Hello! I'm new, and I have a few questions...

[KDB2011]

Hi everyone!

I just discovered EMT City a few days ago, and I'm hooked. I'm not an EMT yet, but I love reading all the posts to sort of get an inside look in the EMS world before I get there.

A little bit about myself- I mentioned that I'm not an EMT yet. I'm in a dual enrollment program at the local community college that is for juniors and seniors in high school. I'm only in my junior year, and the classes we take aren't EMT related yet, although they're useful (First Aid, CPR, and AED, College Success, Intro to Oral Communications, and Essentials of Human Structure); but next year I will be in the EMT class and will be able to do clinicals and take the test to become certified as soon as I graduate. After that, I'd really like to go to Eastern Kentucky University and get a bachelor's degree in Emergency Medicine with the Paramedic/ Science option. I think it's a good idea because I'd like to move on to paramedic after EMT, I feel a bachelor's degree will give me an upper hand in job opportunities later on, and it also leaves doors open if I'd like to go to medical school or anything later.

With all that said, I would really like to ask a few important questions.

I have right homonymous hemianopsia due to a stroke en utero, and only have a 90 degree field of vision. Due to this, it isn't safe for me to drive (in fact, the law says one must have at least 130 degree field of vision to drive). I realize that this is a really big problem because to be an EMT, obviously you have to be able to drive an ambulance. However, I was wondering if I have options.

EMTs and Paramedics can work in the ER at a hospital instead of on an ambulance, correct? Is that a good job or do you just get stuck with little things like moving patients around and such? I was thinking that an ER already has nurses and doctors there, so an EMT or a medic would be the lowest man on the totem pole, but do you get to do real medical stuff? Is it hard to get a job in the ER since they could just hire nurses who are allowed to do more?

One of the reasons I decided to move on to Paramedic after EMT is that I have heard that ambulances have teams of one EMT and one Paramedic, and the EMT drives and the medic stays with the patient. Is this correct? If so, I was thinking that if I was a medic, the driving issue wouldn't be a problem. Would I be able to negotiate with a prospective employer so that I could go out in a team like that and not have to drive, or do I simply not have a chance of working on an ambulance?

I would really appreciate feedback, thanks so much in advance to those who reply.

[Kiwiology]

If you want to work at the hospital become an RN (BSN) not an ambo

[mobey]

Without the ability to drive your probably looking at clinic or aeromedical. Either way, I'd go with RN.

Just a thought.

[KDB2011]

  On 2/20/2010 at 4:27 AM, kiwimedic said:

If you want to work at the hospital become an RN (BSN) not an ambo

Yeah I guess that would be a good idea. I guess this is kind of a stupid question, but do nurses in the ER get to do "exciting" things, or is it just making rounds and taking vitals? I just have this notion in my head for some reason that being an EMT or a medic is the most "exciting" part of the medical field, but that's probably not true.

I guess the main focus of my previous questions is, do I have a chance of working in the field without being able to drive? That's what I would really like to do, but I want to know now if there's just no possibility of it.

[JPINFV]

Define "exciting." Pushing medications, starting IVs, doing assessments, assisting with more invasive procedures (medicine is a team sport), etc? Sure. RNs in the ER intubating? Not so much. You mentioned that you are considering medical school? If so, shoot for that as your primary goal if you're sure that you want to.

[KDB2011]

  On 2/20/2010 at 4:53 AM, JPINFV said:

Define "exciting." Pushing medications, starting IVs, doing assessments, assisting with more invasive procedures (medicine is a team sport), etc? Sure. RNs in the ER intubating? Not so much. You mentioned that you are considering medical school? If so, shoot for that as your primary goal if you're sure that you want to.

I'm thinking "exciting" as in the really intense life saving stuff that emts and medics do out in the field with car accidents and major trauma and all that. And I know that every single aspect of the medical field is very important, and I'm not looking down on the smaller jobs; "exciting" is just the area I'm most interested in.

Please feel free to tell me if I'm being completely ridiculous. LOL.

[lynn911]

  On 2/20/2010 at 4:45 AM, KDB2011 said:

Yeah I guess that would be a good idea. I guess this is kind of a stupid question, but do nurses in the ER get to do "exciting" things, or is it just making rounds and taking vitals? I just have this notion in my head for some reason that being an EMT or a medic is the most "exciting" part of the medical field, but that's probably not true.

I guess the main focus of my previous questions is, do I have a chance of working in the field without being able to drive? That's what I would really like to do, but I want to know now if there's just no possibility of it.

