EMTs in hospitals

[lampnyter]

I was wondering about this. I plan on becoming a paramedic down the road and i wanted to know if i would be able to get hired to do work in a hospital. I dont know what kind of work they would have me doing but if anybody has seen or does this please give me some information. Thanks!

 

[Hockey]

ER Techs.

Search that a little bit on here and you'll see they do different things. May ER's will hire you as an EMT. Some require Paramedic.

What state are you in?

 

[Theo]

Some areas use medics in the ER, some don't. Check the job listings with your local hospitals to see what they offer.

The area that I live in uses medics in the ER. Duties run the gambit from starting IV's to helping patient's go to the bathroom and everything in between. Taking blood samples, triage, pushing meds, sutures, cleaning beds (and patients), transfers, EKG's, and the list goes on and on.

Paramedics have alot to offer and can be had at a lower price (sadly much lower) than a nurse.

 

[lampnyter]

connecticut

 

[NorCal]

In the ER I work in we hire mostly EMT-B's as ER Techs. Out of the 5-6 ER Techs we have, 3 have EMT-B, 2 have their EMT-P, and 1 has an her LVN.

As for the job itself, from what I see day-to-day, the ER Techs spend most of their time doing the crap work that RN's don't want to deal. They push ER patients down to X-Ray/ CT, clean up after nasty patients, and resently I watched two of them take a homeless man into the tub room and clean him after he soiled himself. ( A rather fragrant patient too)

ER Tech can sometimes be a thankless job, but overall, all of our Techs seem happy and say they make more money as an ER Tech than the EMT-B's and EMT-P's do in our area. From my experience, ER Techs are some of the coolest people you can even meet, and they work their tails off. But again, that is how they are at my hospital so experiences may vary.

 

[ERMedic]

As a medic/ER Tech I'll say what you do varies alot based on the ER or hospital you work for. In my ER I can start IV's, administer IV fluids, EKG interpretation, push meds, put in/take out foley catheters and out in NG tubes. We end up doing alot of orthopaedic stuff too like doing OCL splints. We can do the same skills as the nurses and make half the money.

But, I love my job and I make more money working in an ER than doing 911 EMS.

 

[rwik123]

at my hospital they usually have phlebotomy certs and do compressions and such and the busy work as the earlier posters have said

 

[Shishkabob]

at my hospital they usually have phlebotomy certs and do compressions and such and the busy work as the earlier posters have said

Are you sure the ones with actual "phlebotomy certs" aren't, well... phlebotomists?

 

[rwik123]

Are you sure the ones with actual "phlebotomy certs" aren't, well... phlebotomists?

technically yes, but they did not seek out that originally.. they applied as emt-b's then received the training after employed.

 

[Prophet]

The ER techs in our area are different from hospital to hospital but most require Emt-B WITH the phlebotomy cert.

 

[MagicTyler]

The ED I work in alows emts/medics the full scope as we have in the pre hospital area. EMTs are also tained in EKG, Phlebotomy, IV initiation & d/c, and trauma/code charting. EMTs are to administer no medication with the exception of O2 and normal saline.

Medics must be signed off before they can do foleys, IJ IVs, and NG/OG placement. Medic's drug scope is limited to the drugs they have in the prehopistal department in my area.

 

[jjesusfreak01]

The ED I work in alows emts/medics the full scope as we have in the pre hospital area. EMTs are also tained in EKG, Phlebotomy, IV initiation & d/c, and trauma/code charting. EMTs are to administer no medication with the exception of O2 and normal saline.

Medics must be signed off before they can do foleys, IJ IVs, and NG/OG placement. Medic's drug scope is limited to the drugs they have in the prehopistal department in my area.

Thats pretty cool. Sounds like a progressive system that is letting people do what they are trained to do.

 

[LonghornMedic]

Most of the ER Techs here are Paramedics. But they don't do much as far as skills are concerned. They are authorized to do pretty much anything ALS. However, reality is they do no more that a CNA. The only thing I see them do regularly is 12 leads and occasionally start IV's. But they mostly document vitals, transfer patients to the floor, clean up nasty patients the nurses don't want to deal with, stock supplies, etc. In other words, they are the RN's *****es. The money is good, but I wouldn't do it and it's a waste of Paramedic skills. I'd rather work for a private ambulance doing IFT(which I absolutely detest) that working as an ER Tech. I'm sure there are really good ER's in this country where Paramedics get to actually practice ALS skills and it's a great job for them. But here there is a lot of turnover for these positions for a reason.

 

[NorCal]

The only thing I see them do regularly is 12 leads and occasionally start IV's. But they mostly document vitals, transfer patients to the floor, clean up nasty patients the nurses don't want to deal with, stock supplies, etc. In other words, they are the RN's *****es.

I believe LonghornMedic is right. My ER Tech's don't really do any ALS related work. They aren't even allowed to start IV's. They just spend most of their time doing the crap work while the lazy RN's sit on their rears.Our ER Tech's are awesome, meanwhile our RN's sit around doing as little as possible.

 

[spike91]

ER Tech can sometimes be a thankless job,

EMS in general can be a pretty thankless job

 

[medic417]

EMS in general can be a pretty thankless job

What do we expect with so little education?