Are you really part of EMS???

[Dustdevil]

Is it still not EMS?

Correct. They frequently call the doctor too, but he isn't EMS either. They commonly call a portable x-ray truck for people that fall out of bed, but they aren't EMS either.

When I had my first wreck, I called my dad. That doesn't make him a wrecker driver or a highway patrolman. I saved a lady from drowning once. That doesn't make me a lifeguard. I clean my own office every morning. That doesn't make me a janitor. I've been horseback riding. That doesn't make me a cowboy. I own a guitar. That doesn't make me a musician. I'm African-American. That doesn't make me black. I'm a nurse. That doesn't make me gay.

Anybody can play semantic games to claim they are anything they want to be. And it seems that just about every wanker who earns an EMT patch decides that it is the essence of his identity, despite the fact that he never has, and probably never will, work on an emergency ambulance. It's a silly, dishonest word game that serves only to stroke themselves with in order to compensate for an otherwise pathetic life. And, unfortunately, the "system", as we currently know it, feeds into this narcissism by combining the two entities under the same administrative roof. But, the fact remains; it takes the E, the M, and the S altogether to make EMS. And EMS is a system that you either do or do not belong to. Despite all the word games, there really is no grey area. A security guard who pays his way through the local community college “police academy” is still not a police officer until he is actually employed by a police agency as such. Likewise, I don’t care if you are the almighty CCEMT-P; if you are not employed by an Emergency Medical Service system, you are not EMS.

[AnthonyM83]

When I had my first wreck, I called my dad. That doesn't make him a wrecker driver or a highway patrolman. I saved a lady from drowning once. That doesn't make me a lifeguard. I clean my own office every morning. That doesn't make me a janitor. I've been horseback riding. That doesn't make me a cowboy. I own a guitar. That doesn't make me a musician. I'm African-American. That doesn't make me black. I'm a nurse. That doesn't make me gay.

Sings: One of these things doesn't belong here...one of these things is a lie...can you guess which one...? Hint: It's not the Afro-American one....

[Asysin2leads]

Hell, even if you are part EMS, doesn't mean you really are everyday. Yesterday I worked 16 hours and had a particularly unproductive day. Call after call, woman who needs to go to ER under advice of doctor because her tremors have gotten worse, hx of parkinsons, woman who needs to go back to nursing home by way of the ER because no one can give her insulin shots, this is what my day was like. At least a sympathetic nurse told me somedays at the ER she doesn't exactly feel like a nurse either. At least I cheered up the woman who was headed back to the nursing home, but I don't think making an 83 year old smile is an Emergency Medical Service.

[AnthonyM83]

Is it still not EMS?

No, because it's not your primary purposes that your company is setup for. You're not part of the county's EMS system. You're prepared for the possibility that your next transfer is an emergency since you come across them semi-often, like a police officer learns CPR & first aid, in case his next call involves an injury or critical medical problem.

I really like Dust's analogy of the security guard completing a police academy....or one of my coworkers completing his FF-1 academy...they're not cops or firefighters.

My college used people who had completed the full police academy as our private security service...they wanted knowledgeable people instead of whacker guards off the street so they could deal with the few emergencies that arose. Likewise your transfer service wants drivers with cross-training in emergency medicine and familiar with medical conditions.

Another way of looking at is: what does a the public expect when they call 911. Someone whose main profession is emergency response and they've been educated and on-the-job trained and equipped to handle their medical emergency. Not just someone who has completed the EMT course.

Not knocking transfer companies, though. I just see it as a different track than EMS. It's a fine job just like many other jobs people do. It helps pay the bills and you hopefully get something out of it. Patient contacts. Much less stressful than EMS. Probably a good place to practice assessments for the pre-EMS candidates if you really really need to, but it's a different field.

[THUMPER1156]

As you may know a non emergency call can turn into an emergency real quick. It has happened to me several times. I do both non & emergency calls. It seems that there are some here that don't consider certain aspects of this job important. There are alot of people who fasttracked their way through life. Most people started out as vollies or basics.This whole ''para-god'' complex needs to end.....

[Dustdevil]

Jeeze, Thump... cut back on the caffeine. :shock:

You just cut loose with a seven-sentence stream of consciousness, and only the first two of those sentences had anything to do with each other. The rest, I assume, you have been waiting forty-years to get off your chest, cuz they really didn't have anything to do with anything we are discussing.

