There are many questions people ask about EMS. I will answer whatever questions you have about the field or the things we do in the field. So, please feel free to ask away!
How do you deal with things you see?
Honestly your mind is in a different setting. You are there to help someone in need, so you don’t want your emotions to get involved. The funny thing is I cannot deal with seeing gory stuff in a movie, it makes my stomach turn. But when I see it in real life, and I am bandaging or applying a tourniquet to someone it doesn’t faze me. One thing I always tell my new hires and students is always stay calm and do not panic even if you think your patient will die. Your patients and their family will feed off how you present yourself. If you show up on scene and start panicking the patient’s blood pressure will rise and their heart will beat faster; meaning they will bleed more. But if you play it off like this is a minor injury or no big problem, then your patients’ blood pressure will stay lower, and their heart will beat slower, which means they will bleed a little less.
How much schooling is there?
There are different levels in EMS. Medical First Responder (MFR) or Emergency Medical Responder (EMR), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT or EMT Basic), Advance Emergency Medical Technician (EMT Advance), and Paramedic Emergency Medical Technician (Paramedic or Medic). Those are the main levels of an EMS, and each level has a required amount of training or schooling that needs to be done to obtain a license. Obviously, the higher level of licensure you get the more training or school is required. Training or schooling can take anywhere from 4 months to a couple of years. Depending on what training and schooling you do or go through. Colleges will be longer than say a private company hosting an academy. You can also do more schooling and get into Flight (Paramedic on a helicopter) or become a Critical Care Paramedic (CCT – Critical Care Technician).
Is it hard driving an ambulance and doing what you do?
For the most part no. What we do is not hard at all. It’s all about knowing what you learned and following your protocols. I would say the hardest part of the job is documenting and making sure you cover your butt on the legal aspect. Everyone is sued happy, and lawyers will try to find a reason you should have done something when you didn’t or vice versa. Driving an ambulance for the most part is not hard except when driving lights and sirens. As soon as the lights and sirens turn on our chances of getting into an accident go up 400%. Crazy I know but people will try to beat the ambulance (out run it), or they will just slam their brakes in front of you. That’s if they actually pay attention to you. Some people will look at you as you are trying to go through an intersection and totally ignore you and not stop. Driving lights and sirens sounds like a lot of fun but once you do it, you will realize really quick it’s not as fun as you thought it would be.
Aren’t you all just ambulance drivers?
A question or statement that will get under anyone’s skin that works in EMS! No, we are not just ambulance drivers. An ambulance can have a ventilator, drug box, oxygen, suction, bandaging, airway supplies and more. Everything that is done in an emergency room at a hospital can be done in a ambulance but in a 1/8th of space with only 1 to 2 people and flying down a bumpy road doing 70 plus miles per hour. If you want me to be your ambulance driver, we will not treat your wounds or give pain medication and just drive you to the hospital.
What other questions do you have?
For questions or comments post below.
Leave a Reply