The long term effects of an illness or trauma are influenced by timely, appropriate medical care. This begins with what interventions the ambulance crew provides if one is called. In the prehospital environment, there are four levels of providers: Emergency Medical Responder (EMR), Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT), and Paramedic (National Scope of Practice Model, 20-21). The EMT is considered the “backbone” of prehospital emergency medicine (National Scope of Practice Model 23). It is the first level that a provider can either give a patient medicine or assist with the patient’s own medications (National Scope of Practice Model 24). Medicines that an EMT in Kansas can use are supplemental oxygen, nitroglycerin, aspirin, epinephrine and glucagon by auto injector, oral glucose, activated charcoal, and breathing medications such as Atrovent or a metered dose inhaler (Kansas Board of EMS 1). An EMT may also use a autoinjector antidote on themselves or their partner (Kansas Board of EMS 1). Medications used in emergency situations may reduce disability or prevent patient mortality. EMTs cannot give any medicines with approval from medical control (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 461). Approval can be given in two ways (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 461). The first is called offline control, or standing orders (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 461) Standing orders are written protocol for a treatment
One day a couple years ago I was at daycare playing with my friends and it was a normal day. My mom soon called and said that my grandparents had been in a tragic car crash. Their car was totaled and my grandparents were not in good condition. They were soon rushed to the hospital and taken care of. They are doing fine today and still have their up-beat, friendly attitude. If not for those EMTs that were on the scene, sad to say, they probably wouldn’t be here today. I chose this topic because I want to help other become healthy again and to be around for there family. This paper will talk about why I wanted to do this job, other names for an EMT, summary of what an EMT does, the kinds of EMTs and what their specific job is, the qualifications, education path, salary, job findings, jobs related to an EMT, benefits, and if I still consider being an EMT.
The next step is to determine the nature of the emergency, then stabilized the patient's condition, and then administer the right procedures, while en route to the hospital. Treatment for the patients depends on what level of training and certification the EMT has gone through. First responders are only certified to care for a sick or injured person. A basic EMT can give CPR, control any bleeding, treat shock victims, apply bandages, splint fractures, and administer an automatic defibrillation. EMTs are also trained to handle emotionally unstable patients and heart attack, poisoning, and burn patients. EMT-Intermediate are trained to start an IV, or use a manual defibrillator for patients that are going into cardiac arrest. EMT-Paramedic are certified to be able to perform more intensive treatments, while working in close radio contact with the doctor. (Careers In Focus: Medical Technicians 76) EMT-Paramedics are qualified to give intravenous drugs, use EKGs, put in breathing tubes, and use any modern medical technology. (Careers In Emergency Medical Services
EMTs are the first responders to emergency situations such as car accidents or heart attacks, providing immediate care to the critically injured and the severely sick on-site and then transporting them to the hospital in an ambulance. They are usually the first professionals to come in contact with patients at emergency scenes. In addition to administering lifesaving medical care, they must interact with family members and witnesses who may be very emotional, or even mentally deranged. How professionals manage these situations can mean the difference between success and failure.
Before doing research, I was unaware that there are a few types of EMTs. I thought that there were only EMTs and Paramedics. The names can differ by state, but the three types of EMTs are an EMT-Basic or an EMT, an EMT-Intermediate or Advanced EMT, and a Paramedic. All three levels are trained to handle respiratory, cardiac, and trauma emergencies. An EMT-Basic is the simplest of the three. The skills of an EMT-Basic include evaluating the patient’s condition and caring for the patient while on the scene of an emergency and while transporting them to a hospital. An EMT-Intermediate has all of the training of an EMT-Basic, with the addition of higher skills, like giving the patient some medicines or using IVs. Paramedics are able to offer more advanced treatment than both lower EMT levels. They have the qualifications to give the patient IV’s, medicines, and use complex machines to monitor the patient (Summary).
Becoming and EMT or paramedic is a very stressful and demanding career. It is also a depressing job dealing with sick people every day. However, the job is extremely rewarding and gratifying to know that you helped assist in saving a person’s
According to the Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants (Society of Emergency Medicine Physician Assistants, 2013), the role of a physician assistant in the ED is to provide emergency care under the supervision of a licensed physician. The extent of care they provide varies by state law, facility policy, education of the PA, and how much the supervising physician feels comfortable delegating work (Britnell, Dodd, Vella Gray, & Brochu, 2015). For example, at Memorial Regional Hospital, the PAs working in the ED are allowed to perform I&D (incision and drainage of abscesses) and laceration repairs, but they are not allowed to perform intubations or place IVs under ultrasound guidance (Levy, 2016).
