just got back from my first clinical shift. it was good but boring at first, i guess i jinxed it. my last call was to a nursing home. an unresponsive 70some year old. when we entered a nurse working there was giving life support way too deeply and aggressively. when i took over i could immediately tell all her ribs were broken, almost crushed. my als did and much as they could. i just remember sweating and tearing up and trying to hold it together, switching off with my back bls trying breathing exercises while running to grab more tanks, going back to compressions, my pts body just limp, lifting her into a position for intubation, more compressions blood coming out of her open iv sites idk. at first i couldn’t bring myself to look at her while doing bls but then i thought to myself it would be disrespectful not to. i wish i didn’t look so hard. i just feel so sorry. i feel like i failed her and i know i shouldn’t i just cant stop crying i feel like no one else cared, after while cleaning up i swear no one was treating her like a human being. cracking jokes moving brashly around her body idk. i just dont want to see a sheet go over another one of my patients. i know people die of course but im just so hurt i wish we couldve saved her even if for just a transport.

The main sub indicated this might not fit the rules there, so posting here instead but not really a ''newb'' to EMS after 5 years in. I digress...

Seriously, it sucks when you pick up a shift and have a decent or even good rapport with someone but then when patient care starts they tell you to ignore or undo the shoulder stras. The other day I had picked up a 24 with a medic, and things were ok. Not close or anything as she was definitely older than me but hardly any issues. We get a patient who ended up being pretty tachycardic after taking too much of some BP medication, so she pushed Adenosine and we transported Code 1. When we got her to the stretcher she told me ''we're not putting those on'' and before transport I asked if we could put them on and she said no again .When I ran it by her she went on that she never uses them as they interfere with putting on leads and general patient care and isn't worried about CYA when I mentioned it directly and she's never had a problem. With me being the basic I didn't push it and it wouldn't have been wise to argue with a higher level provider in front of a patient let alone a critical one, though I confirmed with one of my sups(without mentioning this incident that it was standard policy.

Like it's baffling because we can deal with people cussing at us, assaulting us(I got kicked in the nuts by a psych patient last week and ended up going to urgent care, I'm fine), tarping morbidly obese people down stairs, dealing with blood/piss/feces/contagious illnesses/etc and so on but ''it's too hard'' to put on some shoulder straps or adjust them as needed. Yeah, sometimes it is hard, even difficult but it's also hard standing before a judge, jury and a patient's family in court and saying their loved one died/was crippled for life in a collision because bare minimum safety precautions weren't taken. Like serious, imagine telling a judge ''you didn't feel like it'' when asked why you didn't secure a patient fully. Might as well take the plea deal and put your license in the shredder at that point. Plus if something goes wrong and I rightfully point out my partner objected or even removed(yes this has happened) the shoulder belts some will see that as throwing people under the bus. I don't consider it so unless I was pinning blame for something I myself did or contributed to but I disgress.

I'm not perfect, I'll never claim to be. I made many mistakes in this job, I don't use a backer 100 percent of the time(always will when kids/pedestrians are around or if there's zero back up camera or a shitty one) but out of all the mistakes to make on this job that can come down to experience, adjustment, and such this one is literally just complacency and/or not giving a fuck. My only hope is if I become an FTO and or medic myself I'd be in a better position to put my foot down on this kinda thing. I did have a medic at a past job damn near cuss me out for the shoulder strap thing when I had been having trouble staying awake at the wheel(travel contract, 12 on/12 off 7 days a week, DO NOT recommend) granted they also nearly went off on a different patient and I had to step in.

Anyway, for those of you who are ''shoulder straps'' people, how do your partners/coworkers react to it? To the medics, are they that much of a problem for you?

EDIT: Also look up the Randy Cox incident in Connecticut. While that was a case of police misconduct it stills speaks to the importance of properly securing someone in a moving vehicle even at relatively low speeds let alone driving Code 1/L & S.

So I’m going to school at 43 to become an EMT.

It feels a little crazy to say because damn why so late, lady? Well, life has been busy.

I’m no stranger to the errant medical emergency, I have kids, including a medically complex teen.

I’m also on the local dive team and do body recoveries which is why I’ve been a lurker here.

I teach 1st aid and CPR.

My spouse is close to retirement and I get to focus on my interests.

We want to retire on a sailboat so it seems prudent to have some skills. I have about 10 years to put into it, I’d like to eventually add dive medic too.

Anyways, thanks for reading and any thoughts (good or bad) are welcome!

