Many people wonder what it’s like to be a Paramedic. Some common questions I get asked are: How do you handle all the stress? How long do you have to go to school? Is it difficult to do?
I will answer these questions as best I could today in this article. Proceeding from the education of being a Paramedic. Each state has its own training for medical technicians, but the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians will use the basic guidelines.
Before taking the Paramedic course, you need to take the Basic EMT course. This procedure outlines Basic Life Support (BLS) procedures for handling accidents. You learn about the anatomy of the body, how all these organs work together, and what to do when one of them is not working properly. Some of these skills include: administer oxygen, administer certain medications, vital signs, and more.
You will also learn how to handle trauma. Trauma is the cause of damage to the body from some type of strength. It usually results from car accidents and falls. Skills taught at this level include splinting, controlling bleeding, spinal stabilization, and extrication (removing someone from a dangerous situation).
The EMT-Basic course is about 3 months long and includes some time in a local emergency room to apply the skills. learned in a more moderate environment. This helps prepare you for the actual injuries and illness that you will see working in the real world.
After successfully completing the EMT-Basic course, and receiving your license, you can proceed to the EMT-Paramedic course. This course teaches all the skills and knowledge of BLS in a much richer and more advanced Life Support (ALS) skill. Some of these skills include: Intravenous (IV) Medication, Cardiac monitoring, Endotracheal (ET) intubation and much more.
You will learn a lot about drugs. From their name to how they work in the body and what are the correct dosages. They will teach you several formulas to use in order to correctly figure out the correct dose of medication to give to patients.
The Paramedic course takes on average about 12 months to complete. You will have 6 months in school to learn all the knowledge and skills of a Paramedic. Then spend six months in the hospital applying these newly learned skills so you are fully prepared when you start your career as a Paramedic.
The next popular question is how do we handle stress ? Due to stressful job you see various diseases and injuries. He has always been one of the most difficult children for me. You must be ready to talk about stressful calls with someone. Talking and sharing what’s on your mind is the easiest way to handle any problems you may have with a particular call. They also have special teams called Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) who are trained in how to help public safety personnel deal with any incidents that may have been particularly stressful for them. There is much work to be done to help anyone who wants to enter the field of public safety.
Is it hard work? Yes. It requires the ability to think quickly in situations that are not the best environments to work in. to lift and move patients who are unable to move due to illness or injury. Then some days are harder, but not all bad. It is also a very rewarding job. Going home made at the end of the day knowing you makes a difference in someone’s life is a great emotion. Saving a life is a greater emotion. The rewards far outweigh the hard work.
For more information about working in the emergency Medical Services field please visit http://www.nremt.org.
