What to Expect

[Csybilly2003]

Hi everyone. I am a newly certified EMT-B and i am currently looking for jobs here in So. Cal. I have done some ride alongs but did not really experience much. So i was just curious about what to expect. I know it differs from day to day but just a general expectations. Thank you all.

 

[Shishkabob]

Happiness, sadness , life and death, blood and guts, anxiety and calm, sleepieness and insomnia.

 

[Wyoming Medic]

Linuss kinda summed it up but I will see what I can add from my experience on the bus.

First of all it will be BORING for most of the time. You really will understand the often overused phrase "hours of boredom followed by minutes of terror". You will get to go to nursing home after nursing home because of impacted bowel or P-tube replacement. You will sit in the ambulance and stare at the ceiling while some little old lady continually scream HELP ME!!! over and over again for no reason.

You will get to be there when you are scared. You will walk through the door of a house while all of the occupants stare at you to "fix" their loved one. You will have to be the one to tell them that there is nothing you can do and that their loved one has passed.

You will get to know all of the urban outdoorsmen (read HOMELESS) in your area. You will know them by both name and odor. You will know when and why they will call and what kind of problem it will be. You will get cross and short with them but you will realize that they just want to be noticed.

You will have nightmares about the ones that did not turn out OK. If you are like me you may get shot, stabbed, broken and beat. You will sit on a carelessly left needle that your partner did not put in the sharps container then you will have to go through months of exposure testing. This will prevent you from donating blood or plasma for a few months.

You will be underpaid and under appreciated, bosses will not know your name. You will laugh and cry. You will walk out at at least one time in your career but you will be back on the next day.

But most importantly you will LOVE IT!!!!! You will crave it. You will feel so good knowing that you played a major part in somebody living or dying. The first time you hold a newborn that you delivered, the first time that you get a perfusing rhythm back, the first time that you put a band aid onto the knee of a small child that has crashed, YOU WILL LOVE IT.

Just remember to leave work at work and home at home. Wash your hands after every call and wear your safety glasses. Carry a good flashlight and don't ever turn to booze or drugs. If you can do that YOU WILL LOVE IT!!

Wy medic

Did I mention YOU WILL LOVE IT!!! ????

 

[Shishkabob]

I like yours better, mine is like the cliffsnotes version.

 

[pumper12fireman]

Along the same lines of what wyoming medic said..

In the year that I've had my basic license I have-

Been kicked in the junk 4x
Been puked on
Helped a few old ladies feel better by just holding their hand when they asked
Seen death
Seen a baby take it's first breath
Got yelled at many, many times
Breathed for a woman/man that couldn't
Seen how our actions really do make a difference
Seen something as single as oxygen bring a person back
Been scared to death
Been bored to death

There's many more, but I'm sure you get the idea.

I have loved every minute of it and I wouldn't change a single thing. I was even crazy enough to start paramedic school. Good luck to you.

 

[EMTCop86]

Hi everyone. I am a newly certified EMT-B and i am currently looking for jobs here in So. Cal. I have done some ride alongs but did not really experience much. So i was just curious about what to expect. I know it differs from day to day but just a general expectations. Thank you all.

HA good luck looking for jobs around here, no one is hiring EMT-Bs right now...

 

[EMTCop86]

Along the same lines of what wyoming medic said..

In the year that I've had my basic license I have-

Been kicked in the junk 4x

On the 5th time are you gonna start wearing a cup? j/k lol

 

[Sasha]

The unexpected.

 

[karaya]

Been kicked in the junk 4x

Quit asking your patients out on a date.

 

[sir.shocksalot]

raisin runs (old lady fall down go boom), hostage rescues (urgent care clinic calls, and nursing home calls), prescription refills, drug seekers, attention seekers, urban outdoorsmen and most importantly REAL emergencies (very rare). You will either love or hate your job. Management will most likely suck, some of your coworkers will be real downers, some will be amazing. You will make good friends, have good times trying to find something entertaining to do while posted in the slowest part of town. If you work for a system like mine you will quickly tire of transfers that are only happening because someones insurance said so. Just keep in mind everyone remembers an ambulance ride, try to make it the best experience possible for every patient.

 

[pumper12fireman]

Quit asking your patients out on a date.

Haha, that's what my problem is..I'll have to remember that...

 

[medic417]

Long hours. Lack of sleep. Exposure to all sorts of illnesses. Low wages. Ungrateful people. And thats the good points.

 

[daedalus]

Not to ruin all the excitement, but as a southern california EMT, you can expect to work at a private ambulance company that goes to the hospital and brings patients back home when they could have taken a taxi, and than medicare gets billed for the expensive and needless ambulance ride, which further bankrupts the system.

You will be doing discharges. Bringing people back to their nursing home after they were hospitalized for UTI and sepsis.

The fire departments own EMS and have a death grip on it to justify their existence. But do not let this get you down. Its a tuff world for an EMT in socal, but stick with it and get your hours for paramedic school. I survived and so can you.

 

[EMTCop86]

Not to ruin all the excitement, but as a southern california EMT, you can expect to work at a private ambulance company that goes to the hospital and brings patients back home when they could have taken a taxi, and than medicare gets billed for the expensive and needless ambulance ride, which further bankrupts the system.

You will be doing discharges. Bringing people back to their nursing home after they were hospitalized for UTI and sepsis.

The fire departments own EMS and have a death grip on it to justify their existence. But do not let this get you down. Its a tuff world for an EMT in socal, but stick with it and get your hours for paramedic school. I survived and so can you.

AMR is a 911 rig that covers a lot of SB CO. and Riv CO. Problem is they aren't hiring any EMTs at all right now. But yea your right if you can't get on with AMR you are pretty much stuck doing IFTs with another private ambulance or forced to get on with the fire dept.

 

[daedalus]

AMR is a 911 rig that covers a lot of SB CO. and Riv CO. Problem is they aren't hiring any EMTs at all right now. But yea your right if you can't get on with AMR you are pretty much stuck doing IFTs with another private ambulance or forced to get on with the fire dept.

I worked in AMR LA County. Not to bad, but remember you have no say in patient care. The fire medics treated me worse than in any other job I have ever had. He were instructed to wait out of view on the calls as not to embarrass them. When they were done with their treatments on scene, they asked the ambulance drivers to come in with the gurney, which was us. It was degrading. Than again, we were able to respond to emergencies, and that in itself makes it better than the 100 + other companies out there doing BLS discharges.

 

[rhan101277]

Where I work at EMT basic is either put on a BLS truck with a driver. You do all the patient care, off course they are almost always IFT's. I don't mind this is what I wanted to do. You switch around to, EMT basics also drive ambulance for the ALS trucks, so you get to do patient care then and assist paramedic with whatever.

 

[Shishkabob]

The unexpected.

You can't expect the unexpected, because once you expect it, it's no longer unexpected.

 

[EMTCop86]

I worked in AMR LA County. Not to bad, but remember you have no say in patient care. The fire medics treated me worse than in any other job I have ever had. He were instructed to wait out of view on the calls as not to embarrass them. When they were done with their treatments on scene, they asked the ambulance drivers to come in with the gurney, which was us. It was degrading. Than again, we were able to respond to emergencies, and that in itself makes it better than the 100 + other companies out there doing BLS discharges.

Yea I understand what you are saying but Riverside and San Bernardino county AMR is a lot different then LA County. At least in Riverside anyway AMR is treated with a lot more respect. When I was with the FD we basically catered to them, whatever they needed we helped out.