New study: EMT, firefighter recruits too fat

[Eydawn]

I'm overweight. I'm 180 lbs at 5'8.5" but I can definitely do my share of the lifting. I might have to lift a little differently (use more accessory muscles and balance things on my knee for a sec to give me the extra boost) but I'm not going to leave anyone high and dry with me on one end of whatever's being lifted. But I think that having to adjust my lifting comes from me being a woman, not from me having a few extra jiggly bits around my midsection.

I think it all comes down to fitness tests. Can you pass? You're good to go. Can't pass? You're too fat, lose the weight and get in shape.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Dustdevil]

...a few extra jiggly bits around my midsection.

Oh behave!!

[cynical_as_hell]

I agree with the fact that alot of people in ems are overweight. I think that employers should set standards, just like they have with lifting capabilities. I wonder if between the insurance company the employer has and the employer themself, if the employees could get a discounted price to a gym? It would help out on reducing the number of work related injuries, for example, the back, and would save the employer money because their employees,if working out, would be spending less time out on work injuries. Who knows, every company is different.

[Dustdevil]

Part of the problem is that a significant portion of our applicant pool are people who chose EMS only because they were too fat to be a fireman or cop. There may be a lot of overweight physicians and nurses, but you don't see near the concentration of gigantofat nurses as you do in EMS. Simply elevating our educational requirements and professional status, and distancing our profession from the public safety image, will go a long ways towards decreasing that concentration.

[firedoc5]

I had noticed a long time ago that it seemed like between fire, police, ems, etc. that there tended to be more over weight people working in EMS than the other services. My own deduction was that there was less physical agility requirements for EMS, especially for private services. Several I worked with said they wanted to work another public service job but that they could meet the requirements. It seemed almost like some were saying they wanted a job that they could wear a uniform and EMS was the one they could get into. Does that fall into a form of "whackerism"?

There is a difference between someone being overweight and / or obese, and being a fat slob. I was surprised by a few that when I was first paired up with them my first impression was "possible slob", but their knowledge and skill showed me different. But there's been a few that all I can say is "yep, fat slob". I won't get into the personal hygiene part of "slob".

[triemal04]

I think the big problem lies in determining when being overweight lowers the ability to do the job. I weigh in at around 225 lbs, which makes me technically obese at 5'10. I've had two partners so far tell me that I in no way look 225, but the dialysis scales don't lie. Am I over weight and can I spare to lose some fat around the waist? Sure, but I'm not sitting there waddling to the ambulance or always lifting the feet of the gurney because I'm overweight. I think insuring that providers can pass lift tests (including a yearly repeat test) is much more important than setting an arbitrary weight or BMI limit. One of the well known flaws of BMI is that it doesn't take into account body composition.

The BMI is generally not worth the paper it's printed on. Unfortunately, so are a huge number of physical agility tests, lift tests, or whatever that particular service calls them. Often the tasks that you are required to perform are not job-specific and don't give a good indicator of what you will really be doing in the field. As well, ask yourself this, if you finish the test and are barely able to walk after, or barely finish it (but still do), you have passed. But, would you still want that person working next to you?

To have a good test that will accurately show how well someone will perform, it needs to contain both job-specific tasks in a realistic setting, as well as actually be HARDER than what you will be doing. Couple that with a employer sponsored fitness program (at least a free gym membership) and it's a start. Of course, then you just have to worry about enforcing the standards and firing people when they can't complete it...and then come the lawsuits...any wonder why so many EMS services don't have anything beyond an arbitrary test?

[firedoc5]

The BMI is generally not worth the paper it's printed on. Unfortunately, so are a huge number of physical agility tests, lift tests, or whatever that particular service calls them. Often the tasks that you are required to perform are not job-specific and don't give a good indicator of what you will really be doing in the field. As well, ask yourself this, if you finish the test and are barely able to walk after, or barely finish it (but still do), you have passed. But, would you still want that person working next to you?

To have a good test that will accurately show how well someone will perform, it needs to contain both job-specific tasks in a realistic setting, as well as actually be HARDER than what you will be doing. Couple that with a employer sponsored fitness program (at least a free gym membership) and it's a start. Of course, then you just have to worry about enforcing the standards and firing people when they can't complete it...and then come the lawsuits...any wonder why so many EMS services don't have anything beyond an arbitrary test?

I think there might be something wrong when you have to help your partner up off the floor because they are too heavy to do it themselves. I'm not say that thi is always the case, but stop and try to remember how many times you have had to do that.