My update on the ER tech job

[southpawcannon]

I posted a while back asking who worked as an ER tech and what they thought about the experience, pros, cons, etc. I've been interviewed and given a great recommendation for the job. HOWEVER, I was just informed today by the new supervisor of the ER techs that the new policy states ER techs must be at least a certified nursing aide. He asked if I am certified in anything, and I told him I'm a certified athletic trainer. He said he would pass that info on to the power-that-be and get back to me today. This guy calls me back this afternoon and said I don't have good news for you, the HR director is the setting this policy, don't know why now, etc., and seems to be adamant about upholding this policy. I asked if my many years as a CV tech doing IVs, stress tests, histories, etc., on top of my athletic trainer degree and the classes I had to take would make a difference, or if doing something like a simple EMT-Basic would work, being any of the above would be above and beyond what an ER tech does(at least here since I was told techs and LPNs don't do IVs, only RNs). He understood the frustration being he is new to his position and needing to hire ER techs because the much-needed greatly expanded ER is set to open in less than a month. He said they(he and other ER staff I presume) are fighting this and he would keep me in first consideration as soon as he can find out more by the end of the week.

I'd rather hear 'we called your references and they say you are one ****ty worker. did you think we'd really hire you?' than to be told 'you were referred with a high recommendation and we want you here, but unfortunately our HR director is a *****.'

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[DrMom]

see if they'll provide training for you. we just changed the requirements for our techs and provided them all with appropriate training.

 

[Kate6058]

Might be a random place for this question, but generally what are the duties of an ER tech?

 

[Nasrudin]

I posted a while back asking who worked as an ER tech and what they thought about the experience, pros, cons, etc. I've been interviewed and given a great recommendation for the job. HOWEVER, I was just informed today by the new supervisor of the ER techs that the new policy states ER techs must be at least a certified nursing aide. He asked if I am certified in anything, and I told him I'm a certified athletic trainer. He said he would pass that info on to the power-that-be and get back to me today. This guy calls me back this afternoon and said I don't have good news for you, the HR director is the setting this policy, don't know why now, etc., and seems to be adamant about upholding this policy. I asked if my many years as a CV tech doing IVs, stress tests, histories, etc., on top of my athletic trainer degree and the classes I had to take would make a difference, or if doing something like a simple EMT-Basic would work, being any of the above would be above and beyond what an ER tech does(at least here since I was told techs and LPNs don't do IVs, only RNs). He understood the frustration being he is new to his position and needing to hire ER techs because the much-needed greatly expanded ER is set to open in less than a month. He said they(he and other ER staff I presume) are fighting this and he would keep me in first consideration as soon as he can find out more by the end of the week.

I'd rather hear 'we called your references and they say you are one ****ty worker. did you think we'd really hire you?' than to be told 'you were referred with a high recommendation and we want you here, but unfortunately our HR director is a *****.'

Welcome to health care politics. Its hardball and dirty and you just got a minor taste of one specific outward manifestation. The procedure is to overblow any little patient care task into its own minor profession complete with its own training licensure which basically amounts to you can tie your shoes and show up to work having bathed in the last week. And it all boils down to higher costs for patients and fractured patient care continuity.

There's nursing unions throwing around big balls, non-nursing unions trying to pipe in there little nonsense, hyper-legal Nursing managers with napoleonic issues, and on and on.

Don't sweat it. Your not missing a whole lot. You can get patient care experience many ways. Just keep poking your nose around you'll find something. If I were you I would look into clinical research with patient care aspects--you'll be less likely to run into this nonsense.

 

[Nasrudin]

Might be a random place for this question, but generally what are the duties of an ER tech?

Highly variable. You will get as many answers as there are hospitals. There are some common themes that center around physical grunt work of moving bodies on one end and some technical skills on the other like phlebotomy etc. In total you are everyone's assistant and can therefore be found involved in any situation that transpires in an Emergency Department while under the supervision of other licensed personnel and in some limited sense can be given some independent patient care tasks at the direction of others--this amounted to wound care and splinting fractures in my ED, without invasive independent tasks.

