Steps to become an AIC (Attendant in Charge)

[planetmike]

I’m wondering what other 911 emergency medical service agencies do to prepare and test their EMTs to become an AIC (Attendant in Charge). I’m not finding a lot of relevant info on the wider web or on this site. Thanks.

 

[Jim37F]

Never heard the term. Around here once you're hired, finish new hire orientation and pass third rider field training under an FTO, you're considered fully qualified to attend in the back. At my current agency you have to pass an EVOC course to drive, and since that's run by the police department, sometimes it can be months before you can go through. I was lucky, my class got EVOC while still in field training and were able to do both, drive and attend as soon as we hit the line, typically swapping out with our partner every other shift who drives and who attends all shift. The current class however has been cleared from field training about 3 months now and haven't been able to get EVOC scheduled yet so they've been effectively limited to only attending this whole time.

So basically, get your county EMT certification, apply, take and pass an EMT-Basic written test (Scranton, neighborhood of ~100 NREMT style questions), pass an oral interview board, pass a background check (complete with polygraph and field investigation), pass a chief's interview, physical exam, get uniforms, pass a two week new hire orientation academy, then 6-10 field training shifts and boom, you're the attendant in charge.

I can only imagine specific AIC training and certification is most likely run by the specific agency, and is probably regional as to where agencies even have specific AIC training or not.

 

[Smitty213]

I’m wondering what other 911 emergency medical service agencies do to prepare and test their EMTs to become an AIC (Attendant in Charge). I’m not finding a lot of relevant info on the wider web or on this site. Thanks.

I'm going to make the assumption this be for a volunteer or pay per call type agency in a rural or suburban setting?

 

[PrincessAnika]

Here we call them crew chiefs. when you get hired you go through orientation then ride as a 3rd, and once your FTO (field training officer) sees that you know what you are doing they turn you loose as part of a 2person crew.

 

[Tigger]

I’m wondering what other 911 emergency medical service agencies do to prepare and test their EMTs to become an AIC (Attendant in Charge). I’m not finding a lot of relevant info on the wider web or on this site. Thanks.

You need to really consider who will be training these people. Not only must they be competent, they have to be able to teach new people. There are lots of smart people out there that are useless at explaining things, these people should be training anyone.

I just finished my "field internship" process for a part time place. It was divided into clinical and operational phases which I found to be fairly useful. You did five to seven shifts in each phase, with two phases for each side, with different field instructors. At the end of each shift you were graded on a variety of objectives, and also filled out a call log where the instructor made comments on what to improve as. While a pain, I think it's probably the way to go for new people instead of just having a haphazard "billy-joe is our best EMT and he says that John-boy can run calls on his own" type thing.

 

[Brandon O]

What's a clinical or operational phase?

 

[RefriedEMT]

AIC (Attendant in Charge).

Attendant? there ain't no stinking attendants here.....were all techs, we TECH.

 

[Handsome Robb]

Attendant? there ain't no stinking attendants here.....were all techs, we TECH.

No. We don't. We attend patients. If we want to be viewed as professionals we need to stop being techs and start being clinicians.

 

[RefriedEMT]

No. We don't. We attend patients. If we want to be viewed as professionals we need to stop being techs and start being clinicians.

Okay....then I am the only one who didn't hear they changed EMT to EMA (Emergency Medical Attendant).

 

[Handsome Robb]

Okay....then I am the only one who didn't hear they changed EMT to EMA (Emergency Medical Attendant).

If you're going to be ignorant then enjoy being called an ambulance driver for the remainder of your career and don't whine about it when it happens.

Also, nationally, the word technician isn't included in the title for Paramedics anymore. So while you "tech" along in the driver's seat I'll attend the patient.

Now why would they call the Physician who is ultimately in charge of a patient the "Attending" Physician?

Take some pride in your craft.

 

[RefriedEMT]

If you're going to be ignorant then enjoy being called an ambulance driver for the remainder of your career and don't whine about it when it happens.

Never been called an ambulance driver and what we call ourselves has no bearing on our personal professionalism also I have no problem with correcting anyone who thinks were simply ambulance drivers with simple professional conversation.

 

[RefriedEMT]

Oh first i'm not professional now I don't take pride in EMS okay.....lol.

 

[Handsome Robb]

Never been called an ambulance driver and what we call ourselves has no bearing on our personal professionalism also I have no problem with correcting anyone who thinks were simply ambulance drivers with simple professional conversation.

No but it directly correlates in the amount of pride we take in our job. What does the word "tech" even mean? It's a noun, you can't use a noun to describe an action in reference to another noun or to describe an action in general. That would require a verb.

Also, I never directly called you unprofessional. I stated that "we" as a whole, meaning EMS providers. Never did I say you.

 

[gotbeerz001]

I'm fine being an ambulance driver and teching calls. Those who misunderstand our abilities will continue to call us ambulance drivers despite an explanation.

The people who value what we do will be appreciative regardless of whether they know the actual title.

So pontificate all you want but those who stand and whine about not getting their due respect often just end up looking like pretentious jackasses.... But that's just me.

 

[chaz90]

"Teching" terminology bothers me way less than "riding."

I'm sure it's a regional thing, but I hate the the term "riding the ambulance" when it's used as a reference to working on it. I guess that's all some people do, but it sounds passive to me and like the ambulance itself is doing all the work. I just happen to be sitting in the back like it's a horizontal taxi :/

Then again, terminology debates are for the birds. Tech, attend, or ride, as long as good care is provided I couldn't care less.

 

[CALEMT]

Attendant in charge? Never heard of the term. Like Jim all you have to do once your done with orientation and EVOC is do your field training time as a third rider (10-15 shifts) then you're cleared to work with a single partner (EMT/EMT BLS IFT) depending on how you and your partner work it out one can attend every other call or switch between attending and driving every other day. After you spend your time doing IFT you move up to ALS (EMT/Medic) and I would say 99% of the time you drive, depending on the medic if you get a BLS discharge you can attend (again depends on the medic).

Never heard of the term Emergency Medical Attendant before. Pretty much what gotshirtz says is also my opinion.

 

[planetmike]

Thanks for the (helpful? interesting?) side-conversation here.

The way my agency works is you get your EMT, wonderful. Then to be actually allowed to do stuff not under the immediate on-scene direction of someone else, you have to be cleared to be an AIC. We run calls under the guidance of an AIC, write the reports, etc…, and they give feedback. Once we’ve done at least three calls to the preceptor’s standards, we can test. The test is five scenarios, done at the station, mostly verbalized, and an ALS Assistance test (how would we help an ALS provider), and then a protocol quiz. When you pass all that, you can start running the show on calls with an operator and any attendants who happen to be on your team. There isn’t a formal training process in place, so you’re really at the mercy of your preceptor and their teaching “style”.

 

[Smitty213]

So it sounds like you want to know some form of standardized curriculum for precepting?

 

[RefriedEMT]

I had 6 different FTO's at my first company, all had different training styles.

 

[Tigger]

What's a clinical or operational phase?

Clinical said has you attending patients, operational has you doing everything else. Though once you've passed an operational phase you don't have to ride third anymore and can be out with a field instructor paramedic.