Is ems not for me?
- Thread starter Tk11
- Start date
Gordon Miller
Forum Ride Along
- 6
- 4
- 3
I understand what you're saying about the transfers and at 19 I'm sure that makes it even worse.From a basic level to a medic you have to use your situation to the best of your ability.You will learn something from every patient have contact with no matter how simple they might be.It may range from how their medical history has impacted them to a great mental library of medications,the actions,side effects , classes ect. You can learn so much more having these contacts than a class room will ever teach you.We are here for patients no matter what your role is in EMS,it may seem like a boring call or one that seems like it takes years off your life.Apply yourself 100% at every call you have and you will be a great medic one day wherever you end up.The skills you learn and become proficient at when you are at the basic level will follow you the rest of you career. There have been many times in my career BLS skills have kept a patient alive.
How often do you look up patient meds and conditions and how those work followed by how the med works with said condition? I am in medic school now and I am always finding drugs that I don't know doing IFT. I get it, I am not much older than you and want to get out into something else too. However, while you are doing it, you can do a TON of pharm/A&P learning that will help you more than you may realize once you get to medic school.
Last edited:
You're both right. It's just hard for me to enjoy it and want to learn when I don't like what I'm doing. I'll try to make the best of it but still going to look around at other companies. I know the city of Detroit has their own ems, I know they have to do be doing a lot of 911 because the company I'm at and others in the area do a lot of transfers in and out of a lot hospitals in Detroit.
I know I don't like doing transfers, but I'd like to know if I do enjoy doing 911 calls and if medic is really something I can see in my future. I've thrid rode on ALS trucks but not many and not long. So if I go into medic and get licensed, then find out that's not something I want to do, well I could've found that out as an emt, right? If that makes any sense.
Alex562
Forum Ride Along
- 9
- 0
- 1
I feel you bro I started IFT training yesterday and i hate it lol so boring like it gives me headaches i feel like this is crap but i need to gain experience im eventually going to a 911 company hopefully
It's what you make of it.
It's just hard to enjoy, especially when most the patients have been in the hospital for days and have been annoyed with everything the hospital staff and us have been asking/doing so most aren't in a good mood. And the fact that I'm never doing anything besides pushing a couple bottons on a machine for a bp and doing paperwork. I see people with different condions but that's about it. For the most part I'm not doing much of anything I learned in class as far as the practical skills go. Occasionally I'll listen to lungs sounds, depending on the patient.. Just for my practice but other than that.....
Last edited:
Seriously Positive Attitude. Yeah IFTs can suck. But it could be worse, you can be stuck behind a desk sitting in a tiny office.
If you make it a good day then you will be happier, your partner will be happier and your patients will be happier. I made my job fun, it was me and my homie prowling the mean streets of SD looking for the next urgent BLS transfer and stopping to get Starbucks in between. We had fun because we came to work not hating life.
On the flipside I had a partner who had a burning hatred for bls and said he was just doing it to get his hours for medic school. He said once he was a medic the job would be fun. Became a medic and hated life because he said 90% of his calls were BS, he said things would be better once he was a Firefighter. Got hired as a Firefighter and 90% of he calls were the same calls he had as a medic. Now he want to switch departments because things will be better there.
If you make it a good day then you will be happier, your partner will be happier and your patients will be happier. I made my job fun, it was me and my homie prowling the mean streets of SD looking for the next urgent BLS transfer and stopping to get Starbucks in between. We had fun because we came to work not hating life.
On the flipside I had a partner who had a burning hatred for bls and said he was just doing it to get his hours for medic school. He said once he was a medic the job would be fun. Became a medic and hated life because he said 90% of his calls were BS, he said things would be better once he was a Firefighter. Got hired as a Firefighter and 90% of he calls were the same calls he had as a medic. Now he want to switch departments because things will be better there.
I try to be postive about it. It's not like I go in just complaining "Another day of the bs I hate my f****** life and this job" I'm not negative around partners, hospital staffs or patients.
