Hello.
First, some information on who I am.
EMT-I, 5 years on field, worked public and private. Now volunteer at Red Cross Mexico City.
Now everything else.
Mexico EMS system is kind of chaotic.
This is why.
As right now there is only a federal law that states what type of job is the one that EMT´s performs. And it is very ambiguous.
There is no agency or state organization that officially regulates the job we perform, the federal law says that every EMS system should perform certification on its emt´s.
And there are no requisits to open an EMS system.
So really this equals almost no regulation, this means poor profesionalism and poor wages, poor research, etc etc.
Here in Mexico when you have an emergency you don´t know really what number to dial, because the emergency numbers vary acording to state and to city and the kind of service you need, so if you need police you dial 066, if you need ambulance you dial 065, if you need firefighters 067, if you want your private ambulance service to come to an emergency you call another number. So this makes the whole process very difficult for people and time consuming in the emergency.
In some states (most of them) ambulance service organizations are not close to each other, i mean, they don´t cooperate, otherwise they trend to compete against each and try to win the price. The price is, you get to care for the patient, i know it sounds terrible (and it is) but is the reallity. So there is no surprise in seen two ambulances racing on the road to see wich one arrives first.
Since we are not a recognized part of the health system, states really don´t place very much atention and money on their ambulances, that is why almost 80% of public ambulances dont have AED´s or defibrillators, even so the law (the ambiguous one i reffered up there) states that any ambulance should have an AED.
We also don´t have communication with receiving facilities in order to apply medication.
So there is the horrible part.
People in EMS.
Our paramedics (as people call any EMT in Mexico no matter the level) are commited, maybe not as well trained as in other countries but what they know they apply it with effort and compassion.
Here in Mexico people is very warm and caring, so you can imagine that paramedics here are people that withstand the horrors of the system just to care for the sick and injured. We become very practical and imaginative so with the very few equipment that we have we manage to deal with very ill patients. Courage effort and a lot of patience are required to work in a place where few hear what you have to say as a professional.
Not everything is bad. But we are far far away from being an efficient service all around the country.
I know it is little info, but i just ended shift and i am not in my most poetic moment.
So if you have any question about the mexican EMS or Mexico, post it and i will try my best.
Thanks.
If you would like to read some of my "calls" stories here it is:
http://www.ambulancestoriesmexico.blogspot.com/
Saludos desde México la tierra del tequila!
First, some information on who I am.
EMT-I, 5 years on field, worked public and private. Now volunteer at Red Cross Mexico City.
Now everything else.
Mexico EMS system is kind of chaotic.
This is why.
As right now there is only a federal law that states what type of job is the one that EMT´s performs. And it is very ambiguous.
There is no agency or state organization that officially regulates the job we perform, the federal law says that every EMS system should perform certification on its emt´s.
And there are no requisits to open an EMS system.
So really this equals almost no regulation, this means poor profesionalism and poor wages, poor research, etc etc.
Here in Mexico when you have an emergency you don´t know really what number to dial, because the emergency numbers vary acording to state and to city and the kind of service you need, so if you need police you dial 066, if you need ambulance you dial 065, if you need firefighters 067, if you want your private ambulance service to come to an emergency you call another number. So this makes the whole process very difficult for people and time consuming in the emergency.
In some states (most of them) ambulance service organizations are not close to each other, i mean, they don´t cooperate, otherwise they trend to compete against each and try to win the price. The price is, you get to care for the patient, i know it sounds terrible (and it is) but is the reallity. So there is no surprise in seen two ambulances racing on the road to see wich one arrives first.
Since we are not a recognized part of the health system, states really don´t place very much atention and money on their ambulances, that is why almost 80% of public ambulances dont have AED´s or defibrillators, even so the law (the ambiguous one i reffered up there) states that any ambulance should have an AED.
We also don´t have communication with receiving facilities in order to apply medication.
So there is the horrible part.
People in EMS.
Our paramedics (as people call any EMT in Mexico no matter the level) are commited, maybe not as well trained as in other countries but what they know they apply it with effort and compassion.
Here in Mexico people is very warm and caring, so you can imagine that paramedics here are people that withstand the horrors of the system just to care for the sick and injured. We become very practical and imaginative so with the very few equipment that we have we manage to deal with very ill patients. Courage effort and a lot of patience are required to work in a place where few hear what you have to say as a professional.
Not everything is bad. But we are far far away from being an efficient service all around the country.
I know it is little info, but i just ended shift and i am not in my most poetic moment.
So if you have any question about the mexican EMS or Mexico, post it and i will try my best.
Thanks.
If you would like to read some of my "calls" stories here it is:
http://www.ambulancestoriesmexico.blogspot.com/
Saludos desde México la tierra del tequila!
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