MetalMedic

Was awesome! Played with the Halligens, axes, Hurst Tools (AKA The Jaws of Life), watched air bags explode. The Helicopter crew even came out for an hour to hang out. Found out I love doing standing take downs and rapid extrication. I know as EMT's (at least in our state) we don't get to use them all that much, but man, what a rockstar day I had. I don't know if I'll ever get to legally pull a door off a car again. Yeah, solidified I'm going into the right field. -MetalMedic

Hey welcome to the City! The only thing I can offer (as I'm still in EMT-B classes for a few more weeks) is that make sure to check with your local guidelines as some states require EMT certification before they will even allow you to enroll in Paramedic classes/ programs. I guess they have this thing about putting the stretcher before the ambulance. -MetalMedic Edited to make a witty statement- a play on putting the cart before the horse if you will.

It's not NREMT specific, but a website for the book we use in class. It's got a lot of terms and study guides and what not in it. Yeah I've done the national tests before (not for the NREMT, but for other things) and nothing is ever text book, but I thought that sharing the site MAY help with terms, and practicals. And your process is correct. -MetalMedic

If I wasn't hot, I wouldn't be a mom. OMG I had a great laugh at that today. I'm not sure where you got the name Carl, cause I've never even posted my real name. If you look at my profile you can clearly see I'm a woman, both by gender indicated and profile picture. If not, then I need some plastic surgery. LOL And no, I've never been a man. LOL. For some reason when you repond to my posts, you kept calling me brother. I just assumed you called every one brother (Like in A Clockwork Orange). Thanks for all the insight everyone, the EMT fire lit in me a year ago and I gave myself a year to start EMT classes, however I'm finishing when I gave myself the deadline to start. So I'm ahead of the game. The struggles you all have pointed out have been noted and understood. So I'm going to remove my personal dilemmas and let the debate of Experience VS Emt Continue. -MetalMedic

Too late. I'm no longer "school age" and am no longer in my 20's (although I pass for it). Which is kind of where the push and pull comes in. I currently work 40 hours a week and attend classes part time, in addition to being a mom who decided to never get married. (I hate the "single mom" moniker as too many use it as an excuse or a pity ploy). To put it this way, I'll still be in my 30's when my son graduates from High School. Does that change anyone's perspective? -MetalMedic Edited to correct grammatical error.

I think I inhaled my purple skittle! These are from the website: Dear Blank Please Blank. One of my favorite ones is: Dear Diet Coke, You're over reacting. Love, Mentos. -MetalMedic

Thanks for the advice everyone! I knew I was asking a controversial question when I started, so I expected nothing less the a different reply from everyone! usmc_chris - I'd Give you a million reputation points for the advice in your post if I could! Glad to know it appears that way, but actually I'm looking for paid work. The plan was to Volly for a while until I get a paid job. I'm itching to turn in my 2 weeks at my current job, but the difference is I know if I make a miskate at my current job, no one dies. And having some experience under my belt will for sure help in getting a paid position. -MetalMedic

We've all done it. In class we had a person who I made the mistake of reffering to as "him". When she corrected me, I insisted that no, she was a he. I felt like a fool, but it's water under the bridge now. So it happens to the best of us. Heck a few years ago a male friend of mine disappeared off the face of the planet. I ran into another friend of mine with a beautiful woman next to her. I introduced myself to the new woman and said, "I don't think we've met before," she replied with, "Yes we have, I used to be *Brad*." Talk about ackward. -MetalMedic

So I thought I would get a general impression from the folks out there that have experience under their belts. I will be a paramedic, period the end. However I've heard pro's and cons for both sides- for getting right into it while everything is "fresh" but also to get some experience as an EMT behind my belt. My plan right now is to Volly until I get a paid EMT job. Some of the Volly services out here will and do pay for Paramedic programs with a promise of commitement. I plan to have at least 6 months experience before I get into the paramedic program (due to when the semester starts anyway). Would you suggest more time to be an EMT, less? Our state allows us to work with one company and volly with another, so both is an option at this time too. I'm just wondering if anyone has any thoughts? Should I take the AEMT program to kind of be in the middle of the pre-hosp care? (Our state recogonizes the difference in EMT, AEMT and Paramedic). Thoughts, suggestions, advice? -MetalMedic

