Im having a hard time figuring out how to be “the boss” on calls. Ive worked on BLS trucks before with strong protocols and had pretty good leadership skills , people felt comfortable following me you know? But ever since I got my medic its like Ive regressed and dont know how to have a back bone and run calls . Suddenly Im worried about hurting peoples feelings , and I get anxiety about being the last person in the chain of command . Supervisors and old heads havent been any help and basically all say that I need to figure it out or accept Im not cut out for ems . I had no fto , I just got hired and then put with an emt day one, so no help there.

hey everyone! i’m a sophomore in college who is pre med and so far, i’ve racked around 200+ hours as an emt during the past summer. during one of my shifts, my partner reported me to my company for concerns about lifting. for context, i’m a fairly small girl (around 5’3 to 5’4) so usually i’m paired with bigger dudes that can balance things out and it’s never been an issue until that shift. i believe it was because of the stair chair i did that time and i was visibly very fatigued from it despite doing it efficiently, which was why i was reported. (BTW my company doesn’t have electronic stretchers or chairs, so that may be another issue 🫩) i can’t work for my company until i do remedial lifting classes and it’s going to put a halt on my clinical hours and earnings. i’m wondering if i should stick with EMS or switch to a job that is less physically demanding for me. i’m also concerned about the fact that the sudden shift might be unfavorable to medical schools, since i know they enjoy seeing sustained experience over time. i mean i can also work as both as well and just do EMS for less shifts per week. any advice is greatly appreciated. thank you!

P.S

i know a lot of MA jobs require a certification, but before i wrote this, i applied for a couple of MA jobs and received interview offers from clinics that take EMT as an equivalent certification!

Hey everyone! I’m 23 years old and currently about 3 months out from passing my NREMT. I have my California EMT certification, ambulance driver certificate, CPR Cert and I’ve been actively applying to different EMT positions, but so far I haven’t had much luck hearing back from anyone.

I’ve applied to places like NorCal Ambulance, American Ambulance, casino EMT positions, and security/EMT jobs, but I either haven’t heard anything back or haven’t gotten anywhere with my applications.

I live in the Central Valley, but I’m willing to commute or even relocate for the right opportunity. I know I’m new to the field and don’t have EMT work experience yet, but I’m trying to get my foot in the door and gain experience.

For those of you who are currently working as EMTs in California, especially in the Central Valley or surrounding areas, is the job market just difficult right now? Or could I be doing something wrong with my applications or resume? Also, does anyone happen to know when the next potential hiring cycle begins?

I’d really appreciate any advice, recommendations for companies that are hiring new EMTs, or insight into how long it took you to land your first EMT job. I’m starting to feel a little discouraged, and I just want to get started in the field. *sigh*

Hi I’ve been working as an EMT for an IFT company for a couple months but I would like to gain some more experience on emergency calls so I wanted to know if y’all think there’s good experience in doing ride alongs.

I'm starting a certification program this winter and I am SO excited to learn. This kind of work is right up my alley and I feel like I'll finally have a job/skills that matters. However, I am incredibly nervous to the point of considering dropping this whole career path over what it will be like to be at the bottom of the totem pole and whether or not I'll be good enough. I've been led to believe that being a new EMT is like being part of a months long hazing ritual. I'm a tough one and I think I can put up with a lot of bs but I'm also 5'4" and 110 soaking wet. I also hate being pranked and I know that's a pretty popular past time. In short, I'm concerned I'm going to end up getting pushed around.

How bad is the work climate in this field? How much attention should I be paying to my physical fitness to ensure that my stature won't be too much of an obstacle? Am I likely to end up running into dudes who are going to try and get in my way? I don't know, I'm just worried. Any and all advice for petite folks in the field and how to get along with coworkers would be appreciated.

I work part-time as an EMT at my college fire department and I recently saw a post on r/paramedics about how EMT education and scope of practice is inadequate and AEMT should be the standard. I've been thinking about getting my AEMT for those reasons, but I'm wondering if anyone has any opinions on whether it's worth it. I’m not interested in becoming a medic because I’m planning on going to medical school, but I think going AEMT would be valuable to expand my scope and continue learning how to be the best provider I can be.

I’d also like to continue working on the ambulance part-time in my gap year(s) before medical school, and from what people were saying on that sub it also seems like as more people go paramedic there’s less and less demand for basics.

The cost for the course near me isn't too expensive, but I don't want to spend the money and more significantly, time if it ends up not being worth it. In specific, I want to know:

• Do any AEMTs or medics who've worked with AEMTs agree that the investment is worth it to make me a better provider?
• Will getting my AEMT make me more competitive in oversaturated hiring markets for basics?

