911 vs transfer medics/emts

[runswithneedles]

After I got my emt in feb of 2011 I was offered three jobs. One was for a critical care transfer who happened to be part of the air evac team i worked for during my senior year in high school, another a 911 service for a small community where I would be most of the time the only certified emt on the box and another was for a private service close to where I go to college. I took the critical care job because I was promised to be put on the plane the moment I was a paramedic. But after a while they found out I wasnt covered under the insurance since I was only 18 at the time. The 911 job was full so I applied and got hired with the private service near my college I attend. Over the past year Ive grown very bitter torwards the fire department that i so happen to do my rideouts with for my paramedic. Primarily because of their total disregard to private as an EMS entity. They look down upon it as if its for limp d***k medics. One of the fire cadets whom I got into an argument that so happened to have attended my emt class stated I dont know what its like to be responsible for a pt that is in serious trouble. one of my paramedic instructors told me that what ive already done isnt experience "box time" is what he called it. I am so frustrated because I have learned more in private than I had in my basic class. from cardiology to pharmacology. And im soo angry and disheartened because unlike many of my emt classmates i took a semester off to go and work. get comfortable with my skills and knowledge base. It was 8 months of my very young life that I had lost. I couldve been a paramedic by now with an associates at this point. And to hear my own preceptors chunk that as if it was garbage infuriates me. Why do some firemen/paramedics think this way?

[BAYAMedic]

Welcome to the City!

Don't get down man, you are doing the best thing you can to advance yourself in your career currently. You have recognized the need to be a legitimate medical provider. Now it sounds like you are lumping two separate things together. Private and IFT/CCT are two very separate things. If all you have done has been IFT with a prepackaged patient, you have seen some complex cases. But you also haven't had to stabilize them, and generally the transports so very smoothly. You haven't had to assess, diagnose, and treat them so I see how they may question your "street cred" if you will. Not all Firemen's knuckles still drag the ground despite what Dwayne might tell you, but they sound like jerks. Hold your head high, know you are doing whats best for your self and for your patients. EMT "experience" prior to medic school is a point of contention around here that has been done to death, so I won't re hash that aspect. The thing here is know that you are doing the best, to make yourself a better provider. Lastly, I would encourage you to proof your post before you hit that button. I myself have issues in that area, Dwayne nailed me the other day even. But it will make you look a whole lot more professional and more educated with some simple capitalization.

Fireman1037

[runswithneedles]

Ill run back through it and correct it. I just wanted to get my story out there. I have already had one moment of ripping a medic a new one when I was working but I knew it would haunt me because I didnt know if he would be my preceptor next. (luckily for me my parnter who works 911 full time in Lubbock for 25 years and c/c on the side gave him a spanking I so happily enjoyed). Ive been questioning my call to stay back and gain experience because of their behavior.

&*^% It wont let me edit my post. Never-mind on that.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Mike Ellis

[DFIB]

No positive productive activity is a waste when you are 19. Rack up your time in the ambulance as experience and keep going. If you want to be a medic, go for it. Subjects will make infinitely more sense to you with the experience you have under your belt from your ambulance service.

As far as your critics. There are two important factors in the reception of criticism. First; Who is offering critique? and second; Why are they offering criticism?

If the person criticizing you is your peer it is important that they are a close peer that can. I mean which of your peers can more adequately comment on your work from an informed point of view. While FF medics are your peers they are not the peers that observe your work first hand and their opinions would necessarily have to be based on a preconceived idea of your service. This pre-conceived idea would therefore be flawed and incorrect in many ways. So ... if some dude is running his mouth and demonstrating his ignorance what should you care? Your preceptors and immediate peers can give you an adequate operational evaluation of your effectiveness and job performance.

Also, Why are they criticizing you? There are many reasons that people criticize in an demeaning way. Most of them are rooted in some psychological/emotional inadequacy. Are they demeaning you? Are they boosting their own ego by messing with you? Did your service have a medic in the past that was a tool? Does your service compete with them for patients? There are many reasons why people are mean. In any sense, if you are doing your job correctly, I wouldn’t worry about those other guys that much.