So I got my wish! I went with a different ambulance company this time and we were pretty busy. First call: Foot Problem, transport for eval. Second Call: AMS, hypothermia Third Call: Car VS Telephone pole Fourth Call: OD/ Suicide Attempt Over all a very cool night, got to watch an IV put in, got to watch the heart monitors and even got to check the glucose. Made sure I asked all the questions I didn't ask the first night. Followed the EMT and Paramedic around all night either watching or asking when applicable. Got to go into the hospital and asked a lot of questions there, found where the equip was, etc. Preceptor asked me all kinds of questions at the end of the night like what we were looking for with the Car accident. I told her, but she wanted the "big girl words" and I kept mixing up Embolism and Pneumothroax, even though I know what they are. She asked me right as they were dropping me off at 1 am... Little unfair since I had been up since 6 am. But at least I know I have to really pay attention to what wording I use. The people I rode with were awesome, asked me all kinds of questions about Pt's (What are we looking for? How does PT skin look? etc) and were very receptive to my questions as well. One thing I have to work on- Taking BP's. One of the people with one of the Volly's offered me a job on the spot. Told her I was still in training, she said to call her when I get certified.... Yeah. Good night and I'm really hoping I get to go again although I've reached my required limit for the class. Interesting side note- My step brother went and friends mother in law both went into the hosp on Sunday night, both had stated they wished I'd have been there to help transport! Kind of warmmed my heart. -MetalMedic Edited to remove even the vague details, don't want to lose my job before I can even get one!

It's April Fools day, snowing and raining... I hope like the dickens it's more exciting than the first... If not, at least I have a boat load of questions to ask. -MetalMedic

From one of my favorite websites; XKCD Anyone had a call like this? -MetalMedic

Our instructor mentioned that there is a huge bank of questions, but at times it will shut off early based on how well you are doing. He mentioned just because it shuts off it doesn't mean you passed, but it doesn't mean you failed earlier. When I took my P/C Insurance test it shut off early for me. I passed with 90%, when I went to take L/H insurance It shut off early again and I totally bombed it. So it's a crap shoot. -MetalMedic.

Thanks for all the thoughts everyone. I did pull my instructor aside and talked to him one on one before I filled out my review. I gave them 10's on the medical portions because from what I saw from the couple of calls we did, they were awesome. For the teaching portion I gave them a 4-5 and explained to my instructor WHY I gave them that. I made it clear it wasn't based on the fact we were slow, but when I asked questions it was pulling teeth, yada yada yada. The Medic who was his close friend was more friendly than the EMT and I told him that as well. I still feel like a jerk for ratting them out as I may have to work with them in the future when I get a job as an EMT. But new ride-a-long set for 2 weeks from now and with a different location/ company. -MetalMedic

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! I just wanted to clarify that the tough part was trying to get replies from the EMT and medic about questions I had, not that it was slow. (Although that kind of was stinky too, that was out of everyone's hands). I'll sign up with a different service to ride with next time to get a taste for different companies. Thanks -MetalMedic

I used to do some muay thai, but moved and left it behind. Actually looking at picking it back up to get rid of the quit-smoking weight I gained.

Thanks for the perspective! I was so put-off by the comments that I was hoping it wouldn't cloud my judgement. I'll make sure to leave that off my assessment of them. The patient care they provided was outstanding , but I just didn't get to see more than about 10 minutes of it in my 5 hours. I wouldn't say they were horrible, but they weren't that amazing either, but it was my first time and don't really have something to compare them with. I'm an EMT-B in training. Our class requires at least 10 hours total of ride time. Thankfully this was my first time out. The silver lining in all this is that I know if there is a slow night at work I can deal with it. And even though it was slow, seeing the respect we get from the public is pretty cool. And I have to admit, I did feel like a rockstar jumping out of the back of the cab with the purple gloves sticking out of my back pocket... even if it was just to stretch. -MetalMedic

So I'm a little depressed as the first ride-a-long I had was a total bust. For it being St. Paddy's day, we had a total of 2 calls. First was a depressed person who's family called in. I got to take his blood pressure, but since he spoke another language (that I don't) I couldn't really gather anything. There was family around, but the EMT jumped out and was asking SAMPLE questions before I could even get out of the back of the truck. Which is fine for the first call, but I wished I had been out there to witness it. Second call was a guy who left the hospital with a IV Cath in his arm, nothing I could do there. I did talk with the EMTs a little bit, but getting information or trying to get them to talk to me was a little like pulling teeth. They made it clear they didn't want me there because they thought I was with X program. When I told them I was with Y program, they eased up a little bit and responded to my questions a little bit better. But they didn't really go out of their way to explain a lot of things even though I asked as many open-ended questions as possible. Also, I really felt like a 3rd wheel, while waiting for a calls to respond to, we primarly drove around the area and the two guys made comments about every woman that walked by. It was cute for about an hour, and after that it was really degrading. I'm sure they didn't even think about it and I'm sure they do it all the time, but instead of helping me learn what to do on slow nights I would over hear comments that were more suited for a guy at a bar. Now to be fair, they did offer me some great pieces of advice, and they did give me a pretty good review to bring back to my instructor. I guess I'm at a loss for what to rate them. I know it's not their issue that there were no calls and they weren't HORRIBLE at teaching, but knowing they didn't want me there, didn't make an effort to teach, and making degrading comments makes it kind of hard for me to give them a glowing review. I know it's not their fault we didn't get any calls, heck there were 3-4 ambulances lined up on the city lines to respond to either city, so it was just a slow night period. Heck they were even calling ambulances back to base. Here's the tough part: The Medic we were with did say that the scores were factored into their reviews and to go easy. Which I understand, I don't want to throw them under the bus based on circumstances, that's kind of a jerk thing to do. Also, the medic I was with was a student of my instructor and they are great friends. So I almost feel obligated to give them the best review ever. I'm just trying to be fair. I'm just afraid that lack of sleep, lack of nicotine (1 week smoke free! YAY) and lack of calls may be clouding my judgement. Suggestions? Thanks! -MetalMedic