 

[budhak0n]

Welcome to health care politics. Its hardball and dirty and you just got a minor taste of one specific outward manifestation. The procedure is to overblow any little patient care task into its own minor profession complete with its own training licensure which basically amounts to you can tie your shoes and show up to work having bathed in the last week. And it all boils down to higher costs for patients and fractured patient care continuity.

LOL Nas... I got my Phlebotomy Certification in June, and since there's only one Hospital in the entire county... I too have fallen victim to the good ole hospital HR politics... There's at least 45% of the staff uncertified and I can't get in... It's great stuff. I'm still hoping to get in and do it at least PRN while finishing my pre reqs but I get the feeling that unless I have an In with the HR at this place, I better start looking in the surrounding counties and be willing to do the half hour commute.

Oh well , such is life. Good Luck and God Speed. .BTW got my first "grade" feedback and let's just say I started off on the right foot... Krebs, Cell Respiration and Photosynthesis along with Membrane structure etc are next.

Upward and Onward.

 

[musashi]

Can't the OP obtain EMT-B certification? I am almost finished with a summer intensive EMT-B course and my plan from the start was to hopefully get hired as an ER tech. I have a year left to finish my pre-reqs and was told that is a great asset to have on the application. It's obviously some of the best premed clinical experience out there. The other day I was watching 3rd years at the health science center I'm at having some issues with BCLS/ACLS tasks not to mention watching them do their first phlebotomy and b/p readings. If nothing else as a tech those things will become second nature. Any thoughts?

 

[Nasrudin]

LOL Nas... I got my Phlebotomy Certification in June, and since there's only one Hospital in the entire county... I too have fallen victim to the good ole hospital HR politics... There's at least 45% of the staff uncertified and I can't get in... It's great stuff. I'm still hoping to get in and do it at least PRN while finishing my pre reqs but I get the feeling that unless I have an In with the HR at this place, I better start looking in the surrounding counties and be willing to do the half hour commute.

Oh well , such is life. Good Luck and God Speed. .BTW got my first "grade" feedback and let's just say I started off on the right foot... Krebs, Cell Respiration and Photosynthesis along with Membrane structure etc are next.

Upward and Onward.

Rock it out bro. Just hearing that terminology reminds me of how much stuff I forgot. I think we'll have to learn that stuff 5 times before we're through.

Little pesky healtcare jobs with fancy b@ll**** titles get on my nerves too. The system is dangerously French in its perfection of the inane.

 

[budhak0n]

Can't the OP obtain EMT-B certification? I am almost finished with a summer intensive EMT-B course and my plan from the start was to hopefully get hired as an ER tech. I have a year left to finish my pre-reqs and was told that is a great asset to have on the application. It's obviously some of the best premed clinical experience out there. The other day I was watching 3rd years at the health science center I'm at having some issues with BCLS/ACLS tasks not to mention watching them do their first phlebotomy and b/p readings. If nothing else as a tech those things will become second nature. Any thoughts?

Hey musashi I was thinking about going that route as well... The EMT-B certification that is... What did you think about the course? How long did it take you? Did you take it through a local fire company? I know I looked it up in NJ and I think they only offer it through the Atlantic City Fire Department in my area.

 

[Nasrudin]

Can't the OP obtain EMT-B certification? I am almost finished with a summer intensive EMT-B course and my plan from the start was to hopefully get hired as an ER tech. I have a year left to finish my pre-reqs and was told that is a great asset to have on the application. It's obviously some of the best premed clinical experience out there. The other day I was watching 3rd years at the health science center I'm at having some issues with BCLS/ACLS tasks not to mention watching them do their first phlebotomy and b/p readings. If nothing else as a tech those things will become second nature. Any thoughts?

