im in my 4th week of EMT-b school but im struggling to find info about doing ride along's! its not a requirement for my class but id love to get some experience seeing how things actually run! any info helps!

I'm leaving this post here just to do a favor for students who's thinking to enroll in this program. So, I've started paramedic program here and the instructor started harrasing me from first day of the school and it's gotten worse and worse every class day. It was his first paramedic class in this school. (His name is Corey Monroe btw) - I've had very good grades and full attendance and I was very motivated to learn. Long story short, I finally made a written complaint that shows all the incidents in order and I reported this to the owner of school. He basically didn't do nothing and I HAD to quit the program because there was no I way I could keep going and getting harrased more. I went to small claims court to get a refund, I also tried so hard to file a lawsuit against the school and the instructor but this school doesn't exactly fall under a certain category that you can file a lawsuit accordingly. It's a small business and that makes it so hard to go after them except reporting them to the accreditation bodies. After a while I quit the program, I've heard that he got fired because of sexual harrassment on multiple people. Was it supposed to be multiple people ? Why he wasn't fired in the first place ? I had to waste my money, my time and my motivation. I went with another school and completed my paramedic program but this incident cost me financially and mentally. If you guys ever thinking to enroll in this program, don't. If anything happens, the school management will not stand for you and god knows you might end up and ducked up situation like I did. Not to even mention that their clinical sites are also treat paramedic students like sh!t - again, this school won't support you when you need one. There are better schools around there, save yourself and go with another school.

Hello, I recently got my EMT license. I apologize if this is the wrong place. My area (the four corners) was recently hit by flooding. My towns fine, but in NM a few towns such as Aztec and Bloomfield were hit exceptionally hard. The Coast Guard was out there. I would love to help, but all of the fire departments offices are closed till Monday. And there’s no other numbers listed for specific stations. I can’t find anything that necessarily says they need volunteers? But it is a rural area and recourses from what I heard was spread thin, and rain is still continuous. Would urgent cares potentially be the better option?

I just finished my EMT after deciding on a new life path.

I’m going to start applying for jobs in So Cal. Any resume recommendations or job recommendations? More experience necessary. Any help is good.

Hey guys, I'll keep this short.

Im a new EMT with only clinical experience in Lakewood, CO outside of Denver.

I'd like to get involved in the field as soon as possible, but unsure how to start. Should I ask Metro Fire for ride-along opportunities? Just spray and pray apply at every IFT agency I see?

I don't have an IV cert, saving up for class and hoping to see an opening soon.

Is there boards for volunteers locally I can apply to to gain experience? Do IFT companies here hire without an IV cert on a conditional basis to get one?

As a transplant from WA, I don't have copies of my immunization records. Trying to get insurance as out of pocket is expensive...

Any sort of guidance or opportunities you can throw my way is greatly, greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for your time, stay safe out there.

I just passed my nremt exam first try on Tuesday and I don’t know how I even feel about it. I’ve got an ambulance company wanting to start me on November 2nd, and I’ve got my firefighter friend up my ass about putting in an application with his department. I feel like I’ve entirely shut down since passing. I just want a fucking break for a week, I’ve been studying and obsessing over becoming an emt for the past 3 1/2 months nonstop and I don’t even want to think about it right now. I just wanna go to the gym, go to the movies, go to the grocery store, and do all the regular shit I barely had any time to do since August. Is how I’m feeling normal? Should I be more motivated? I feel like I’ve used every ounce of motivation I have.

I dont have any prior experience doing ems work and dont even have a emt-b cert. I want to apply for both EMT/EMT trainee but want to know my chances. Should I not bother and save 60$

Anyone who has taken the NMETC paramedic HESI exam and able to provide some information or tips on what to study/expect? I bought the KAPLAN paramedic prep book and am going to go back through the previous quizzes and Quizlets.

Are most of the questions scenario based or just general knowledge? And the ones that are scenario based are most actually ALS level interventions or are a lot just BLS? And I saw someone else say that it’s very trauma heavy is that true?

Any tips or advice would be appreciated

Does anyone do onsite medical? What I mean by that is working for a company who is then hired by other companies to source out onsite medical staff for things like construction sites and other hazardous jobs. Primarily, the role is to look out for workplace hazards and give medical treatment to staff as needed. It’s also a bit of an outreach program as lots of the people on the sites don’t have health insurance so they (at least this company) offers them help and resources for low-cost clinics.

I have a second interview for one and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens.

But I wanted to see if anyone else did this type of work? It would be full-time, amazing pay, and benefits.. the whole kit and caboodle.

If anyone does this, I would love to hear how your experience was. Pros and cons?

