It is the patient's choice right?

[Dustdevil]

That's what I was afraid of. That was pretty much the picture you were painting so well. This does sound like an agency problem, not a problem with you as a provider. This is just the kind of nonsense we put up with everyday in EMS. It is, indeed more prevalent in private services. But it is by no means exclusive to private services. There are a buttload of unprofessional, rinky-dink municipal and county services out there that are flying by the seat of their pants, and managed by vindictive idiots. Sometimes it helps to be communicative with your employer. Let them know that you are confused by being held to policies that have never been officially established. With luck, they will be introspective and realise that it is their lack of management that is creating the problems, and work towards improving communications, and therefore, the conditions you are working in. Not usually though. Usually, those in charge are convinced they are in charge because they know best, and that they don't need to do anything to improve.

Good for you for keeping your options open. You're a smart kid. You'll land on your feet. Just accept that sometimes you can't change things, and you just have to move on.

[CBEMT]

That particular day I was told that all patient's in a MVC needed to be boarded who choose to be transported...

So long as you realize that this is a policy for billing and not patient care, and therefore impossible for them to defend when you take them to court for firing you, you should do all right. :wink:

[mobey]

Usually, those in charge are convinced they are in charge because they know best, and that they don't need to do anything to improve.

In actuallity these people are in thier positions due to the "good ol' boy" system. Not because they are the best person for the job!!

Which in turn means they have the backing of thier superiors because they coach thier kids in hockey, or they are a leader in thier church etc. etc.

And that is what you call a Dead end job!

But keep your head above water and your resume updated because not all places are like that.

[Richard B the EMT]

When former Presidential candidate Rudy G was first elected to the office of Mayor of New York, but had not yet been sworn in, he interfered with 2 Paramedic ambulance crews, and a Paramedic Lieutenant.

A boy living in Rudy's building had been hit by a car in front of the location. The patient's mom wanted the patient taken to the hospital where the boy's dad was a surgeon, at a facility that was not a trauma center.

Please note that, even though both ambulances were not NYC EMS ambulances, and neither one was based at the nearest trauma center, all 4 Paramedics wanted to take the boy to the trauma center, and finally convinced her to go to the trauma center.

Then, Rudy G walks out of the building and orders (!) the crews to take the patient to his dad's hospital.

The crews requested the supervisor, and the EMS Lieutenant was there quickly (probably because the Computer Assisted Dispatch system had a premise history that it was the Mayor-Elects home).

Both Paramedic crews were from "voluntary" hospitals, which were both closer than the trauma center, and the dad's hospital was further away than the trauma center.

Are you going to have the LEOs on the scene arrest the guy, who is going to be their "boss" in a couple of weeks, for interfering with authorized emergency crews in the performance of their job?

Didn't think so.

Unfortunately, due to the delay in moving the patient, at the mayor-elects interference, the press corps played up the time delayed, lied that the boy remained on the street for the entire time, and quoted the mayor as calling the lieutenant all sorts of nasty names.

While not a personal friend, I knew this lieutenant from before the incident, and consider him, both professionally and personally, to be a right good guy in all respects.

[NoOnesAngel]

In actuallity these people are in thier positions due to the "good ol' boy" system. Not because they are the best person for the job!!

Which in turn means they have the backing of thier superiors

The only reason my boss is in charge is because he owns the place...he got a medic card but is no medic and has in fact ran calls with basics only to put them in the back simply because he can....he is owner/operator/STO/head medic/blah/blah...I'm personally tired of the entire company...it's almost a shame....i love my coworkers...but I believe I have found another job...I don't know if I will make it there or if I will be right back to my old company within a month...but I'm gong to give it a try.

[Dustdevil]

Have you considered stopping EMS work for awhile and concentrating on getting a quality paramedic education, then returning in a better position to land a better job?

[NoOnesAngel]

I have considered aquiring my medic, but at this point in time I don't really feel that I am quite ready enough to become a medic. I know that sounds silly and everything but I want a little more field time before I take that step.

I love my job, I just guess I'm getting fed up not knowing exactly what I can or can not do. It'll get better. Always look to the bright side of things.

[Don1977]

Nothing "silly" about that! Get some field time in and go to medic class when your ready to. No rush

[Dustdevil]

I have considered aquiring my medic, but at this point in time I don't really feel that I am quite ready enough to become a medic. I know that sounds silly and everything but I want a little more field time before I take that step.

I love my job, I just guess I'm getting fed up not knowing exactly what I can or can not do. It'll get better. Always look to the bright side of things.

Yes, it is extremely silly, but that's not your fault. Apparently nobody around there has the education, intelligence, and or motivation to properly mentor you and clue you in on the truth.

No, it will not get better. The only way for things to get better is through education. Do the math. How can continuing to do the same old thing you are now doing ever yield anything except the same old results you are getting now? Answer: it cannot. You are working with insufficient education in a system that -- by your own admission -- is full of idiots. That is not an atmosphere conducive to professional growth. And no amount of experience in the world is ever going to make you smarter. Only education can do that.

And then there is the whole totally disproven theory of EMT-B experience making you a better medic. It is a crock of shyte. The more time you do that, the harder it will be for you to break bad habits and mistaken notions you pick up working BLS, making medic school harder, not easier. And every day you waste playing ambulance driver with 120 hours of first aid training is one more day you short yourself of professional status, and your patients of professional care. How can anybody possibly justify that? Don't let the morons around you convince you otherwise.

Besides, I'm not suggesting that you jump right into paramedic classes. I am saying to start laying the foundation for those classes by taking your pre-requisite classes. You should have had two semesters of Anatomy & Physiology before you even took EMT school, so it is certainly not "skipping ahead" to go take those now in preparation for paramedic school. Same thing with Algebra, Psychology, Sociology, Chemistry, Physics, Speech Communications, and English Composition. You can be ten times the provider you currently are simply by completing those classes, without ever setting foot in actual medic classes. And you will be ten times more prepared to be an exceptional medic than all the lazy bastards who don't take those classes too.

Be all you can be, and do it now. Stalling is not beneficial to you or anybody else. Just do it.

[Scaramedic]

In this order.

1. Get another job.

2. Tell your employer to ram his job up his ass.

3. Start your Para pre-reqs.

4. Become a Paramedic.

5. Get a Para job at a much better company.

I also work in a border city. Out of about 90 pages of protocol, 4 pages are devoted to patients wanting to go across the state line. The gist of our protocols says it depends on the levels of the system and what Med Control wants. The main reason is you must cross one of two bridges to get into the other state. During half of the day these bridges can be parking lots. A ten minute transport can turn into an hour. So it is not always up to the patient where they go. LEO's/Fire have no say in it, nor should they.