The particulars are too localized to predict. You'll have to do some footwork and look around. I live in a hyper-politicized city with overly professionalized competition dynamics and was very frustrated not to be able to learn some of the few basic skills that I could actually take with me, which you correctly assess as useful. Usefulness depending on the system you train in and practice in--King-Drew in Compton...yeah...might help to be able to draw your own blood etc, other ritzy places you might get your precious hands dirty once and a while...Ob Gyn aside.

Yeah you're still right in a sense though...not to many premeds got street creds. So yeah it an alright gig to throw up your signs and claim.

 

[MSmentor018]

Can't the OP obtain EMT-B certification? I am almost finished with a summer intensive EMT-B course and my plan from the start was to hopefully get hired as an ER tech. I have a year left to finish my pre-reqs and was told that is a great asset to have on the application. It's obviously some of the best premed clinical experience out there. The other day I was watching 3rd years at the health science center I'm at having some issues with BCLS/ACLS tasks not to mention watching them do their first phlebotomy and b/p readings. If nothing else as a tech those things will become second nature. Any thoughts?

sort of...once in med school they have a certain step by step that THEY want you to follow. it can be a pain in the ass b/c it deviates from the "reality" of clinical practice. but you'll learn tips/tricks that they don't teach you in med school. I can easily say my clinical exp (trauma RN) helps. in the ER I try to let the techs do as much BLS as possible b/c it's good learning plus a fun change from the norm. as for ACLS our tech's can't interpret EKG's or push meds so no hands on, just visual exposure of being in a code. usually the hospital has it's own legal crap about what tech's can/can't do (varies greatly) and they usually train you. some exp is better than none so it all helps on the app

 

[musashi]

What's *****ic is that as an EMT-B in San Antonio working in a box (ambulance) I can give O2, assist patients with certain meds (nitro, inhaler, epi-pen) if they have them and give oral glucose in addition to BLS. Same certification, same city only working as an ER tech I can (under the supervision of a nurse) draw blood, start IV's, start foleys, set up EKG's (don't believe I can interpret), and participate, albeit minimally in codes and it pays 3-$4 more an hour. There are at least 4 people in my EMT-B class who are also applying to med school who have no intention of using their EMT skills at all other than to put it down on the application. I was told that those who only acquire the cert and never use it can be seen right through by an adcom. I need to work for the next 1-2 years until I start and thought with this route I can go to school full time during then week and then pick up over night on Fri/Sat and have the weeknights to study. Of course this means that until I get to med school I won't have any weekends, but oh wll suck it and drive on. Plus there are alot more cute nurses, rt's etc than there are cute EMT's in an ambulance. If it was easy everyone would be in med school.

 

[Nasrudin]

sort of...once in med school they have a certain step by step that THEY want you to follow. it can be a pain in the ass b/c it deviates from the "reality" of clinical practice. but you'll learn tips/tricks that they don't teach you in med school. I can easily say my clinical exp (trauma RN) helps. in the ER I try to let the techs do as much BLS as possible b/c it's good learning plus a fun change from the norm. as for ACLS our tech's can't interpret EKG's or push meds so no hands on, just visual exposure of being in a code. usually the hospital has it's own legal crap about what tech's can/can't do (varies greatly) and they usually train you. some exp is better than none so it all helps on the app

Right. I never wanted to do anything that would be unsafe and without the proper training. But let's face it there's not a whole lot of rocket science involved in many of the physical hand skills involved in a lot of nursing practice. Instead of the military model where its all medical corpsmen working as a team to provide seamless patient care, the civilian world it's one petty turf battle after another.

And the creation of this inefficient monstrosity has a lot to do with the unbalanced weight of nursing power in health care economics. This is an idea that I need to refine but I think it is the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about. Health care has yet to reckon its operations with the situation that nurses can steer the ship from the middle by sheer numbers and their supply and demand favorability. Health care costs are skyrocketing and nurse's make 2-3 times more than teachers with career tracks that offer less training and no one wants to talk about it.

