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My only advice on this subject, having been through the hiring process as of late (with budget cuts and job cuts), is your first impression. Having a resume that dresses up what your qualifications are will make the difference between having it sent to the round file or the recruitment file. Salesmanship is the way in these days to any job. Example; "spent 3 months volunteer time on rural fire rescue." Change that to "provided ALS and BLS care to emergent and inter-facility patients within state and county guidelines with a rural ambulance service." My grandpa used to say, "if you can't dazzle em with brilliance, baffle em with bullshit!" He was right. How you word your credentials and experience in a resume can change the perception of how good of a candidate you are. Make good use of your experiences during your field rotations and play them up. If you only got 3 intubations, make them sound good. My rule of thumb is write it down as good as you would embelish it when you tell your friends! Good luck on the hunt.

"Ten Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter" Rule One: If you pull into my driveway and honk you'd better be delivering a package, because you're sure not picking anything up. Rule Two: You do not touch my daughter in front of me. You may glance at her, so long as you do not peer at anything below her neck. If you cannot keep your eyes or hands off of my daughter's body, I will remove them. Rule Three: I am aware that it is considered fashionable for boys of your age to wear their trousers so loosely that they appear to be falling off their hips. Please don't take this as an insult, but you and all of your friends are complete idiots. Still, I want to be fair and open minded about this issue, so I propose this compromise: You may come to the door with your underwear showing and your pants ten sizes too big, and I will not object. However, In order to ensure that your clothes do not, in fact, come off during the course of your date with my daughter, I will take my electric nail gun and fasten your trousers securely in place to your waist. Rule Four: I'm sure you've been told that in today's world, sex without utilizing a "barrier method" of some kind can kill you. Let me elaborate: when it comes to sex, I am the barrier, and I will kill you. Rule Five: In order for us to get to know each other, we should talk about sports, politics, and other issues of the day. Please do not do this. The only information I require from you is an indication of when you expect to have my daughter safely back at my house, and the only word I need from you on this subject is "early." Rule Six: I have no doubt you are a popular fellow, with many opportunities to date other girls. This is fine with me as long as it is okay with my daughter. Otherwise, once you have gone out with my little girl, you will continue to date no one but her until she is finished with you. If you make her cry, I will make you cry. Rule Seven: As you stand in my front hallway, waiting for my daughter to appear, and more than an hour goes by, do not sigh and fidget. If you want to be on time for the movie, you should not be dating. My daughter is putting on her makeup, a process that can take longer than painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Instead of just standing there, why don't you do something useful, like change the oil in my car? Rule Eight: The following places are not appropriate for a date with my daughter: Places where there are beds, sofas, or anything softer than a wooden stool. Places where there are no parents, policemen, or nuns within eyesight. Places where there is darkness. Places where there is dancing, holding hands, or happiness. Places where the ambient temperature is warm enough to induce my daughter to wear shorts, tank tops, midriff T-shirts, or anything other than overalls, a sweater, and a goose down parka zipped up to her throat. Movies with a strong romantic or sexual theme are to be avoided; movies which feature chainsaws are okay. Hockey games are okay. Old folks homes are better. Rule Nine: Do not lie to me. I may appear to be a pot-bellied, balding, middle-aged, dim-witted has-been. But on issues relating to my daughter, I am the all-knowing, merciless god of your universe. If I ask you where you are going and with whom, you have one chance to tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I have a shotgun, a shovel, and five acres behind the house. Do not trifle with me. Rule Ten: Be afraid. Be very afraid. It takes very little for me to mistake the sound of your car in the driveway for a chopper coming in over a rice paddy outside of Hanoi. When my Agent Orange starts acting up, the voices in my head frequently tell me to clean the guns as I wait for you to bring my daughter home. As soon as you pull into the driveway you should exit your car with both hands in plain sight. Speak the perimeter password, announce in a clear voice that you have brought my daughter home safely and early, then return to your car. There is no need for you to come inside. The camouflaged face at the window is mine.

