EMT - B, does size matter?

[PatchSusan]

I am looking into becoming EMT-B certified, but wonder how hard it would be to get a job considering I am a 5ft, 120lbs female. Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

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[Catherine Mac]

Size shouldn't matter! If you can carry the patient and you know your protocols, then you should have no issue! If you do, then that's horrible and the service is missing out on a great person.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Can you lift at least 50 pounds and walk with it? That's all we care about when it comes to EMT size in EMS.

 

[leonardoson]

Yes doesn't matter as an EMT. But you will be hard pressed to find a good EMT job anyways. Ambulance services staff mainly paramedics in cities. If you live in a rural area you will have more of a chance since they don't have as many resources and medical equipment. Get your CNA 1&2 if you are looking for patient contact experience.

 

[Stagg737]

Yes doesn't matter as an EMT. But you will be hard pressed to find a good EMT job anyways. Ambulance services staff mainly paramedics in cities. If you live in a rural area you will have more of a chance since they don't have as many resources and medical equipment. Get your CNA 1&2 if you are looking for patient contact experience.

Agree with this, most places don't want to actually hire an EMT-B and want Paramedics instead. I spent 4 years as an EMT and was only able to get a job at a waterpark. I was able to volunteer at a fire department in college, but the shifts/hours that everyone was requiring from an EMT made it impossible to do while taking classes. I think you would be better off going a different route if you're looking for patient contact, unless you're out of school and looking to do EMT as a temporary career. Besides, seeing patients in a clinic or hospital will, for the most part, be more relevant to most of the fields in medicine other than EM.

 

[SliderK]

Your actual height and weight won't matter. Most (all?) ambulance services will have a "lift test" before hiring you and the specifics of this will vary from company to company. However, if you're decently fit/spend some time at the gym you will be fine.

Also, don't necessarily listen to all these people saying it's impossible to get an EMT job. Where do you live, OP? It very much depends on location. I live in NorCal and EMT-B positions are fairly easy to get. It was a wonderful experience for me and I would highly recommend it!

 

[cidem2065]

You guys must be looking for jobs in all the wrong places. EMT is much better patient contact experience since you're often the highest provider around and plenty of suburban and rural services will take EMTs where you just submit the availability you can to work around campus - just make sure you're working for a 911 service. There's also possibility for campus EMS as well.

 

[leonardoson]

You guys must be looking for jobs in all the wrong places. EMT is much better patient contact experience since you're often the highest provider around and plenty of suburban and rural services will take EMTs where you just submit the availability you can to work around campus - just make sure you're working for a 911 service. There's also possibility for campus EMS as well.

I currently work for an ambulance service. In my area typically EMT's work as medical transport and can help with 911 services if they need it. It is typically harder to get a job as an EMT, and if you do you aren't really working as an ACTUAL EMT. I tell everyone I know that asks about it for patient care experience to get a CNA cert instead since there are many more of those jobs out there. I do preface it by saying they will hate their job most likely.

 

[Code2Cabie]

It's not about size, its knowing how to use what you got. I spent 3 years working on an ambulance as an EMT and had plenty of short female partners that could lift more than many of guys were capable of doing. They put in the time and energy to build their strength. It can be physically demanding, especially if the service you run with has older equipment such as manual gurneys. Don't be mislead by the idea of electric gurneys and think you will get by without lifting too much. The electric gurneys, in most cases, still need to be lifted into and out of the ambulance and weigh 40-80 lbs. more than a manual gurney with the added weight of the battery and hydraulics. It is a physically demanding career, be prepared.

Expanding upon a few of the comments I read that were unsolicited and presumptuous of the OP's intentions in perusing a job in EMS field work:

Every city has it's own SOPs regarding who does what in the field. Some cities capitalize on duel EMT BLS ambulances that utilize ALS paramedic intercepts as needed to reduce costs or increase coverage. A large majority of the patients have BLS level needs and fall within that set of protocols. Research the departments you are interested in thoroughly to understand how they utilize their EMTs and Paramedics. In the pre-hospital setting there is the possibility that an enormous amount of autonomy and responsibility will be placed on you. While I will agree there are way more opportunities as a CNA, the experiences are not the same. If you are asking your question because you want to be an EMT, awesome! Become an EMT because you want to be an outstanding pre-hospital provider as a side journey on your way to whatever is next, you will gain much more experience and competency in critical thinking under pressure with the right intentions in place than in any other entry level medical field. Furthermore the skills you develop and learn in the field will be invaluable to you and those around you for the rest of your life. I will warn you, do not work as an EMT only to add patient contact hours to your CV. I have trained plenty of pre-meds who had a horrible time working as EMTs and left quickly after starting. They hated it because they felt like they didn't fit in or 'couldn't cut it'. They floundered because many of them just wanted to do the bare minimum to get their patient contact time and the career EMTs and paramedics can pick up on such a MO easily. The point is that such a mentality excludes you from the camaraderie that allows for meaningful experience while working in the field. In such a case there are much quicker, easier and even more profitable ways to rack up patient contact hours.

Whatever your reasoning I wish you safety, prosperity and happiness. Now go do some dead lifts.

ProTip: One has the potential of learning a great deal more about medicine during inter-facility than in 911. Especially if you have a paramedic or nurse for a partner.

 

[Fedekz]

Some have weight lifting requirements, like they'll make you lift a mock stretcher with weight to a certain height. It might be more difficult for someone on the shorter end. I'd recommend lifting some weights, not just to get hired, but you'll be lifting 300lb people off the ground and you'll thank yourself later

 

[Fedekz]

ProTip: One has the potential of learning a great deal more about medicine during inter-facility than in 911. Especially if you have a paramedic or nurse for a partner.

