Coming Down Under from the tundra of Minnesota

[EMDP2081]

Alright,

Heres my story. I am a Paramedic in the US for the past 2.5 years and lately i have been toying with the idea of dropping everything and taking a leap and dropping everything i have here and doing something completely random with my life as the only leash i have to the states is a home mortgage.

My top choice so far is to take a leap to Australia and try my hand at EMS in Australia.

My question being, Is this a reasonable idea and what are my best avenues for seriously pursuing a career in EMS over there? What kind of education am i looking at, what is the cost of living over there, what patient care is like over there compared to what i get to do in the states? What are some good areas to look at? That Kinda stuff....

Right now i have the National Registry Paramedic certification and my associates (2 year) degree along with my advanced EMD certification and ACLS, PALS, PEPP, ITLS, PHTLS and some Critical care courses...

Any help would be very much appreciated...

Dave NREMT-P EMD

[spenac]

I actually looked into moving to the land down under when I was much younger and in a different field. There were some requirements that had to be met to go down there. Then I found out I still had to pay all my debt so what was the point. :roll: But if I can remember back 15-20 years seems like you had to have a sponsor, someone that would give you a job. Is that still true or did I get confused? Hope you the best youngster. If you do go maybe you can make Timmy behave. :wink:

[Kiwiology]

<SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION>

Come to New Zealand, we need Advanced Paramedics (EMT-Ps) something terrible and its not that far from Oz!

Most likely, you'll even get a neat looking fly car (link for pic) and be able to ride the chopper depending on where you are based.

</END SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION>

[spenac]

<SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION>

Come to New Zealand, we need Advanced Paramedics (EMT-Ps) something terrible and its not that far from Oz!

Most likely, you'll even get a neat looking fly car (link for pic) and be able to ride the chopper depending on where you are based.

</END SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION>

Hows the money and cost of living?

[Kiwiology]

Not bad, if you're an EMT-P ("Advanced Paramedic" in our lingo) the pay is around $800p/w (US) or $1k NZ but it varies depending where you work. Cost of living is comparable, maybe a little more because of the transport requirements (not unlike Hawaii).

Our two big providers are St John and Wellington Free - personally I perfer the latter, they are better funded and run only an ILS/ALS mix.

Have a look round and feel free to ask any other Q's.

[EMDP2081]

What kind of scope of practice is one looking at as an ALS provider out there?

I guess i had never considered NZ, but i had a coworker tell me about how awesome a trip she took there was and that i needed to go there...

Also, i noticed that the only position that they have open is one EMD position... is it worth applying for that position in the hopes that a vacancy will occur on the paramedic roster?

[Dustdevil]

What kind of scope of practice is one looking at as an ALS provider out there?

http://www.wfa.org.nz/Paramedics.htm

With your education and background, I suspect they would start you out as an ALS medic, which is a little lower scope than what you are use to. But I think you could probably move up to Intensive Care medic pretty quickly, and you could finish up a the BHS degree in the process. Of course, this is just speculation, as I have no experience in NZ.

I think it would be well worth it though. Even with my education, I wouldn't hesitate to start over again at BLS in a place like Canadia or Australia just to experience a different system. I got over myself and my skillz a long time ago.

[Kiwiology]

ILS SoP

- Manual defib

- LMA, NPA, OPA

- Morphine, epi, naloxone, metaclopramide (malaxon)

- IV NaCI, glucose, D5 and D50W

ALS SoP

- ETT

- Surgical or needle airway (cricothyriod puncture)

- Needle thorocostomy

- IO

- Atropine (brady only)

- Frusemide (frusomide)

- Amiodarone or lido

- Midazolam (benzo)

- Ketamine (St John)

- TCP & cardioversion

- Thrombo (WFA)

- CPAP (WFA)

Our standing order for codes is 1mg epi q4 and 300mg amiodarone x1 no atropine or bicarb so thats why its not in the ILS skills - I know .... I dont like it either.

If you want to come down here, I hate to say it, but, go to WFA. They run only ILS and ALS ambulances - no BLS. Our BLS req here gives basic a new term, its a 5 day course basically equiv to CFR+D (first responder) in the US.

As far as vacancies go .... there are always vacancies, we have a national shortage of something like 400 medics.

Food for thought anyway.

[scottymedic]

Wellington Free does run BLS crews, predominantly as Day care and the E car medics. There is three levels of ILS also, with an adrenaline upskill module and a Morphine module with associated meds of metoclopromide and Narcan. The three ILS levels are across the four main ambulance providers here in NZ.

In Wellington Free *WFA* everyone who rides the truck from EMT-B up *Nat cert* is referred to as paramedic, you are only differentiated by the ICP patch *intensive care* and it is hard on scene knowing unless you know the crew well, who is ILS, BLS, Upskill. Contact the team, ask for Kelvin McCyver or Don Banks, they were my paramedic instructors and will give some great help where needed.

The pay differentiates slightly region to region, and if you do rural work, you get extra allowances.

Good luck and feel free to ask questions also

Scotty

[Timmy]

Oh I missed this! Sorry for the late reply, it was just brought to my attention!

Moving to Oz ay… It’s a good place, really! If you like heat… I’m not sure what sort of requirement you need to meet in regards to VISA or anything like that because I’ve never been out of the country!

Its state based government funded EMS so each state has one service. Depending on what state you want to live in will depend on your clinical scope will be. It ranges from off the street diplomas to bachelor degrees, post graduate degrees and masters.

My state Victoria, you must have a 3 year Emergency Health Bachelor degree then like a 2 year on road internship till your considered an Advanced life support paramedic. Places like Western Australia will take American paramedics, put you through a orientation type course ect… Every state is different in regards to clinical scope and unfortunately there is no site that has good information on scopes. The some services have doctors but the highest you can go in EMS is a MICA flight paramedic which is basically a level below doctor. Pay isn’t that bad again depending on what state you live in. So if you pick a state I’ll be able to give you more specific info!