megadancer91

I actually didn't have an interview! I basically was told as long as my background check and drug test came through, I was basically guaranteed a spot! I'll be working with Pro-Med EMS. And of course now I'm freaking myself out even more by watching EMS horror stories on youtube. Guess I'll just have to breathe and take things as they come!

I've been an EMT-IV for just over a year now, and I've been volunteering on my school's service in a rural area for most of that time. Now I've moved to Memphis and start my full time position on Monday! I'm really excited, but also super nervous! Generally in my old town I got a lot of non emergency lift assist calls and TONS of vomiting drunk kid calls. Generally I could expect to run about 2-3 per 3 day shift. Now I'm in Memphis I'm expecting significantly more per shift as well as significantly more complicated calls and more trauma. I'm hoping I'll be running with a paramedic who can act as a kind of captain, but I really don't know much of how the service is run. Lots of questions running through my mind like do they have GPS in the ambulances and will I be driving? ect. I hope I will quickly gain the confidence I need for the job, but right now my mind if racing with fear! I'm feeling inexperienced! Anyway, just wanted to see if anyone had some advice for the Urban Rookie! Smiles!

I just got my license at the begining of the summer and passed my test the first time in 70 questions. Here is my best advice. Sit front and center in lectures. During skills practice go second. Watch the first people go through and listen really well. While they are doing it make a mental list of things you would change and then take note of what the instructor says. ALWAYS volunteer to be a patient!! You learn a whole lot by obseving and feeling what people are missing or what they do that you wouldn't think of. For the practical. Relax !!! It's really easy. Just study the sheets and be sure to ask every question. Patient care and protocol is the most important thing. For the nremt. Study hard. If you can't answer any question someone asks you in class or at least critical think your way through the best thing to do is study study study. Always go ABCs first (or CAB if that is what you are learning now). Good luck! If you are getting a 92% in class you will do great. Nothing ever clicked with me. I still feel like I don't know everything I should, but I've been told that half the learning game happens in the feild! No worries!!

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I guess it is still across the board huh? I know that if I work where I am currently in school my local protocols do not allow use of either splint on an open fracture. Our teacher likes to ask us "How much blood can you lose from a femur fracture" and the answer is "all of it," so i just assumed that you endangered arteries and other blood vessels by pulling the bone back into place. As for pulses, I am being taught to ONLY try to realign deformities if there is loss of pulses, and to stop if there is resistance... that whole do no harm deal. Our teachers ALWAY drill PMS check into our heads too... I have forgotten so many times during drills... I sure hope I will stop forgetting soon!!! Thanks again for the answers! Smiles, Meg

We do a lot of self teaching in our class. The only time we had instructors hovering over us and holding our hands through the whole procedure was when we were practicing IVs for the first time. For everything else we basically are shown what the final product is and then we separate and practice on each other using our books. They come around and check the final product but we don't really have the means to have teachers helping all of us. So far i really do feel like we've gotten training that is up to par. And it kind of makes sense in a way. When you go out in the field you are going to have scenarios you have never seen and will have to teach yourself how to deal with it. As long as you think you got it right I think it's not that big of a deal. But you shouldn't be afraid to ask questions if you are really confused, and if your teacher won't offer you help you should find a new school.

Hi all! I was going over some scenarios with a fellow student and we came across one that involved a compound femur fracture. We both said we would use some sort of splint (Sam, pillow, or whatever available) because of the fact that it was an open fracture. However the treatment the scenario gave was to apply a traction splint... My teachers have told us time and time again that we CANNOT use saagers or traction splints on open fractures... SO now I am extremely confused about whether or not a compound fracture is a contraindication or not. Let me know what you have been taught or if you are positive one way or the other! Smiles, Meg