Thank you in advance for any advice you guys have (:

Any tips or advice for clinicals as a student who is hard of hearing ? I’m worried about getting vitals and I’m not sure if I should take out my hearing aids everytime but I might need to. I plan on talking to my preceptor before, but in the meantime I’m stressing. I have an eko 500 and it does connect to my hearing aids but the sound is muffled and I hear lung and heart sounds better without streaming them through my hearing aids (cheap hearing aids). I’m not really sure how to go about it while still being professional and moving smoothly through it all. Also accepting any tips or advice just in general regarding being hard of hearing in EMS.

I took my EMT course about 3 months ago and struggled getting all my assignments done, I never really touched the book and would just look at the PowerPoint’s. After emt course I started working again and forgot entirely about the class until recently I got this book that really helped me pass I haven’t really heard much about it and decided to take a chance. I would go thru like 5 chapters a day and look up anything I needed more help on I also watched the amateur medicine video about the NREMT. If you’re ever stuck like me just know you still have a chance because I didn’t believe in myself. Also a day before taking the test I did all the questions I was stuck on.

I was to get my associates in paramedicine. One of the prerequisites is either psychology or sociology. Psychology is the obvious choice but sociology interests me so much more. Would it be dumb to choose it over psychology since psychology feels so much more pertinent to the work of a paramedic? Or am I overthinking this?

Any advice is appreciated!

Starting my ride along tomorrow morning and I’m terrified. I know i shouldn’t be since they most likely wont be making me do anything crazy but i had a few questions.

1. Do i just bring my school backpack with me? I don’t have those fancy EMT bags.

2. We have to chart and then turn them into my instructor but idk how I should write my narrative. I don’t want to miss something

3. Will i just be taking vitals or just observing?

4. What is something i should 100% definitely know coming into this?

sorry if its a lot im just nervous

Backstory:
I worked as an EMT for a few years and decided to get into Paramedic school to upgrade. On my practicum I experienced something that has (I feel like) permanently altered my brain.

TLDR; Frequently called for patient with a known history of epilepsy who usually denies transport. On that day, our crew already showed up twice and both times patient denies transport. The third call was different. Patient became violent after the seizure, had a machete and blood was everywhere.

As a paramedic student, at that level in my training, I was expected to lead and manage that situation. I was terrified of the patient waving a weapon around and the chaos made it hard to think so I backed away from my responsibilities. I’ve been to violent patients as an EMT but the added pressure as someone who has to control that chaos was overwhelming. My preceptor was able to step in and fortunately there were no added injuries. My preceptor also ripped into me for cowering away and due to not sleeping or eating much (welcome to EMS), I started sobbing. After that call I kept freezing up and no longer able to think or do anything. Even low acuity things like a tummy ache. It got to the point that showing up to a shift came with debilitating fear. I had to withdraw from the program. This was in September.

Since then I have been seeing a therapist (I’ve been seeing one for years now tbh) and my primary care provider for a care plan and I thought I was coping well enough. I went bavk to my previous EMT job as a part-timer to help me ease in. My assumption was that I might not be ready for the next step and be in that leadership role but every morning on my way to work I end up crying and shaking from fear. The coping techniques help so that I don’t end up crying DURING the shift but now even when I’m off shift and safe at home I get random attacks of fear and anxiety. Little inconveniences in my everyday life become a huge emotional hurdle. I get nauseous and can’t sleep well.

I feel so pathetic not being able to handle things despite everything, the therapy, the days off, the fact that I worked and function well as a EMT before and now I can’t go one shift without breaking down in my car. I feel like I’m going insane and getting worse by the day. What do I do? How can I stop being scared/crying?

I’m a brand new EMT working for a private company in a decently high-volume system. My first day was yesterday, and I had just become a certified EMT in my state the day before. I was placed with my EMT FTO and another EMT driver on a 12 hour shift.

I was having a great day with them for the first bunch of calls, but then we were toned out for a CPR in progress by our local FD. I like to think I was pretty calm on the way there, sitting in the back with my gloves on, pregaming with my crew. We delegated roles for equipment and assisting FD before arrival.

