I am a new EMT and i’am getting my IV certification i’am required to get 10 field IV’s during my FTO training program is 16 12 hour shifts split up between two FTO’s i got 8 good IV’s with my first FTO and with my new FTO I can’t seem to even hit a vein i’am dying here i’am actually just complaining right now but man it’s killing me

So i start my first emt job in early November and if theres anything you guys can tell me what not to do or common rookie mistakes on the first day/first job please let me know!

Working EMS In LA county it seems that every trauma bag must carry a bite stick (the ones I’ve typically scene are green and hard plastic), what is its intended use/purpose? And why does LA county’s EMT and Paramedic scope of practice so reduced?

I do not want to leave EMS; however, I would love to work in the ER as well and have more responsibilities in the ambulance. I first had the hints I would like Emergency Medicine after my CNA program in high school forced us to rotate in different units. I felt like the ER felt like especially like home (especially since I've had runins with EMS and the ER as a patient). Then I enrolled in an EMT program and finished valedictorian. That sealed the deal.

I LOVE MY 911 EMS JOB. I worked in the ER too this summer and while it was an adjustment since I now had to learn IVs and some other skills, I LOVED IT. I was literally begging my boss to be on the clock when someone called out. Same for my 911 EMS job. If my premed path allowed it, I'd be in uniform everyday after school. Every. Day.

I shadowed an ER doctor in the ER and I had so much fun it was unbelievable. He and I clicked after he found out I was an EMT and said "yo can you grab lung sounds on 2?" and I said "what? I left my scope at home since this was an observership" and he said "here's mine!" and handed me his Littmann Lightweight II. Then we got a stroke patient and he said "Go ahead and do a GCS for me and ask the husband when she last took her eliquis." He then told me to educate a patient about seizures and he'll meet me in there. Perhaps he just wanted me to have stuff to do, but I loved it.

I do not see myself leaving EMS even once I'm in med school and an ER doctor I talked to during a premed event at my school said "you sound like a future EMS physician, consider it when it's time. you sound like you'll enjoy it."

I just got an offer as a newly graduated paramedic to work on an ALS IFT truck. I've heard some pretty bad stigmas with IFT jobs so I'm just looking for some opinions on this with anyone who's worked at one.

The company which offered me a job also does in house CCT training and has CCT trucks.

Most of what I heard is from BLS folks and not ALS so I was curious if there are different opinions on the two.

Thanks a ton folks.

My NIMS is due tomorrow and im also retaking part of my midterm for patient assessment assessment/management (NREMT), I tried to take the exam for the introduction to the incident command system and failed.

Should I just retake the class next semester? I dont have too much faith in me passing and im stumped and ready to give up

brand new emt student here, my program is remote and online so i don’t rly have anyone to ask about this: I’m from the Olympia WA area and I will most likely be employed in a larger city (Tacoma, Fife etc) . I know this area is less conservative and is more lax about facial piercings but I’m not sure how that applies to EMS. I have two nostril piercings, and an eyebrow piercing. my jewelry is very small and not super garish. my hair is my natural color and i have minimal tattoos that can be covered so i’m hoping that’s enough to still convey a professional appearance.

before i get any comments saying “this isn’t a fashion show” i’m well aware of that, i will take them out if necessary but i think the way i conduct myself in the workplace is a bigger indicator of my professionalism than some microscopic jewelry in my face.

with that being said, can anyone tell me their experience with their local companies in this regard? were you allowed to keep them in or was the clear plastic jewelry an option? did you have to wear a mask to cover any nose/mouth piercings? is there a set limit to how many you can have?

I'm trying to find study material online for the NYS Emt-B test, and all I can really find is NREMT study material. My instructor in the class i took was making a big deal about how the New York test was different, and New York didn't entirely recognize the national registry.

Can I just study the NREMT stuff and it's effectively the same? are there any major differences between the two certifications? I heard it's harder for NY emts to be allowed to use i-gels or something. Wondering if it was a big nothing burger or if the material and tests are actually significantly different. Thanks.

Hi everyone, hopefully this is a good place to ask this question because I’ve been given a handful of different answers in person.

I’m doing very well in my EMT class, and my professor has recommended that I go straight into the paramedic program next semester. I considered it, but then one of the fire science professors that assists in our labs recommended that I go into nursing (I think he said ER nurse specifically). I have one semester left of my GI Bill (for those who don’t know, it’s just a scholarship from the military) and it’ll expire in January of 2028, so I’d like to go to school for something regardless but I’m not sure which program would make the most sense.

I ideally would like to get a year of field experience as an EMT before deciding either way, but for scholarship purposes it would be better if I did go straight into another program either next semester or Fall 2027. I already have a health science degree, so the paramedic program would be 1 or 2 semesters, and nursing would be 3 semesters since I have the prerequisites done.

