Advice and input from you Emergency Medical Technicians?!
Question: Advice and input from you Emergency Medical Technicians.?
Hi there.
I am looking to enter the EMT program (basic) at saddleback college, CA. The reason for this is because I want to see what the experience is when you are dealing with people who are in need of immediate emergency health care.
You see, I plan to enter the Physician Assistant program that is offered at USC in 2010, but I felt that first I should do this to see if I have what it takes to help people in this way.
Have any of you EMTs been through rough horrifying experiences.? How about any diseases.? Have you met anyone working as an EMT who caught HIV or Hep-B.?
I'm looking for what to expect. Thanks!Health Question & Answer
I am looking to enter the EMT program (basic) at saddleback college, CA. The reason for this is because I want to see what the experience is when you are dealing with people who are in need of immediate emergency health care.
You see, I plan to enter the Physician Assistant program that is offered at USC in 2010, but I felt that first I should do this to see if I have what it takes to help people in this way.
Have any of you EMTs been through rough horrifying experiences.? How about any diseases.? Have you met anyone working as an EMT who caught HIV or Hep-B.?
I'm looking for what to expect. Thanks!Health Question & Answer
Answers:
I was an EMT for 3 years and a paramedic for 5 years and I would not trade what I learned for anything, but it is not for everyone. As far as Hep-B, we all got shots to prevent that. Hiv is another thing. You always use gloves but if one happens to get a rip or tear in it you are taking a chance. I started working as an EMT before they ever gave us gloves to use, we used our bare hands and no one I know ever caught anything. You want horrifying experiences, I've had my share. One that comes to mind is bicycle vs car. A car hit a guy who was riding a bicycle. The bicycle guy flew off his bike, onto the hood of the car into the windshield and back onto the pavement of the road. His skull was cracked, he had brain matter running all over my bare hands. We put MAST trousers on him, 2 large bore IV's and was squeezing the fluids in as fast as they would go, intubated him, got the chopper in the air and met it and loaded him, he never made it. Another time we picked up a 2 year old child with pneumonia in both lungs, he lived 2 days. Another was a baby that was born at 24 weeks and weighed a pound, he lived 3 days. Then there are fingers and toes that get cut off with lawn mowers, plows that roll over on people who get pinned beneath them who never survive, the gunshot and suicides and motorcycles crashes either alone or with cars and auto accidents. If you have a week stomach, this is not for you. We also pick up heart attacks and dead bodies. People whose feet go clear through the floorboard of the car and they get sliced to the bone and bleed out or lose their arm or leg and still don't make it. But the ones you save make it all worth it.Health Question & Answer
It's a blast! I have been an EMT for a little over 4 years and I wouldn't want to be in another field. I have seen some crazy stuff I saw an MCI not to long ago with 30+ people with injuries and 8 dead... crazy... So definetly go for it. A lot of people I ork with either go for paramedic or PA school..Best of luck!Health Question & Answer