alt Hacker NewsReasons I didn't become an EMT, ranked
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Friend of mine was an EMT, and he advanced on and became a paramedic.
The work seemed to suit him, he enjoyed it. I'd hang out with him at his base of operations (he was a private paramedic in LA County).
Then, one day, he quit.
He quit, and didn't renew his certification.
And he won't talk about it, and, boy, yea, did he have some stories.
But something got to him.
If you're interested in this field, consider remote work; wilderness, expeditions, offshore. Potentially much more interesting than city work and scope of practice around the world differs, so there is sometimes the opportunity to be more involved.
Have a look at the Award in Remote Emergency Medical Technician[1] from the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine. It's 75 hours of online study, then a 6 day course in their classroom in Malta (another 50 hours). Afterwards you'll hold a recognised European tertiary qualification, but you'll still have to sort out local registration.
The AREMT course is actually also the first module in their full BSc in Remote Paramedic Practice programme.[2]
[1] https://corom.edu.mt/award-in-remote-emergency-medical-techn...
After Covid I joined a volunteer fire and EMS company. They paid for my Fire 1&2, EMT, Instructor 1, and Officer 1. All nights and weekends only. EMT was like 4 months every other Saturday.
EMT was a challenging class because a few of us were competing for highest grade.
I don't do too many EMT calls these days, most of my volunteering is as a lieutenant on the fire side.
I'm very glad I did both, it's been fantastic for my chronic anxiety. I've seen some upsetting things but then I take a break for a bit to process it in therapy. There is a huge need for volunteer emergency response in the suburbs and farther out. If you are interested definitely check it out. If you find a station that's got too many assholes just find another one. Also the people I thought were the worst assholes turned out to just be a little prickly to newcomers and now we are always going out to dinner and renfaires and stuff. Heck my current year long TTRPG game is all folks from the station.
I am also a thru-hiker so I'm very interested in getting into wilderness search and rescue in the future.
I don't think I could ever do emergency response as a career, but I love volunteering. Nothing makes me more appreciative of getting to sign into work with a nice cup of tea and soothing music.
To all these commenters who are an EMT or similar first responder, just wanted to throw out a note of appreciation. The moment you find yourself in a situation where you need a first responder, you gain a new level of respect for all they do.
I decided to become a (volunteer [0]) firefighter at 60 (software development background). It has been awesome.
Last year, I considered becoming an "EMR" (Emergency Medical Responder) - the lowest level of certification for emergency medical care that there is (basically, you can get vitals and stats from the patient if they are conscious). Because of timing considerations, I ended up not doing the course.
A year later, I see my 2 fellow firefighters who did become EMR's having to 20+ hours a year of mandatory continuing ed/training to their lives, and I'm pretty glad I ended up not doing that.
The firefighter part, given that we're a small, very not-busy volunteer rural fire district with an awesome district chief and culture, continues to be fantastic.
[0] thanks to the unions in my county fire department, volunteers are required to go through all the same certifications as career firefighters. We lack their level of experience (mostly) because we don't go on as many calls.
This is a surprisingly interesting and relevant post to me that I decided to make an account to comment. I worked in IT and eventually as a programmer for 6 years, had a rough point in my life, and decided to take some time to reconsider my goals. I had always been interested in the medical field, and this was as good an opportunity as ever to do something new. I got my license and now am lucky to work 911 rescue in a larger city, both high call volume and high acuity (5 to 10 calls in 12 hours just on my truck).
Pros: - Societal good: There are few who would argue Emergency Medical personnel do harm. Being able to visibly see your work improving people's lives and contributing directly to the public good is incredibly self gratifying. - Handling emergencies: I am the one people call when things go wrong, in charge of patient care, managing scenes on the medical side. - Problem solving: each situation is unique. Assessing situations, determining patient care, and actively working difficult scenes can be fun and helps fulfill my unmedicated ADHD needs. - Handing out ambulance stickers to kids.