And so when a hungry to learn group of young people can not be well integrated into the service of the customer base because of turf battles then you've got a malignancy that's beginning to grow. I'll give you an example: I constantly sought to learn some basic phlebotomy skills but what happened instead when my intelligence and intensity to learn and serve became apparent I ruffled the feathers of my nursing colleagues, through no fault of my own (people just don't want to see other people moving up around them) and then they started to bring up things to their little lawyerly manager about how techs shouldn't be doing glucose sticks because its invasive, or giving 2L of O2 to patients with chest pain because its a medication....OK....so this is haterism 101 no two ways to shake it. And what stinks is they do it just because they can, not because there's a serious argument. Watch the riots in France as a once vibrant western economy teeters on the brink of archaic obsoletion because of the workplace dynamics that squash innovation and the engagement of human energy and talent as an example of what looms for us with out re-thinking our health care delivery. Our system is soviet at its current core.

Another dynamic that is invisible to the unobservant or unmotivated eye is a legal precedence that invisibly follows the fault lines of hospital power structures. For example, there was landmark case in California that involved a medical assistant who re-used needle endangering the life of hundreds of people--Nursing power blocks and others assert this as evidence of their training in defense of their turf and tech's can no longer perform certain basic functions in many hospitals that are perfectly safe for any non-sociopathic mind. It's B^ll****. Because when a nurse fakes a license or a cardiac surgeon performs unnecessary heart operations for profit, also recent cases in California, the practice dynamics of those professions don't change. Why? Because they control the market for the services they provide.

So this is what I have come to realize: there are many little glass ceilings on all the normal learning processes that at one time could steadily and safely integrate young and energetic people into the care of patients. This means high cost inefficiency for patients and endless frustration for anyone who wants to learn and work hard rather than get fat defending some imaginary piece of turf.

Pre-meds, as my friend said: Onward and upward. There is no middle destination that will not frustrate your desire to learn before long. Not nursing assisting, or nursing or PA'ing or the 1001 whatehaveyou's.

 

[southpawcannon]

I did a little research online yesterday and came across a CNA course leading to certification with none other than the local American Red Cross. There are two paths: an accelerated path of 3 weeks Mon-Fri 8-4pm(Which I can't do due to my current 630-3 job) or the 10 week, 2 nights a week for 4 hrs. I called up the supervisor, whom made it more clear today the frustration of many people in the hospital, ER manager included, and offered a suggestion that he might could pass on if all else fails. I asked him to find out if they would consider letting someone work while taking the course and also pay for the course or at least reimburse a percentage of it. He thought of that as a good idea and he would pass it along....

This probably would be quicker than EMT-Basic, as someone suggested. I was told that having EMT-basic would not be considered in lieu of the NA certification. Long-term, when I finish up my post-bac courses and then head back to finish out my grad degree in a neighboring state school that I began in, I will not have near as much trouble finding some weekend work in a hospital with a NA certification.

 

[southpawcannon]

I was informed yesterday that the battle over the silly little CNA requirement to be an ER Tech is over and the supervisor is now able to move on with bringing me in.

Quoting Nasrudin...
'...and so when a hungry to learn group of young people can not be well integrated into the service of the customer base because of turf battles then you've got a malignancy that's beginning to grow. I'll give you an example: I constantly sought to learn some basic phlebotomy skills but what happened instead when my intelligence and intensity to learn and serve became apparent I ruffled the feathers of my nursing colleagues, through no fault of my own (people just don't want to see other people moving up around them) and then they started to bring up things to their little lawyerly manager about how techs shouldn't be doing glucose sticks because its invasive, or giving 2L of O2 to patients with chest pain because its a medication....OK....so this is haterism 101 no two ways to shake it. And what stinks is they do it just because they can, not because there's a serious argument.'

