kkidder

Much like everybody has already stated ; there's not really an "easy quick fix" to memorizing streets. Especially if you have a large coverage area, are constantly changing coverage areas or if you're from out of town. . . Myself for example, I work in Louisville, KY but I don't live anywhere close to there, been there for about 8-9 months now and I still get confused from time to time on where I'm going. In general I have a "general" idea of where I'm going well enough to get me to the area and between my partner and I we can narrow it down to within a 1 block radius. But as stated in the prior posts, drive around your post area, glance at maps periodically in your down time to places you're commonly dispatched to. In addition, it never hurts to have a GPS in your unit like most of our med units in Louisville do. . . in doing that, even if you're familiar with the area, you can see the street names as you pass them and you're not trying to fumble and recalculate using a map book running code 3 if you happen upon a traffic jam or other adverse condition.

Keep in mind that starting right off the bat you're not going to get all of the guts and glory that comes with a 911 service. Even working all of the chuck truck runs (dialysis, transfers, granny homes, etc.) you'll still get some 911 contact, just not the majority for that city. Keep in mind, when you're in the truck for whatever company you're working for, that truck is a moving billboard and you could very well after clearing a call roll up on a multiple car MVA allowing you to get some 911 contact or be flagged down because the natives got restless and somebody got a bullet in their ass. In short sum what I'm getting at is you can't start out at the top no matter what field you're working in. Many, MANYYYYYYY of those working 911 start off at places being the gerriatric taxi in order to get their skills down and get theirself into a system of their own to find out what works best for them. Or you have the ones that're burnt out on 911 and want the break that comes with working the chuck truck runs. Also keep in mind that some cities with their private pay ambulance services, such as like the one I'm presently at in Louisville, KY ; no we don't have the 911 contract for Louisville, but the company has sub-stations right across the border in Indiana for which they do have the 911 contract for and a station in Jeffersontown which is a hop skip and a jump from Louisville which they also have the 911 contract for. In addition we provide backup 911 for Louisville Metro when they get slammed, which on average for a 16 hour shift I'm typically on atleast 3 Louisville Metro calls. Last but not least, no matter where you end up being or what you end up doing, never forget who you are and where you came from. :wink: -K.Kidder NREMT-B KY EMT-B

I personally have never worked for RAA. . . however I've got a good friend that has and from the way he's talked about it, it's not too shabby at all. The pay is good, in addition to the benefits. You get your share of seeing everything in the EMS field, gunshots, stabbings, septic, MVC, etc etc. In addition RAA is the head hancho in that area. If you're known as a RAA medic in the area, people know that you're cream of the crop. So if you can get on with them, it'd be a great thing overall.

I can feel your pain on the practicals and the NR exam. Here's a website that should help you some with scenarios [web:9f4809b8fb]http://www.lessstress.com/simulator/sim.htm[/web:9f4809b8fb] It's not the best place in the world because you don't exactly get "hands on" of course. However, it will give you some scenarios that should get you thinking and help you out with your dilemma. As far as the airway part, only thing I know to tell you to do with that would be to do some research on it and find out what you can, or ask your instructor to explain it to you (seeing as how they were suppose to do that in the first place)

If it's the head honcho that seems to be in this bit of a pickle then I'd say it's a good blend of both work and personal. Perhaps one more so than the other. There comes in time in ones EMS career that everybody starts to burnout or burns out completely. About the only thing that can be done with this particular person is to simply go along with the program, don't whine and fuss about anything despite what anybody else might do, and encourage the other "whiners" to put their big girl panties on. . . They need to remember, he's the head honcho, not them

Howdy doo everybody. My name's Kenneth. Once upon a time a couple of years ago I was an EMT-B, then between military affairs and other events I didn't get the chance to re-cert. Now I'm about literally a hop skip and a jump from testing out in my class and gettin back into the field of EMS. That's about all I have to say right now, I never was a man of many words, I hope everybody enjoys the site, I myself am still in the midst of trying to figure out everything on here