Being A Paramedic

“Next to creating life, the finest thing a man can do is save one.” This quote means a lot in the career of a paramedic. Being able to help someone in a time of need is important to me. Being a paramedic isn't just a career it’s a passion I have. There are a lot of things required to be a paramedic. You need to be able to be calm in stressful situation. If you want to make a difference in someone’s life this is a great career. Paramedics work in all kinds of conditions at all times of the day. The schooling to be a paramedic isn’t too long but it is a hard program.

The first paramedics go all the way back to military corpsmen treating soldiers in the battlefield. Hospitals often provided horse-drawn ambulances, staffed by doctors.

In some areas, they pushed for better cardiac care in the field. Where the first civilian paramedics were located is still unclear. In the 1960s, there was only about six states that had any type of written standards for emergency care. Many of the medics only had a Red Cross certificate and no other medical training. In 1965, deaths from a car accident totaled more than the Vietnam War. In 1967, the first textbook was developed. In 1973, the EMS symbol, the star of life was designed. As time passed the standards were improved more and more.
Some may ask, “What is the purpose of a paramedic?” Well there are several reasons why paramedics are important. Early detection is an important step; this is really understanding the situation and notifying the correct authorities. Early reporting can help the squad get to the scene as quickly as possible. Good on scene care can initially save the patient’s life. Basically the purpose of a paramedic is to respond to an emergency where a patient is in need of a basic life support or advanced life support.
There are many job requirements and duties of a paramedic. According to Suburban EMS, their general responsibilities include:
Responding to emergency and non-emergency calls in a calm, efficient manner.
Administer basic or advanced life support care.
Assessing the nature of illness or mechanism of injury.
Be able to treat the patient of the scene and en route to the hospital
Be able to communicate effectively with medical personnel
Completing patient care reports
Maintain all equipment including: communication devices, driving apparatus, and all medical equipment.
These are only some of the requirements that this company requires of their paramedics.
People that are not in Emergency Medical Services (EMS) may not know what a typical day consists of as a Paramedic. Well, most shifts are 24 hours. They do have 12 hour shifts as well but most of the time they work 24 hours. A typical day starts by the Emergency Medical Technician Basic(EMT-B) and paramedic(EMT-P) arriving at their assigned station at around 0700. They then do their equipment check to make sure all supplies are stocked and ready to go when the tone goes off. They will do radio checks to make sure all communication equipment is functioning properly. After all this they are waiting for the tone to go off for a call. Sometimes ambulances have to post at other stations if certain areas of the county are busy. Most ambulance crews try to get sleep whenever possible. Some will try to sleep during the day if possible; just in case they are toned during the night.