On scene, we found the patient already hooked up to a Lucas, and the fire medics had already placed an IO and intubated. The medic in charge barked at our crew to get a blood glucose before determining transport is necessary. My body moved before my mind and I grabbed the backboard and went to the patient’s side. Fire told me to put the board on the patient’s left, which had the cardiac monitor, IO tubing, and 2 firefighters. So I said “I’m going to place it on the patient’s right” because it seemed like the obvious option. I was sort of impressed by my own proactivity, but I didn’t (and don’t) want to get an ego about it. We log rolled the pt, got him on the backboard, secured him, put the board on the stretcher, and loaded him on the ambulance.

Everyone ended up switching positions and I ended up being the only one of my crew in the back of the ambulance with the fire medic who was person in charge. He was managing the Lucas and pushing meds while I solely focused on bagging.

Unfortunately, I got tunnel vision on doing good ventilations, and let the bag fall slightly, pushing the ET tube to the back of the pt’s throat and past the epiglottis (which, frankly, I did not know could happen.) The medic yelled “What the fuck are you doing? Keep that straight. Never fucking let that happen again. That’s going straight into the back of his fucking throat when you do that.” I just responded with “I understand” and continued my bagging. I understand I fucked up there and I’m not trying to paint the medic as a bad guy, he was advocating for the patient. But his voice has stuck with me, and I keep feeling like those few moments of poor ventilation might’ve been the final nail for the patient. I know logically that’s ridiculous to think, it was less than 5 seconds, I hadn’t even delivered a breath in that time. But I also understand time dilation can really mess with you when your adrenaline is high.

We got the patient into the ED and they declared it there, after another 10 minutes of working him. I think the medic could see the guilt on my face when he came to get his bag from our rig, and he joked with me about taking narcotics from his bag and sticking them in my pocket. That made me laugh, but after we cleared from the hospital, I went into a spiral of thinking what I could’ve done better. And the whole manhandling a dead guy to get him on a backboard thing. That has stuck with me too. Even though at the time it didn’t phase me.

My supervisor suggested I take a mental health day. I think that was a good idea. But it’s still bothering me and there arent a whole lot of people I can talk to about it.

Any advice, personal anecdotes, or support would be appreciated.

EDIT: I want to clarify a couple of things regarding my FTO not being in the back with me and the medic. First, our ambulances are tiny tiny. think of the smallest ambulance you’ve ever seen, now shrink it. maybe about that small. I was crammed up at the patient’s head, and the medic got the lion’s share of the space to put all his shit. there wouldnt have been anything more my FTO could do back there, and the medic told her as much. He just wanted her to give the facility we were heading to the alert. So that’s what she did.

Relatively new to EMS, been riding with a volunteer squad since the beginning of the year and got certified a couple months ago (mid-summer). For some additional context, my region uses a two-tiered system, where BLS crews and ALS crews are separate.

I’ve struggled a fair bit with freezing up on scene despite being able to take control of things and lead scenarios inside and outside of the class. Any advice to avoid getting stuck in thought on scene? Sometimes the freezing isn’t instant, but after some line of questioning or change in the situation. Should I stick to the basic algorithms we learned in class before taking a more dynamic approach? What makes it so much easier to take the lead in a scenario compared to real life? Is it something that just comes with time and experience? Any advice would be super appreciated!

I take my NREMT in 10 days and I am very fearful. I did really well in class but I'm consistently scoring 75% to 85% on the JBL practice tests and I feel like I'm just gonna get cooked. I use pocket prep too, but it honestly feels way too easy and I'm getting like 90% to 100% everytime on that. Is this a normal feeling? Do I just keep studying and praying? What are some actually good practice tests to do?

I just hit the part of school where I’m about to start clinicals in the ER and in the field. If Anyone with any kind of experience could give me any kind of advice that would be greatly appreciated. I want to dive right in but I don’t want to get in the way so how do I do that. What should I brush up on before my first “shift”. Any advice so I can be prepared and not be a burden to the preceptor would be greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I was wondering what recommendations for high-vis EMS jackets or parkas... The 5.11 parka doesn't have a temperature rating (even after I called and asked, they said they didn't know), and I was wondering what everyone here uses!

I live in Canada, can expect temperatures to drop to -35C (-31F), and can spend a good bit of time outside the truck.

If we can make a list of jackets/parkas that everyone can use before the winter season actually starts, it would also help everyone else out looking for the same thing.

Thanks, everyone!

Edit: We don't get issued jackets and can pick our own, so I'm looking at the market.

hello!

So, I did some roleplaying with a friend to build up skills for my assessment. I am trash at it and I need to study it as much as possible.

What if someone is choking. Or having an asthma attack. Or another chronic issue. I take care of the life threat first obviously, but do I follow up with OPQRST/SAMPLE? Does it depend on the reported illness and if its chronic? Do I ask about pain for something like asthma? When the pain started? Or do I adjust the assessment? If so, how?

