Recent content by ChicagolandIFT

In the state of Illinois you need to have graduated from an ABA approved law school to sit for the bar exam, same for Indiana. That's like saying to become a physician all you need to do is pass the USMLE or COMLEX. Reading the law is an antiquated system, though it makes a great self taught...

I do love walking into a nursing home room and seeing a nurse doing compressions on an air bed and and aide using a BVM without holding it to the patients face... got so bad at one nursing home we offered to do their CPR class for one dollar a participant... they turned it down.

There is something about the lights and sirens that make people drive like complete idiots. First time you light it up you will see what everyone does... the lights make the other drivers nervous or something.

Some schools you get accepted into the paramedic program, and the first semester they have you do some basic science and an EMT-B class, then you go directly into the paramedic phase.

WoooHooo... time to change up the signature!

Our ER uses PCT's which can be either a CNA or a EMT-B/P. We are all on the same pay scale, and have the same job. The paramedics do it for the extra money, but their extra skills are not utilized. I started on the floors, and after being floated to the ED a few times, I was asked to be put...

I almost always do IFT's and nursing home "emergencies", but occasionally we get calls from municipalities for 911 calls when they cannot get to them. My very first 911 call I was super excited, the guy was in a bar fight and was badly bruised and bloody. I was setting up the IV tubing for the...

AHhhhh... RUN!!! Just kidding, I say give it a try and see if it is right for you.

I agree about not going to the school for PCT. I am a CNA but at the hospital I am a PCT, and I was put through an EKG and phlebotomy class through the hospital to at their expense while I was getting paid (the phlebotomy class twice since I needed a special cert after the agency the lab is...

Welcome Rachel! You degree will be a great backbone to everything else you will learn in EMS. I know my basic intro classes have helped me immensely. What is an EMT-A in Canada?

WOW... that would be a medic I don't want to work on me! That being said there is a paramedic program that meets M-F from 8am-6pm for three months... but is somewhat of a joke from what I hear.

I feel for you! Just have to smile and nod... And eat something high in carbs... I prefer a deep fried carbo-loaded treat.

I am with you! GEMS would be a good part of a EMT-B class, and for Pete sake, some anatomy and physiology to include something more than the basics (or A&P I and II as pre-reqs). And while we talk about dialysis patients... why not teach why it is so dangerous to transport people with dramatic...

EMT-B in high school at 18 for vocational ed class, but didn't get a job as an EMT till I was 22. I worked as a CNA/Tech in the hospital along with a few other jobs before I got the itch to get in a rig. Should be a EMT-P by 26 if I get into the program this January ::fingerscrossed:: I want...

You might want to take a CNA class too, hospitals LOVE that. Recently I was called into my nurse manager's office to ask about an applicant for an aide spot who put me as a reference, she had a stack of applications as tall as her inbox. Even with my recommendation, my buddy wasn't hired. She...