According to Community Paramedic Taskforce Results 7/1/15-12/31/15 (2016), the average patient age was 71 years old, and 61% of these patients were female (n=247). This data is consistent with Rittner and Kirk’s study (1995) relating to age and gender distribution. In 2015 there were more people in this age group than in 1995, which increases reliance on EMS for services that do not always fall into the emergent category, yet do need intervention of some sort. To reduce burdening the EMS system with addressing non-emergent needs MIH/CP programs seek to connect the right patient, with the right care, at the right time. However, some of these patients are limited in mobility and cannot travel to a primary care provider to receive care.
First off, there are several settings in which an EM PA can provide care. These settings include emergency departments, urgent care and critical care units, pre-hospital situations such as ground or air transport, as well as, education and teaching activities in regards to EM. Besides the opportunity to choose a certain setting to practice in, you also have the opportunity to care for a large variety of patients ranging from newborn to elderly. Unlike other PA specialties in which patients present with similar diseases and injuries, EM opens the door for one to see and care for a large variety of illnesses and injuries. Patients can present with anything from the flu to broken bones to life-threatening problems like heart attacks or severe trauma from automobile
There are a limited number of specialties other than EM where the provider serves the undeniable role of determining whether the patient would benefit from hospital admission versus discharge home. Additionally, EM is a unique field in which you work in real-time to follow-up on tests, reevaluate patients, and keep patients, their families, and consultants up to date and involved in the progress of the patient’s evaluation and management. These specific aspects, amongst others, are what I feel separates EM from other specialties and why I am particularly drawn to the
Also, EMT-paramedics should make way more money because they do a dangerous job that saves lives and they do not even make a decent living. 31,000 dollars per year may not seem like that little of an amount of money, but if it is a family of six and an EMT-paramedic is the only one working in the family, they are actually below the poverty level. Money is not the most important thing about a career, but when I learned that the people who saved my life do not even make, on average, fifteen dollars an hour, I was shocked. Making that kind of money would make it difficult to provide for a family, so the spouse would also most likely have to work in order to make a decent family income. A household with a first responder should easily make six
While working in the emergency department for my clinical this week I could see the staff members that help in the emergency department. There are RNs, EMTs that have different certifications like BLS or ALS, a nurse practitioner, and doctors. In the emergency department, they have staff members from different parts of the hospital to assess the patients. Radiology comes down to get X-rays on the patients for a closer look at their heart. The patients who come into the ER with shortness of air, chest pains, numbness in the extremities and dizziness with signs of fatigue are ordered an X-ray. The lab can come to draw the patient's blood or the nurse will draw up the patient's blood and then send it to the lab. More patients come in with chest pains or shortness of air while in the ER,
Emergency medical technicians are licensed and/or certified health-care providers that are out-of-hospital. They immediately respond to the scene of an emergency, assess the safety hazards of the scene, and transport patients to institutions. (Beck, 2013) An emergency medical technician-paramedic takes on the additional tasks of giving medication and using various complex equipment. The competence and hasty reactions of EMTs can save the lives of patients and get them to the emergency room physician. Although education differs state to state, every emergency medical technician-paramedic must receive a high school diploma or GED and become certified for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). (“Emts and paramedics,” 2014) They must also
A first respondent is a very critical role and is, thus, essential for the applicants to hold a viable degree or certificate as prove of their competency (Pope, 2005). Each state in America look for varied skills in first respondent applicants and also require varied EMT qualifications. Since the first responder is the person who arrives at the scene of accident or catastrophic occurrence first, it means that he is the first person to deal with patients and it is, thus, critical for him to have medical
The Emergency Medical Service(EMS) are the people who will usually respond to a 911 call relating to medical emergency.
Thus, emergency physicians cannot rely on earned trust or on prior knowledge of the patient's condition, values, or wishes regarding medical treatment. The patient's willingness to seek emergency care and to trust the physician is based on institutional and professional assurances rather than on an established personal relationship. Fourth, emergency physicians practice in an institutional setting, the hospital emergency department, and in close working relationships with other physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, and other health care professionals. Thus, emergency physicians must understand and respect institutional regulations and inter-professional norms of conduct. Fifth, in the United States, emergency physicians have been given a unique social role and responsibility to act as health care providers of last resort for many patients who have no other feasible access to care. Sixth, emergency physicians have a societal duty to render emergency aid outside their normal health care setting when such intervention may save life or limb. Finally, by virtue of their broad expertise and training, emergency physicians are expected to be a resource for the community in pre-hospital care, disaster management, toxicology, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, public health, injury control, and related areas. All of these special circumstances shape the