JaxonStreet

Tell us the truth. Why did you get into EMS in the first place? Tell the truth and shame the devil!

Why do you want to be an EMT in the first place? You said that you want to be an EMT, a nurse, or an electrician. I think before you get into EMS, you should find out what your general career goal in life is before you get into something you'll regret. If possible, do some ride-alongs with a 911 service in your area so you could get somewhat of a feel for the job. But overall, try to list your reasons for getting into EMS and see if those reasons could lead you to do other things...if that makes sense There are other things you could do that doesn't involve sitting in an office.

Thankfully, I work for an EMS system that actually DENIES people rides to the hospital. And I don't mean us trying to talk people out of going to the hospital. I mean we would flat out tell people that they don't need an ambulance and we would leave their behinds on scene. And it's perfectly legal We have such a high call volume, mostly bogus calls, and so few ambulances that we can't afford to take everybody to the hospital, especially if the person doesn't need to go by us and if they don't have insurance. Don't get me wrong, just because a patient doesn't need an ambulance doesn't mean that they shouldn't go to the hospital, but that their condition doesn't require emergent transport. When I first started working for this system, I had to get used to not taking everybody to the hospital because back at the system I used to work for, we took every kind of thing to the hospital and went lights and sirens to every call. For the system I work for now, we do most things under our discretion. We don't go lights and sirens to everything, we could cancel first responders, and we could use our judgment when it comes to protocol. Under this system, we are actually required to THINK and make the BEST decision for both us and the patient. I just don't understand why all EMS agencies don't allow for denying transport. We are an EMERGENCY service, NOT a taxi. We have denied all types of people. If there's any doubt as to whether or not a patient should go to the hospital, we'll take them. But we do a lot of educating, explaining to people why they don't need an ambulance. And in my system, we always run out of ambulances whether or not we are transporting someone, so just think what would happen if we actually took EVERYBODY to the hospital. It'll be a mess here. And people go on and on about how we need more ambulances and so on. I say that more EMS agencies have to stop being afraid of litigation and be more concerned about the people's NEEDS. But that's just my opinion

I was wondering if anybody here has ever had a problem with getting reciprocity as an EMT-B, EMT-I- or EMT-P from other states. Has anybody found themselves jumping through hoops every time they tried to apply to different states? Let me know, because I have been thinking about going to school as a medic. I currently work as an EMT in North Carolina, and despite the low pay and all that, one of my major goals for getting a medic is so that I could have that option of transferring to different states if need be and have a job waiting for me. I know that transferring isn't a piece of cake, but I was wondering if anybody had major issues with reciprocity. I would love to hear your comments, guys. Don't be shy, now!