How are EMT-Basics treated in your region?

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NPO

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At my company (mgmt, other EMTs and medics): Well. Everyone gets along, no medics treat EMTs like their slaves. Its not tolerated here, but also, the EMTs know their place.

By Fire Depts: Depends on the Dept. Some we get along great with, some will literally push you aside in the ER.

By other EMS providers: We generally work well when it when it involves patient care. There is some animosity and "my team is better" when just chit chatting, but no real hostility for the most part.

By Health Care Facilities (Incl. Hospitals): This too varies. Most nursing homes dont care, unless you are there for a legit reason, not just dialysis. Hospitals are usually pretty good, but some more than others. There are a few bad apples though.

Occasionally, we run into a nurse who is SUPER nice, and really makes sure everything is taken care of for us and that we have everything we need. Usually, we find out these nurses started as EMTs.
 
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KyleC41

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I work for a private service in southwest Ohio. I'm a basic and in my company I get treated really well. I run with a paramedic partner and we switch off and on for who gets to drive and who gets to be with the pt. there is never looking down at the basic or get out of the way attitude scum of the earth kinda deal. Now at the hospitals the nurse sometimes treat us both as scum so I haven't noticed the difference yet for treatment of basics vs paramedics.
 
emsdave

emsdave

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I agree with alot of comments so far. I have been through many hospitals ems districts and most of the emts are highly respected some not so much. Do you push yourself to learn? Push yourself to get out there and help? Learn your EMD staff and show them you know your stuff. You are a professional not mediocre untrained uneducated "ambulance driver" you do so much more. I thought that emts are treated like crap in emt school but when you show your medic you are there to do a job and do it well you will gain that respect. Speaking of IFT companies well do they do vitals correctly? Do they asses what is needed and uses correct wording on pcr? Then if I am a MD or an charge rn then my opinion is going to think ugh stupid emt no I will treat you as a professional. All in all you carry yourself as a professional that is what you will be treated as. Talk and look and act like an idiot well you will be treated as such!
 
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phideux

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I know with the last 2 Basic partners I had, I felt like I had hit the Paramedic lottery. A great Basic partner is invaluable to a Medic.
 
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Knightinwhitesatin

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EMTs are a dime a dozen..... Empty My Trash.... It's sad really. I treat my partner well as a good EMT can make a medic look good.....We run an B/P area not usually are two medics together but honestly I really like to be double medic.
 
BillThompson

BillThompson

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CentralCalEMT said:
Now, if I see an EMT who clearly doesn't respect himself or herself such as a dirty wrinkled uniform not tucked in, unzipped boots, unshaven, rude demeanor, or otherwise generally sloppy, I am not going to respect them. It is not because they are an EMT, it is because they are not holding themself to the high standard that EMS should hold itself to. I would feel the same way about another paramedic, a firefighter, a cop, etc who does not have self respect. Respect is earned, not given, and most of the EMTs I work with have earned my respect, and I would trust them to have my back on even the most serious calls.
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Someone not shaving is no way a sign that they don't respect themself, nor should it be considered a sign of sloppiness or laziness. The idea that one must be clean shaven to be professional is preposterous, and has no basis in reality.

Both my 911 and my Private run Basic/Paramedic, with the Private having a handful of BLS only trucks in our area. In general your rank doesn't matter when it comes to respect from hospital staff and patients. If you wear the uniform of a Private you will automatically get less respect than if you are wearing the uniform of a municipality. In my experience what is expected from the Basic depends on the Paramedic and how much the Basic is willing to assert his/herself. I'm not a driver, I provide patient care to the utmost of my ability. In some ways I guess I demand respect through my actions and the fact that I want to make sure I help my Paramedic to take care of the patient in the most efficient and beneficial manner possible. There are those who are more comfortable just being driver's, but that's not why I got into this field and I believe that is a limited view of our role in the EMS system.
 
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Noncreative

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Depends on how long the medics have been in the field, back when most of them started a EMT-B was little more than a EMR, and they never even noticed that EMT-B isn't even a rank anymore. Honestly a bunch of EMT's only contribute to the problem with poor presentation.
 
