new ems student with a question

[bigjake215]

I am a new EMS student. I have a question about paramedics working in the ED. Can someone clerify what they do in the ED. I have seen job openings but I wasn't sure what there role is. Do they go on calls or are they stricly hospital based. Thanks for any help you can give

[island emt]

Both: There are places where EMS is hospital based & when not out on calls the EMS crew works in the Emergency department. There are other places that have Medics working alongside the staff RN's in emergency depts. Some hospitals use them as glorified bed changers , while others have them working to the full level of their scope of practice.

[mikeymedic1984]

It varies from hospital to hospital. As mentioned, some have their own EMS, some have specialty transport like Neo-nate, Pedicatric, or helicopter service. Most use medics as "techs", which may be able to do a lot or very little. I have been in settings where I acted as "Charge Nurse" to settings where I could just take vital signs or draw labs. That would be a question to ask during interview, but with that being said, any ER job will give you a lot of good experience as a newbie.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I worked in two different hospital ER's where EMS runs out of the hospital.

When I wasn't on the ambulance, I was in the ER taking care of patients. I had my own patients that I took care of and relied on the RN to work with me but in all intents and purposes, those patients were my patients. I did everything to them including foley catheters on male patients all the way up to running the code (doctor was of course always there).

I could hang blood and give antibiotics and any other medication that we carried in the ER.

I was functioning as a nurse but not paid as one.

The community knew that medics staffed the ER along with nurses and never once did I get asked by the patient to not take care of them and substitute a nurse.

My care was as good if not better sometimes than the nurses we had in the ER.

When an ambulance call came in, I would give quick report to the nurse and I would go run the call and then return and take my patient back over from the nurse I gave report to.

If you have any more questions - pm me

[KYmorris]

In our local hospitals the trauma center uses medics in a dual role of treating patients in the ED and doing interfacility transfers. Another hospital in town uses medics strictly in the ED with a scope identical to the RNs but minus being able to be actually responsible for a patient. So in short they can do any/all procedures but cannot be the technical care giver.

[jwiley40]

When I worked as a medic in an ED (US military hospital as a civilian medic), I ran calls and worked in the ED, assisting nurses and doctors. However, we were restricted to performing only within the limits of our licensure. In other words, if we could do it on the trucks, we could do it in the ED. As for meds, if it wasn't on our ambulance, we didn't administer it. Breathing treatments, IV medications such as Cardizem or RSI meds, we gave. We could not perform suturing, even if we were certified to do so. If it wasn't in the scope of practice or on the job description, it wasn't done in the ED.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I am a new EMS student. I have a question about paramedics working in the ED. Can someone clerify what they do in the ED. I have seen job openings but I wasn't sure what there role is. Do they go on calls or are they stricly hospital based. Thanks for any help you can give

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