I was told yesterday that 90% of the staff could care less if a tech started an IV, pushed any drugs, etc., and the supervisor as well seemed to not have a problem with it either, yet the other 10% he said will complain because of a 'turf battle'(give me a damn break) and the Board of Nursing at this hospital are the ones behind this. So, I'll be going from a job where I can administerIVs in either upper or lower extremity, push pharmacological agents and radioactive isotopes for stress tests, reversal drugs for these tests or others to ease symptoms(under CRNP, PA or MD supervision, of course) to being more of a paid candy-striper who can write down some patient histories, do an EKG and possibly watch someone with much inferior phlebotomy skills make a pin cushion of someone. Not the move I was necessarily looking for, but at some point in the near future I'll have to phase out the clinic job to allow time for my day classes at the university, so I'll have the hospital job to work around my schedule and who knows, maybe with a little effort, those 10% will quit acting like someone s**t in their litterbox and give people who want to learn and do more just that chance.

 

[zack_w]

Sounds like you've got an excellent new supervisor, but this hospital must be incredibly dumb. I'd take an EMT in the ER over a CNA any day.

 

[dancinRN1022]

I was informed yesterday that the battle over the silly little CNA requirement to be an ER Tech is over and the supervisor is now able to move on with bringing me in.

Quoting Nasrudin...
'...and so when a hungry to learn group of young people can not be well integrated into the service of the customer base because of turf battles then you've got a malignancy that's beginning to grow. I'll give you an example: I constantly sought to learn some basic phlebotomy skills but what happened instead when my intelligence and intensity to learn and serve became apparent I ruffled the feathers of my nursing colleagues, through no fault of my own (people just don't want to see other people moving up around them) and then they started to bring up things to their little lawyerly manager about how techs shouldn't be doing glucose sticks because its invasive, or giving 2L of O2 to patients with chest pain because its a medication....OK....so this is haterism 101 no two ways to shake it. And what stinks is they do it just because they can, not because there's a serious argument.'

I was told yesterday that 90% of the staff could care less if a tech started an IV, pushed any drugs, etc., and the supervisor as well seemed to not have a problem with it either, yet the other 10% he said will complain because of a 'turf battle'(give me a damn break) and the Board of Nursing at this hospital are the ones behind this. So, I'll be going from a job where I can administerIVs in either upper or lower extremity, push pharmacological agents and radioactive isotopes for stress tests, reversal drugs for these tests or others to ease symptoms(under CRNP, PA or MD supervision, of course) to being more of a paid candy-striper who can write down some patient histories, do an EKG and possibly watch someone with much inferior phlebotomy skills make a pin cushion of someone. Not the move I was necessarily looking for, but at some point in the near future I'll have to phase out the clinic job to allow time for my day classes at the university, so I'll have the hospital job to work around my schedule and who knows, maybe with a little effort, those 10% will quit acting like someone s**t in their litterbox and give people who want to learn and do more just that chance.

I am sooo bored because I obviously can't sleep right now...darn swing shuft

anyways... you are really allowed to push meds, start IV's??, really?? i must have missed something...i don't know your credentials at all... and this isn't an insult to you but how in the world can an MD or RN allow you to do these invasive things... with all of the legal ramifications, they would be totally screwed if you were to mess up... we have licenses which dictate our scope of practice and what we are specifically allowed to delegate and what we are not... if you push a med too fast and something happens.. while you may end up feeling bad you wouldn't have any liability because you aren't expected to have a foundation or knowledge but I would be held responsible...that medical assistant in CA has a license too so they should have known better... i know everything is so annoying and it seems silly,and some people are bitter so there are turf wars in place...but alot of these rules are put in place to protect the patient... and the hospital and health care providers

 

[kronickm]

I am a blood bank tech in a major teaching hospital with no certification of specific education (other then a B.A.) in anything and I can do all sorts of invasive stuff. The only things I cannot do are administer medications and blood products. Although they do let me start IVs and return things like Albumin through an apheresis machine. As far as I knew administering meds and blood (technically a med) was really the only thing that one needs to be an RN/MD for, aside from say lumbar punctures or other complicated procedures.

 

[Wackie]

Things are switching from EMT's in the ER's to CNA's or PCT's. All of the techs were I work are PCT's. So, if you want to work in the ER, that may be the route you'll have to take.