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And that's because we have a ton of pre-meds at UCI that are basics. I know of at least 2 companies out here that start out at or over $10/hr working 12 hour shifts. Time and a half after 8 hours, double after 12. There's a reason a lot of people commute from Riverside.

I don't understand what you're saying. I don't make a lot of money because of UCI basics? Not really, considering in South County out of about 100 EMTs I know, none are UCI students.

Anyhow, you have to take more into account than simple base rate. While they may be making three dollars an hour more than you in NYC, they are also paying a LOT more just to live there, so they're probably no better off than you. Same thing pretty much anywhere in California.

I work in Orange County, CA, one of the richest counties in the nation, and make 7.65 an hour, with time-and-a-half after 40 hours and an average 72 hour work week. It's probably one of the worst paid counties in the nation when adjusted for cost of living.

Hey there,

Even though I'm new here I've seen a lot of EMS boards, and one of the most frequent topics of conversation is the NREMT-B, how to study for it, and how hard it is.

This is going to sound mean, but I don't mean it to be. How can anyone fail the NREMT-B multiple times? I didn't even study at all and I passed it by a wide margin. At least to me, the vast majority of my EMT class was common sense. When you get to the patient, you should make sure you won't get run over by a car, THEN open the AIRWAY? Holy shit! I'm not the most intelligent guy out there, by FAR, but I honestly wouldn't want to be treated by a Basic who failed the test three times before passing it.

More advanced levels are something else entirely, and I understand that. Learning contraindications to atropine administration isn't something you pick up by watching Third Watch. Being a basic is EASY, knowledge wise though. I think we need to spend more time practicing stressful situations and bedside manner and less time learning that 15LPM via NRB will cure cancer.

I understand that being a victim of a takeover sucks, but it's kind of hard to blame AMR. They're in a business where you can't really have "competitors" most of the time, so the only way to break into a market is to take it over...

"Thank you for dialing 911. To choose AMR, press 1. To choose Rural/Metro, press 2. To choose..."

Mine is the basic bashers. I mean I have worked with some emt's of different levels and they bash basics. I do not understand why. Well wait yes I do, but everyone was a basic at one time or another. The way I was taught was to be a good paramedic you have to be a good basic.

It is funny I am in my 2nd semister of paramedic school. I have learned more the past 3 weeks than I think I ever have. LOL I mean there is so much more to this stuff than what meets the eyes.

Today I had a LPN ask me what I was going to school for. I very proudly said PARAMEDIC. His reply was go jump out of a plane to get ur rush and do Nursing to make the money. Why do people not get that we are not in this for the money but for challenges and other emotions that come with this job. I know that the pay and hours are not well but being able to help people in the situations we do is what makes it the best job.

Absoutely! Anyone that hates on any level is a MORON, every level has its purpose. By the way, paragods, nursegods, doctorgods... there's ALWAYS a higher level than you! And if there isn't, you're probably on your yacht right now.

Hate the moron, not the title!

I'm for it.

What are we all here for? Getting patients to definitive care. Can a trauma patient live without a medic? Maybe, maybe not. Will they live without a trauma doctor? NO!

There aren't that many trauma docs. If the doctor thinks that they can improve patient care if they use L&S, so be it.

I think this is a big problem that's not going away any time soon, for a few reasons.

I'll give my analysis of the situation in the suburbs of Rochester, NY, where I worked as a volunteer before moving out to California (where I am a now a paid EMT).

My corps was pretty damned good. We had a great base, great equipment, and most importantly great medics. All of the basics wre volunteers, and the ALS techs were paid... and it worked really well. However, some of the other suburbs were terrible when it came to responding to pages, getting there in a professional manner... sometimes response times would have 5 or more minutes added to them until the commercial agency was paged out. While it would be easy to rally around shutting down that corps... how could you get the residents of the community to rally around making my corps all-paid when the service wouldn't change?

As a paid EMS provider, I realize now what a difficult position volunteers put us in. It's really not fair that I get paid what I do. But let's face it: EMS is fun, especially in small doses, and the entrance requirements are quite low for such a dynamic job. The only way that I see to make our dilemma better is to radically increase education requirements... or take the lights and sirens off of the rigs.

They're firemen. What do you think? I would bet the only concern they regularly express is about having to run EMS at all.

I don't know any fireman that, being forced to run EMS against his will, wouldn't still want to do it to the best of his abilities.

And get pissed off cause he didn't have the best toys. :wink:

I salute the Basics at Six Flags in LA... they were at the ready with some Sting-Eeze when a bee stung me WHILE I WAS RIDING the Batman coaster!

I've recently been hired with Doctor's Ambulance in Orange County, CA, and although the friend that referred them to me thinks highly of them, I'd like to hear if anyone here has had any experiences with them, positive or negative. Although I live in the San Diego area, the propsects for a Basic are pretty grim and limited to transfers only (at least for someone with only a year or so of volly experience), so I'm making a bit of a commute up to OC to get some 911 experience.

In addition, I've also got an interview with AMR in San Diego... although apparently I will be doing pretty much transfers only, is it still worth going to an interview with these guys?