The department I work with has a medic that does not drive at all... she simply is a medic aka pt. care all the time. She is ALS- working on paramedic. I also know another EMT-basic that never drives because the flashing lights cause her to lose control of brain function and motor control... pt. and crew safety at risk there, she is fine in the back but not as a driver so she too is always pt. care. So it is possible to just be pt. care, it really depends on the Agency. I would suggest talking about it with the DO first to make sure at the agency you want to work for. It never hurts to try! Good luck with it, and volunteer to do some rides b4 you take the class to make sure that the field is for you.

[JPINFV]

Exciting is relative and really based on experience. Where you excited when you started high school? How excited are you about high school now that you're a junior? Similarly, yea, the ER isn't cutting people out of cars, but who do you think fixes the patient once they get to the ER? (I swear, if someone says "the surgeon" I'm going to smack you, you know what I mean... )

[DwayneEMTP]

  On 2/20/2010 at 4:17 AM, KDB2011 said:

...With all that said, I would really like to ask a few important questions.

I have right homonymous hemianopsia due to a stroke en utero, and only have a 90 degree field of vision. Due to this, it isn't safe for me to drive (in fact, the law says one must have at least 130 degree field of vision to drive). I realize that this is a really big problem because to be an EMT, obviously you have to be able to drive an ambulance. However, I was wondering if I have options.

As a Basic your odds are very small based simply on the size of the employee pool availabe. I can't say for sure, but I'd guess that your odds are much better as a medic, but it will depend on the service.

  On 2/20/2010 at 4:17 AM, KDB2011 said:

EMTs and Paramedics can work in the ER at a hospital instead of on an ambulance, correct? Is that a good job or do you just get stuck with little things like moving patients around and such? I was thinking that an ER already has nurses and doctors there, so an EMT or a medic would be the lowest man on the totem pole, but do you get to do real medical stuff? Is it hard to get a job in the ER since they could just hire nurses who are allowed to do more?

I can't speak to the ease of getting hired, but as to the 'sexy' calls? ER nurses will do much more than you will ever do as a medic. If you're in a system with any kind of call volume you will handle, what, maybe 2-5% sexy calls, as will all of the other crews on that shift, yet you will deal with yours only, the ER crew will deal with the majority of everyone's calls. Doing the sexy stuff as a medic in a hospital? It will depend on your service, but again, I'm being silly even to speak to that as I've not had that experience yet.

Go to RN, work an ER, and have the best of both worlds. Work the sexy calls you're looking for and get paid at the same time. The only advantage to being a medic is that you gainthe stress that comes from being in shitty situations with limitted tools and education and man power. Trust me when I tell you that that part of the job is not nearly as sexy as it seems.

  On 2/20/2010 at 4:17 AM, KDB2011 said:

One of the reasons I decided to move on to Paramedic after EMT is that I have heard that ambulances have teams of one EMT and one Paramedic, and the EMT drives and the medic stays with the patient. Is this correct? If so, I was thinking that if I was a medic, the driving issue wouldn't be a problem. Would I be able to negotiate with a prospective employer so that I could go out in a team like that and not have to drive, or do I simply not have a chance of working on an ambulance?

Again, I can't help you here brother..great questions though.

Good luck to you man...it sounds as if you have a great plan..

Dwayne

[Dustdevil]

Absolutely do NOT waste your time with a paramedic degree. Your employment options will be so severely limited as to be practically non-existent. The only non-driving medics I have ever seen were already employed before they lost their driving privileges and put on punitive non-driving status. It is not an exception that anyone is likely to make for a new-hire.

ER work is a possibility, but the positions are often hard to come by. They are popular among students who cannot work 24 hour ambulance shifts, so they stay pretty full. If you can get an ER tech job as an EMT while attending nursing school, that would be the perfect plan though.

Your idea of the excitement factor in EMS is seriously off. The only excitement that exists in EMS that doesn't exist in the ER is the driving factor. But there is a LOT more hardcore, lifesaving medicine going on in the ER than on any ambulance. If it is the intellectual challenge of medicine that excites you, then be a nurse. If it's the excitement of lights and sirens and badges that excite you, then be a volunteer fireman. It's not as exciting in real life as it looks on TV. And whatever excitement it does provide you very quickly fades, so don't go away feeling like you've lost out on anything.

I was forced to give up EMS one time because of serious on-job injuries. Told I'd never be able to return, I went to nursing school. That broken neck was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it forced me to get off my arse and do what I should have done twenty-five years earlier, which was to get a real education, a real job, and start practising real medicine. You too should take your physical disability as a very positive thing, especially since you recognise it before wasting twenty-five years in a go-nowhere, low-paying grunt job like EMS.

Edited February 20, 2010 by Dustdevil