Paramedic from Germany

[Chriis93]

Hello guys, I'm Chris

I'm 21 years old paramedic from Dortmund, Germany.

I'm interested in the US emergency medical system since I have seen Chicago Fire.

I was lookin in the Internet but I did found what I've been looking for so I desided to join your community.

I wanna know what your have to do in the U.S. to become a paramedic?

And during my search in the Internet i found many shortcuts as they are EMS, EMT, PIC-EMS, EMT-B, -I and -P, Paramedic and some more. For me as German its a bit confusing cause I don't understand what these are mean and which competences belong to them.

I'm sorry for my English and thanks in advanced

Chris

[Just Plain Ruff]

good to see you here Chris but please do NOT use Chicago Fire as a ruler to guage what EMS is in this country. Chicago fire only shows you the glory and exciting calls and leaves out a lot of the mundane and slow portions of EMS here in the US.

In one episode of Chicago fire the medics may have calls 5 types of patients that many of us in EMS might never even see in a career. And even in Chicago many of their medics haven't seen all of these types of patients.

But what you will see in US EMS is patient transfers of patients who all you are doing is being a taxi service to take them from the nursing home to a hospital and back.

You will also see the run of the mill pediatric medical calls, geriatric falls, minor car wrecks because someone says their neck hurts, the 3 am call that got you out of your bed just so you can transport the 30 year old who has a back ache and can't wait till he can call his doctor.

You will also see the very exciting calls of dead bodies, families saying goodbye to loved ones who are already dead but they called you because they didn't know what else to do. You will be forced to do CPR on someone who you know should NOT have it done because your medical director is too lazy to look at current literature and say that codes should not be run in the Ambulance to the hospital. You will be forced to do CPR on a 99 year old male who is in a nursing home dying of a plethora of medical issues but his family doesn't get a DNR signed because "It's not what he would want" so you torture this poor 99 year old male with CPR and all the advanced treatments.

You will also see the worst in people and you will also see the best in people. Some of the worst calls I've ever run have actually helped to shape me into a better person and a better medic. You will see some really intense things, just like they do in Chicago Fire but not as often. Please don't use Chicago fire as your baseline as to what EMS is about.

I've been in EMS for nearly 20 years, I'm semi retired, but for those 20 years, the good has always outweighed the bad.

To become a paramedic - you need to be an EMT first. Once you have the EMT there are two schools of thought.

1. Get a year or some arbitrary (depends on the so called expert you talk to) of experience in the field.

2. Go directly into paramedic School after emt school.

The consensus here on this site is this - No matter what you decide to do, you need to get your paramedic education from a degree granting college and not a diploma mill type school. So a paramedic school from the local college where you will get at least a 2 year degree is the way to go. The paramedic education from the local fire department where they teach you to be a paramedic (this is a diploma mill type school) is NOT the way to go.

There is an EMT-I somewhere in the mix but Missouri does not have that level of certification so I cannot speak to it. But others here will be able to.

[Chriis93]

I know that that Chicago Fire is just a TV show which was made to entertain us.

In germany its nearlly the same, most of the emergency calls we are being also taxi service.

In germany we got an emergency doctor system. On an ambulance is one "Rettungsassistent" as Paramedic in charge and a "Rettungssanitäter" as EMT-B

There is a second car for the emergency doctor, which is driven by a Paramedic. If someone calls with chest pain, a heavy car accident or a reanimation the doctors car will also go to the emergency. So when I am on the ambulance we also start CPR to a 99 years old man, even if there is a declaration that he dont wants. When the doctor arrives he is allowed to say stop even when the doctor need 30 minutes.

To become a Paramedic in Germany you first need to be EMT-B. This need you 3 months. One Month theoretical course, one month in the hospital and one on an ambulance as third person. Thereafter 4 months theoretical course and 2 months hospital. When you passed the exam, you need one year as practical training with a Paramedic in charge, then you get your certificat

[FlightmedicSAR]

Hello from Michigan USA. I worked with German Medics and Doctors from Germany during thr Red Bull Air Races on the Detroit River. Very Smart and Had their stuff together.

Very good airshow not a boring place. sat with the Doctor and Emergency Divers. Luck was on our side no problems. Cheers.