Study: EMT-Basic students largely ignorant of the profession

[JPINFV]

http://www.emsresponder.com/print/Emergenc...he-SEEDS/1$7284

Extracts:

Intermediate EMT licenses are not recognized in northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana, the location of all the classes surveyed. Therefore, these 44 students either plan to relocate after completing their classes or have a gross misunderstanding of the levels of prehospital care workers in their areas.

Educators should explain to students the current job outlook in the geographic areas of their classes. This is especially critical given that 132 of the 203 students (65%) said they wanted to work for fire departments. The Chicago Fire Department currently has a waiting list of thousands of candidates, and many suburban fire departments only hire paramedics and individuals with firefighter certifications. A trend we've noticed at Loyola is the number of firefighters required to take EMT classes. Many of these individuals have little interest in working with the medical side of a fire department, preferring to focus on the firefighting aspects.

Many job opportunities for EMTs lie with private transport companies. Although 30% of students planned on this setting for employment, it is likely that a much higher percentage will ultimately work for one of these companies. These companies may not provide the action of fire departments, but they do provide employment, and frequently pay better than municipal agencies.

Another important topic to students is the financial implications of prehospital work. Our survey showed that 82% of students had expectations of receiving benefits from prehospital employment. According to a 2006 study, 51% of EMS organizations share medically related benefits with employees, 60% with employees' families, 49% have dental coverage, 61% offer life insurance, 41% short-term and 39% long-term disability, 58% have tuition reimbursement, and 84% have uniform reimbursement.2 In recent years there has been an increased focus on non-monetary benefits (e.g., paid time off).3 With retention of EMTs being difficult for many departments, these percentages may need to increase in order to continue to attract and maintain people.

When students were asked about the minimum salaries they would accept, 17% were willing to accept $15,000 or lower, 37% between $15,001–$25,000, 22% between $25,001–$35,000, 10% between $35,001–$45,000, and 6% expected $45,000 or greater. We felt these numbers were more in line with the reality a full-time EMT in the Chicagoland area could expect. Still, many students may have to settle for lower salaries than they'd anticipated. We wonder if high salary expectations are one of the factors pushing EMT students to consider becoming paramedics or entering other, more highly trained professions.

...and my personal favorite...

Finally, it is worth mentioning students who have plans to get RN or MD licenses. These students often have the greatest educational backgrounds. Many told us they are taking EMT classes because it is a part-time commitment that will boost their resumes. They may frustrate other students with their ability to rapidly understand lecture material and their familiarity with preparing for written exams. An instructor must develop strategies to intellectually inspire these students without overwhelming other students in the class.

With that last one, good luck inspiring advanced students with EMT-B class work.

[Just Plain Ruff]

It took a study to show what we here at the city already knew.

I do think it would be a good thing for instructors to tell the emt students just what kind of dismal job prospects that they can look forward to.

They should also stop the shoving of smoke up the students behinds that they are going to get to work on an emergency ambulance. Some may but the majority will not.

My instructor in class said that emt should only be a stepping stone to paramedic. Don't pass go, just go right from emt school to medic school if you want to run the emergency calls. That the majority of emt's in classes either are goign to be fireman or transfer jockeys.

he was always one to also say that it will be a extreme rarity that an emt will actually save a life without a medic. We had 39 in our class and believe it or not, 35 went on to pass the class, pass the state test and I nkow that at least 25 of them are medics now.

[Dustdevil]

Many job opportunities for EMTs lie with private transport companies. Although 30% of students planned on this setting for employment, it is likely that a much higher percentage will ultimately work for one of these companies. These companies may not provide the action of fire departments, but they do provide employment, and frequently pay better than municipal agencies.

Say what??? :shock:

I can't say I have any first hand knowledge of EMT salaries in Chicagoland, but overall, nationwide, this is very definitely not the case.

[Blue Goose]

Having worked for multiple private services in the Chicagoland area, one of which is a member of the Loyola EMS System, the article provided no new knowledge to me. I can think of two possible ways that private services pay better than municipal agencies.

On: Many fire departments contract EMS providers from a contract company, the main ones being Paramedic Services of Illinois, Metro Paramedics and Public Safety Services Inc. These contract services pay their employees less than private services and limit the overtime earned.

Two: Many of the private services have trouble with employee retention. As a solution to inadequate staffing, many services give their employees ridiculous amounts of overtime. I know a few people who make more money per paycheck in overtime than they do in straight time.

My problem with the study is that it only addresses student characteristics and expectations. To someone unfamiliar with the area the possibility of 65% EMT students being employed by a fire department does not seem unreasonable. For the study to be productive, it needs to present statistics regarding the number of job opportunities available in each sector for EMTs and the rate of hire for these jobs. I would also like the study to include the average wage in each sector compared to the number of openings in that sector and the odds of them being filled by new EMTs.

[IUemt]

...and my personal favorite...

With that last one, good luck inspiring advanced students with EMT-B class work.

There's me

[ccmedoc]

...and my personal favorite...

With that last one, good luck inspiring advanced students with EMT-B class work.

I got a chuckle out of this one also...It is the material, or lack thereof, not the instructor boring these students. Most likely, anyway...

[Scaramedic]

You know I was reading this a while back in the magazine and some numbers struck me.

Basic that want to be Para's 63%

Basic's that want to work for Fire 65%

Basic's that dont' want to work Private 65%

I know numbers can be twisted, but I look at these numbers and see a group of people who want to be Paramedics to get on with the Fire Department. Which ironically runs the ambulance in Chicago were this poll was taken. So the question should be do you really want to be a Paramedic or are you just using it as a way to back door into the FD. Would you want a Para who was drawing pics of Maltese Crosses during cardiology and dreaming of the big save in the big fire?

[EMS49393]

Personally, I found paramedic to be less than challenging, so I can only imagine how bored some basic students get during class. I don't really remember much of my basic class, but I'm fairly certain I had several good naps during that class.

One particular type of student that does stick out in my mind is the volunteer fire-monkey that thinks he's going to get his big career fire department break because he took an EMT class. He can usually be found in the back of the classroom, with some t-shirt that proclaims how special he his, or a button-down shirt with every possible 8 hour fire class patch he could find on it. Follow the sound of the hero stories, they'll lead you right to his desk.

Increase the educational standards of the EMS provider, and see how many of these less than stellar students drop quicker than a dead fly. Simultaneously, you should see the respect level of the actual provider increase.

I can't believe they still wonder why our brightest students move on to become nurses and doctors.

[JPINFV]

I can't believe they still wonder why our brightest students move on to become nurses and doctors.

You mean the bad pay, crappy hours, and a scope and protocol that's limited by the lowest common denominator isn't obvious enough?

[EMS49393]

Actually, I can almost tolerate crappy pay and hours. I absolutely HATE stupidity. I really hate a paramedic that quotes a textbook when he is arguing with me. The current classes are a joke, the exit exams are a joke. There is no challenge in becoming an EMT or paramedic. Factor in some crooked fire departments and state agencies, you have an even higher number of inadequately educated people performing extremely invasive interventions in the back of an ambulance. The only patient I don't feel sorry for anymore is the dead patient. You can be an idiot and not hurt a dead person.

In our own little community here, the very young bright stars are all off furthering their education in colleges across the world. Crappy pay, crappy hours, crappy education, they all contribute pushing out the ones that could make this a better profession. I really believe the incredibly boring classes have a lot more to do with driving away the smarter students than any other factor. It's only my opinion, based on how bored I was during my EMS classes, and how it played a huge role in the fact that I will not remain a paramedic.