be contacted for a refusal if the patient is:
  • Any patient under the age of 18 (where parental consent has not been obtained) or over the age of 70.
  • Any patient who is a type 2 diabetic (taking oral medications for control of their diabetic condition) who is having a condition that may be diabetes related.
  • Any patient who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
  • Any patient with a head injury or altered mental status.
  • Any patient who has attempted suicide or has verbalized intent to harm themselves or others.
  • Any patient who was administered medications or reversal agents prior to or in the presence of the EMS personnel.
  • Any patient whom the providers feel has a potentially serious medical condition that is in need of further medical attention yet refuses care (medical control may be able to help persuade the patient).

We are also supposed to call med control to administer repeat dosing of the patient's own NTG and if using activated charcoal.
 
NVRob said:
Not trying to pick a fight but at the BLS level what exactly are you contacting a base physician for? I'm truly curious, we don't use BLS providers in my system at all.
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In san diego emts cannot do a lot and my bls company has contracts with many SNFs who like to call us for emergent calls so if there is something that looks too advanced for me or there is something out of my scope that can be done to help the patient ill contact base hospital to see what they need me to do that way if something happens it helps cover me and it can potentially help the patient if I upgrade to als
 
NVRob said:
Not trying to pick a fight but at the BLS level what exactly are you contacting a base physician for? I'm truly curious, we don't use BLS providers in my system at all.
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I didn't mean a physician all the time either the MICNs can tell us to upgrade or drive code or we can handle it till we get to the hospital
 
Wait a second… You can contact the base hospital to see if there is "something out of your scope" that you can do to help the patient? Are you serious?

I would think the best thing you could do to help the patient would be to get a paramedic en route. And the best thing you could do to help yourself would be, not perform any skills outside your scope.

I understand contacting medical control for high-risk refusals. We have to do it too, simply as a CYA move. I've always been curious as to what's going to happen when the refusal doesn't go as planned. The guy who's had two or three drinks, sitting at home, doesn't want to go to the hospital… I call medical control and the doc says, "no way, bring him in." Yeah okay Doc. He doesn't want to go, he's at his house, he's not hurting anybody… I know you don't want to let them refuse but, sorry.

Anyway… I can see a paramedic calling for medical control when there is some question of performing something that might be off the page… But for BLS? If it's a BLS call, put them 'em the ambulance and drive 'em to the hospital. If it's not a BLS call, call a paramedic.
 
NVRob said:
Not trying to pick a fight but at the BLS level what exactly are you contacting a base physician for? I'm truly curious, we don't use BLS providers in my system at all.
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At the BLS we need to contact Medical Control if we are to give NTG, ASA, or MDI's. We also need to call them if we have a high risk refusal or if we have questions concerning treatment.

If Basics in WA have IV Therapy endorsement, then they will need to obtain MPD authorization prior to administering drugs (ALS should be enroute)
 
n7lxi said:
I understand contacting medical control for high-risk refusals. We have to do it too, simply as a CYA move. I've always been curious as to what's going to happen when the refusal doesn't go as planned. The guy who's had two or three drinks, sitting at home, doesn't want to go to the hospital… I call medical control and the doc says, "no way, bring him in." Yeah okay Doc. He doesn't want to go, he's at his house, he's not hurting anybody… I know you don't want to let them refuse but, sorry.
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...and that's why I disagree with contacting medical control for refusals unless you think that the physician can talk the patient into going because, well... "the doctor said so."

Anyway… I can see a paramedic calling for medical control when there is some question of performing something that might be off the page… But for BLS? If it's a BLS call, put them 'em the ambulance and drive 'em to the hospital. If it's not a BLS call, call a paramedic.
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I can see the need for med control for some funky DNR situations.
 
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