You seem to have a plan so stick to it. Before long you will be a medic.

Edited January 12, 2012 by DFIB

[Asysin2leads]

You should have just said "Yes well, I'm pretty sure you haven't worked on many critical patients either, CADET."

[Bieber]

Don't sweat it, man. Experience is experience, and even if CCT isn't exactly the same thing as 911 work, the things you learn from having that kind of background are invaluable. And considering many paramedics nowadays went into medic school without any previous experience--myself included. The fire based EMS services may not understand or respect non-911 or private based EMS services, but instead of fighting and arguing with them about it, maybe you could try educating them on non-fire based EMS models and on CCT transport in general? Despite the stigma, plenty of CCT transfers go downhill during transport and, really, very few 911 calls are actually critical.

[runswithneedles]

To be quite honest those are several good points. Considering Im very driven to be and want to be the best well rounded medic in the field no matter what the call is. And due to my age I have found very few 911services will take me on since i'm 1. just a basic and we have too many basics in this area 2. 19 years of age 3. Dont have my basic fire cert.

It hurts when you find a way to gain experience and attempt to be one step ahead of your classmates and the one of the very instructors you respect shoots down and discredits it as a expensive taxi ride home. And the very medic I stand quietly behind on every run I go on for clinical's feels the same way.

Id figure they would have some sliver of respect considering when I get called for a 4 AM nursing home run I don't decline it and they dont have to take back the BS weakness patients they bring to the ER that night. Or taking a cluster you know what from some backwoods ED with a doc who got his board cert from a cereal box.

You should have just said "Yes well, I'm pretty sure you haven't worked on many critical patients either, CADET."

.......Wish I had thought of that.

[KevlarMedic]

As a medic that has worked for various departments and private and public services. I can say this, your experience comes from time and call volume. Just because they say that havent have "serious" calls does not mean that you will not have them. You will find that there are more situations that will show themselves in the future that will be simular. I will give you am example of RN to Paramedic relationship, some RN's think we are nothing more than CNA's with lights and sirens. While others actualy know what we do in the field and know what you go through. I, from my experience, know how nice it is to have plenty of help on every scene i worked because of the rescue or engine showing up onscenes for backup and support units, but also how it is to be in the middle of nowhere with a critial patient and only have my EMS-driver partner and the patients family as backup. When it comes down to it, its you that is caring for your patient, and if you know you are doing the absolute best you can to your ability for them then you can hold your head high and proud knowing that you did what you were trained to do. You are always going to run into people that will try to one up you on calls and how bad they were, but in the end those stories dont matter. What matters is how you treat your crew, the patient, the family, and others whom you meet. If you are polite and respectful and explain what you are doing to the patients and their family they respect you more cause it shows that you care about them and that you take pride in you job. You can always say this, they maybe Fire Department, but that doesnt mean they are the best at what they do and they dont always get the really good calls. My advice is to just bite your tongue, yes it might hurt and feel like its bleeding, but its not worth a fight over who gets the "serious" calls. There will people that say they are better then someone else cause of where they work or something they got to do, in the end its just you and your patients and how you care for them. And sorry if i repeated myself or got long winded.

[Nutt2000]

You must work for Lubbock AID...........

There are a lot of good medics there, and the local 911 is full of idiots, I used to work there and had nothing but bad experiences...

PM me if you want local advice, I know what you're going through.

[mikeymedic1984]

The various parts of the human body were discussing which was most important.  The brain said Iam the most important as I control everything, the eyes said we are most important as we guide the body, the knees said we were most important because you could not walk or sit without us,  Finally the asshole chimed in and said I am by far the most important part of the body; the other parts laughed and said you really think you are important at all ?  

So the asshole decided to clinch shut for 5 days.  After that, the brain got fuzzy, the eys got blurry, and the knees buckled, and they all agreed the asshole was the most important part.

Everyone plays their part in society from garbage man, to construction worker, EMTs, teachers, doctors, lawyers.  No one job is more important than the other, and no person should be defined by their job title, its how you live that is most important.  And for God's sake, never let the attitude and comments of others change the mood of your day. Rise above them.

Edited June 28, 2012 by mikeymedic1984