MY DADDY SLEEPS NAKED "Late again!" the third-grade teacher sternly said to little Johnny. "It ain't my fault this time, Miss Russell. You can blame this 'un on my Daddy. The reason I'm three hours late is my Daddy sleeps naked!" Now, Miss Russell had taught grammar school for thirty-some-odd years. Despite her mounting fears, she asked little Johnny what he meant by that. Full of grins and mischief, and in the flower of his youth, little Johnny and trouble were old friends, but he always told her the truth. "You see, Miss Russell, out at the farm we got this here low down fox. The last few nights, he done ate six hens. Last night, when Daddy heard a noise out in the chicken pen, he grabbed his double barreledshot gun and said to my Ma, "That fox is back again... I'm a gonna git him!'' "Stay back," Daddy whispered to all us kids! "My Daddy was naked as a jaybird -- no boots, no pants, no shirt! To the hen house he crawled, just like an Injun on the snoop. Then, he stuck that double-barreled 12-gauge shot gun through the window of the coop. As he stared into the darkness, with a fox on his mind, our old hound dog, Rip, had done gone and woke up and comes sneaking up behind Daddy. Then, as we all looked on, plumb helpless, old Rip done went and stuck his cold nose in my Daddy's crack!" "Miss Russell, we all been cleanin' chickens since three o'clock this mornin!"

I am very dedicated to my work. I wear Paramedic/EMS shirts every day, even when I'm not on duty. The EMS station is my second home, and my second family. It often seems as if my life revolves around the EMS department, but it means nothing compared to my little girl. I am normally a very friendly person, but if you hurt my little girl you will make me mad. I know my little girl is growing up, even if I don't like it. She seems to like you, so I'll tolerate you dating her, but here are a few things for you to think about while you're with her: First of all, I go into hostile situations to save people that I've never even seen before, you can't imagine how protective I am of my little girl. I once broke a man's sternum by accident while doing CPR to save his life. If that's how I help people what do you think I do when I'm pissed off? I know who investigates arson fires. They know exactly what clues to look for to prove it was arson, so they also know what not to look for should I mention anything... and I know where you live. I've worked more car accidents than you'll ever see, the sight of blood doesn't bother me one little bit. It's normal for me to IV catheters, Syringes, paralytics and extremely strong sedatives in my car.. Touch my little girl and me and you take a little ride. When my firefighter friends burn down a house for training, nobody ever looks in the closets. I use the jaws of life to tear doors off wrecked cars. They cut though solid metal like a hot knife through butter. So watch your paws or get the jaws. Sirens and air horns can really muffle the sounds of someone screaming. Most of my friends are cops, paramedics, or firefighters. WE ARE 911. If you make me mad who do you think you're going to call for help? I have access to explosives. I am well trained in emergency medicine. I know exactly which arteries are the easiest to sever and which ones bleed the most. (Remember the Medical training, IV catheters, Syringes and drugs!?!) Even though my little girl insists that you are a "nice guy" and not like most other guys, I know better. I was once your age, I know EXACTLY what you're thinking. Because of that I already have plenty of reasons to not like you. It wouldn't take much at all to push me over the edge, and I just stocked my med kit. So if you want to date my little girl you better keep these things in mind. Medics are protective by nature, and there is nothing we are more protective of than our little girls. Whenever you're alone with her, you better remember that someday you may be alone with me! (I modified this from "Dating a Firefighter's Daughter" I am having this printed on a nice paper and framed for both of my girls ) Race

It's gonna happen...no different than cops who have been filmed for years....maintain professionalism at all times and those citizens recording may save your ass one day...or they may ban you from ever working again depending on whether or not your report your error.

I didn't mean that an off-duty medical personnel shouldn't render medical aid if they aren't dispatched to it and don't have their entire tool kit. I personally believe it is the ethical thing to do, when necessary, to see if you can render assistance. What I don't appreciate is the small, yet very vocal contingent of our profession that insists their is some sort of obligation for any person who ever learned CPR to stop and render aid whenever something occurs. It isn't an obligation. It's a personal choice. If any provider ever said "No, I am not going to stop for this..." for whatever reason, I would respect their decision. I may not agree with it always, but I would respect it. Given the amount this line of work takes out of your personal life, those few moments you get off-duty might be the only chance you have to spend time with your family or friends. You shouldn't have to give that up whenever someone else needs something.

Right on! Let's get this debauched party started then!!!!!!!!

EMS is an emotional job. It is littered with the realization of our limitations, weaknesses and failures. EMS is also marked by our training, fortitudes, skill and positive qualities. Each one of these situations teach us valuable lessons that most people never have the opportunity to learn, each experience can strengthen us or weaken us. Every time my patient does well and recovers I feel good, my confidence increases and I feel I made a real difference. When the illness or trauma surpasses my ability to help. I feel the pain of impotence, the fear of inadequacy and the desperation of defeat. The important thing is that every single service I feel. EMS makes me live life and life to the fullest. Don't get sucked into that stemming pile of crap that we should not feel for our patients. That we should not care. That we should turn a blind eye to others pain, illness and misadventure. Caring makes us more human and better providers. Simply think of what the situation would have been if you had not been there. You made a difference in all the patient’s life. The fact that you where there freed up resources to care for the child. You were not only helping your patient. You were helping them all. As for being angry at your patient because you thought he caused the accident, there are just too many factors you don't know for you to validate the feeling. The other driver could have been texting, putting on their makeup, fiddling with the radio spilling their coffee on their lap or all the other dangerous stuff people do while driving. Was the child properly restrained? Were they driving at a safe speed? Had they put off the break job just one day too long? You get the picture. I know you made a difference. What you are feeling we all have felt and learned to live with it. Some build a emotional wall to block out their feelings, some ignore it, others embrace them. I choose the latter. I choose living. I wouldn't quit just yet. Go for the card. Work for a few months and then decide. You will be surprised at what a huge difference time and experience will make. At least after time you will be sure.