My main concern is being able to work while I’m in school. I know that the paramedic program encourages students to continue working as EMTs while in school, but I’m not sure if the workload for nursing will allow for that. I’m partial to paramedic but they both seem like good career choices for me personally.

Any insight at all is appreciated. I’m going to talk with an academic advisor next week, but I’d like some input from people working in the field as well

I had my first interview with a local IFT today and it was the standard interview questions. “Tell me a time you worked in a team” ,”tell me about yourself” etc. I have another zoom interview with the company on Friday that is going be more,”clinical”. I’ve been out of school since May and haven’t done my due diligence and stayed in the books and whatnot. Is there any key areas that I should refresh up on? Thanks and thanks and thanks!

At my very first IFT EMT job, I was obviously extremely green. Like almost comically green. I did not know the order of the truck doors, did not know what to do when making contact, etc.

At my second pure 911 job, I've had no massive hiccups. Per my previous post, even when I technically didn't master the OPA and NPA skills, my preceptor said "no worries, we're cruising along" because of my other skills. My 911 preceptor is SO unbelievably kind. Aside from the gentle ribbing characteristic of EMS, he's always curious about what's next for me (in my path for becoming an ER doctor). My 911 service has front and back doors. This detail will be important soon.

Then I decided that while I get paid for my probationary period at the end of it, I'd still need more hours for med school and would like to have a steady source of income (to fund my caffeine addiction.. lol). So I found an IFT service.

I felt physically sick around my partner. He always yells. Like always. And he's definitely a bit of a paragod. He made me reverse into a 1 inch clearance garage with no chalk to help. He said the following:

"STOP! Dude you almost hit the fucking car! You did it once, why can you not just do it again?!"

and when he asked why I keep cutting the wheel to reverse, I said "I'm scared of hitting something."

and he said "THEN DON'T! WHAT ABOUT WHEN YOU HAVE TO REVERSE INTO THE BAY, WHAT THEN?! I'M JUST GONNA UNLOAD THE PATIENT AND LEAVE YOU TO FIGURE IT OUT."

He was obviously joking but he said "if I see you getting out while I'm in the back, I'm breaking your legs."

Someone else, the on call person who came in just to say hi while the other guy went to get groceries, said the following when he was teaching me:

"your service has back and front doors for a reason. it's an extremely challenging skill. but just take a deep breath. you're okay, not in any danger. he just yells a lot. you just have to nod, listen one ear and throw it out the next. you're a smart kid. i watched you study biochem, my brain can't even begin to understand that."

I asked my pre-PA (she wants to do peds lol) gf for advice and she said the following:

"baby, that sucks and I would definitely confront him if I was there since talking to someone on their second day that way is never okay. let's report him. however, i think you might benefit from having thicker skin. people will be dicks to you, and it's a reflection of them, not you. a good person will sit down and teach things to you when they have time. but i don't want you sulking whenever you encounter one of those people."

I took her advice to heart and I'm working on it, but I've noticed that for obvious answers to CLINICAL PROBLEMS (which was never really an issue for me, my clinical skills have been really good all the way from EMT school to now), I've always hesitated and had the internal monologue that I could be fucking stupid.

I’m looking at courses in Rhode Island and am having trouble finding one that would easily align with my day jobs schedule. I guess I’m just looking to talk to some people who do the job to get some real insight into what being an emt really is after class. I’ve always been interested but I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting any irl. Anyways thanks for reading and any advice you guys come up with!

My wife is in an accelerated emt program and she says she feels like she doesn’t have enough time for how much studying she has to do and feels like she can’t learn some things, she did passed her mid terms and is coming close to her finals so I wanted to know how I could help her with studying

What have you found to be the best?

Thanks

Currently an EMT student with 7 weeks left. I am an On-call firefighter as well, the goal of the class was to get into a full time fire department. However, I am considering looking for employment as a straight EMT for a little while to gain experience. I am extremely concerned with pay unfortunately as I have a wife and child and am currently the main income in the house. I live in Michigan and according to Google, average annual for an EMT in my area is about half what I make at my current job. What do you do to compensate for this? I want the experience, but I'm afraid I literally cannot afford it.

hello, my first clinical is tomorrow and I’m pretty excitenervous about it. I have a few strange questions that maybe one of you folks can answer. this is super long and winded sorry.

a lot of people said to bring snacks and a water bottle. if I’m at a station where they often just sit in the truck somewhere, am I allowed to bring a backpack or something on the rig to put that stuff in?

