Who here has worked as an ER Tech or in a related position?

[southpawcannon]

I have an interview coming up next Monday for a job to work as an ER Tech on 3rd shift. Just curious about your experience, pros, cons, etc.

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[Mouseonmtrcycle]

I worked as an ER tech in a non-trauma ER. I would say that it was a good experience overall. I was able to do quite a bit down there, as well as interact with several physicians. The psych patients always spiced up the night with their random flashings and claims to being Jesus reincarnated.

However, working in a non-trauma center can get a little repetitive after a while. I became frustrated with the limits of the job, but I guess you have to start somewhere 😳) Also, it sucks when people yell at you for how long they have to wait when you have absolutely zero control over the issue. All in all I would say it would be an awesome experience for you and your resume.

Good luck on the interview!

 

[kronickm]

I volunteer in the ED doing other things but I observe the techs and what not. It seems like a cool, albeit stressful, job. It will certainly give you some deep insight into the world of emergency medicine.

Pros:
Lots of contact with doctors and patients

Cons:
Lots of contact with doctors and patients
Stress
3rd shift...ouch

 

[acrunchyfrog]

I worked in a non-trauma ER on night shift for 3 years, then went per-diem and worked there parttime for another four(and counting). I learned a ton of stuff, had lots of interaction with patients, docs, law enforcement, and other areas of health care.

The techs at my ER assist with all sorts of procedures, do venipucture if needed, enter labs and do some other paperwork, get vitals, apply plaster splints, assist in codes, and reduce dislocations (under supervision of the Drs who have bad backs). That's just a small bit of what I learned, from the mundane insurance stuff to the exciting psych patients, inmates, and code blues.

Pros: lots of exposure, great learning opportunity.
Cons: pay varies from place to place. Stressfull. Very easy to become cynical and jaded (tho it's not always a bad thing).

 

[necta]

I worked as an ER tech during college. Great experience! Remember you will be the lowest person on the pole. Forget it! Just do the job, learn from others (RNs included), talk to the docs, and get involved as much as possible. Pay will suck and so might the hours. Make sure to learn to do the job well and THEN start telling people about your interests in med school. Sometimes people see you as a know-it-all if you come in blaring that straight up. However, after you've established yourself as a good employee people will start to offer you assistance, which might include advice on medschool apps and other work opportunites etc. Hell, after ER tech I became a paramedic, then critical care flight paramedic, now finishing post-bacc. Careful, you might get TOO involved like I did

 

[TraumaTech]

I am an EMT-B and work as a tech in a Level I Trauma Center and absolutely love it! Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a lot of grunt work involved, but working serious trauma alerts and helping in codes are truly enlightening experiences. At my hospital, techs are very involved and are given a lot of responsibility. You will get to see some amazing things and procedures, and it gives you great perspective on what the job of a doctor (trauma surgeon or ER) actually entails - and, no, its not like Grey's Anatomy or ER.

Pros: Invaluable experience
Cons: Grunt work (stocking, transporting, diaper changing, etc.)

 

[MiketheAnimal]

Just got hired as an ER tech at a non-trauma hospital as well, although I am luckily on staff relief flex schedule 🙂 That makes a big difference! I've just been through orientation and training, though, so its hard to say if the job is enjoyable yet....I will keep you posted...

 

[Halligan]

. Hell, after ER tech I became a paramedic, then critical care flight paramedic, now finishing post-bacc. Careful, you might get TOO involved like I did

Sounds like my story 😀

I second it.

 

[dancinRN1022]

hey,

well I work as an RN in the ER so I work VERY closely with the ER techs...alot of the techs I work with are interested in going to med/PA school...I think its a wonderful chance to get experience and a first hand look at health care... if you tell the doc you want to go to med school they will teach you alot and let you witness alot of procedures!!! The same goes for me as a nurse...but I had to be there anyway!!
PROS-exposure, knowledge
CONS- you guys work hard!!!! I mean really really really hard...nurses work hard too...but I could not do what you guys do..constantly running around...doing ALL the grunt work...and I think you every rarely get the thanks you deserve...atleast most people really appreciate nurses and doctors know they couldn't do our job...but techs just kind of get dumped on...but with that said..you should work as a tech in the ER versus anywhere else in the hospital because you will see so many things...and it looks like more than a resume filler...almost everyone will have volunteer experience once a week handing our blankets... you will really be doing something...

no offense to the volunteer people out there!! because I love having you guys around too...

