Is EMT work for me?

Y

Y Knot

Forum Probie
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I have been contemplating a career in emergency medicine for over a year now. I am very good at stressful situations and like helping people, just not sure how I would be handling throw up and major gore. Ultimately, how would I know if this is the right career for me?

Suggestions/advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

:D
 
You should contact your local agency about doing a ride along.

This job is far from what it's made out to be by the media. Blood, guts, gore, is not nearly as prominent as you'd think, in fact, it's the minority of our calls. If you work in a busy system though you will see enough of it to get used to it. It's a lot easier to deal with when you're focused on taking care of the patient than if you're just standing by watching or happen to be passing by and see it.

I'm a sympathetic puker, well was a sympathetic puker, not anymore though but every now and again you'll run into something that'll make you gag and need to take a second to get some air or let it out real quick and go back to what you're doing. You get real good at seeing the signs that your patient is going to vomit and containing it in an emesis or bio bag so it doesn't go everywhere and you don't have to deal with cleaning it up although everybody misses the signs every now and again. Yes, I've been puked on. Nope didn't puke when it happened but came real close. Figured it'd be poor form to puke on the cardiac arrest patient with a laryngoscope in one hand and ETT in the other :D

Only time I've ever thrown up on the job was after a really bad traumatic pediatric arrest and it was at the hospital after we'd passed the patient off to the trauma team and I was putting the rig back together.
 
Thanks NVRob. Although I am growing better in regards to my puke tolerance (thanks to my 11 and 8 year old boy's), it still gets me. I've read rubbing some Vicks under the nostrils helps with the smell but not the sight. LOL I've been in athletics and public safety for some time and really enjoy being the first one on scene and taking care of the injured. It's a great personal satisfaction. I just never had to deal with responding to a scene and dealing with death and major gore.

I've emailed a couple local agencies regarding a ride along so hopefully I will hear back soon. Is there a limit to how many ride alongs one could do? Or is that dependent on that particular company? I am in NY and looking into the Volunteer EMS - paid for EMT-B course work route then grow to Paramedic if all goes well. I have my Bachelors Degree in Education so hopefully the course work I did 100 years ago for that (1996) will help out.
 
That's going to be agency specific. I know for us it's only one unless you get screwed and get no calls or have a reason to do more other than "wanting to check it out". (read: student or journalist or some other reason I can't come up with at the moment)

I'm not a fan of the Vicks trick. Vicks is designed to open your airways up, sure it's minty fresh for a minute then you can smell whatever it was you were trying to avoid way better than you could before. Just my experience though. Having a nose that doesn't work well is a gift that I've been given when it comes to this job.

Some scenes are worse than others. I've found it's much harder to deal with younger fatalities and/or serious injuries such as kids or young adults or even middle aged adults than it is to deal with an elderly death.

Just an example but I had a burn patient that was my age that took me a while to get past.

It all comes down to how you cope. Everyone has their own mechanisms and some are better than others. The trick is to find a healthy way to deal with it.

If you can get a volly agency to pay for your class you might as well go for it, what is there to lose? Plus you'll get more ride time during your class.
 
I've spoken to a few ambulance companies and it seems no one is doing ride alongs anymore due to liability. BUMMER!! :censored:
 
In all honesty, if you have been debating for an ENTIRE YEAR you could have completed an EMT school already and figured whether you liked the work or not. Other than that you are just sitting around deciding twiddling your thumbs and doing absolutely nothing about it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Y Knot said:
I have been contemplating a career in emergency medicine for over a year now. I am very good at stressful situations and like helping people, just not sure how I would be handling throw up and major gore. Ultimately, how would I know if this is the right career for me?

Suggestions/advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

:D
Click to expand...

Volunteer somewhere.. By doing so you will gain experience BUT you will also run into and befriend people who can help you get your start in EMS as a paid provider.

p.s. It's not the vomit that gets me, it's nasty stinkin people who haven't bathed for a month or the guy that I took his boot off and maggots were eating his feet.. Poop and puke are the least of your worries my friend.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
VirginiaEMT said:
Volunteer somewhere.. By doing so you will gain experience BUT you will also run into and befriend people who can help you get your start in EMS as a paid provider.

p.s. It's not the vomit that gets me, it's nasty stinkin people who haven't bathed for a month or the guy that I took his boot off and maggots were eating his feet.. Poop and puke are the least of your worries my friend.
Click to expand...

yep yep yep. The smell of the homeless etoh'ers is usually 10 times worse than that of anyones vomit/poo. :)
Definately try and do a ridealong and get some volunteer work in.. After that, you'll know for sure if this field is right for you.
 
Not to be the contrarian but...

You will know if the field is right for you after about 3-5 years in it.

I cannot recall one patient or scene that ever made me say "this job is not for me."

Most of the things that drive EMS providers away are employment issues. Lack of incentive, no promotional opportunities, agency culture, etc.

I met a nurse that has been in the ED for nearly 25 years now and she cries everytime somebody dies. But in a few minutes she is back in the game.

The best paramedic I ever met, and one of my first mentors, is a sympathy puker.

Everyone has a call or type of call that bugs them. Anyone claiming not to just hasn't found it yet.

Your attitude has a lot to do with it as well. Those who want to do something find a way. Those who want to be great become so.

If you want to be in EMS, do it, don't look for reasons not to.
 
So if I am understanding correctly, the only real way to know if this is a career I would enjoy is by volunteering as EMS at a local ambulance company, right? It's one of those careers that isn't so straight forward like a Teacher or Sales so deciding is proving very hard for me.
 
Y Knot said:
So if I am understanding correctly, the only real way to know if this is a career I would enjoy is by volunteering as EMS at a local ambulance company, right? It's one of those careers that isn't so straight forward like a Teacher or Sales so deciding is proving very hard for me.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, the EMT course is less than 200 hours of commitment (and is usually not terribly expensive), so at worst, it's not a huge loss. At best, you find something you want to do for a career. And it's also a great volley gig!
 
Very true! I am visiting a local ambulance corp today to drop off my application to volly EMS. I figure it's a great way to get hands on training and see if this is for me. There is a sponsorship program in NYS that the state and ambulance corp will pay for my EMT-B course if I volly EMS. I figure to start, 4-5 months of volly work then decide if it's for me. Then get out if not for me or hopefully take the EMT-B course and rock on from there.

Thanks for the advice and guidance all!!!

:beerchug:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top