What is life of a paramedic like?

[justinbien9]

Hi. Do you have a stable relationship or have a family? Are you happy? Being a paramedic as career has been lingering in my mind for as long as I can't remember. Apparently, since childhood I have been mentioning becoming a medic as I seen in video games or movie/shows says my mom. Recently, I have felt like I have wasted enough time during my teenage years, not preparing for my future and I truly highly regret not doing so. Ever since, any other career have not appealed to me as much as becoming a medic. I'm also thinking about joining the forces, but I'm planning on becoming a medical technician in there as well, just cause I feel like there's more that I will experience being one in the military. I'm smart, kind and sensitivity is my weakness. I know I can do something and be good at it if I try and wanted to, I just never did in high school. I just wanna make sure that this is what I'm going to do. I also specifically would like to know what relationship and family would be like as a paramedic. If ever I get into a serious one, and I plan to, I don't want my other half to be feeling lonely as I'm out there spending less time with her. I wanna be able to spend time with her too, I'm just thinking that no woman would want spending most of her time alone away from her other half. And other bad things can happen with that, like cheating, but I'm not one to do that, or separation of both. If ever having children comes to mind, I would also like to help her raise and spend time with the kid. Is the pay (in Canada) enough to raise and support a family? Maybe I'm just worrying now that I will be lonely if ever I become one. You might say that this would not even be the big problem, but still let me know about this and tell me the big problems that can come up. I just don't wanna regret being one when I am. Basically, please tell me about the life of a paramedic, with pros and cons and anything else that will help me decide. If you can, please answer from a source of a paramedic. Thank you for taking your time reading my inquiry.

[scubanurse]

As for the relationship part, I can't speak to pay in Canada, it can be tough. I have known some to have wonderful marriages, and some to have them always fall apart.

As with most romantic relationships, they take work and the more work you put into one the more likely it is to be successful.

Best bet right now, focus on education. Take some science and writing courses. Worry about the relationship part when it arises.

Welcome to the site and best of luck

[justinbien9]

Thanks. I just wanna be sure about taking this profession and wanna know more what it's like when off the job. The required science courses I have done last sem but now I'm doing nothing but working on the other credentials like Class 4 Driver's Licencse, CPR or Basic Life Support I will take which is one class, and working on my body to be fit and pass the fitness test. I'm worried about making the wrong decision and find out a year later that this job is not for me because of issues in life.

[Kiwiology]

In Canada things are similar to other countries such as Australia, NZ and UK where Paramedic is an educated, well paid professional position.

I know the pay in BC, Alberta and Ontario is very good (PCP is about $25 an hour and ACP more) while I think the pay in NS is a bit less but still quite good, other provinces not so much from what I hear. The whole internal labour thing means that scope of practice will soon become standardised and national registration will be achieved from what I understand.

There are many Canadian Paramedics here and I don't know any of them who bitch and moan about being overworked, burnt out, underpaid etc or who upgrade to being a Nurse to get paid more, or who moan about being stuck 20 years behind the rest of the world in some respects of practice because their medical director is a douchebag.

I'd say go for it mate

[BEorP]

Thanks. I just wanna be sure about taking this profession and wanna know more what it's like when off the job. The required science courses I have done last sem but now I'm doing nothing but working on the other credentials like Class 4 Driver's Licencse, CPR or Basic Life Support I will take which is one class, and working on my body to be fit and pass the fitness test. I'm worried about making the wrong decision and find out a year later that this job is not for me because of issues in life.

Welcome to the forum. You're in a pretty good province to be considering a paramedicine career. In terms of what it is like off the job, I personally don't think that has much to do with anything when it comes to relationships. Yes, the shift work can be a burden and we do sometimes see things that might affect you psychologically but overall I do not see any reason why we would be more dysfunctional than other professions. The exception to this would be in Ontario where new PCPs often need to work PT casual for the first number of years, which involves a lot of last minute call ins that can become difficult for making any kind of social plans around. I don't think that this is the case out west, but hopefully one of our members there can chime in on what it is like for new employees in this respect.

So I guess what I am saying is that the job may or may not be for you, but if it isn't for you I don't think that it will be because of issues while off the job. Unlike American TV, most of us who do ambulance work in Canada do not eat, sleep, and breathe it. Home time is home time and we work a reasonable number of hours for a good wage so there are not the issues with having enough time off that our American friends sometimes encounter.

In Canada things are similar to other countries such as Australia, NZ and UK where Paramedic is an educated, well paid professional position.

I know the pay in BC, Alberta and Ontario is very good (PCP is about $25 an hour and ACP more) while I think the pay in NS is a bit less but still quite good, other provinces not so much from what I hear. The whole internal labour thing means that scope of practice will soon become standardised and national registration will be achieved from what I understand.

There are many Canadian Paramedics here and I don't know any of them who bitch and moan about being overworked, burnt out, underpaid etc or who upgrade to being a Nurse to get paid more, or who moan about being stuck 20 years behind the rest of the world in some respects of practice because their medical director is a douchebag.

I'd say go for it mate

I'll generally second what Kiwi has said here, but with a few minor modifications. In Ontario we are actually stuck more than 20 years behind the rest of the world in some respects because of all of our medical directors, but I don't moan and bitch about it too much since PCPs are paid around $35 an hour where I work (ACPs around $37). I'm not exactly sure on the pay out west, but it is still decent certainly and they are not as far behind the world as us in Ontario on things like PCP analgesia.

[Bernhard]

Generally: don't believe TV dramas to show the real EMS world.

And a word on relationships: that isn't a "job" thing, it's a thing between people and their will to work on this...(BTW: family is the real hard job in life and more or less noone really can teach you this).

Try a ride-along or some kind of internship as soon as possible, maybe on different stations/areas. That will give you a deeper and realistic insight in your personal feelings with this area of work.

[Arctickat]

Welcome to the forum. You're in a pretty good province to be considering a paramedicine career.

Okay, so how did you deduce which province he's located in? I've read his posts over twice and looked through his profile and I still can't figure it out. That's why I never bothered responding.

[BEorP]

Okay, so how did you deduce which province he's located in? I've read his posts over twice and looked through his profile and I still can't figure it out. That's why I never bothered responding.

I made a bad assumption (sorry!). I always associated numbered driver's licence classes with Alberta and BC but I now see that many other provinces have them and it is us in Ontario who is odd with our alphabetic system.

[rock_shoes]

What province are you in? Knowing your general location will really help us to tailor our responses. The pathways still vary significantly province to province.

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[Arctickat]

Hey Rock...you a CFL fan? I thought Ol' Geroy would retire a Lion.