FTO

[CateM]

Are there any Field Training Officers in the group or Instructors? After spending a few years in EMS, I was thinking about becoming an FTO or Instructor.
Do you like what you do? Is it a better pay scale than Medic? How long were you an EMT-P before considering the role in EMS?

 

[DrParasite]

current instructor here... pay is much better than being on a truck, but doing it full time isn't always an option.

most people I know aren't full time instructors; they usually have a full time job, and teach on the side.

 

[Aprz]

As an FTO, I got paid an extra dollar an hour more whether I had a trainee or not. Whenever there were new hire classes/academies, the company would send out e-mails with hours asking if we could help. I actually liked helping in academies more than having a trainee. It sucked to have a trainee because you had to let them do their thing, as long as safe, appropriate, timely, and within protocol, and it was kind of up to you how long you'd let them take to do something or how much they treat a patient. You can't let them crash and burn, but at the same time, you can't expect them to be quick and perfect either. It was a difficult balance I felt. It was also frustrating to have someone who didn't study at all, didn't know their protocols, they weren't retaining info, and sometimes even make up info instead of saying "I don't know", or saying "I don't know" all the time as if it forgives you for not knowing.

I waited 5 years before I decided to become an FTO/preceptor. I initially just wanted to be a preceptor. There was a preceptor where I worked that was very mean to his interns, very harsh, failed all of his interns. I worked with a loving EMT/paramedic intern who I thought was very smart, worked hard, and would make a great paramedic. That intern got the bad preceptor and just ruined him. That intern didn't care about his job anymore, he didn't care if he got fired, wasn't smiling anymore, and he ultimately realized the preceptor was bad for him, switched, and got back on track. I felt we had bad preceptors like that and I wanted to help by getting people through, try to minimize stress. Like there is gonna be stress, but it is a learning environment. Be patient with your intern. Don't just have them run calls, but train in between calls, debrief, and things like that. While going through the preceptor training, they were hiring FTOs, and I was like... might as well. I did both. Funny enough, never got an intern. I had two paramedic trainees and I quit for a new job. XD The first trainee was nice, but clearly either didn't study or retain info. Also would go through the motions without doing things right. Like put 12-leads on, but didn't put the leads on the right spot and even didn't care about massive artifact on the 12-lead. I was like what?! We aren't just doing this to say we did it. How can you interpret this with such bad artifact? Unfortunately, they struggled with med math. They could say all day long they'll deliver 2 mg Midazolam, but how many cc is that??? So we had med math issues. It was rough. The next trainee clearly studied hard, and their only problem, they were a white cloud. All of the sudden, we weren't getting that many calls AND the calls were usually lame. It took us 4 weeks before we had one call that required lights and sirens transport to the hospital. That was frustrating to have someone seem prepared, but not really a lot of opportunity to see if they could execute things correctly on an actual call.

Another dislike I had about being an FTO was I was worried about my own skills declining. I got both trainees back to back almost before leaving. It sounds like a lot of FTOs were like that. I know at one time, I went to a slow unit before becoming an FTO, and I felt rusty with things like IVs, moving patients, scene management. I was on that slow unit for 6 months. I feel like I'd have to speak up as an FTO and say hey... I need to run calls to stay fresh OR it would be on me to pick up overtime shifts (I actually did do this a lot, but usually only picked up slow shifts since my normal shift used to be very busy).

I didn't really get a lot of time to figure it out. I enjoyed it, but those were the cons with it. I really did just want to help interns and trainees learn, get through, not have unnecessary stress other than the stress needed to learn, no yelling or talking down to, but have a good learning environment. I think I would've enjoyed it had I given it more time.

I didn't do it until 5 years in, haha. I probably could've done it sooner like 2-3 years.