Emergency Medical Technician Essay

Emergency Medical Technician
Emergency Medical Technicians work with law enforcement and firemen in many different environments on 911 calls involving the need for emergency medical services. The modern EMT started as just “the good samaritan that would help the careless traveler bandage up his leg in 1500 B.C.” and has evolved throughout the years to what we all know for them to be today ("Emergency Medical Services"). This career has changed quite a bit over the years from “instituting the first ambulance in 1865, to using a helicopter for medical evacuations during the Korean War in 1951, to the New York City EMS being absorbed by the FDNY in 1996” ("Emergency Medical Services"). In this day and age, Emergency Medical Technicians work

in many different environments and need to go through specific training to become what they are today.
Career Requirements and Qualifications
Emergency Medical Technicians go through a lot of training to get their licenses such as “having cardiopulmonary resuscitation(CPR) certification, and a minimum of at least 150 hours of instruction.” To have a Paramedic license you would need “CPR certification and at least an associate’s degree in the field”. All licenses require a high school diploma. (Bureau of Labor Statistics). According to the local tech school, EOC Technological Center, the “EMT Basic course costs around $1300 with a total of 341 course hours, which includes 305 of the hours in the classroom and 36 clinical hours. The EMT Advanced course costs about $1600 and has a total of 395 hours, which is 267 classroom and 128 clinical hours. Lastly, the EMT Paramedic course that they have has a cost of $4960 and has a grand total of 1244 hours of course instruction, consisting of 740 hours of classroom teaching and 504 hours of clinical teaching.” ("EMT Training Programs | Eastern Oklahoma County Technology Center."). Most of this training you can find at tech schools and even some junior colleges.
Working Conditions and Salary
Emergency Medical Technicians work in all sorts of environments, no matter if it raining or the sun is shining. They have many duties to do while on the clock such as “cleaning the ambulance, organizing supplies in the ambulance, providing on scene care, transferring patients from one hospital to another, or even patrolling around in the ambulance as the driver or the passenger.” ("29-2041.00."). Emergency Medical Technicians work in a highly dangerous world as well. “They can contract many diseases from the patients that they treat and can also be injured from combative patients.” (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Emergency Medical Technicians on average get paid about $20,000 to $54,000 a year. The training cost involved in becoming an Emergency Medical technician can be as little as $1300 for the shots, tests, and uniforms needed in the courses.
Typical Day
A typical day in the shoes of an Emergency Medical technician or Paramedic might include arriving on the scene of a crime and providing medical care to injured patients or cleaning and organizing the back of an ambulance after a call. Usually Emergency Medical Technicians will “work in 12- or 24- hour increments involving overnight and also on the weekends” (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Some days may be easy and fun for EMTs, but other days can be challenging and difficult. “One of the most challenging things about EMS is being ready for anything. Nothing you learn in the books can prepare you for what you’re going to see.” (Williams).
Future Needs For This Career
The future of this career looks like it will increase steadily to the point where in 2022 there will be 23% more EMTs than there were in the year 2012. One reason why the growth is not higher is because of the fact that you need to be certified compared to flipping burgers at the local fast food restaurant. There will always be a need for Emergency Medical Technicians, so there will always be the need to come up with more courses to better them with new information and new schooling. With this certification, Emergency Medical Technicians could “continue on to become managers or even become an instructor of an EMT course.” (Primm). In the future, this career will mainly be needed in the more urban areas, in my opinion. The reason I say this is because of the population growth in major cities compared to small, rural towns in the middle of nowhere.
Interest In This Career
I’m interested in becoming an EMT just because I would know that i’m doing something right in the world that would make my soul feel complete. It makes me happy to know that I could change someone’s life while in this career. A reason that sparked my interest in this career was whenever I would be riding with my parents in the car and I would hear the sirens somewhere off in the distance and all of a sudden go flying by to wherever they needed to be. I always felt like that I needed to be there in the emergency vehicle with them, going to wherever they were headed, to go help with whatever had happened. This reason is why whenever I have the chance to go to the EOC Tech Center in Choctaw, Oklahoma and study in the field of Fire and EMT to better my skills so I may continue on and gain my EMT Paramedic license and better my community.
Personal Interview
I interviewed Mr.

Curtis Williams from the Eastern Oklahoma County Technology Center, he is an instructor for the EMT/Paramedic courses and when asked he offered his insight to a few questions that I asked. Through these questions I learned that being an Emergency Medical Technician is very stressful and you can never underestimate a call that they are sent out on. Mr. Williams told me that “no call is by the book, each and every call is unique in its own way and the only way you know what kind of call it is, is when you arrive on the scene.” He also commented saying that this job is highly stressful, in the top 5 most stressful jobs actually, and can be very damaging on your family if this stress is not somehow decompressed. Lastly, when Mr. Williams was asked about advice for a future EMT student, he responded with “ In order to prepare yourself for the things you're going to see you need to seek opportunities to be accountable, responsible, and continually learn.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, being an Emergency Medical Technician is very stressful and can make you feel good mentally. Today, Emergency Medical Technicians work in many different environments and need to go through specific training to become a part of the EMS workforce. After this essay I still want to pursue this career and learn more about it, even with all of this new information I have obtained over becoming an EMT. I hope to one day have this certification and help mine and surrounding

communities.