medic_HNX

JEMS had a great article about that. It compared nation wide salaries and certification levels (mostly urban areas). Its part of an annual survey they do. The 2006 survey results were published in the Feb '07 issue. Perhaps you can find a copy of it.

I disagree with you "Grumpy" EMS is the most underpaid and unrecognized allied health field. Firefighters, police officers, nurses, respiratory therapists, and etc all are represented by unions that have organized the profession and gotten not only increased benefits, better pay, and retirement, but also respect for their members. Some areas, particularly rural ones where there is not always an organized professional system to follow, may find union representation extremely valuable. When some organizations are side by side with volunteer services the pay scale may be completely unsatisfactory for a professional. I cannot give you much advice, however it is important to consider exactly what the union you are considering offers. At what capacity is the union going to be able to represent it's members? If certain members elsewhere strike are you required to strike as well, even if you are not connected or even do not support their reason for striking? Besides monetary dues, what else is required of membership? Can management be members of the union? If you are not in control of benefits/payroll is the person(s) in charge going to be able to meet demands? Is your administration going to be able to meet and maintain the demands of the union? Do they necessarily have to? Is your building, policy, operations, and bylaws of your organization supportive of having a union representation? Do local laws conflict with union representation? What is the contractual agreement for membership and how long is it? How do you terminate the contact, or can you if you are unhappy with the representation? Are all (or majority) of the members of your organization interested in joining the union? Do all members of the organization have to be part of the union? And most importantly... what is your reason for wanting to be represented by the union?...is it a reasonable expectation? Of course these are questions for you to ask yourself or the union representative themselves. I am sure there is much more to ask and I may or may not have hit on some key questions. The point is, be well informed and well involved in something as important as this.

I'm a VT EMT. Its not just your district, but the entire state that is not all on the same page. the VTEMT-I'03 is indeed the same thing as the NREMT-I'85, however our scope is not only limited by the state, but then even further by the medical director if he/she so chooses. VT is indeed a national state, but since it is so rural the state EMS office believes that the national scope of practice does not apply as there is not enough volume to support several advanced interventions (as is my understanding). This is the reason many districts do not have paramedics at all (like district 2 -Newport area as well as the most populated part of the state-Burlington) and why paramedics are limited and few and far between in others (think protocols in district 5 vs 4 for medics) Why VT is unusual is because the state is broken down into several "EMS districts". The state amends the national curriculum and then leaves each medical director of each district to determine what state protocols apply to EMTs in that given district. Some areas can do everything the state says is within an EMTs given scope of practice. Other areas are only able to do quite a bit less if the medical director so chooses. The problem therein with that is that prehospital care throughout the state and even neighboring towns and services is not standardized. Another part of the problem is that many services in VT are still completely volunteer, although that is becoming more rare. When many services still rely on members to get up and leave there dinner cold on the table or attend trainings twice a month for free just to keep up skills and requirements its hard to compete with national standards that reflect a more professional and organized system. This says it all; the VT recertification hours required for an EMT-B to maintain certification is on 24hrs of CE in two years. That is compared to 72 hours of CE for the NREMT-B. The philosophy of creating flexible protocols in laid out demographic/geographic areas is good in nature, however it does create the problem of lack of encouragement for those in VT EMS to advance. When ALS is limited and Paramedicine is still a thing of the future many are disenfranchised with VT EMS and move else where. ...there is not one single paramedic school or program based in the state of VT.