Inside Look: A Day at Advanced Medical Transport

The company that I would be interested in working in is Advanced Medical Transport. They are the ambulance company in Peoria. Your day to day work is you and your partner running calls. You are working under many people, but do not necessarily see them every day. There are people in charge in the overall medical system, like the medical director. There is also the operations manager or supervisor. These are the people who manage daily detail like where everybody is going and teaching continuing education for the employees. Last semester I did a 12-hour ride along with the company and I got a look into their daily tasks. The day starts with checking medication and equipment along with fluids, lights and sirens on the vehicle. Then they

The first duty is to monitor all patients assigned to you. Other duties include being responsible for equipment and maintaining a professional image and attitude at all times. Examples of requirements are being able to lift at least 100 pounds being able to react calmly in emergency situations. There are also warnings about the environment that you are working in. There are “frequent exposure to communicable diseases, toxic substances, ionizing radiation, medicinal preparations, inclement weather and other conditions common to a pre-hospital environment”. When I was doing my research I found an article of personality types that often are paramedics or EMTs. A lot of people working in emergency medical services are Type A personalities. The article explains the traits of a Type A personality to be someone who is competitive, self-critical, and feel a sense of urgency constantly. “There is little room for error in this profession, which is why a self-critical, competitive and organized person is the perfect fit for EMS” (Type A). This would be a job that is satisfying for the indicial that craves excitement. I think that not everyone is able to withstand the pressure of this specific job and emergency services in general. Both the goal of the company and the individual need to be helping the

The company's motto is: Saving Lives. It's what we do. From my ride along last year I saw that this was true, and this is what I would like to do. I do not mind the pressure of an emergency. “You may not need to spend 4 to 8 years or more in medical school to become a paramedic but that does not make your responsibilities any less critical. What do you do during those first few minutes on the scene will make the difference between life and death” (Hamilton). Most of the diversity would come from the patients. Advanced Medical Transport covers areas from downtown Peoria to Pekin and Chillicothe. There are areas where people are not living the most elegant conditions, and accepting things is part of the job. In between calls there can be a lot of down time where you are sitting in the truck. I think that if I was working this job full time it would be something that would bother me. I think this would be a good stepping stone job, but not where I would want to spend my entire career. If I worked for a fire department I would be able to walk around and not be stuck sitting during downtime. This may seem like a petty detail, but I think that being confined to one area is something that I could not do every day for many