 

[deleted6669]

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 paramedic school . I worked 60 hrs/week during the summers I was in college and 24 hrs/week( 2 twelves) during the school yr and during the classroom portion of paramedic school which I started 1 month after graduating from college.after 2 yrs as a tech I was starting iv's and doing many procedures normally done by nurses or r.t.'s. the nurses, pa's, and docs I worked with trained me to do a variety of procedures on the job. after a while 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 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( probably not a lot of places that techs do these anymore):
iv's/iv meds
foleys
abg's
ng tubes

 

[dancinRN1022]

iv's/iv meds
foleys
abg's
ng tubes
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I can't think of any place that would let an ER tech perform any of these procedures currently...they can assist! but not perform... that just wouldn't be safe...and the hospital wold have too many liability issues...and as a RN I like having my license!🙂

 

[JRJ26]

at Georgetown Hospital, ER techs are taught and allowed to insert IVs. I guess this all depends on the hospital.

 

[MedicFL]

iv's/iv meds
foleys
abg's
ng tubes
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I can't think of any place that would let an ER tech perform any of these procedures currently...they can assist! but not perform... that just wouldn't be safe...and the hospital wold have too many liability issues...and as a RN I like having my license!🙂

In central Fl techs can do all the above minus the IV's......

 

[Nasrudin]

I agree with most of what's been said. But Tired is right.

After a while it boils down to the ED needs a mule to move the bodies around and all the the other stuff and while the others are busy executing the privaledges and responsibilities of various licenses. That's you. It's a great ring side seat. But I would say do it for a year or so and get out. Go do some research or other types of work that would give you useful skills in medicine.

The only useful thing you get is medical cultural competency--or just learning how to get along with all kinds of folks in strange and sometimes stressful situations.


Unless you take emedpa's route....

But I have to confess I don't quite understand the folks who think learning all the basic hand skills translates into clinical understanding. We're soldiers we learn how to clean our guns in under a minute and a mile in under six. Nobody's asking us about foreign policy or what our exit strategy is.

I am a thinking man. The work of mules is for mules. Clinical medicine is the only thinking man's job in the hospital. And this goes for RN's and PA's too or they wouldn't be here now trying to get into medical school.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

In central Fl techs can do all the above minus the IV's......

Yeah, I volunteer at the Trauma center in Orlando, and the techs in the ED draw blood, do EKGs, foleys, chest compressions, etc. much of what you would think would be done by an RN. I guess it just depends on the state.

I'd just like to add that you can get somewhat the same experiences of a tech as a volunteer if you find the right place and work at it. I know that I can view some procedures and get a sense of the "culture" of the hospital watching the techs, RNs, and Docs do their work. However, a tech position would be better in that you are much closer to the docs and can interact with them more.

I agree with the above posters that the point of being a physician is the clinical thought process. I asked myself if I wanted to be a nurse or a physician, and I knew that I'd always want to know more about the why then the how.

 

[Rickybobby]

As a paramedic we perform all of these except blood gases. Only resp. techs can do those.

RB

 

[Halligan]

In central Fl techs can do all the above minus the IV's......

Same in many hospitals in AZ.

 

[dancinRN1022]

I didn't know that techs had such a broad scope of practice in other states... I guess it depends on the state...

but as far as medicine being the only "thinking man's" job in the hospital...
I am not going to start a RN vs MD thread...and this will be my only post about the subject...

nursing takes alot of critical thinking and processing of information... and if you really think that nurses only know the what and how and not the why then you are going to have a REALLY REALLY hard time as a med student and first year resident TRUST ME...yes I am nurse who wants to be a physician but not because nursing isn't a "thinking man's job" but just because I want a different role in my patient's care...