I hope this makes sense, I'm on nightshift at a hotel rn haha

I caused a fender bender

Hi Folks of EMS. Ive worked at a 911 only service for 1.5 years. I did around 9 months as a volunteer then became a per diem staff member.

We got dispatched to a nearby town for an MVA w/ 1 pt. I was driving and approached exactly where we were dispatched to which was the side of a busy road. PD instructed me to go to the parking lot of thr PD station as that's where the pt was.

I drive 30 seconds down the street to the PD station. I turn into the back parking lot (which is NOT illuminated by any means) and there's a cop cruiser in the middle of the driveway, and 2 other to the right. I pull into the left hand side and clear the cop cruiser in the middle. We have the big box type ambulances, which ive never had an issue driving (at all, I even prefer them to the van style that we have at my other service.) I did have my emergency lights on, and as Im driving down the right rear wheel flare snags the left front fender of the cop cruiser. I pulled into the parking lot and was maybe going 5mph.

Im incredibly embarrassed and I feel like an absolute d-bag. The cop seemed annoyed that he had to fill ojt a report for it toward the end of his shift, but did not seem upset and said it wasn't a big deal. The other officers on scene even said that since the damage was so minor that the town may not even bother to fix it. I called my supervisor right after and he didn't seem upset. I apologized and he didn't seem too bothered. Im not sure if he was just being nice.

I accepted 100% responsibility on scene and to my supervisor. I'm definitely not trying to make excuses at all, but the parking lot was not illuminated at all by any means. Whenever I drive or pull up somewhere I ALWAYS check both mirrors to check behind. Due to it being dark out and there being 0 elimination, I could not see anything from my mirrors. It's not an excuse by any means, but it didn't help the situation.

I just feel super embarassed and I feel awful that I scratched up another town's cruiser. I feel like Im the only one that has caused a fender bender. To make matters worse, I just accepted a FT position w my agency a week ago.

Did you wear workout clothes or ems pants to your PAT?

I went to get my lift test at a local pt clinic and my BP was 160/100 and HR was 100 now the pt did have a hard time getting the cuff over my left tricep and I was trying to help get the cuff on aswell. After waiting and retrying several times it got no better. Even after my pt visit I've been taking my bp and been getting the same results. For reference I'm 5'3 around 205-210 I was a high school powerlifter and colligate powerlifter. I am 100% natural at my strongest in college I wasn't taking creatine or shakes just eating out the cafe and I was in my 20s. I still lift in a powerlifting style just not always pushing the limits I'm 30+. I've been reading about concentric left ventricular hypertrophy and how intense extreme lifting can charge your heart over time. Also I don't do a lot of cardio, my diet is actually pretty good. I think I'm just a short big guy hell my neck is 17in and my arms flexed are around 17.5 I Carry a lot of muscle mass and probably around 25-30% bf. Any suggestions for how I can get a medical clearance. I took my pluse last night and got 80.

Forget the lifts I posted that for reference because when you lift at a intense level your heart under goes changes.

I don't smoke, do drug, a occasional drink maybe ever 90 days or more, no pre-work if I do use something it's hydration supplements, creatine, protein powder and nonstim pre-workouts

I am currently a college student preparing for PA school, but I also have a strong interest in emergency services through my volunteer work with a fire department. I am currently deciding between two EMT programs, one offered in person through my college and another offered online. I would prefer the in-person program, but the schedule conflicts with my current classes and work, so the online program would be the most practical option.
However, I do not want to rush into a program if completing it online could make it more difficult to get hired. If necessary, I could wait until the summer to attend the in-person program. Are there any other concerns I should consider with the online option? Would being only 20 years old affect my chances of getting hired? I have about a year of experience working as a direct support professional (DSP), although I currently work in an unrelated field. Overall, what are my chances of getting hired as an EMT, and would employers view an online EMT certification differently from an in-person one? (This is from the United States)
ALSO: How’s the job market in a whole

Basically when i was 17 i got arrested for theft over 100$. it was a class b misdemeanor, but i got pre trial diversion and in the end, i got a signed letter from the judge saying it was dismissed. I plan on getting it expunged, but I know different states have different rules for expungment. Will DSHS still see it after the expungment and have the option to not allow me to get my license?

I start emt school next year. I’m currently in decent physical shape. I can lift 50lbs fairly easily. I can pickup and move 100lbs over my shoulder somewhat decently. My cardio is okay. What do you professionals do to stay in shape workout wise?