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Chewy20

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Noncreative said:
Depends on how long the medics have been in the field, back when most of them started a EMT-B was little more than a EMR, and they never even noticed that EMT-B isn't even a rank anymore. Honestly a bunch of EMT's only contribute to the problem with poor presentation.
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May I ask what problem basics contribute too? Because the only thing I see contributing to any problem is society calling 911 for everything under the sun. 99% of calls are BLS. Waiting to be entertained...

Also, for every crappy kept together basic I see, there is a crappy medic right next to him not holding his partner to a higher standard
 
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arctic2

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In my area its sort of a close knit community. Everyone knows someone who knows this guy and so on and so forth. I just recently started in this field and Ive noticed that the ALS medics treat the emts as there Right hand man. In other words they are treated just fine
 
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itsgordon

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In NJ, 9-1-1 services, Staffing is dual basics and ALS hospital based Fly Cars. EMTs are treated pretty well, However it does depend on the area that you work at.
 
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BigBadWolf

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Pretty good in my area. We are a rural location that runs ALS on every call but the EMT is usually the one in charge of the scene for the most part. The logic is that if the EMT is experienced on taking control of the easy calls, when a hard call comes in they will do everything out of habit and let the medic focus on what he can do. My medic is also amazing at reading us so if we hit the wall he is there with a question for the patient or a comment that tips us in the right direction before anyone else notices that our mind went blank. Our biggest critics locally are the fire fighters but that is a big political can of worms I wont go into.
 
Bullets

Bullets

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BillThompson said:
Someone not shaving is no way a sign that they don't respect themself, nor should it be considered a sign of sloppiness or laziness. The idea that one must be clean shaven to be professional is preposterous, and has no basis in reality
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If you aren't clean shaven then you can't get a good mask seal. If an EMT doesn't care about his own personal safety to the point that he sacrifices the ability to wear respiratory protection, then how can he be expected to care about a patient
 
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BigBadWolf

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Bullets said:
If you aren't clean shaven then you can't get a good mask seal. If an EMT doesn't care about his own personal safety to the point that he sacrifices the ability to wear respiratory protection, then how can he be expected to care about a patient
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Having spent years on a hazmat team and passed every single one of my mask fit tests with a goa-t I can tell you that having well groomed facial hair works just fine with that equipment.
 
COtoWestAfricaMEDIC

COtoWestAfricaMEDIC

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TransportJockey

TransportJockey

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Bullets said:
If you aren't clean shaven then you can't get a good mask seal. If an EMT doesn't care about his own personal safety to the point that he sacrifices the ability to wear respiratory protection, then how can he be expected to care about a patient
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That actually is invalid. Most n95s will seal fine with a trimmed goatee, especially the duck bill type. I have passed multiple fit tests with a goatee
 
BillThompson

BillThompson

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Bullets said:
If you aren't clean shaven then you can't get a good mask seal. If an EMT doesn't care about his own personal safety to the point that he sacrifices the ability to wear respiratory protection, then how can he be expected to care about a patient
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Factually incorrect. I've passed a fit test and had a perfect mask seal with a mustache, goatee, even a small beard. In no way does an EMS worker being unshaven make a comment on someone's professionalism.
 
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CentralCalEMT

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BillThompson said:
Factually incorrect. I've passed a fit test and had a perfect mask seal with a mustache, goatee, even a small beard. In no way does an EMS worker being unshaven make a comment on someone's professionalism.
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If your service allows facial hair then I agree 100% that facial hair has no reflection on someone's professionalism. One place I worked allowed beards and that was perfectly fine. However, if the service (my current one included) has a grooming policy that the employees have to follow then that is another story. When employees pick and choose what policies they want to follow, then that is an issue.
 
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samsbgm

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nymedic9999 said:
Out of curiosity I want to hear from people how the treatment of EMT-Basics varies from region to region. For example do you come from a region that has faith in there Basic techs or a region with an abundance of ALS techs and little faith in its EMT-Basics.
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I work in colorado and basics are treated very well. We have a skill set so we use it. Our protocols are very aggressive compared to most places. Most calls are bls so our medics appreciate us because they can go an entire shift just driving us around.
 
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