Hello! I have my first ride along tonight and I'm pretty nervous. I thought it would be smart to take St. Paddy's day to ensure we weren't slow. I thought it was a good idea, but now that time has come I'm very nervous and very excited. I'm pretty good with patient assessement, looking back feel I may have jumped in over my head before getting my feet wet. Does anyone have any tips or thoughts on my first time out? Aside from BSI/Scene Saftey anything else I should keep in mind? Thanks! -MetalMedic

I agree, take a deep breath. I found my weakness is in the body parts. You could talk to me about them, I could talk about them in class, etc, but when it came to test time and I saw it on paper, I was lost. So I printed out all the body systems I could think of and put them on my bedroom wall. Every morning and every night, I look at all of them and go over them a few times. Nothing more than a minute or two. When I have a test and it asks about a specific body part, I draw it and label what I remember. I add the functions if I can recall it too. It's helped my test taking points by about 10 %. You could do the same with the acronmyns. It doesn't have to be on your bedroom wall, put it on a milk carton, hang each letter on a clothes hanger in your closet, etc. Also, I feel overwhelmed at times too. Being a "victim" for others taking the NRemt test helped me a lot. I've also posted a website from my course book that has flash cards and quizes that are free for all. I believe it also has diagrams. Those may be of assistance. (It's actually the thread below this one.) It also has a free for all study guide to the NRemt exam. Another funny thing that helped, when I watch movies or TV shows where someone is hurt, I sometimes imagine if I were the EMT on scene. Also, read up on the senarios and play with the senarios on the site here. I amazed myself on how well I did with one! Not perfect, but really helped me put some confidence in my game. Hopefully some of this will help. Don't feel too bad. I'm in a class where I'm with all college students and I'm a good 10 years older them... at least. I can't assist too much with the assessment myself because I'm still a little on a few things but hopefully after my ride a long tonight, it will be a little more clear. I'd rather give you no information than wrong information. "What do you call the kid who graduated last in Med School?" -Doctor. -MetalMedic

I shouldn't have been too eager last night, I didn't read the updated stats on the thread. Grrr to me. LOL. Anything major I'm missing? (Please feel free to PM me) -MetalMedic

Thanks! Driving home I also thought about a puncture and realized that I was relying to heavy on a pneumo, but I didn't rule it out. Any paradoxical motion in the chest at all? -MetalMedic

Was there any crepitis in the pelvic region? Any DCAP-BLTS in the right leg? I'm looking for a possible closed fracture - possible issue with the femoral atery. Any blood in urine- was seatbelt on properly? Is there a possible tear in the bladder? I'm still really leaning toward the pneumothroax in the chest and adding some internal bleeding in the abd. What quadrant is the tenderness located in? It also may show more signs/symptoms of the issues with breathing depending on where the problem is. -MetalMedic *Edit I'll check in after class tonight! And again, if I'm way off please explain where I'm off. It is much appreciated.

Still fairly new to EMS/EMT so please be gentle: With a shallow Resp rate and the fact he keeps sitting up I'm thinking possible pneuomothroax or hemothorax, people usually sit in the a position where they can get the most air. Or is there any punctures or contusions near the sites? (Did I miss that?) Also, had he recently stopped drinking his usual amount? Still contemplating the other problems. -MetalMedic

Hi Everyone, We currently use the book: AAOS 10th edition Emergency Care and Transport of the Sick and Injured in our EMT-B class. I have discovered they have a wonderful website. If you use this book there is a silver scratch off bar on the front cover that has an access code for full access to the website. Even if you don't use this book there is a free section that has quizzes and "flash cards" that may help you prepare for your test as well. I've also found that reading the senarios on this site helps too. Granted I haven't taken the test yet, but I see everyone asking where they can study and I thought this may help. I use it a couple of times a week to make sure I'm caught up and following the lessons. -MetalMedic