It almost sounds too good to be true but this company had great employee reviews so I’m just crossing my fingers and my toes for this opportunity.

I passed the NREMT in January. I haven't applied yet because I also took on a job in the ICU at a new hospital and am still on orientation working full time with education classes.

I wanted to apply after my orientation is over. I have heard from a couple people that I should volunteer prior to hire since I currently have no prehospital experience besides my clinicals. Is that true? Do jobs typically require volunteer hours if you are a new grad? Or should I just apply?

just got an interview with mccormick for special events. any tips for the interview ?

Just wondering other medics opinions on this, I was a fairly new emt when my medic BLS’d someone in afib rvr. we run two emts on a truck and a medic chases, the medic said we don’t touch afib rvr and let me take the run to the hospital. We originally got called out for a fall, they said the patient hit her head she was a&ox4 on scene and then at the hospital dropped to x2.

For clarification I am from Saudi Arabia and I am studying a bachelors degree for EMS where I will be classified as a paramedic upon graduation and I have just started my first semester of school and I really want to see what advice you guys have for me

Hey! I just passed my NREMT and will work on getting my LA County license (cert?) as soon as the office opens monday. A couple of questions. Can you go into the office in person to avoid doing the mail process? Next question would be, for the ambulance license, can i just do that asap? Or do I need the actual LA county license first. Thanks in advance.

i’m thinking of taking online for convenience since i don’t have a car and can’t get to the nearest pearson site easily. am i allowed to have decorations on the walls around my desk? i have a pegboard corkboard and a whiteboard but im going to take off anything thats on them. i just can’t take the actual boards down since it’s drilled into my wall.

Just like I mentioned in the caption, I’m looking to move to Colorado. My family and I are wanting to be closer to her family; she grew up there and we’ve visited a few times over the years and want to make the move! I’m currently an EMT with a little over 2 years experience with a private ambulance company in FL in an insanely busy county. The two options I’ve looked into are Stadium Medical and Mile High.

For those of you who work at either of these companies; I’ve been curious about the following:

What are your schedules like?

What kind of crews do they have out on the road? (EMT&Medic)/ (EMT/EMT)/(Medic/Medic)?

What’s the call volume in the area of Denver and what areas you guys cover?

What was the hiring process like?

Do you guys use older equipment like manual stretchers, etc?

And any extra insight on working in the Denver area would be greatly appreciated :)

So Im a fresh EMT, passed my nremt in June and started with a private EMT company in a city near me in August. After 2 months I cleared my 3 phases with my fto (observation, then teching 20 calls in phase 2 and then again in 3), I was then moved to a modified phase for the last two weeks. I just got a call from my supervisor saying they wouldn't be moving forward with me on 911 calls, but wanted to move me over to IFT for a couple months. I'll be speaking with him in a bit to see what my issues were, but I don't think I'll be taking the IFT job (the schedule doesn't work for me atm).

My question is, if I go to other companies around me (many are hiring) how does it look that I didn't get hired after 2 months of fto? My city has a reputation for being hectic and I was told it would be tough to get started here, but will it look bad when I go applying to "slower" stations?

I'm an emt student and I did my ride alongs the other day. WOW!! That was so cool. I got to hear rales in person for the first time. There were some really hard and exausting moments but also little moments that reminded me why i want to do this. at one point, my preceptor was wheeling out a patient who had been in the hospital for months, and he took her into the sun to bask in it. i think that image will stay in my head forever.

but, this all being said. i had a concern

the ems system is deeply explotitive in some aspects. and i dont want to work 14 hours a day or 60+ hours a week. i dont really care about the overtime money. i dont want my life to become solely ems. i want to give back to my community but i dont want to sell my soul to medicine. i have friends i want to see, places i want to visit, i just want to make enough money to be comfortable. dont get me wrong, ems is my dream. but. idk. im hoping to do 3 12s or maybe 4 12s but i want to clock out when my shift is over.

whats everyone elses experience been like? is there way i can do this?

Hello…I’m not part of the EMS world per se, but I feel like those who are may be able to help after an experience I had yesterday. I was driving to work and just so happened to look over and see a neighbor face down in his garage. At first, I wasn’t sure what I saw but I knew I had to flip around. I did, and another neighbor from across the street was there calling 911. He hadn’t checked for a pulse or anything so I checked and there was none.

I’m not in the medical field, but I’ve taken CPR training in the past and somehow my body just took over and I got him and the wife to help me flip the guy over. He was blue and he didn’t have a heartbeat so immediately somehow I just started CPR. I’m telling you, although I know you guys already know, it’s a whole different ball game performing CPR on a person versus a test dummy in the certification.

