Emergency room EMT

[BIOETHICSfan]

So, I'm about 1/2 way through my EMT-B course as we (or I) speak. That means, (in suspense-thriller music) duh duh duh...I started thinking about where to apply for a job come January. I know that in the greater Chicagoland area, and the neighboring suburbs, in order to work on a fire department you must have your EMT-P AND Firefighter II license. Honestly, I want NOTHING to do with fire therefore I am NOT going to put myself through "fire school." That leaves me with at least two more options that I am familiar with: private service or ER EMT. Now I understand the protocols and such for the cab, but what EXACTLY would an EMT be doing in the ER? Since I ultimately plan on going into medicine (Gen Surg or EM) @ the physician assistant level I THINK that the ER EMT would be the most beneficial towards my cause. Would anyone out there have any advice for a struggling soon-to-be NREMT-B?

I am sorry that this thread is not prompting others to think deeply about there experiences in EMS and so forth (but I would still LOVE to hear ALLL the stories!!!), but I REALLY need some guidance on where to go with myself.

Thanks in advance!

Peace,
Christopher
"Truth I Pursue"

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[leviathan]

We don't really have ER techs here but AFAIK, they just do vitals and blood draws and other basic stuff. Febrifuge was/is an ER-tech so I'm sure he can give a better job description.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Try posting your question over on: http://www.fieldmedics.com/forum/index.php and I believe you might get a little broader range of suggestions as to where to seek employment in the Chicago area

To answer your question, most ER techs are basically a combo of phlebotomist/nurse's aide (or b**ch depending on the nursing staff)/orderly/gofer and general worker bee. Nothing too exciting unless you happen to be turned on by doing CPR, getting vitals or drawing blood

 

[Febrifuge]

Whoa, mentioned by name! "You know you spend too much time on SDN when..."

Okay, well, first off, I'm a tech in an academic center. We have fantastic RNs, a kick-ass residency program, and rotating students out the wazoo. Therefore, if the question is 'how much of my EMT training and expertise do I use on a daily basis?' the answer is 'not too much.' I don't really assess patients (although my opinion matters for something, and if I say I'm worried about something, I'm taken seriously). I don't do a lot, procedure-wise. The big benefit is being there, and seeing cool stuff.

Just in the last 2 or 3 shifts, I:

* Watched a baby being born.
* Used Surgilube to remove a ring from a dead guy's hand, so it could go to his family.
* Flirted with old ladies, putting them at ease and making their time in the ED go by more pleasantly.
* Flirted with young ladies, putting them at ease and making my time in the ED go by more pleasantly.
* Got a drunk guy with a head injury to walk back to his room and lay down, then got security to put him in 2-points.
* Wheeled approximately 12,000 pregnant women up to Labor & Delivery.
* Did a mess of EKG's.
* Drew blood, collected pee, pretty much dealt with fluids.
* Made beds, wheeled people to Xray, cleaned rooms.

But, I also...

* Looked over MDs shoulders at Xrays, and talked about them (I'm starting to get good at the classic game "find the fracture.")
* Discussed various drugs and their effects with RNs.
* Had students thank me for my help with stuff, which is cool because I hope to be one of them next year.
* Had one of our PAs, who graduated from the program I'm gunning for, volunteer to call the program and put in a good word for me.

Being the tech is a reasonably thankless, menial vocation. On the other hand, there's plenty of room for your own personality and skill to show through, and a good tech is universally appreciated and recognized. It can be as easy or as hard as you are lazy or driven. There's room to make mistakes, which is the best way to learn.

I like to take a pretty hardcore approach to the training, but with a really easygoing style. I take pride in doing things well, and work hard to not repeat the little errors, but I have a good time. The way I see it, my job is to make it easier for everyone else to do their job. Eventually, someone can do the same for me.

 

[deleted6669]

I was an er tech for 5 years before I went to paramedic school and pa school. great experience. highly recommend it.
check out www.physicianassistant.net
there is a long discussion over there regarding er techs who become pa's, their roles, etc

 

[deleted6669]

I was an er tech for 5 years before I went to paramedic school and pa school. great experience. highly recommend it.
check out www.physicianassistant.net
there is a long discussion over there regarding er techs who become pa's, their roles, etc

HERE IS PART OF IT....

er tech is the way to go for entry level er positions. you can be involved in every case. work with docs/pa's/nurses/paramedics/etc to see who all the players are and what they do. it's a great job(salary sucks, but you can't have it all)
I was an er tech/emt for 5 years before medic(emt-p) school and worked my way up the ranks. after a while I was staring iv's and doing all the rn level skills. they even scheduled me to work if an rn was sick.I never made more than $7/hr as an er tech though(keep in mind this was almost 20 yrs ago). I hear er techs now make $10-16/hr or so.
basic er tech skills:
brief hx taking with vital signs
phlebotomy
im injections
splinting/wound bandaging
minor surgical assisting
cpr during codes
pt transport
urine testing
minor lab procedures(strep/mono/spinning crits/etc)
labeling/dispensing take home meds
restraining psych pts
applying o2 devices/suctioning
taking resports from ems personnel on arriving pts
performing ekg's
giving neb tx and doing spirometry/peak flow testing
vision/hearing screening

adv er tech skills:
iv's/iv meds
foleys
abg's
ng tubes

 