Cons: - Smells - Limited medical scope: I stop bleeding, give people oxygen, and get them to the hospital. I have very few medications, cannot intubate, and am not allowed to interpret an ECG. Paramedic is a 14 month program minimum that is a much larger time and money commitment, and even then, doctors are the ones that actually end up managing full patient care and make final decisions. - Pay: I took a very large pay cut. I knew this would happen, and I was incredibly burnt out at my previous job, but the medical field, especially first responders, gets away with low pay and high hours because they often rely on passion and many new people entering the field at the lower levels.
Ultimately, I still have not figured out what I want to do long term. I could go back to programming, but with the current job market, that seems inadvisable. THe medical field will pretty much always guarantee some job. I do want to pivot (still have not completed college), but see above untreated ADHD along with a few other personal things I need to work on. Nursing has higher pay, but puts you underneath doctors such that you rarely make independent medical decisions. And paramedic/firefighter is nice, but hard on the body plus issues in the culture previously discussed.
For anyone considering it, I do recommend taking a class. You can do it in 4 months with a one day a week class (how I did it), and volunteer somewhere. But understand the tradeoffs and recognize that is far from glamorous most of the time.
OP: I've wanted to be an EMT for a long time, but I made excuses for years. I wanted to share some of them with y'all; maybe they resonate with you, or inspire you to do something you've been putting off.
Because worst-case, you might enjoy it.
The Coursera course led by an MD will give you a good idea of the content of the class and can help you decide if you want the license: https://coursera.org/specializations/become-an-emt
I'm almost 50 and retired from tech a couple of years ago. I passed the NREMT test a little while ago.
I think that I could not do healthcare professionally if I wasn't old and had a lot of free time- it would have been thin pickings when I had a wife and kids. And a lot of the folks I work with have some deep, deep trauma and moral injuries from how poorly US healthcare treats 90% of the population.
But EMT-B is some of the lowest standards for getting into a position where I can help folks. Compared to a lot of the professional knowledge I have recieved, it's not super expensive or time consuming... like, $3k all in (including travel and supplies) and about 6 weeks of intensive study.
I am still considering what to do with that (I spent all day putting a cistern into my weird off-grid setup, so it's not like I don't have other work to be doing)>. But I have spent a lot of time with newer/beginner rock climbers and guiding is one thing. I did several days of music festival first-aid, and that was excellent and interesting. I do work at a free clinic and that's been very rewarding.
But I feel like I will have to try and get at least a couple of months of IFT or (preferably) 911 truck work to become as proficient as I'd like to be so that's what I am trying to find at the moment. But I am curious how that will go and what I will find.
On point 9, "The certificate is just gonna expire if I don’t use it.", check out the "recertification by examination" tab of https://www.nremt.org/EMT/Recertification.
I personally find it easier to pass a mildly annoying test every couple years than to track CE hours, so that's how I recertify.
My EMT cert is old enough to buy booze.
Lost a programming job in the dot com bust, couldn't land another one, eventually ended up in an EMT class and worked a series of traditional ambulance jobs and other health care positions since. Not really using it for anything but some volunteer stuff these days though.
From everything I hear about what programming jobs have become I don't really mind the career change, but man oh man do I miss the pay that comes with tech jobs.
What's the equivalent in the UK of a one-month EMT course?
I was a volunteer EMT for a while — and didn’t take it further for some similar/some different reasons.
One recommendation, if you want to take the class but aren’t planning on doing it professionally (and have any interest in outdoor activities), take a Wilderness First Responder class. I found I learned a lot more in that class, and much it is practical in many circumstances, not just riding on an ambulance. It’s also a lot more fun, as you spend a lot of time running around in the woods learning to macguyver splints out of all kinds of stuff.
The other thing I found was that to really be good at it/feel confident treating anything beyond the most basic patients, you’re going to have to work on an ambulance full time in an urban setting. And in most places, to do that professionally, you’re going to have to become a paramedic.
