tell me about this profession, hows the pay, and what are the requirements.....

After 12 years as an EMT-D I guess I can speak about this. Firstly it's "Medic" not EMT or Paramedic. Sick and hurt people don't want the 30 second lecture on your job title. You just say "Yes Mam', I'm a Medic. How can we help you tonight?"

The pay is very low. Not more than $10/hr.
There is no room for advancement, unless you get hired by a city FD and that's very rare.
The hours suck, but somebody's got to be out there 24/7. May as well be you.


When you put on your uniform you become one of "Us" and are allowed to see things others are not. That can be good and it can be bad.
But you get paid to save people, and every now and then they say thank you. That's the job.

Take my advice: Be a medic for a couple years when you are young and going to school. Enjoy it, earn some stories for the grandkids, and move on.

I just got certified as an EMT-B. You do not do this job for the pay. I'm going to volunteer as much as possible, and am in the process of trying to get into DMAT both as an EMT and in Communications. I also did it as valuable knowledge.

what is the training like

well i have been out of it professionally since the 90's. but when i was an emt going through paramedic school in Mobile Al.<1986-1988> the pay sucked ass <5.50hr> the hours sucked <48 on 24 off> and no overtime pay. Many shifts went 48 hrs straight with little or zero sleep.

Saying that, it was the most rewarding and fun job i have ever had. If i could have made a usable income i never would have left it.

The paycheck means nothing when you look into a persons face that is full of fear and pain and know that you can help them. That is the most rewarding job you can have.

Don't go into EMS for the paycheck. you will be sadly disappointed. It's trully a job you have to love. I miss it.

mike

We had to do 120 hours of classroom. For me that meant almost every Tuesday and Thursday night for 4 hours and every Saturday for 8 hours during the summer. The time was split between lecture and practical exercises that mirrored the state exam. I probably put in double that amount of time studying. I also did one night on an ambulance and one night in an ER. We also had a extrication day with one of the local FDs.

The state exam was all day for the practical, then waiting about five weeks to find out if I passed before being able to take the written. I got my cert immediately after the written.

thats about what i recall with the excpetion on a week of ambulance rotation and a week of er rotaion.

EMT Basic is a failry easy course. Most of it is basic common sense and learning basic anatomy. Once you begin going into the ALS courses the skill level begins to get advanced fast.

IMHO the EMT BASIC class should be a required course in high school. It's not hard and the information you learn in it will always be useful.

mike

Around here, you won't find employment as an EMT-B. Some p[laces hire EMT-I's, but usualy only on the condition that you are going to finish your paramedic class.

That said, a starting I or paramedic around here makes about 10.00-12.00, and it can up up from there. My county works 24 on 72 off.

One neat deals offered here is that you can get 100% of your training all the way through paramedic free, all you need to do is be willing to volunteer for a fire department or the rescue squad.

Its not uncommon to have folks move here for 2-3 years to get all the training, and when they leave be paramedics, level 2 firefighters, with lots of other certifications like hazmat, ICS-400, all for free.

I worked as an EMT back in early 80's.  It was fun and the pay did suck. The paramedics made a little bit better money because they got paid for the whole 24 hours.  The EMT's on 24 hour cars would have up to 6 hours deleted as sleep time if they had a whole hour where they did not receive a call.  The hours could be spread out during the day. The 24 hour cars were cool though because we would respond to calls with fire departments.  The job that sucked was working the day cars where all you did was taxi work taking people back and forth from the hospital to nursing homes and vice-versa.
It is good experience if plan to continue in either the medical field or fire department.

When I was a med student we went for runs with EMTs in Detroit.  I should have guessed somethingwas up when they offered me a vest and pointed out bullet holes in their unit.  But usually the runs were normal. Fat people were the worst.  People wanting rides or to get out of the cold wasted a lot of time and made people who really needed to goto the hospital long waits.

Everyone should have EMT-B training but not everyone should do the job.  It mostly depends on where you work and what you want out of it.  The training was the best part for me.  I hated the people I ended up working for.  But that can happen with any job.  You can always just quit and do something else but the education is priceless.

