EMT-B Clinical time question

[Topher38]

Hey guys I just got my EMT-B certification last week. And I had a question about clinical time for EMT-Bs. I chose to do my 10 hours with an ambulance company. I road 3rd person (of course) and I didnt really get any firm rules on whether or not we are sapposed to help out. It may seem funny im asking this to some of you, but I actually did over the 10 hours (18 hours) and some of the people (emts, paramedics) i road with didnt let me do anything but watch, and then others let me do vitals and little things like getting oxygen tanks, carrying gear, gathering medications and information from family or bystanders. So my question is are there any rules on clinical time for an EMT-B, are we sapposed to help out, or are we sapposed to just watch? I never got a booklet telling me what we could or could not do. I was just told to go and "observe". But isnt that kind of defeating the purpose of clinical times? We are sapposed to go to learn something, which we can from "observing" But wouldnt it make sense that we go and help out a little so we can learn more?

Give me some feed back. Thanks fellaz.

 

[JPINFV]

It'll vary from company to company and crew to crew. The few times I had a ridealong with me I tried to treat them as a new hire. They're in the crew, therefore it's their patient too. That includes assessments, VS, treatment, and going over documentation. Did I expect them to know how to do everything at the start of the shift? Of course not. Did I expect everything to be perfect at the start of the shift? Of course not. I did expect improvement over the 12 hours though.

The official company line, unfortunately, was that the ridealong was only supposed to touch a patient [VS, assessment, etc] with the patient's explicted permission. That, well, kinda of defeats the entire purpose of a clinical ridealong experience.