What made you actually chose to become a paramedic?

[SloEd]

I didn't feel like I was doing any good for the community/world being a cog in come corporate machine. And at the same time I was in EMT class to augment my skills in Search and Rescue. I started doing my clinicals and realized EMS was for me. As I was going through EMT class, I realized that there was so much more that could be done, so I kept going and now I'm almost done with Paramedic School.

 

[KingCountyMedic]

3 pages and no mention of Squad 51?

 

[NomadicMedic]

3 pages and no mention of Squad 51?

I think I mentioned it in another thread.

...Johnny and Roy were the bomb when I was a kid. (And I drive a squad now!)

 

[abckidsmom]

I think I mentioned it in another thread.

...Johnny and Roy were the bomb when I was a kid. (And I drive a squad now!)

I just did that on a hypoglycemic diabetic the other day and MY PARTNER DIDN'T GET IT.

I felt like a dinosaur.

 

[Vahlen]

A simple question that elicits a much more complicated response. I'm not a medic yet, but I'm closing in on that goal with just having finished my EMT-I in January, so this is a question I am asking myself quite often actually.

I had just finished "wasting" the better part of 5 years on a degree for a career that I was no longer interested in, go figure right?

Well, in the month just prior to graduation my elderly father (in renal failure at the time) had a medical emergency at home.....alone. He had fallen due his knees giving out, my mother found him a few hours later when she came home from work but was not able to lift him by herself and he did not have the strength to assist her. EMT's from the local fire department responded quickly and rushed him to the hospital, he was alright thanks to their help.

I joined the derpatment a few weeks later hoping to repay them in some manner for saving my dad's life. They stuck me on the EMS-squad as a first responder, after my first call as a CFR (minor MVC) it was like I had just discovered something that had been missing from my life........call me melodramatic or what you will, but I had never felt such a sense of accomplishment before (this is comming from an All-American swimmer).

There's something to be said for youthful exuberance I suppose, especially in a field with such a high "burnout" rate, but I've met enough long-time medics that have echo'd my feelings to reassure me for at least the foreseeable future. I can't say for sure whether or not this will be my career, but EMS will certainly remain a part of life no matter where I end up.

 

[Pkreilley]

Man, I tried a year of college, and realized it wasn't for me. I had gotten my EMT-B in high school and it was such a great time that I went for my Paramedic, and I haven't looked back since!

 

[Sublime]

Multiple reasons.... It sounded cool, I wanted to "save lives" (that's what EMS is all about isn't it??), and it didn't require math as a prereq

 

[boerbull]

After 12 years in the military I decided to get a job were I can spend some more time with my family. I guess this is all i can do.

 

[mrg86]

Watching "Rescue 911" on TV in the early 90s got me into the Fire/EMS field and after becoming a firefighter I realized that medicine was (for me anyway) far more challenging and dynamic than putting the wet stuff on the red stuff. I still do love the fire side but I think being a paramedic will be more fulfilling and have more opportunities in the long run.

 

[djarmpit]

Not a medic yet, but it's an obtainable goal for me in the near future.


I'm only 20 and I've jumped around majors/colleges trying to figure out what I wanted to do. My dad had a stroke one day and I realized that I wanted to be able to help him however I can if he were to be in that situation again. From that point on I decided to be an EMT and now I'm enjoying it a lot. Most of my friends my age are complaining about their jobs waiting tables or making smoothies, but I get a chance to start on my career and do something different. I like different.

 

[Clare]

Who on earth are Johnny and Roy?
Why is that guy (who looks like a firefighter) on the phone?
What is a bristojet and why do you flip the caps on it?

I so confuze! :unsure:

Anyway, as horrendously cliche as it sounds, I like helping people, find science and medicine interesting, like variety and autonomy and working with diverse team. Back before the Degree all Ambulance Officers were educated "in house" almost like an trades apprentice and you had to have some work experience and maturity behind you before you would even be looked at; so lots of other jobs/careers people have had make them quite interesting to talk to, and handy for things, e.g. electricians, plumbers, computer technicians.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Who on earth are Johnny and Roy?
Why is that guy (who looks like a firefighter) on the phone?
What is a bristojet and why do you flip the caps on it?

I so confuze! :unsure:

Claire, "Emergency" was a TV show in the 70s here in the states. It featured Los Angeles County firefighter paramedics Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto. (The guy in the picture above is Randolph Mantooth, "Johnny Gage") It's a television show that brought the idea of a paramedic to the masses. Arguably, that television show did more to increase awareness of emergency medical services in the United States than anything else.

A Bristeojet is a pre-loaded syringe that screws together. Usually Epi, atropine, bicarb or D50. The two pieces that screw together come with yellow caps on the end. Mantooth, as Johnny Gage, would often use his thumbs to flip the two yellow caps in the air simultaneously, screw together the Bristojet and then inject it. It made for good television.

For many of us as kids in the 70s, the idea of becoming a paramedic was fueled by watching Johnny and Roy and the daring rescues they made every Saturday night.