And that is good...... The county I live in, starting pay for FF/EMT......... $8.50 hr. And thats EMT-B.....

I've heard some folks say that, now, there is not much difference in EMT-b and First Responder! Is there any truth to that?


I have to get first responder before I can take my state exam for FF I in march!

We don't have an EMT-B designation here.  We have an EMT-1A and EMT-P.  EMT-1A is entry level. It covered a lot more information than the First Responder course I took. But that was 20 odd years ago.

AMR is the local ambulance service, they pay something like $7.50 a hour & you work a 24 hour shift.

It took me 160 hours of classroom (plus 24 hours working in the local ER & 16 hours ridding with the ambulance) & another 100 hours of study (both written & practical's) to get my EMT-B. I had 3 state tests prior taking the national test (did both the NREMT written & practical's the same day and found out the next day that I passed the written test, no wating forever here)

I'm on a VFD & we respond to all medical calls within our district. We get aprox 350 medical calls a year & then another 150 crash/rescue/fire calls a year.

Here 1st responder is a 40 hour course compared to the 160+ for the EMT-B

Not all states follow the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians protocals and/or names/classifications. http://www.nremt.org/ Check with you're state medical office to determine exactly what you're requirements are

The FD I work for starts EMT/firefighters ([i]EMT-B[/i]) at around 30 grand a year ([i]maybe slightly more, its been a while[/i])...with the stipulation that you are a paramedic within three years.

I am a firefighter/paramedic, and currently make 48 grand per year. (Will begin making 50 grand in July of 04.)
We work 24/48s (24 hours on duty, 48 hours off duty) with Six week kelly days right now ([i]soon to be three week[/i])...that means every six weeks you get a paid day off.
You also start out with 5 paid vacation days,
then at 5 years you get 7 vacation days...and at 10 years you get 10 vacation days.

(Example: I have been at this dept 7 years, so I get 7 vacation days that I can put anywhere on the calendar I want them.
Plus, I get a kelly day every six weeks.)

Working a 24/48 schedule means that any shift off means 5 days away from work.
(I always spread my vacation days out, and put them on the shift following a kelly day...So I have seven "vacations" that are all 10 days long.)
We also have excellent benefits, and retirement.

All that being said...We are a fair sized fire district (15 fully manned stations), and are the sole provider of fire, EMS, Haz-Mat, technical rescue, and air rescue to a 614 square mile county that includes everything from areas with multi-million dollar homes...to suburbs...to a ghetto that at one time held the distinguished honor of "crack capital of Florida", and also "AIDS capital".
Our medical protocols are amoung the most progressive in the State of Florida (and the entire U.S. for that matter.)
And we are an independent special taxing district.
Our pay, and benefits are about "middle of the road" amoung similar fire rescue departments.

Basically...The profession is what you make of it.
Most people love it...some people are miserable.
Most fire departments follow a "para-military" style rank structure ([i]some loosely, and some strictly[/i])
You have "good" calls..."bad" calls...and "bullshit" calls ([i]the latter usually being the most frequent[/i])

Safety is job one...and customer service is job two

Job requirements vary with different organizations.
Obviously..."Fire rescue" will require fire training, and "EMS only" will not.
EMS training will depend on the standard of care for the particular area.

No sure if I answered what you were looking for, but I hope I helped.

Yea it's only 40 hrs here to.... Just going by what they full-time county guys are telling me at the station.

Regardless...... After I get my FF I out of the way, EMT class comes next!

What sucks is working full time and taking all of this at night![whacko]

My FR course was 72 hours. The biggest differences between it and the EMT cousre offered here are no clinicals, and while the EMT course goes into ambulance operations, the FR course goes more into extrication and scene managment with industrial equipment, farm equipment etc.

I think this more along the lines of what the guys at the station where talking about..... This is also what I will be taking during FF I.... I remember the instructors mentioning something about extrication!