[DavisStudent]

So, I'm about 1/2 way through my EMT-B course as we (or I) speak. That means, (in suspense-thriller music) duh duh duh...I started thinking about where to apply for a job come January. I know that in the greater Chicagoland area, and the neighboring suburbs, in order to work on a fire department you must have your EMT-P AND Firefighter II license. Honestly, I want NOTHING to do with fire therefore I am NOT going to put myself through "fire school." That leaves me with at least two more options that I am familiar with: private service or ER EMT. Now I understand the protocols and such for the cab, but what EXACTLY would an EMT be doing in the ER? Since I ultimately plan on going into medicine (Gen Surg or EM) @ the physician assistant level I THINK that the ER EMT would be the most beneficial towards my cause. Would anyone out there have any advice for a struggling soon-to-be NREMT-B?

I am sorry that this thread is not prompting others to think deeply about there experiences in EMS and so forth (but I would still LOVE to hear ALLL the stories!!!), but I REALLY need some guidance on where to go with myself.

Thanks in advance

I am currently an ED tech in a smaller hospital. My general job duties include:

-EKGs
-Inputing physician orders into computer
-CPR
-Watching tele monitors (techs at my hospital are required to be telemetry certified
-Quite a bit of splinting
-Wound irrigation
-Patient transport throughout hospital
-Arranging ambulance and helicopter transports
-Stocking
ETC...

Your job duties are highly dependent on where you work. Techs at different hospitals, often times do different things. Some allow for more hands on than others. But, as for where I work, the tech is a combination of a tech/unit clerk (ie, Doing paperwork, making phone calls). Not the most glorious job at times, but it's a great learning experience and there is a fair amount of hands on. Not to mention, I work very close with physicians, NPs, and PAs, so there is potential to learn a lot. For example, my tele class taught us to recognize mainly rhythms of lead II on an EKG, but the doctors have taught me A LOT about 12 lead interpretation. It has been my experience that they are very open to teaching. Also, as far as pay goes, atleast in my area (northern california), ED techs make $17-18/hr on average. However, it can sometimes be tough to get a job as an EMT-B, especially at the major hospitals. Paramedics often apply for the jobs. But if you can land an ED tech position, I would say go for it.

 

[igcgnerd]

My jobs incude alot of what was stated above:
splinting
cna work
assiting in er surgical procedures
o2 treatments
telemetry
ekg
blood draws
patient transports
ordering labs
assiting in codes (cpr and running to the pharmacy handing equipment to the docs)
taking vital/ hooking people up to monitors
irrigating wound

This is just a small list this job is really what u make it. If u shine and the nurses and docs trust ur judgement, u get to do more.

 

[shaggybill]

This has been an interesting read. I'm going to be done with my EMT-B class in a few days and am taking the National Registry on Saturday. I'm hoping to land a job as an ER Tech as well. Reading these posts about what a tech does has been great.

Somebody mentioned phlebotomy. Does anyone know how long those classes usually are? Are they short or long?

 

[lytesnsyrens]

Somebody mentioned phlebotomy. Does anyone know how long those classes usually are? Are they short or long?

I was an ER EMT for 4 years, I loved it! My phlebotomy class was only a few hours long, but after that we had to do so many sticks supervised by lab personnel and RN's before they let us do them on our own.

I would say if you are wondering about taking the tech job, go for it. I didn't use all the skills I learned in EMT training, but I did learn others and it was a great experience, just to make sure I was comfortable in the ER setting. I did all of the things already mentioned and it was great experience. Also, if your a good tech and people get to know and like you, you get invited in on other things. I was invited to sit in on a few organ harvests (never went and did it though because of classes, ) and also assist with rads procedures, so it really is a great way to get a feel for things and work your way in. Sure, a lot of times you get to do the stuff no one else wants to, but it's all part of the learning process.

 

[emtcsmith]

I wouldn't get to excited. The scope of what you will do as a EMT-B/CNA/MA varies depending on the hospital. Like someone earlier said much of what you will do is probaby baby sitting psy, bp's, and anything below medics but above enviromental services. I know alot of busy urban ER's use medics to assist the RN staff so don't expect to be doing IV's, labs, and all that.

 

[shaggybill]

I did an ER clinical on Saturday and I talked to the tech there for a while and she showed me a list of things that she could do as a Tech and I was amazed. IV's, 12 leads, etc. She had an EMT-B cert. and took some in-hospital training classes and that was it.