also I’m a little nervous because the way my classes are we barely work on any actual skills. I see a lot of peoples schools they have to test off on like a full patient assessment and stuff like they show on videos but I’ve never had to do that. our instructor doesn’t even really supervise us during time to learn skills. I don’t wanna get rated poorly because I look like I have no idea what I’m doing. Anybody else turn out okay? I’m hoping they’ll let me try some stuff and actually do skills on the ambulance either on them or for practice. like 12 leads, blood glucose, etc I’ve never even got to practice doing those we just kinda sat there and watched our teacher do it. I’m worried I’ll look like a buffoon sorta. When it comes to patient assessment, I know generally what I am looking at but I’ve never been walked through the actual process. It doesn’t help that I’m kinda shy in nature and the only person I’ve practiced on is myself and one of my classmates. Clinicals should help, right?

also, I want to bring as little as possible because I don’t want to be seen as cringe. I bought a pair of five 11s ems pants because they were on sale, but I worry that maybe they look too tacticool for clinicals… is that a real thing people make fun of, or is that just bitter people who make fun of stuff like that? I also have a pink badge reel for my ID badge but idk if that’s too much. I don’t want to show up looking corny I guess.

Yes I know I’m probably thinking way too hard about it but it’s important to me because I really want to learn a lot and do well, just want to give a good impression to my preceptors.

Hey everyone, just recently became a NY state emt last month and a have a job interview with a ambulance agency in about a week and a half.

They told me there would be a skills test during the interview similar to my nys skills exam. That's all I know.

My question is has anyone here had to do a skills exam while getting hired by an ems agency? If so what should I expect. I'm not worried about my interview at all it's the skills that has me worried. Thanks in advance everyone!

EMT student here. My Lecturer has given me the impression that the KED and activated charcoal aren't really used much in the field anymore, but they still come up in NREMT prep. For the current EMTs in here, do you still use these in practice, or are they mostly things we learn really for testing purposes?

okay so i got my first 911 job, and i finished day 1 of the academy and safe to say i am a little intimidated. they have it where after the first week they take you out for field training and they sign you off if your competent enough and i guess im having imposter syndrome.

(note*) ive worked in EMS prior as a event EMT and ive handled medical emergencies many times completely solo so i know i can handle it, im just really intimidated by how much i have to grasp going into this job.

my question is, do any of you have a similar experience and what helped you work through it, i’m just stressing it lol

I work for a 911 municipal service. I had a competency check yesterday. I aced most of my skills (even the LMA one, which most basics at our service fail absurdly on the first try for some reason since they can't figure out the capno), but next shift my FTO wants me to do NC, OPAs, NPAs, and machine based CPAP. Below is the feedback

OPAs:
- ROTATE.
- Size not from corner of mouth to earlobe but from teeth to angle of jaw.

NPAs:
- Timing, also ROTATE. (I hesitated a little since my FTO said "I did not say go yet.")

CPAP:
- Mostly just do the skill slightly faster and make sure the tubing actually locks. Other than that perfect.

NC:
- Prongs down. Other than that, good.

Easy enough to integrate all of this for next shift. However, EMT school literally taught me that I can catch the tongue and do not need to rotate.

I actually aced the indications, contraindications, signs, and symptoms, which is a good sign since I want to be an ER doctor (I'm premed).

Who is right here? Rotate or can you just catch the back of the tongue?

Any tips? I get so bored of the handbook, whats the most important information I need to know? And how can I make it fun when theres so little information out there about it?😭

I failed my NREMT AEMT today and honestly I’m not surprised. My test was definitely not what I was expecting. I have been studying with pocket prep and medic tests and have been getting good scores on all of my tests. I took a NREMT simulator on Medic Test and got a 1488 out of 1500. So I went in thinking I would do well and pass.

Well, a lot of my questions were multiple choice and a lot of them had a little scenario and a list of prescribed medications with no medical history and just signs and symptoms the patient is experiencing. A lot of the meds I’ve never heard of but of course we won’t all know every single medication a patient is prescribed. the questions we’re asking me to select what the patients medical history was based on the info given.

I also got a lot of weird questions like my partner and I go to a lift assist and are unable to life the pt on our own who should we call a fire engine a second ambulance family members and idk remember the other option.

Another question I got was your doing CPR on an adolescent and the mother asks to stay what do you do. And the options were let her stay, leave the scene, ask pd to remove her, tell her to wait outside with the rest of the family.

I’ve had about 4 other classmates take there’s and they said most of their questions were the scenario based questions (en route, scene, post scene). They got capnography waveform questions. Questions that actually pertain to the AEMT.

I don’t get a single capnography waveform or question about capnography for that matter. I only had about 4 scenario questions. The rest were just very random. A lot of questions about positioning the truck when arriving to different scenes.

I got questions about narcotic meds that As can’t even administer.

Idk I guess I’m just at a loss about what to study at this point. I honestly thought I was taking the wrong test based on the questions I was getting.

Any and all suggestions appreciated!