 

[Faze2]

what exactly do you have to do to become an ER tech. Do you take EMT classes? how long does it take to become one? I am sure someone asked this before, including me, but I am too lazy to scan all of the posts ever written on the subject.

 

[Nasrudin]

I didn't know that techs had such a broad scope of practice in other states... I guess it depends on the state...

but as far as medicine being the only "thinking man's" job in the hospital...
I am not going to start a RN vs MD thread...and this will be my only post about the subject...

nursing takes alot of critical thinking and processing of information... and if you really think that nurses only know the what and how and not the why then you are going to have a REALLY REALLY hard time as a med student and first year resident TRUST ME...yes I am nurse who wants to be a physician but not because nursing isn't a "thinking man's job" but just because I want a different role in my patient's care...

I apply myself as thoughtfully as I can to everything I do. The trouble is when I do that as a tech I'm getting in my own way--My curiosity and desire to learn are not called for.

The phenomenon you are referring to is the individual who does the job. I was referring to the job the individual does. There is something you find constraining about the limitations of the job description of being an RN the same as my job constrains me.

I can assure you I well aware that my effectiveness as a resident is dependent to a large degree on nurses looking out for me. These types of things really have nothing to do with either me or the original query. I concede that nurses and LVN and Rad tech's and everybody are smart, beautiful, happy, shiney, thinking people, holding hands....see you in medical school.

Edit: All i'm saying is that the different jobs are like different games with varying degrees of challenge and difficulty. If you or me or whoever is the type of person who seeks to challenge themselves on a continual basis and loves to learn for learning's sake--there is only one game in the hospital where that type of play is well served....bingo....physician. That's all.

 

[Nasrudin]

what exactly do you have to do to become an ER tech. Do you take EMT classes? how long does it take to become one? I am sure someone asked this before, including me, but I am too lazy to scan all of the posts ever written on the subject.

EMT -Basic training at my hospital. Although at some trauma facilities they use paramedics. Again for these crappy little jobs it always highly variable.

 

[saintsfan]

All of my experience has been hands on.

I started off shadowing the local orthopaedic doc in clinic.That led to getting to watch a surgery, which led to ,"You can't see that from there...someone go help her scrub in." By the time you are right on the patient, you tend to start "holding this" and you move on to learning how to suture. I also ended up working with vascular and general surgery guys.

With that experience I was able to medical assist in clinics (some places do not require "certification"). I also was a monitor tech (interpreting the heart monitor readings and performing ekgs) for awhile. My manager was also over the sleep lab so I learned how to do sleep studies (respiratory rates, more cardiac), cpap, bypap, and some brain wave interpretation.

When I moved, I took a job as a unit clerk (as I had done in a previous location in the PICU). Here in the ER, they tend to give the nursing students the tech jobs. Well, my persistence payed off (and jumping in to help when I could). I will now start helping out in codes, assisting, ekgs, caths, etc. On top of it, the docs here have offered to let me shadow them (and other docs who consult down here in the ER).

I will also say, the hands-on stuff keeps you motivated too.

 

[MSmentor018]

what exactly do you have to do to become an ER tech. Do you take EMT classes? how long does it take to become one? I am sure someone asked this before, including me, but I am too lazy to scan all of the posts ever written on the subject.

some places send you to a nursing tech/assistant type course and require a certification others teach you everything in house without a legal certifcation. most of ours were in nursing school or emt/para so they alrady had med background. we just checked them off on skills and that was it. each is diff so apply to all the ones you want to work at.

it's a good thing to do. gets you a few bucks (starting was $10/hr in SC), learn working skills, get your name out there for LOR's, and a good resume builder...esp if you keep up your GPA. plus it'll give you a slight edge during interviews to say you've aleast seen the inside of a hospital! good luck! 👍