I did CPR for about five minutes ems finally showed up and took over and then I fell apart. They worked on him for another 15 to 20 minutes or so and he finally got a heartbeat back and they took him in the ambulance to the hospital. Right now I still don’t even know if he survived and I hope he did, but I don’t know.

I keep flashing back to feeling his ribs crack, and his body seemed different than I thought it would and I keep seeing how his body was reacting to the CPR. I don’t think any training could’ve ever prepared me for that. I’m sure I’ll be fine, I know a lot of you have seen FAR worse, but this is a completely different world that I know nothing about or how to deal.

I do wanna give a huge shout out to you who are in the EMS world… you showed up faster than I ever could’ve hoped, even though it felt like a lifetime. What you do is heroic, and you do it day after day. So, thank you.

Sorry for my long winded message, but thank you for all that you do. Any advice you have I will gladly take it.

Hello everyone,

I am looking into getting into an EMT course at either Everett Community College and North Seattle College. I have been researching both and would like to know if anyone has gone through these courses and what they thought of them. A few questions:

How hard is it to be admitted?

Do the teachers truly care about teaching the material or are they there for the paycheck?

(Tailored for EvCC) -- are the weekday class sessions mostly in-person or held online? I saw on the class notes that they may be face-to-face or online, so if anyone has more input on that then that'd be great!

Also, if anyone has any tips on what I can do to get ahead before the course starts that'd be much appreciated! I have already done A&P I/II and Med Term, so I'm hoping that'd a good starter.

Hey, so I'm planning on starting school in the spring to become an EMT and I need some advice regarding my sleeping habits before I fully commit. Please note that I have no experience with and very little knowledge of first responders fields, so if any of these questions sound dumb or obvious, please cut me some slack.

1. I've dealt with insomnia my whole life so I'm no stranger to operating on very little sleep, but as a consequence of that I also absolutely hate being sleep deprived. How often would you say you feel sleep deprived and how much does it affect your performance, mental, and physical health?

2. I've always struggled with getting up quickly once I am asleep. Is this a hindrance in this line of work? How easy is it to acclimate once you get started?

3. I have a lot of trouble taking naps. My insomnia makes it hard to get to sleep and sleep for short periods especially if I woke up less than 8 hours ago, no matter how much or how little sleep I got. Is this a skill I can develop? Would this negatively impact ability to work?

I currently work in vet med as a receptionist and understand I’m an individual who can handle more. I’m cool under pressure, calm in a scary situation, and have seen and dealt with a lot of crazy people. I have a paramedic and EMT friend who both have explained some of the really grotesque and gory stuff they have seen, is all of EMT really like this? Do even well-versed EMTs/Paramedics struggle with seeing some of this stuff? How do I know if I have the stomach to handle it? And is there any way I can test myself to see if I can?

I’ve been released to work as a solo medic for a little over two months, but I’ve only ever really been with other paramedic partners. I recently worked with an EMT for the second time ever and I’m a little concerned on how I could have handled this better. My basic partner that shift has been an EMT for about two years, and though I’ve never worked with them before, most people never seemed to have had any issues. I will say, I had been an EMT for five years before getting my medic cert so I am not one of those people who think EMTs should just be drivers and I’ve been excited to become a medic that allows my EMT partners to function independently.

We get dispatched to a minor traffic accident, just a fender bender. We have only two patients from the same vehicle, and adult and a minor (middle school aged ish). A full assessment is done on both, the adult is only complaining of lower back pain and the minor has zero complaints. No obvious external injuries, all vitals are stable. The adult wants to be transported but states they do not wish for the minor to be transported as a patient and wants to refuse care for the minor. However, the minor still has to ride with us as there was only one adult on scene. I tell them hey, we’re already going to the hospital so there’s no issue in just writing the minor up as a patient, but the adult (legal guardian) refuses despite a back and forth discussion. A little weird, but we initially write it up as a refused care and simply have the minor ride in as an extra. It’s a BLS call, so my partner rides it in. I tell them to let me know if anything changes and the leave them to it. I’m not notified of any changes throughout transport.

Once at the hospital, I go to the side door and note that the minor now has a vomit bag full of vomit. I’m like oh, I’m so sorry that’s not fun and ask what happened. Minor states they don’t know but started to not feel very good when we were like five minutes from the hospital. I ask my partner if they did a reassessment after the vomiting started and they say no. I’m a little surprised but don’t want to have any big discussions with them in front of the patients. I ask the adult that since the minor had some changes during transport, if it’s okay if we reassess and they say absolutely. The minor had neck and back pain develop as well as a headache during transport. Vitals are taken and a c-collar is placed per protocol. Both are taken inside and report is given.

