Minimum age...

[Richard B the EMT]

I know a few mature for their ages teenagers, and a bunch of immature 20 and 30 somethings. Take each case individually.

[DFIB]

"Maturity comes not with age but with the acceptance of responsibility"

[YoungEMT95]

In Maine you can be licensed as an EMT at 16 but you can't drive an ambulance until you are 18-21 depending on the service. You can take your paramedic course at 18 which is about two years long. I am 17 and have my EMT license.

[DwayneEMTP]

But taking it on an individual basis isn't possible. And are you pretending that you'll be able to spot the more mature ones to hire?

The problem that I have with the, "As long as they listen then they're old enough" argument is that it assumes that moving patients and giving the proper treatment is the biggest, most important part of what's done in EMS, and in my opinion it's not.

Moral, emotional, psychiatric support is much more important, often creates more significant changes, and is/should be delivered much more often. And that takes maturity.

You can't have it all ways. You either have a minimum age where 'most' can be expected to have matured, you continue to let every yahoo on the planet ride an ambulance, or you have no minimum age, but instead have an intelligently developed, verifiable 'maturing' system that all must pass through regardless of age.

I don't really see any other options?

If we reduce EMS to monkey skills, then sure, anyone at just about any age can do it. But I don't want the 'average' 18/19 year old responsible for Barbara and Dylan while s/he's explaining why they've decided to leave my dead body on the living room floor for the coroner. And that job is also a critically important part of what we do.

Until there is a system for verifying the maturity level of a medic, I'd be happy for a 21 year old age limit, or older. Plus, this would help to reduce the glut of medics in the market. Of course, this will not happen any time soon because it's much, much harder to get mature people to spend two years in school and then work three jobs at near minimum wage and call it a career.

[island emt]

In Maine you can be licensed as an EMT at 16 but you can't drive an ambulance until you are 18-21 depending on the service. You can take your paramedic course at 18 which is about two years long. I am 17 and have my EMT license.

This is not true young: you can take the course, but cannot be licensed until age 18 as you need to tale nat reg exam and pass prior to being issued a Maine license

[YoungEMT95]

This is not true young: you can take the course, but cannot be licensed until age 18 as you need to tale nat reg exam and pass prior to being issued a Maine license

Maine allows you to be licensed under the age of 18 as long as you pass an assessment written exam created by the NREMT.

[Kiwiology]

Maine allows you to be licensed under the age of 18 as long as you pass an assessment written exam created by the NREMT.

But you cannot take the NREMT until you are 18? .....

[YoungEMT95]

You take the same test as the NREMT but the NREMT will not put you on the register until you are 18. But Maine will issue you a license as long as you pass.

[Kiwiology]

So which test is this if it's the same as the NREMT but not the NREMT test?

*sniff sniff ... hmm

[YoungEMT95]

Its called an EMT Assessment put on by the registry