Emergency medical technicians or also known as EMT’s are responders that are trained to provide care for the sick and injured and move them to a medical facility for further care and management. These emergency medical technicians work as a member of the team and they can also ask help and assistance from fire and police departments.
While these EMT’s transports the patients to the health care facility, the team can work with the members of the health care team within the institution. When these emergency medical technicians arrive at the scene, they assess the individuals and identify the nature and severity of their injuries and other conditions needed to be considered like diabetes and epilepsy. These medical technicians has the responsibility to open airways, control hemorrhage, treat shock, administer medications, give oxygen, assists in childbirth, use defibrillators and other basic procedures like splinting and immobilization. After the emergency operation, emergency medical technicians replace all supplies used in the ambulance, checks if the equipments are still functioning, and cleans and decontaminates the ambulance if the patient has infectious and contagious disease.
Emergency medical technicians must be emotionally stable, have a good agility and physical coordination. They must have a calm attitude and should know how to react faster during life and death situations. These emergency medical technicians work both indoors and outdoors and spend almost all their time standing, bending, sitting, lifting and etc. These EMT’s also work with people that have infectious diseases and with different behaviors. Though this job may be as strenuous and taxing, still a lot of people find this job exciting and rewarding at the same time.
For those who wanted to have a very challenging job, being an emergency medical technician is right for you. But what does it take to be a good emergency medical technician? In every profession that one wants to be including being an EMT, having an emergency medical technician education comes first. A lot of emergency medical technician schools offer a curriculum with 200 to 250 hours of classroom instructions like lectures and practicals on laboratory, ambulance experience and internships. The emergency medical technician education includes instructions on how to deal with patients having hemorrhage, airway obstructions, fractures and patients with arrest. For that taking emergency medical technician program in the intermediate level, it consists of 60 to 80 hours of instruction. These include trainings on patient assessments, administering intravenous fluids and etc. For those taking the highest level which is the Paramedic, it has 1100 to 1400 hours of instructions. When these students have already completed the entire program, they will be receiving certificates. A lot of emergency medical technician schools offer a two year associate degree.
Emergency medical technicians are also rewarded financially since they are doing a lot of challenging jobs. The highest salary for most emergency medical technicians is $40,000. The top paying job is for the firefighters and policemen. The salary also depends on the location of the workplace. Emergency medical technicians working in top paying states expect to earn more.