Those bs calls you're talking about, that's what I want. I want to experience that on the 911 side so I KNOW if I really want to continue in this field or get out now and not waste time.
squirrel15
Forum Captain
- 299
- 144
- 43
Don't just push buttons for BPs, even discharges, get out your stethoscope and cuff and manually take a pressure, make it a habit and easy to do. Those patients in a bad mood, talk to them, try to put them in a better mood. Its a perfect time to practice your communications skills. Don't take the easy and lazy way out of things just because everyone else does, do what you can to continue using your skills.
CALEMT
The Other Guy/ Paramaybe?
- 4,524
- 3,349
- 113
This. I did 10 months of IFT and quite frankly hated it. The main thing I didn't like was how it was the same routine day in and day out. 10:00 we pick up so and so to take him to dialysis and at 12 we bring him back. Thats what wears on most EMT's. The things I liked about doing IFT was the rapport I built with my pt's for dialysis. My discharges and SNF- ER calls I couldn't build a rapport with the pt because I wouldn't see them on a daily basis. I also liked the people I worked with, yeah the company was crappy but I always had fun with my partners at work (well most of my partners). Embrace the suck, hell is what you make of it.
Bullets
Forum Knucklehead
- 1,600
- 222
- 63
What state are you in?
You just hate IFT, so get out of that job. I work for a 911 BLS agency and we dont do transfers ever. Just gotta find a place that runs like that.
Im trying to do the same, i want to be a medic, i love EMS and rescue but i know the only future is in moving beyond, to PA school. Or going to a FD and suffering with those hose jockeys
You just hate IFT, so get out of that job. I work for a 911 BLS agency and we dont do transfers ever. Just gotta find a place that runs like that.
Im trying to do the same, i want to be a medic, i love EMS and rescue but i know the only future is in moving beyond, to PA school. Or going to a FD and suffering with those hose jockeys
Gurby
Forum Asst. Chief
- 818
- 597
- 93
There are systems where you can make a good long-term living as a medic if you truly love it. Try to get on a non-transport ALS service where you have BLS and fire guys to stair chair for you, and ability to triage the nonsense calls and clear up while BLS transports.
Michigan. I wouldn't know where to look for companies like that. It's not like it says on their websites or anything. I don't know where to look. I do know the three companies in my area all have their bls crews doing transports. How do I even find a 911 bls agency? Calling companies and asking?
- 5,018
- 1,356
- 113
Again, send Anjel a PM for info on local companies.
I'll be the bad guy and say with the information you have provided on this site, EMS is probably not for you. I think most, if not all of the topics you have started have been about issues you are having at work. Nothing wrong with it not being for you. EMS, even as a medic is mostly mundane and boring. If you accept the fact that the EMS system is beyond jacked up, and expect it to be boring for the majority of the time, you can make a career out of it. I'm not trying to make it sound all bad, I've learned a lot and am paid well, but I don't think I see myself doing this long term. Nothing wrong with it. So before you waste your time and money on paramedic school, take a hard look in the mirror. The grass is not always greener when you get your medic.
The issues I've had was with another I worked at. The company as a whole has a pretty bad rep around here, so I'm not the only one. Maybe it's not for me, but I haven't had enough expose I don't feel like to know for sure. You guys are saying it gets better than transports all day so there's still something for me to contiune for now. I third rode with the last company on ALS for a few times, not enough for me to actually decide if I want to stay in the field my whole life.
Issues were with that company specifically and the people I worked with, I left and got hired at the compmay I'm at now and it's a big difference between the two. The only thing I'm not liking here is what I've already said. Doing transports, which I did do there too. That company did things kind of "half ***" and nobody really cared and everyone was pretty lazy with everything from patient care to writing reports. The stuff I've seen there would not be tolerated at this compmay I'm at not. So I don't think it was really the ems field itself I had issues with.
On reports there was a lot of medics and emts that don't even take vitals or anything, they use the same numbers on every report for every patient. Management knew this and did nothing about it. They didn't have people sign and listed reason like, "pt unable to sign due to CPR in progress" later in the report the pt has a gcs of 15.... And again, nobody cared to do anything.