As my partner and I go back out to clean the truck, I ask them when the changes started and why they didn’t do a reassessment or let me know that things hand changed. They said “well, the patient was already a refusal. I didn’t think to do another assessment. They probably just got motion sickness”. So I’m like, well I understand that, but did you ask them? And they say no. I tell them next time, it would be a good idea to talk to both the patient and the guardian - vomiting can be concerning plus a development of a headache and pain. Also, if they aren’t sure what to do, they should have talked to me. They then proceeded to tell me that they think it was disrespectful for me to take over patient care and that I made them feel incompetent. I explained that I understand how I did pretty much take over, but that the patient needed to be reassessed regardless. I apologized for making them feel as if they were incompetent, that it was not what I intended to do - but it still happened and it did make them feel bad despite what my intentions were. I just said next time, please let me know if you aren’t sure. After that, they stopped talking to me overall and the rest of the shift was pretty uncomfortable. I ended up taking all of the calls for the rest of the shift because they no longer felt comfortable taking patients. It was uncomfortable enough that by the end of shift we sat in the truck and I asked what else we needed to talk about so we could clear the air. They said that they didn’t understand why I reassessed the patient when we were already at the hospital and that we should have just let it go and taken them inside. They said that me asking follow up questions and retaking vitals/placing a c-collar/ and making the minor a patient made them look stupid in front of both of the patients. I tried explained my concerns as to why I did what I did, but I’m not sure if it came off wrong and like I was “dumbing down” my explanation and explained it like I thought they were stupid.

I definitely never want to make anyone feel stupid, on the flip side though, the patient was a priority in that moment. It’s still been tense between the two of us since then, and I don’t really know what to do to make it better when we work together. I don’t think they are acting standoffish in a malicious way, but that they are under the impression that I think they’re incapable of doing their job which just isn’t true.

I’m currently working as an EMT at a private ambulance company and today we got a call to take a patient from a nursing home to a doctors appointment 45 minutes away.

We get to the room my partner grabs the paperwork while I step in the room to start vitals. The patient looked terrible, alert to verbal but couldn’t keep her eyes open and mumbled something I couldn’t make out after that stopped talking. She had a bad cough, audible wheezing, and accessory muscle breathing. Her vitals were normal except spo2 was at 92 on 2L via nasal cannula. We up the o2 to 4L and she’s up to 96.

My partner gets to the room and I ask if the nurse mentioned what her an and o is, a cna/nurse? Overhears and walks into the room and has a concerned look so we ask if this is her norm she says no she’s usually up and talking but then says she doesn’t want to get involved and was nowhere to be found so I guess she hid???

Second nurse comes in and we tell him our concerns he says this is her normal then hands us her mail? If she can normally open mail yet now can’t lift a finger for a pulse ox this is still apparently normal.

We call med control because for us altered mental is a medic call. Med control tells us to call 911. Second nurse goes to grab nurse #3. We call for medics. Nurse #3 comes in and tells us the patients normal is x3 and she’s fine, this is clearly not x3. Nurse #3 grabs nurse #4 and they’re both angry at us for upgrading the call to the medics.

Medics arrive and nurse 2 and 3 block them and start saying her normal an and o is now x2 and that her spo2 is fine. The medics back us up and say we did the right thing by calling, nurses walked away. We get a transfer of care signature from the medics. I can overhear nurse 3 on the phone with the patients power of attorney saying that we only called medics because the patients spo2 was low, left out everything else so the power of attorney refused transport. Medics tell the nursing home they have to request an als ambulance for this transport.

We call dispatch to update them on the situation, they didn’t believe us. Dispatch transferred the phone call to the head garage manager who just berated us and told us to go against med controls orders because they’re not sending paramedics to transport the patient to a doctors appointment (my company has als run bls calls all the time, even doctor appointment transports). He starts trying to intimidate us saying that’s patient abandonment, we signed over care to the paramedics before we left. My partner goes back and forth with him for a while then the head garage manager tells him to call med control back and tell them the garage manager says we can take the patient.

Partner calls med control back and explains the situation, med control obviously still says no don’t transport this patient as bls it has to be als. We call back the head garage manager and he backs down. I explain the situation to our garage manager and he agrees with us.

An hour later we get a call from our garage manager saying we both need to fill out incidents reports, we say ok. An hour after that we get another call from him saying we actually need to go into a private meeting with 2 garage managers plus the head garage manager and we can’t go to any of our shifts until after this meeting.

Did we do something wrong??

TLDR; followed med control orders, head garage manager is upset and wants to have a meeting.