I disagree with this statement. You will learn more about how to read hospital charts and progress notes, etc. You won't necessarily learn more about medicine. You're taking stable patients home, but most of the time in my experience you're taking perfectly stable patients to and from dialysis or their doctors appointment. You drop them off then wait around until the appointment is over (except dialysis, you'll run several transports before that **** gets done) and don't get to observe any medicine. I worked as a paramedic for a total of 4 years at an IFT service.

A 911 service is where I felt I learned more about medicine, you begin a treatment, see the immediate effects, pass on the report to the receiving physician, see their opinion on your unofficial diagnosis and treatment, and observe what they think and order, and can see the outcome later.

Working with a critical care paramedic on a MICU is probably the best it can be for seeing medicine, but they probably won't put a new basic on that truck.

 

[Gurby]

Don't do it, OP. Run away. Small people rarely last in EMS. Come back when you can deadlift at least 150 pounds.

 

[NeuResurgens]

On the job debate front, it depends entirely on where you are. My area is terrible for Basic jobs and I'm lucky we have a campus agency I can volunteer at. However, some ambulance services will take Basics in fairly large numbers.

As far as learning medicine - EMS has taught me to think critically *far* more than my hospital job has. There is something to be said for being one of maybe two or three actual trained "medical authorities" on scene. If you respond first, you are in charge of the patient's entire treatment. You simply don't get that sort of opportunity in the hospital setting, at least not in my experience.

 

[Deranged Medic]

It's not about size, its knowing how to use what you got.

Brilliant. Due to the title, this statement is pretty much what I expected the entire thread to be about.

 

[Code2Cabie]

I disagree with this statement. You will learn more about how to read hospital charts and progress notes, etc. You won't necessarily learn more about medicine. You're taking stable patients home, but most of the time in my experience you're taking perfectly stable patients to and from dialysis or their doctors appointment. You drop them off then wait around until the appointment is over (except dialysis, you'll run several transports before that **** gets done) and don't get to observe any medicine. I worked as a paramedic for a total of 4 years at an IFT service.

A 911 service is where I felt I learned more about medicine, you begin a treatment, see the immediate effects, pass on the report to the receiving physician, see their opinion on your unofficial diagnosis and treatment, and observe what they think and order, and can see the outcome later.

Working with a critical care paramedic on a MICU is probably the best it can be for seeing medicine, but they probably won't put a new basic on that truck.

I believe "Medicine" is too exhaustive of a term to describe the kinds of assessments, considerations and treatments traditional field EMS provides. Of course flight's scope is very different and using the word "diagnosis" for your own opinions on a patient condition is taboo in my area.

I agree there is always that possibility of being utilized as the glorified cab service (notice my username?) as you know it's very dependent upon the area and how your department is utilized. I have done my fair share of "wait and returns" or doctors appointments and taking grandma home for hospice. I also learned a great deal from those "stable" patients because I wanted to learn everything I could. I've also taken ECMO patients / teams, and a patient with an open chest with his surgeon, anesthetist and OR RN from one OR to another in a different hospital. In the services I ran with, 911 always operated as protocol monkeys, most of the guys hated running medical calls because they only cared to learn and become truly competent in trauma or high stress low frequemcy incidents. In addition I felt like most of the 911 medics and EMTs became very complacent I'm their education since they had ascended to the greatness that 911 is always made out to be. I left the field because I got tired of trying to explain why a malfunctioning VP shunt was a life threat and the closest facilility could not handle the patient because they did not have the proper magnet to adjust it. Or why a syncopal LVAD patient with a "low flow" warning should get a right sided ECG to check for new onset right ventricular failure or underlying arrhythmia. If it wasn't in the protocol, it didn't exist for so many of them. At least in my service, I felt like the experiences and education I gained working the interfacility ride better prepared me to look past the protocols. It wasn't until I started working in the hospital setting that I realized how different 911 and IF personel can be. No disrespect to either side but if I was in a traumatic accident, I would want the 911 adrenaline junkies, if I was having a thyroid storm or other metabolic crisis, I'd rather have an IF crew. I understand that for some people interfacility is a stepping stone into 911 but there are a few who stay because of such differences.

OP Regardless of what kind of rig you work on, if you keep an absorbent attitude and are lucky enough to have partners that keep up their education and are genuinely interested in all facets and details of healthcare (not just what we can do in the field) you will learn quickly and enjoy pre-hospital. I see it as a great investment of time and effort if you have a few years to commit to it and have the right intentions. In this way you can learn just as much from stable as you can from unstable.

 

[MCNC718]

This thread is getting extreemly pretentious from a lot of people who probably have never worked in the field. Your physical size does not matter, HOWEVER you will likely have to pass an agility test, which varies from agency to agency. As for the experience, working 911 greatly depends on your location. As mentioned above, a lot of cities staff ALS/BLS units as a cost cutting measure, others run double ALS or BLS, but that depends on what's near you. It can be a very rewarding, valuable and educational experience if you approach it with a good attitude.

 

[Code2Cabie]

This thread is getting extreemly pretentious from a lot of people who probably have never worked in the field. Your physical size does not matter, HOWEVER you will likely have to pass an agility test, which varies from agency to agency. As for the experience, working 911 greatly depends on your location. As mentioned above, a lot of cities staff ALS/BLS units as a cost cutting measure, others run double ALS or BLS, but that depends on what's near you. It can be a very rewarding, valuable and educational experience if you approach it with a good attitude.

My brother, perfectly summed up in far less words than I could get by with.