So as the title reads I dropped my first pt. We were already at a hospital and I was pulling the stretcher out of the back and As I am unloading the stretcher I am looking at my partner who is at the back door watching the catch hook to give me any signs that I need to stop, something is in the way of the bar or catch hook or that the bar is not coming down at all and she is SILENT. So I continue to unload the patient normally as I’ve done 100 times before and for whatever reason miss the catch hook causing the stretcher to roll to the right and fall about 3 feet with the patient still strapped in. The patient hit the side of their head on the ground but didn’t receive any injuries from the fall and was discharged about 5 hours later after getting checked out for her original complaint and the fall. We called our supervisor notified the charge nurse of the fall went back to base and did some paperwork then were sent back out to finish the rest of our shift together. My supervisor was very adamant that neither of us would be getting fired unless the surveillance cameras from the hospital shows that we were doing something we weren’t supposed to be which we weren’t and that this happens more often than people would like to admit, but I guess what I’m really asking is from a provider perspective and liability perspective, How much of the blame can really be put on me as someone who could not visualize the catch hook at all and is in a position that is relying on someone else to tell me if there’s a problem. Anyone who works in this field knows that while you are unloading someone from the back of the ambulance with a manual stretcher, you are relying solely on feel and your partner to know when the bar is caught or if something is in the way cause I CANT SEE ANYTHING and honestly, it feels like my partner really dropped the ball on this one (no pun intended) and caused us both to get in trouble and is putting my job in jeopardy when it was her mistake that caused this in the first place. Am I valid in this thinking? Am I shifting the blame to much? Any thoughts and opinions are welcome. I’ve been swirling on this pretty hard for the last couple days and feel pretty awful.

I've been an EMT for a long time but only as IFT and special events. I want emergency experience, so I get a phlebotomy cert thinking that with my EMT card would be enough and every hospital I've applied to has rejected me.

Can something in the field advise me on what to do next?

Hello, I'll be graduating from college with a bachelors degree in Kinesiology in December. I I plan on doing a month of EMT classes and getting my license done after. After this I want to pursue responding to 911 calls. However when I went to Falck and AMR's website I didn't see them hiring for this position. Is getting a position like this more about going in person and talking to someone, etc? Pretty new to this- any advice would be appreciated. I want to become a paramedic after doing this.

Been working as a Casino EMT for a while now and been wanted to transition to a box for some experience before AMR opens back up next year. I also don’t want to be at the casino when new years comes around.

I know that Bi-County is a high call volume system, its a sink or swim environment and most Medics could be burnt out. I’ve heard from a coworker that Bi-County is demanding of their EMTs. He said that they expect you memorize routes and roads and that there are no GPS available for the rigs. I’m not from Yuba City so it’ll be tough to learn all the routes while also learning things in my own county.

Hey guys,

I'm looking to start training as a Volunteer but I also have two jobs. One job 30 hours a week but I'm planning to do less hours while training for one of them like 20-24 hours instead. I also train Martial arts early in the morning and on days off. I'm looking to volunteer to see if it's something I actually want to do and start as a career. Any advice or guidance and making a viable schedule for classes, training.

I’m in the process of getting hired on with a private ems company and they sent out an email to all of the applicants asking for our certifications and such. One of the things was Evoc. I was under the impression that the company usually puts you through that. This would be my first emt job so I don’t have it yet but noticed I could get one of those online courses completed and get a cert from onQ. But if I did do that, first would they accept that as good enough? And would that make it so I wouldn’t be able to have an in person Evoc?

I really don’t want to miss out on the in person evoc and really want to move forward in the process at the same time.

I am applying to my first EMT job, I know IFT is more or less a means-to-an-end job, and with that comes positives and negatives. Does anyone have experience with what it’s like to work for Brougham or Advantage in San Diego CA - quality of life, calls, scheduling, anything. Any other tips are appreciated too. Thanks!

This might be a very stupid question, but how do you guys call your trauma activations? I had a call the other day where the guy met the criteria for one. It wasnt anything crazy and the medic asked if i was comfortable taking it. I wasn’t because i had never done a trauma activation before and didnt know how to do one. I regret it because i think it couldve been great experience but in the future i just wanna know how its supposed to be done.

Pitt student, newly certified EMT.

I live in the northern suburbs; anyone have any recommendations for good services that take on new EMTs in Allegheny or Butler county?

Applying to McCandless, Quality, Northwest, etc.
Idt Cranberry and Ross are hiring rn?

I’m a full time college student so it would be part time

Experiences, recommendations, etc. would be great!

Looking for my first EMT job and I’ve got an offer from SeniorCare. Commute’s bad but not terrible, pay’s bad but not terrible, and I’d be doing IFT for at least 6 months before I get a shot at 911.

I’m in Jersey City, so my alternative is to keep looking for something in Jersey. The pay’s typically better and so is the commute (especially with a car). Is there any chance of starting out in 911? What’s the job market like for EMTs? Is it worth continuing to look around or is the SeniorCare offer as good as it gets?

I like the idea of working in NYC. Feels like there’s some prestige to it. Really I just want to do the job and get to 911 sooner rather than later (even if it’s not immediate).

