FormerEMSLT297

As I have said before, i left FDNY 10 months after the merger. I have been gone for 11 years now. I went back several months ago, and visited 5 stattions i used to work at in NYC. Out of the 5 stations, I knew maybe one person at each. Almost everyone i knew, is now a LT, or Capt, or D/C. The attrition rate, which was very high in NYC-EMS, is OFF THE HOOK, with FDNY. But they will deny it because by their calculations anyone work gets "promoted" to firefighter didnt leave the service, as they are still employed by FDNY. But speaking with friends the average EMT stays 2-3 years and leaves or moves up to FF. Many dont even want to bother getting their medic, people that stay usually go on to Police , nursing or medical school.

Damn, never did make it to the majors; Now I'm retired, and living the good life they call me by my stage name "John Madden"

I read the report when it first came out, and i thought that the Chief of Boston EMS (i forgot his name) made a great argument to separate the services. And he was quoted as saying he didnt think they took him seriously, or he was upset that they did not follow his reco. something like that. If you want some insight into what DC firefighters think about EMS go to www.thewatchdesk.com most of the FF's do not want to do EMS. It is sad really that they couldnt come up with abetter system

"I'm not a Dr. but i did stay at a holiday inn last night" or "I'm not a Dr. but i play one on TV" or "I dunno im just a paramedic, Sorry"

As a former supervisor in FDNY EMS I can tell you it is as bad as "that guy" says it is. The firefighters would rather hang in their houses and sleep and be well rested for their second job than run ems calls all night long. They feel they did not sign on to be EMS and they are undertrained CFR-D and fell out of place. Dont talk to anybody in EMS ADMIN. about the problems ,, ask the EMT's and Medics about the merger they will tell you the truth. Ask EMS management, they will tell you a rosy tail because they want to curry favor with the FDNY bosses.

I've been working in MD as a medic for 11 years, I can state with 99.9% accuracy that while USPP Eagle do numerous calls for MD every year, The private Helos do VERY VERY few. I dont remember the last time i saw a private at a MD scene medevac. MSP and USPP pretty regularly

The only thing you will gain by visiting an FDNY EMS Station is to see how the FDNY (Freakin Dummies of New York) treat EMS as the bastard step children of their service. Go to the Station @ Bellevue Hospital and see how the "Station" is really a bunch of pre fab trailer in the ER parking lot, or better yet go o the Barnd new Station on 223 and Merrick Blvd in Queens and see haow, ther is no kitchen, there is no bunk room and there are no sleeping facilities. Then compare that to a traditional FDNY Firehouse with sleeping quarters, full kitchen cable TV, bucnk room, washer dryer, etc. FDNY took over EMS for one reason CALL VOLUME. They can now say, they are the busiest firedept in the country with 1.3 million resonses. Too bad that 1.2 million of theose are EMS and only about 400,000 are fire related. for further google FDNY sucks and check out the web site designed by a 20 year Paramedic in NYC. see what he thinks of the "merger" Good luck with the marriage

Opss, Sorry I almost forgot, CHP and Arizona DPS also run state Medic Trroper units. NYSP also useing medics from a local EMS system for medevac, as does NYSP

In the Wash. DC area, the following Medevacs are run by Police units using Sworn officers as medics. Maryland State Police, Fairfax County Police, United States Park Police. Others include: Delaware State Police, Nassau County (NY) Police, Suffolk County (NY) Police they use medics from Stonybrook hospital. On the west coast, A lotta sheriffs do this, LA Co. Sonoma County, San Benadino, I foget all of them. check out www.henry1.com for Sonoma Co. Also question. The Sonoma Co. website says they have a "Deputy Sheriff Observer and a Rescue Paramedic" does that mean that the medic is a civilian? or what. ?

Montgomery County Fire Rescue is hiring. $39,000 to start plus they will pay for medic school. You'll have to do fire as well though. www.montgomerycountymd.gov/firerescue

I tried to get on this committe and got rejected . a buddy of mine who is the President of a regional EMS council in NYS was also rejected. I Guess they want "academics" and not people working in the field for 25 + years. My simple BS and Exp. didnt get me a look. ohh well.

I precepted for both Northeastern and Springfield college, in the early 90's,, and i thought that students from both programs appeared to be knowledgable and well prepared for their rotations. Good luck

NYC has been stopping unsuccessful resuscitation efforts for at least 25 years. we would run through the ALCS and if no changes and no returns, call telemetry and get permission to DC the call. There is no benefit to transporting patients in arrest unless they are hypothermic, or maybe in some cases trauma victims. I'm shocked that more systems dont do this as well, i thought it was kind of standard.

Or you can do like one dept in MD did, Ohh,, you cant pass, EMT-P,,, EMT-I is the same thing, you can function as a medic in charge as an I, you just cant do nasal tubes, or RSI, or give Haldol,,, but you're the same as a full P.... Watered down EMS,,,thats what i call it.. or you have the flip side, a FF/EMT-P who has been on the job for 10-15 yrs, riding "the box" as someone called it is suddenly promoted to LT, and Holy S$%T,, they know NOTHING about firefighting, havent been in a burning building in YEARS since fire school ... I agree, EMS should be it's own 3rd service ,, with comparative pay, benies, and retirement of cops and hosedragging, Firemonkeys, (oppps that kind of slipped). Dr. Jay Fitch of Fitch and assoc told me in a meeting Circa 1993 when NYC was considering turning over EMS to the FDNY, "very few FD's run a quality EMS system.".... and there were never truer words spoken. and it's been documented around the country, but the IAFF, and UFA, nad others have the poiticians convinced that EMS belongs with the FD, so you will see the trend continuing.

While I will not try to discourage you from doing any ridealongs, some agencies, limit what contact you have with patients, while still others, like DC fire now forbid ridealongs out of patient privacy concerns. The other thing I will say is that I do not believe you will get much REAL WORLD experience riding as a 3rd person on a unit. The real way to get real experience is to get a full time jobs riding on a busy unit with a good partner that will show you the ropes.

I dont see anything wrong with your treatment in this case. If the patient was hot to touch, maybe, febrile seziures, ... or some other cause. Talk about Doc's giving you a hard time.... I rolled into a major burn unit in NYC about 15 years ago, with a patient that was burned in a bulding fire. Walk up to the bed with the patient on a stretcher and the conversation goes like this: ER Doc: Heah what do you got ? Me: Thermal burns to the feet, and lower legs, no airway involvement. ER Doc: (in front of numerous nurses, residents, interns, etc.) "Thermal burns, what other type of burns are there.???"(in very sarcastic tone. Me: (equally sarcastic tone and very loud) " Well lets see, there a thermal burns, electrical burns, chemical burns, and ohh yeah, radiation burns, so I would say 3 other types!!!" He just looked down at his feet and had no reply. As I was getting my paperwork signed the ER Doc, whom I'd known for years came over and said, "you really gave it to him good, and he deserved it." Cocky new resident put in place by a lowly paramedic, in my 23+ years, that is one of the few problems i have had with Docs, most of the time everything goes well, and i find that if you ask them, they will explain what if anything they felt you could have done differently or better. But just like in every professsion there are A%$Holes in very group. (present company excluded of course, Doczilla, and others, here.)

I served as a Corpsman in the USN. During my 8 years, I only had 2 medical emergencies. 1. Anaphylactic reaction from a bee sting, and 2. a reservist that collapsed from an undiagnosed medical problem. Everything else was either trauma, or influenza, sick call type stuff. Who are the patients that military medics will see most, 18-25 with blast, burn and GSW, not the 50 y/o MI or 70 y/o CHF patient. So, I don't see the need to reinvent the wheel with regard to military medics. Now, that being said, if the medics are working on a base ambulance, or in a civilian clinic, than maybe they should be given additional training in medical cases. I was fortunate enough to be able to obtain my EMT-I was in the Navy, and that certainly helped, but I think a military at war, needs to focus on blast, and burn and GSW injuries, not worry about reading an EKG.

MD, Nope, DC, Nope, VA Nope

Ohh, and by the way, you'll have to be a litttle more specific since New York State is HUGE. A region might help, NYC, LI, Albany, Finger Lakes, Western etc. Or maybe, a nearest city, i doubt you want to drive from Nassau Co. to Utica 3 times a week for 7 months.

I would say drink heavily the night before, and go in with a raging hang over. LOL

New York EMT-CC (Critical Care), used to be called AEMT-3, With AEMT-4 being full Paramedic. The CC is about equivalent in hours to NREMT-I-99. With a lot less A&P and some less meds and skills. I personally don not think you will see EMT-CC in New york phased out especially when you have a lot of volunteer ALS providers, like in Nassau, and Suffolk county, and in rural upstate. As far as a bridge class from CC-P, when I looked at this in the mid 1980's, the only place in NY that was doing it was Westchester County Medical Center, and it was not an official bridge course. The way it went was you enrolled in a basic medic class, and because you were a CC you would miss the I.V. skills station or the basic Defib and cardioversion station, stuff like that. I ended up taking the full class, which is what I would recommend to you. Good Luck,

www.miemss.org then click on download complete 2007 protocols.

Yeah, that was not really clear either. Were you talking about: A. A patient that should go to the hospital, but refuses too? (i.e. The person in a resturant with crushing substernal chest pain radiating to the left arm and jaw that says "ohh it's just indigestion, i'll be akay") or B. The patient does not need an ambulance transport and is "abusing " the 9-1-1 system, so you as the provider want to REFUSE to transport him ???? there is a BIG BIG differnece.

Yeah mee too ,, confused about the topic. please feel free to clarify