we are all in this together Cali ... never feel alone you can always come here and talk ...

This is a good discussion. First and foremost, there should be no pay per call in EMS; not ever, it is utter bullshit. As was mentioned before in this discussion just ask how well that is working out for B.C. paramedics. To add some context to my opinion, I will admit to working in a busy urban system in Alberta with a population of over a million (whoop-de-fucking-do), but with less than thirty murders this year. I must disagree with Stiffaliss comment that wage have stagnated and gone down for some paramedics, with the new receiving agreement, there have been modest wage increases across the board, personally, as a one year paramedic, my wage jumped about $3/per hour. The EMT's are seeing slightly lower wages than before, but those who were making more before the transfer were red circled, meaning their pay stays frozen until the wage scale catches up with them. So, although new hire EMT's may make less than before, no one actually has had wages clawed back from them. Personally, I think it rocks that rural services now get the same wages as their urban counterparts. Since the system is not set up to pay by the call (nor should it be), the argument that urbans work harder, hence should get paid more is moot. My argument for parity is this: Urbans Paramedics work busier shifts, and have to be at the hall for their entire 10-14hr shift, but get to go home at the end of the day, turn their radio off, have a beer, drive out of town, etc. Rural paramedics on the other hand have less call volume, but typically are on call of 48-96 hrs straight, and have radios turned on, can't drink, can't leave town, etc. So both parties make a significant commitment to their job, and should be paid accordingly. Additionally, before anyone jumps on my back, saying "Oh you've just worked urban, you don't know what rural is like." I did work for about two years in a town with 3500 citizens (hopefully this is small enough to be considered TRUE rural). As Tnuigs pointed out, this divide and conquer technique is very real within the AHS management, and we really do need to present a unified front, because I think we are going to see some low ball tactics and bad faith negotiation practices from AHS, particularly as the next round of contract negs get underway.

PTSD AWARENESS DAY IS A REMINDER TO LEARN, GET HELP AND HELP OTHERS Today (June 27) is officially National PTSD Awareness Day. The day was enacted by Congress last year with prodding by the VA and various veterans groups. Although it's roots come from combat veterans, I think it's a good opportunity for everyone to take a look at what it is, how it effects people, and what can be done about it. It's an important topic, particularly for those of us working in public safety, to address and understand. As a combat veteran now working in EMS, I am curious how people in the EMS community, you, approach the topic? What do you know about it? What does your system/company do to address issues? Is there a stigma associated with it? Coming from a military background, though there is much better information out there now, many service members are still in the dark about signs/symptoms and where to go for help before their first deployment (encountering trauma). I know that even as a medic, I knew very little, other than that there were combat stress counselors available. And there could be a fear of being labeled or thought weak, especially while still in theater. What I'm wondering is, is this an issue where you are? Do you know what to watch for? If you were having trouble after a call/incident, would you seek help? Would you do so through your chain of command? The other thing I am curious about, more concerning myself I guess, is, if you have dealt with any incident stress or even PTSD, how do you find it affecting your job? Just getting going here as a civilian medic, I haven't seen anything that's even made me flinch yet, but I can't help be a little nervous that someday I will have a call that will trigger a flashback or something. It's hard to explain, I know that I am in just the right job for me, but I can't help but worry that maybe my military experiences could hurt my ability to do that job, that I'll freeze up at the wrong time. Does anyone else ever get that doubt? What do you do about it? I mean, I know what I am capable of. I know the situations in which I was able to maintain and do my job downrange when it matter the most. But... I don't know, maybe it's different now? I thrive under pressure and live for the rush, even danger... but I've also been know to hit the deck and roll under the nearest truck with a sudden crack of good thunder. So yeah, thoughts, ideas, strategies, jokes? Whatever you've got. I've put a lot of work into the last year to be proactive in helping myself, I'd like to see what people have coming from the civilian side. Thanks.