What was it like your first day as an EMT?
- Thread starter Cody1911
- Start date
I remember well....
It was not that long ago.... 5 or 6 years....
I had been driving, and was a FF already.... On Saturday, my practical’s were finished... Monday I submitted for a date... Wednesday Took the Exam... The following Monday I got my license...."
I was AT THE MAILBOX admiring (The envelope) my new license came in when a tone came in for EMS coverage at a fire scene in a neighboring town. No patient was presented, but it was my first call....
I returned to the station to get toned for a 14 y/o female having a syncope episode. No ALS available in town or en route, so I just made sure she had an airway, checked her BG, vitals and transported... she came around....
That night, got a call for a guy who had the lower portion of his leg ripped off in a motorcycle accident? By then another basic was available to work with me.
LOL - I got my license (And subsequently my Intermediate, and I am now enrolled in a 2 year paramedicine degree program) because my town needs coverage. That day was a perfect example.
At the end of the night, while putting everything away I finally got the chance to take my license out of the envelope
I remember the calls so well because part of applying for the medic program is to show documentation of calls as the primary provider.
It was not that long ago.... 5 or 6 years....
I had been driving, and was a FF already.... On Saturday, my practical’s were finished... Monday I submitted for a date... Wednesday Took the Exam... The following Monday I got my license...."
I was AT THE MAILBOX admiring (The envelope) my new license came in when a tone came in for EMS coverage at a fire scene in a neighboring town. No patient was presented, but it was my first call....
I returned to the station to get toned for a 14 y/o female having a syncope episode. No ALS available in town or en route, so I just made sure she had an airway, checked her BG, vitals and transported... she came around....
That night, got a call for a guy who had the lower portion of his leg ripped off in a motorcycle accident? By then another basic was available to work with me.
LOL - I got my license (And subsequently my Intermediate, and I am now enrolled in a 2 year paramedicine degree program) because my town needs coverage. That day was a perfect example.
At the end of the night, while putting everything away I finally got the chance to take my license out of the envelope
I remember the calls so well because part of applying for the medic program is to show documentation of calls as the primary provider.
My first day was as follows:
I was working abroad because I wanted to get out of the US for a while. I got a job within a week of looking and after spending about 1 hour getting to know my new coworkers we got a call of a female in respiratory arrest....btw, I was on an ALS ambulance....its a long story, but the employer thought I was a paramedic, I didnt know that my employer thought this....different country, and well, where I was they dont even use EMT Bs, everyone is at minimum EMT-I but mostly at a parmedic level since there most basic school is 18 months long! with 10-14 months of clinicals, class was sunday-sunday in most places.
I was nervous! Going code 3 to a resp arrest call with no experience. Turned out to be a case of DKA. Since I was an EMT B I performed EMT B skills, which as you can guess, were not enough for this patient and my coworkers were irked...(they too thought I was a paramedic and were wondering why I wasnt asking them to prepare the ET tube etc...). They quickly realized that I was new to this, but were awesome people and were great teachers.
I was stressed but did what I was taught to do....my coworkers intubated, I got the patient on the monitor, took vitals...
oh yeah, since I was a lowsy EMT B taught in a lowsy EMT B school I didnt even know how to take a blood glucose....my coworkers were irked.
Patient was transported, I was humbled as I realized that being an EMT B wasnt NOT going to help me here. I told my boss about this confusion of me being a parmedic, they were surprised to find out that EMTbs are not ready to handle ALS calls etc etc, but they were very supportive and didnt fire me, but got me into classes right away. Then I spent every week in EMT-I/ EMT P level classes and worked on the weekends.
Needless to say my first day was tought but I have come a long way in the last 3 years
I was working abroad because I wanted to get out of the US for a while. I got a job within a week of looking and after spending about 1 hour getting to know my new coworkers we got a call of a female in respiratory arrest....btw, I was on an ALS ambulance....its a long story, but the employer thought I was a paramedic, I didnt know that my employer thought this....different country, and well, where I was they dont even use EMT Bs, everyone is at minimum EMT-I but mostly at a parmedic level since there most basic school is 18 months long! with 10-14 months of clinicals, class was sunday-sunday in most places.
I was nervous! Going code 3 to a resp arrest call with no experience. Turned out to be a case of DKA. Since I was an EMT B I performed EMT B skills, which as you can guess, were not enough for this patient and my coworkers were irked...(they too thought I was a paramedic and were wondering why I wasnt asking them to prepare the ET tube etc...). They quickly realized that I was new to this, but were awesome people and were great teachers.
I was stressed but did what I was taught to do....my coworkers intubated, I got the patient on the monitor, took vitals...
oh yeah, since I was a lowsy EMT B taught in a lowsy EMT B school I didnt even know how to take a blood glucose....my coworkers were irked.
Patient was transported, I was humbled as I realized that being an EMT B wasnt NOT going to help me here. I told my boss about this confusion of me being a parmedic, they were surprised to find out that EMTbs are not ready to handle ALS calls etc etc, but they were very supportive and didnt fire me, but got me into classes right away. Then I spent every week in EMT-I/ EMT P level classes and worked on the weekends.
Needless to say my first day was tought but I have come a long way in the last 3 years
WuLabsWuTecH
Forum Deputy Chief
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My first day, I sat around the station and did training. Not a single run at a station that averaged about 9 runs a day at that point in time. It's how I got my "wheel chock" card!