 

[ExpatMedic0]

It's a television show that brought the idea of a paramedic to the masses. Arguably, that television show did more to increase awareness of emergency medical services in the United States than anything else.

Some even argue Paramedics and Paramedicine would never have existed with out this show. Correct me if I am wrong, but at the time of the shows first season only 2-5 pilot projects existed in the USA with experimental "Paramedics." No one had ever herd of a Paramedic and there was almost none.

 

[Clare]

How very interesting!

There has never, ever been any fictionalised show about the emergency services down here; of course they feature in some fictional shows but more as "fill in" spots where a character may appear as part of a story line but never about that particular service as the premise for the series.

The ambulance service in particular would severely frown upon any such fictional dramatisation of its work as its extremely obsessively anal about protecting their reputation and image any sort of attempt would be quickly abandoned as the media relations people would scream bloody murder so loud you blokes would probably hear it in US!

We have one or two fictional medical shows, the most popular is a sloppy soap opera called "Shortland Street" which revolves around a fictional hospital staff sort of like a New Zealand "Greys Anatomy". Now I don't really watch it but I've seen a couple bits of episodes here and there and it is fairly medically accurate and medicine features more as a supporting character than a serious story line item.

I have to say medical TV interests me little and I don't watch Greys Anatomy, Private Practice etc. I deal with medical all day at work and have absolutely zero interest in spending my leisure time watching it on telly!

Oh, and its Clare, why must men have such poor attention to detail?

 

[NomadicMedic]

Sorry. I worked with a "Claire" for years. Force of habit.

And Schultz, you're correct… At least that's the story I've always heard. People watched the TV show and wanted that sort of service in their town. I also remember that CPR became part of the community of awareness following the TV show as well. There used to be a PSA at the end of every episode that encouraged laypersons to get CPR training.

 

[Clare]

Sorry. I worked with a "Claire" for years. Force of habit.

No hard feelings.

Having Clare as a name just leaves so much room for an awkward moment the first few times at a cardiac arrest

"ZOMG ITS TEH VF, CLEAR!"
"What?"
"No, not you, now get out the way!"
"Oh right ... "

 

[NomadicMedic]

The accent must have someone to do with that. Here on the east coast, at least where I am, CLARE and CLEAR don't sound similar.

KL-air vs. KL-eer

 

[Clare]

The accent must have someone to do with that. Here on the east coast, at least where I am, CLARE and CLEAR don't sound similar.

KL-air vs. KL-eer

The New Zealand accent is notoriously flat and vowels are short in their pronunciation but there is a subtle difference, similar to what you say, however you would have to have superman hearing to notice it and be very proper in your phonation to say the two properly (i.e. differently).

Lots of names have more than one spelling; Katherine vs Catherine, John vs Jon, Thomas vs Tomas (latter is more a European spelling if I remember rightly), Loraine vs Lorraine, Graham vs Graeme etc.

Speaking of deciding to work as a Paramedic, I wonder if income ever factored into your decision making?

We spent three years at uni to reach Paramedic level and acquire a student debt of probably between $15,000 and $30,000; the salary is about $65,000 and after a couple of years you will be hungry to get up to Intensive Care Paramedic level so hopefully you'll get on the course and pass all the vivas and bits and pieces and your salary will go up to about $76,000 and then that's it, unless the union can negotiate a pay rise or you do a lot of over time /callback (carefully planned of course to stay inside legal driving hour limits) your earning potential will basically be static for as long as your in the Ambulance Service.

Nursing is the same, three years at uni and a debt of $15,000-$30,000 to start on mid $40,000's and your income potential is mid $60,000's but that is as a Charge Nurse working 60 hours a week.

In contrast my mate has just finished medical school, which is only two years longer, they start on $70,000 (give or take a few thousand) and after five years are on $90-100,000 (give or take a few thousand) and after seven years they are a Consultant on a minimum of $130,000 plus whatever else they can rake in in private practice (which is very good).

The average house cost here is over $400,000 and in Auckland $500,000 buys you a house in the ghetto with steel bars on the windows; fuel is just shy of $2.25 a litre, milk is almost $3 for 2 litres and a kg of ground beef mince is $10 or more.

People are often surprised to hear what the pay for various non-Doctor health careers and I tell you, the money is certainly not why I want to do it!

 

[NomadicMedic]

I'll say that while I don't do the job for the money, I do make a very comfortable salary. I became a paramedic after a "midlife career change crisis". I had the goal of paramedicine set in my mind, however,I knew that I would have to find an agency that provided decent wages and benefits. I was lucky to find that here in Delaware, working as a single role paramedic without having to do fire suppression.

So while the pay and benefits are important, For me, they were not a factor in choosing the career path of Paramedic.

 

[MSDeltaFlt]

Saw my first flight team when I was respiratory therapist back in '91. Wanted to fly. Did what it took. This journey damn near killed me on multiple occasions not counting the helicopter crash: a few ambulance crashes, one caught fire while enroute on the highway, multiple violent scenes/patients.

Reading back over this maybe I "thunk" wrong.