Are you okay? Is there something you want to discuss? :?

[AnthonyM83]

As you may know a non emergency call can turn into an emergency real quick. It has happened to me several times. I do both non & emergency calls. It seems that there are some here that don't consider certain aspects of this job important. There are alot of people who fasttracked their way through life. Most people started out as vollies or basics.This whole ''para-god'' complex needs to end.....

Read the post above yours....and maybe the 3 above that. Addresses exactly what you posted about.

PS This isn't about paragods. Simply about classification of different jobs someone with an EMT cert has.

[Richard B the EMT]

By my rating system, which has a great deal of room for improvement, a service that provides services as a part of a 9-1-1 system is an "Emergency" agency, be it a municipal, or private contract, provider. By the same token, not all calls are true emergencies (not by a big size).

Non Emergency Transfer/Transport service providers are for the most part, just that, non emergency service providers, but it does not rule out that they might have to upgrade a call to an emergency, as the patient downgrades, for lack of a better terminology.

Somewhere, on other strings, I mentioned an NYPD cop, who told me NO ambulance needs lights and sirens, as ambulance services are a 'Demand" service. You need an ambulance, you "demand" it, via a call to their base, or a call to the Public Safety Answering Point via the local 9-1-1 system.

You know I never held to that.

My house is burning, so I "demand" fire fighters respond to put the wet stuff on the red stuff, save me, my family, and my residence (with contents).

I am being robbed at gunpoint, so I "demand" that the LEOs respond to protect my life, my money (what little I have), and my possessions, and remove from the population of my town, the dirtbag that had the gun pointed at me.

Sanitation (the garbage men and women), on the other hand, is considered an emergency agency, at least here in New York City. Other than they are the ones with the snow plows, to keep the streets open to traffic during snowfalls, I am trying to come to terms with that.

(Yes, I realize they remove garbage that could otherwise turn into a health hazard, but there are areas of the world where common folks transport the garbage to the dump, themselves)

[john_boston]

just about every wanker who earns an EMT patch decides that it is the essence of his identity, despite the fact that he never has, and probably never will, work on an emergency ambulance. It's a silly, dishonest word game that serves only to stroke themselves with in order to compensate for an otherwise pathetic life.

Sure, I know plenty of EMT-Bs who almost never work emergency responses, have little to no experience, and love to boast that they are a critical part of a system that saves lives. We all likely know people like that. They have star of life tattoos and don't know what the difference between lateral and medial. However, Dust, there are plenty of us who also take our jobs seriously without losing perspective on what we do, how valuable we are, and what we know. I think you have an unfortunate tendency to dismiss most EMTs as "wankers" who have "pathetic lives" because of the very real problems that plague the varied educational requirements and duties in all of the different systems in the US and around the world. Obviously there needs to be a hell of a lot more education required of people who wish to work in EMS. This has been discussed endlessly here and elsewhere. Obviously there are a lot of deluded and ignorant EMTs who love to blather about how vital and important they think they are. Why does this need to be emphasized endlessly at the expense of people like me who happen to be EMTs but who have a proper perspective and ambitious goals (I'm planning to be an ER nurse). Trust me, I take your point and you've obviously got loads of experience and I'm sure are a hell of an asset where ever you work. It's just such a shame your attitude is so rotten and condescending nearly all of the time.

Re: transport vs. emergency responses. I work at a private service that does both routine non-emergent transports as well as emergency responses to nursing homes, rehab facilities, etc., AND backs up the city's busy 911 service. I would estimate that we do 60 percent responses, 40 percent uneventful transports. As a basic I recognize that our scope of practice is so limited as far as real interventions go that I suffer no delusions and do not romanticize my inability to actually save lives. However, if I can comfort a terminal cancer patient by holding her hand or getting her a pillow then I feel like my job is more meaningful and rewarding than serving fries. What's so awful about that? Why does that deserve berating condescension from people who have more education and experience?

Sure, transports aren't exciting. Sure, I plan on getting a lot more education and experience so I can actually help critical patients. But for now I'm not going to be another one of those guys who feels the need to sh*t on the reputation of EMS workers (many of whom aren't complete idiots with no medical knowledge).

[THUMPER1156]

:cheers: :cheers: :cheers: