tddubois

Then why are you still there?

... Touché

If your in the boston metro area, you might want to consider boston ems. Third service, 911 provider for the city of boston, hire BLS and promote medics from within. You need to work a minimum of 1 year bls from date of hire, but when you factor in a 16 week training academy and field internship, its more like 6 months of bls. In that time you will learn the system, all the hospitals, geography, protocols, etc....the bls job pays well, and the medic job pays better. To be promoted to medic requires a competitive exam, practical and oral interview, and then hospital clinical rotations and a field internship as well, at the end of that another oral exam, and if you did well, you'll be a probie medic for the next 6 months. Something to think about.

As for your initial questions regarding Hartford, I'll answer the same re:Boston.

1. BLS start around 18/hr

2. municipal

3. n/a

4. NR not required

5. over 100,000 calls per year, 15 BLS units, 5 ALS

6. pros: you already live in the area, great protocols for BLS and ALS, active training dept, QA/QI, paid overtime for con-ed, refreshers, etc. Lots of OT available, private details, special events, i.e marathon, good equipment, vehicles, 500$/yr uniform allotment, all PPE supplied i.e helmets, turn outs, pro mask, body armor, etc...good union, 15 paid holidays, 15d sick time a year, 2-6 weeks paid vacation depending on time in service. Cons: city residency requirement within 6 months of hire, mandatory overtime, although it happens rarely, for example its been over 3 years since I was mandated, high call volume (good for some, others would rather be slow), may not work the shift you want until you have some seniority, all assignments are by seniority, however once you "bid" a spot, its yours until you give it up, so someone with 30 yrs on the job can't bump you out. Living in the city can be expensive.

p3medic,

I am aware of my options here in Boston. I work for a company already that has a medic position available to me, its a private but it holds 6 strong 911 municipalities, and offers good experience. I'm interested with Hartford because I may be relocating there for other reasons, and want to know whats available to me for work. I appreciate the heads up anyway.

Shane,

Thank you, I appreciate the reply. I've been an EMT for only two years now, first in Maine (nationally registered), now in the metro Boston area for a private that has pretty good 911 experience for their basics. If I do go to the Hartford area I would be going as a new medic, fresh out of school. I intend on taking the national registry next month, and mass. state test at the beginning of August. I'm still not sure about the move, just weighing my options. If I do move to CT it would probably be in the fall.

As a new medic though, as with any new medic, my goal is to get involved in a system that is going to teach me a lot and give me a fair share of emergency work. Any specific services/websites I should look up? What are these two commecial services in Hartford. Any good services I should be looking at outside of the city? Recommendations?

-Tddubois

Greetings,

I am an EMT-B in the final throes of my paramedic course, and I’m checking out my options. Hartfort, CT has come up in conversation between myself and my roommate who is moving out there, and I’ve been thinking about tagging along, however I know nothing about the system out there. What I’m after is some inside information:

Pay scale

Private vs. Municipal opportunities

Reciprocity

National Registry?

Call volume/experience

Any pro’s and con’s to working in that area.

Also I work and reside currently in the metro Boston area. I’m going from EMT-B to paramedic without Intermediate in between. Will that fly in CT? Any information available would be greatly appreciated.

I am also browsing around on the web, but I figured this may be a good place to start.

--tddubois

sweet, flying fire fighters... Not going to get my large backside strapped into one of those however, it does look like loads of fun.

Sleep when you can, and if you don't allready, learn to love the coffee. I donno if your body ever gets used to switching its time perception like that, but all in all its not that bad if your young and dumb like I am. Some people prefer the overnights. I don't know how busy your area is, or how your system is set up but you will probably find yourself able to get some down time at some point, and not find yourself running constantly for 8 hours every single night. Besides most people in EMS can fall asleep anywhere, and on anything it seems, If you haven't picked this up yet, you probably will.

Get some sleep,

-tddubois

Thanks guys,

I agree arm test = bad idea. Im glad for him that he failed. In retrospect I suppose the call went well. Off to go "save" some more!

The company I work for hired me w/o me taking the EVOC, and I'm cleared to drive. We do however have a mandatory EVOC coming up this summer. Most companies I know of in the North East U.S. at least like you to have/get it, but its not always mandatory.

I had a call the other day. 52 y/o male, at a bus stop c/c “liver pain”. Pt stated he has a hx. of Hepatitis B & C and admits to ETOH. Pain is “13/10” started apx. 12 hrs ago, after he had started drinking. It looked like business as usual, another drunk, another faithful transport.

Then, Once I got him in the back and situated he started complaining that he couldn’t breath too well, and consequently started breathing heavily. I put him on a NRB, take his vitals so that I could give a quick entry note to the hospital, and the next time I look up he’s unconscious, and barely breathing. His vitals were normal ( I don’t remember exactly but something like 130/90, HR 80 RR 24). I found the pt. to be unresponsive to verbal and painful stimuli. I set the stretcher down flat, ripped the mask of his face look listened and felt for apx 10 seconds while grabbing a pulse, still had one, but his breathing was little to none. I hollered to my partner, no ALS available. I inserted an OPA, and began bagging, after apx. 30 secs to a min, pt. began gagging on the OPA, which I removed, however respiration's were still inadequate, so I continued bagging to the hospital.

Once there however my partner came around back, and asked me if he was faking, I told him I didn’t think so, although @ this point he did seem to be having some purposeful movement, while still keeping up the unconscious pose. We tried the “arm test” and sure enough it fell conveniently away from his face, leading my partner to believe that he was faking. Inside the hospital, the RN staff was saying that he’s a frequent (I’ve never taken him before) and that he does this all the time. I gave my report including the fact that he tolerated an OLP for apx. a minute as well as artificial ventilations, and they said they weren’t sure what was really going on this time. After completing my paperwork I poked my head in to drop off the hospital copy, and he was conscious and asked if I was the man on the ambulance who helped him. When I told him I was he thanked me, making me feel that perhaps I had accomplished something. However I couldn't help wonder in the back of my mind that maybe I had been taken for a fool.

So what do you think, faking or no? Does anyone have experience w/ conscious patients tolerating airways and ventilation like that? I’m a rookie, so I just went with what I thought had to be done, but who knows, it could have all been a show.

I agree with what most of us have been saying. BLS workers should never challenge a Medic in front of a patient. Like its been said before, challenges are much better taken in the form of questions asked off to the side afterwards. Medics are more experienced, better educated, and licensed above BLS folk, and are therefore owed the respect they deserve, especially when with a patient.

Medics should not make BLS look like idiots in front of a pt. either. Corrections, and suggestions are all good in my opinion if they are in the interest in the pt. care, but bringing calm to a tense situation is also a part of our pt. care. If you’re a pt, and you don’t have confidence in who’s taking care of you, it just makes the “I’ve been stabbed, I’m going to die” syndrome worse. A lot of EMS seem to loose sight of this after enough time being on the road.

Now obviously this does not mean that medics are infallible. You saw big blood so you thought big 02, that’s what basics do, take care of the basics: 02, plugging holes, lifting and moving… all the things that your trained to do so that the medic can worry about what he’s trained to do, this means you get the ultimate job (the patient to the hospital) done better and faster. It makes the medic look good, and that success is passed down to you. In all reality I’d say your right to be wondering what she was thinking, and right to question her on that, but in the moment BLS (in almost every situation) should just do your job, then what the medic asks, then get in the front and drive.

Sounds like you weren't in the wrong.

Minus 5 for posting an ALS topic in the BLS forum.

Yes, we know you are talking about EMT's, but pharmacology is ALS regardless of who is performing it.

My apologies dust, I'm new to this forum.

What other drugs are people pushing IN via a MAD?

It hasn't happened yet, but sometime in the next couple of weeks, the service I work for is going to be adding nasal narcan to its BLS trucks (it has been in testing at the ALS level, and reports have apparently been good). I wanted to see what people (both BLS and ALS) think about this, and to see if it is something that has gained acceptance in area's other than my own. I had never heard of it before our education department briefed us on the use of it.

Let me know if you have any questions on the protocol.

sorry...........it's an Enhanced class...........step down from Intemediate

What is an EMT-Enhanced scope of practice? I've never heard of this, but I'm curious.