I kind of did this in reverse lol. I was an EMT on private ambulance for 5 years, went to paramedic school, then dropped out and became a software engineer. Coming from the other side, I can definitely relate to the experience of delaying something you want to do for reasons that, in hindsight, were mostly irrational.
> If you’re not on an ambulance, it’s very hard to fulfill the NREMT’s continuing education requirements, so your certificate will quickly expire.
I think in the past, CEs had to be done in person, but after COVID they started allowing 100% online CEs. IIRC, certification is good for 2 years, so if you renew at the end of your cert period, you can immediately knock out your CEs for the next renewal period, you'll be set for a whole 4 years, and you only have to pay for a month subscription to one of the CE providers.
I worked as an EMT for a few years. I didn't like the structure of the training. The education portions are insufficient, to say the least. I believe most EMTs/paramedics don't have enough education under their belts to perform the tasks they do. Most of these people learn from working on the job. You get a call, get the patient to the facility, then learn from it. I also didn't appreciate the "fake it till you make it" mantra that many people in EMS liked to repeat.
I love picking up these practical skills even though I hardly ever use them. I did a whole course in avalanche safety right before I left Colorado. Now I live in Philadelphia. Still happy I did it.
How about: raging PTSD? A former buddy of mine had that like crazy, and apparently it's rampant in the profession (of course it is!).
Also, they (BC Ambulance) treat you like garbage when you need assistance, and effectively force you back to work or to go find a job elsewhere.
It's shocking how badly we treat the people that willingly take on life's hardest challenges (for low pay, I might add). It's amazing any are even left after all that BS.
Also a graduate of NOLS WEMT, and it was one of the best-run educational experiences I've been through (Including Undergrad, Masters, professional development, etc).
Highly, highly recommend paying them a visit - truly a special organization, though I've neglected trying out one of their proper expeditions.
I knew a guy who was an EMT (or maybe a paramedic). He drank hard. Would give himself an IV to get over the hangover. He eventually enlisted to be a Marine medic. Absolute madlad.
I have a lot of respect for EMTs and I’m grateful for all of them, but the pay is (comparatively) low, the stress is high and you’re pretty much guaranteed to burnout.
I wish there was a "Reasons I didn't become a manager, ranked" to help my career decisions.
I trained as a paramedic, but couldn't stand the culture and needed to get out.
Pretty cool write-up. Being an EMT is basically the polar opposite of being a software engineer, instead of dealing with computers and automated systems, you are dealing with people and everything is manual, "custom" workflow instead of automated. However it can still use the same debugging, engineering mentality we have. Good luck in whatever comes next to you.
I like it when people are willing (and capable, writing-wise) to wear their hearts on their sleeve like that.
Also, I bet the whole blog post's worth would flash through the author's mind within all of 10 seconds whenever they were reminded of the possibility of taking the course. It takes both patience and self-discipline to put it all on paper like that.
Great blog post! Makes me want to take an EMT course :-)
There has to be a toll seeing people suffer probably one of the lowest points of their lives, seeing kids die, seeing brutality like that where an EMT is warranted.
You probably pay the cost.
If you're someone who offsets the typical HN vocation with outdoor recreation like hiking, cycling, climbing, mountaineering, etc., then consider the weeklong Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course. Much more practically useful than EMT for the majority of time where you don't have an ambulance handy, and you can scratch a similar itch as the author's by doing volunteer Search and Rescue work.
Many volunteer departments will pay for you to get your EMT certification, which is about 160 hours and at the high school graduate level. It is basically "non-invasive" interventions, anything else requires paramedic which, between class time and ride time is around a 1,600 hour effort.
