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Should I become an EMS student and eventually an EMT? You, grasshopper, are the only one capable of answering this question. It is not for total strangers to tell you yes or no. My question for you would be: Why do you want to get into EMS? Also, will my age hinder me greatly? Depends...what is your age? What are the challenges of studying to be an EMT that I should be aware of? Should you begin the course, remember always that what your are learning is the MINIMUM amount of information you need to enter the field of EMS. EMS is an ever changing field and you will never learn it and should always be open to learning from trusted sources....textbooks are still screaming "high flow oxygen" for everything despite the fact that this can be detrimental....don't take one person or one sources word on anything...research and become knowledgeable.... If you're concerned about the emotional and mental strain of the job, but know it is a challenge you want to try and overcome, should you think twice? ?? Not sure I understand this question completely. The job can be emotional, we see things people were never meant to see and we are sometimes thrown into the middle of complete chaos and expected to come out the other side with a smile on our faces but if you have a support system and a healthy view of life, you can and will get thru most anything this profession throws at you. It's best to always remember that "It's their emergency, not yours" and although some calls will stay with you a lifetime, they are not your life. You have to have a balance.... Advice: Not sure of your age but human to human relationships and a willingness to help people and understanding them will get you a long way in EMS. If you cannot relate to people face to face then you are going to have a tough time in EMS. We are with people in what they consider to be the worst moment of their lives and if we cannot interact with them on their level then we are already behind the eight ball. I've seen EMT's and Medics that can recite the Brady book backwards and forwards without missing a procedure. I've seen EMT's and Medics that can rattle off all the algorithms for every cardiac case or medical case thrown at them that can't look a person in the eye and connect with them on a human level that are out of the field in less than two years.....sometimes (well maybe even 85% of the time) EMS is not saving lives and being the hero...it's just plain being human and drawing on some knowledge and nifty toys and medicine to lower a blood pressure, calm a frantic asthma patient, or splint a broken leg and then just letting that patient know that you are there........

WHOA Dwayne :: Thats a visual We really don't need to see.

Infidelity is a complex situation involving many factors potentially. While it certainly may be an indication of overall relationship issues, that's not the only factor to consider. Take a rather esoteric example, but valid nonetheless: Take a person with a personality disorder. This individual may engage in such behaviour regardless of the overall status of the relationship. Additionally, defining infidelity seems nebulous in some cases. Take the concepts of "open" relationships and the "swinger" lifestyle. Clearly, this behaviour probably falls outside many mores and norms, depending on the environment, but now we have to be very careful how we define infidelity in these cases. It's not necessarily a physical or even psychological phenomenon, or at least not using the common criteria many here would apply. It may even vary from relationship to relationship or even person to person. This further complicates the picture.

scary thing is: this socially maladjusted misfit will probably become our next mass shooter incident.

From reading the various news stories linked by ER DOC, the Paramedic was on a fly car and on scene. The wanker was at the station with 2 other EMT's who went to the low acuity call and when no one showed up to drive for the high priority seizure call, he decided to be the hero even though he knew he was not allowed to drive by company policies.