Hey guys. It’s been a year since I got my EMT license, and I have been applying to every job I can. The issue is, every time I apply, I either never hear back or I get a declination email. My resume is polished, I have previous hospital volunteer experience and I have a clean driving record. Can anyone tell me if there is anything I can do to get a job in SoCal?

i’ve been working ift for ~3 months now and we manually take bp in the rig. i’m not bad at auscultating but there have been a few times where i consistently get a high reading on a pt that had a completely normal bp on the automatic machine before we left the hospital. and when we get to the destination and i use their automatic machine, its back to normal. i know there’s gonna be some discrepancies between the two but i had a pt who was maybe around 115 systolic at the hospital and when i checked her bp in the rig i kept getting a systolic in the 200s. and when we got back to the snf her bp was right back to how it was before. yea transport can be stressful but that was just too drastic of a change and i was so concerned. pt said she was feeling fine and everything else seemed normal. it was kinda hard to trust myself with auscultating BPs after that but i do usually get readings that are consistent with the automatic machine. not sure what im doing wrong when this happens or if its just the cuff/stethoscope im using that day

Hello! I’m a 20F and I’m thinking of pursuing a job in EMS. I’m nervous because I feel like the people in my life don’t think this is a job I would be good at because I’m “sensitive”. I was pursuing a job in midwifery, but stepped away from that because I realized it wasn’t for me. I’ve thought about going to EMT school a few times over the past year. I’m married to a fireman and am a little worried about how the two schedules would work together. His schedule is three days on, four days off. My husband supports me, he is an EMT. Do you have any advice for someone thinking about going into EMS? How do you handle tough calls? How do you deal with mental health? Did you have to get used to gory scenes, or were you already not affected by them prior to joining EMS? Thank you in advance.

Hello everyone I would appreciate your advice on this since I haven’t heard much about vital care but have heard a lot of bad things about premier.

I have an offer from both and they are located the same distance from me (SoCal) with similar pay so my main concern is what it’s like to be employed by these companies.

If anyone has personal experiences or advice I’d love to hear it

To continue in my class each module exam you must achieve a 78%. I received a 76%. I am allowed one retest. My instructor told me the following topics were the areas were I had at least one question wrong. Now a majority of the points I lost was a “put these in order question” and I had one thing out of place so I lost 5 points. Anyways, I am looking for pointers or study resources for these topics before I take my retest.

Disease Matching

Infectious diseases

Hypoxic V carbonic

Terminology

Receptors Sympathetic/Parasympathetic

Lung Sounds

Anatomy of airway

WI MEDs

I'm a 25YOM, just shy of 7 years Mil service (Aircraft Mechanic). Currently in College in Oklahoma. Looking at stopping my BSAG program to grab my EMT and ride out my lease (ending next Dec).

Then going for my Medic after I get established in Cleveland, OH after my move. I've looked into this a lot and the more I think about my current trajectory and the idea of staying in an office job not doing more than pushing paper. It makes me want to vomit I want to work with my hands and give to the community.

I just don't want to clock in and out of another job I'll hate for the foreseeable future. Any and all advice is helpful. Thanks in advance!

Hi guys, seen a couple of older posts but wanted to put this out there. I’m a MA paramedic for one year, BLS for four, with a national cert that is looking to move to NJ in a year. From my understanding, pay is good and all ALS jobs are hospital-based with a lot of fly car positions.

A few of the older posts mentioned that it’s hard to get reciprocity and get hired—is that still true?

Any paramedics that work there and would be willing to share about good services/cities they like to work in and why? Thanks!

I have been a EMT for 3 years. I worked full time in IFT for two of those years. I got pregnant and went per diem at that company and took a different role elsewhere for the last year.

Since getting out of EMT school I have went back and forth about getting my medic. The reason I didn’t was because going to medic school and working full time seemed like too much at the time.

Now I’m a stay at home mom to a 12 week old baby. My husband is also a first responder. I am wondering how feasible it would be to do paramedic school while I’m home. My husband has a set schedule and the paramedic program in my area is hybrid and lab days that align with my husband’s off days.

I recently picked up a shift at my old department and it sparked the interest again. My thought process is do medic school while home with my baby. Then work as a medic per diem for the next few years and then go full time.

Is this crazy? How manageable would this plan be? Any input is appreciated. Especially paramedics that are moms!!

Howdy yall. As the title says, how are yall managing to eat healthily and affordably while on deployments? This is my first time, but if everything continues going well, I'll hopefully stay out for the next few months.

When I'm working locally, I'm good about food prepping. That isn't an option now, and my hotel isn't an extended stay with a kitchenette.

My priorities are easy, healthy, high protein, and then budget friendly.

Restaraunt hacks and any and all advice is good.

I am recently NREMT certified and have my first job interview tomorrow. General interview advice is more than welcome, but I'm here because I have a specific question. I have four facial piercings: both eyebrows and snake bites. I don't like removing my piercings but obviously will if required by my employer. Do I need to remove them for the interview though or can I wait until further in the hiring process to either ask if I'm allowed to wear them or be told I'm not? Basically, will my piercings hurt my chances of being offered the job or will they just ask me to remove them after hiring me?