Compassion fatigue, depending on where you work or volunteer, is a real thing, and is ultimately the reason I retired after 14 years as a volunteer and part time EMT, paramedic, firefighter, instructor, state evaluator for new certification and continuing ed, and SEI (senior EMS instructor) accreditation, which is a state requirement to be able to oversee and sign off on the accreditation of new EMTs to the Department of Health (in my state your program needs to be certified by the DOH, and one of those requirements is oversight by an SEI who ultimately accepts responsibility for delivery of the curriculum and attestation of test documentation and results.
Culture can be a challenge, depending on where you are, yet around here there are regularly engine companies staffed by all women (who, sadly, regularly have to answer the question of whether their CPAT - candidate physical agility test - is the same as the men's. It is).
Private ambulance and in particular IFT (interfacility) can be a drain. And most companies in private EMS nickel and dime the shit out of everything, rigs that are 300,000 miles in, held together by hopes and dreams, high call volumes - the right partner on those shifts makes it a fist bumping "we're in this together", the wrong partner makes it a miserable "FML".
There is an aspect of EMT training that is "how not to kill your patient who is critically sick or injured before they get to definitive care", and there is a lot that is 2am "I fell going to the bathroom".
It is hell on your body. You are picking people up off the floor, working around them in cramped conditions that say "fuck ergonomics and lifting mechanics". My students stand around on a big concrete pad in the apparatus bay of a fire station well lit on a Saturday afternoon. "This is the most perfect scene you will ever show up on". In reality it's 3am, the patient is morbidly obese, wedged between the toilet and bath in their double wide (none of this is judgmental, it's just the scenarios you have to work on).
And you're going to get paid utter shit.
Realize that most of the EMT salary reporting you might see online is a weird hybrid of paramedic and EFT pay reporting. The PNW is progressive and you'll be lucky to break $20/hour. Want to do it in the SE and it's very likely you'll be at half that, with companies promising that "you'll make more than you think because you can get as much OT as you like!" which is ... not the promise it's cracked up to be.
I loved it, relished it, it was my life. I missed it but now, mostly, I just look back on it and think of the few patients I genuinely made a difference to, above and beyond immediate outcomes.
What is the time commitment for a volunteer EMT?
I would've expected a top reason to be the possibility of seeing mutilated bodies, dead babies and children, and other fun stuff like that. EMTs on this thread, how do you cope with that?
Going on a slight tangent, I wanted to do the same thing but with firefighting instead. One thing I've found is that a good portion of your time is supposedly spent doing fundraisers
My dad liked to tell me about cadaver college because I gag at the thought or sight of gore and that's kept me working on trees, cars and computers and not humans
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I have written about this before here on HN.
I obtained a BS in Aerospace Engineer in 1998. After job jumping several times I realized I didn't care for it. I was basically a "paper" engineer, which was my fault as I never pursued jobs that did "real" engineering.
Anyway, around 2003/2004 I went to night school for EMT. The purpose was to be a dive master on dive boats (I was/am a dive master - I don't dive anymore). It was fun.
My engineering job sucked so I jumped into paramedic school right after EMT. I really enjoyed it. About a month from graduating PM school, county fire department came in to class and said they would hire paramedic only but we would have to cross train to firefighter.
In Feb 2006 I was 35 yo with a 9 month old baby and decided if I didn't do it then I never would so I applied and got hired then department put me through fire school.
It was the best career decision of my life. It didn't take long to see a bunch of people get hurt from the job, so I figured I better have a back up plan since I also have chronic health issues. From 2010 to 2015 I did an online Masters degree in CS. After completing it I started working part time remote jobs as a developer.
Then COVID hit in 2020 and they pulled me out of the field due to my health issues. I turned 50 and was getting tired after 14 years. I started applying to full time jobs and landed one.
In 2022 I switched jobs again for a better org and I am still here. I just switched positions from Java dev to cloud engineer in May.
I absolutely enjoyed 85+% of FF/pm but it is a young person's game. It gave me confidence I probably never would have found. Again, it was literally the best career move I ever made and would recommend anyone to do it.