r/NewToEMS

Hi everyone, I just got my state card and I'm in Santa Clara County. From what it looks like, there's zero 911 jobs and the only other companies hiring are Norcal and Royal near me, which do IFTs.

One of my biggest fears is becoming stuck within an IFT job. I want to be able to move up and do higher levels of medicine, and I'm worried my skills will rot away. I do plan on getting my medic and eventually applying to medical school, but for now I want to make sure that I'm also learning from my time as an EMT-B.

I've also applied to many ER tech jobs, but have been rejected every time. I know Royal does something where if you work them for 6 months, you can move up to CCT or something else but I wasn't sure if that was true.

Hi friends! I want to start off by saying, I was born and raised in the medical field. Mom’s a retired nurse, and dad has been in and out of hospitals for as long as I can remember.

Recently, it’s been brought to my attention that my partners at work have had some discrepancies with my manual blood pressures, and I’m not quite sure what to do. I take my manuals the same way every time. The same way I learned in EMT and medic school. The same way I learned in CNA school. The same way I learned when I was learning how to help take care of my sick dad.

I have the patient relax their arm completely, size the cuff appropriately so that the artery marker falls within the range marker, make sure the artery marker is over the brachial artery, place the bell of my stethoscope over the brachial but not directly under the cuff, inflate until I hear the pulse stop, inflate 20-30 mmHg more than where I hear it stop, then deflate, with the systolic being where I first hear the pulse again and diastolic when I lose it.

When my first EMS partner mentioned the discrepancies, I figured it was because I was using a cheap $25 stethoscope that I used in school, so I upgraded (very long overdue) to a Littman. My current partner just brought the same issue to my attention yesterday, and I just don’t know what the problem is or how to fix it.

Any advice??

Passed on my first try in 70 questions!

Before I took my test I was freaking out and constantly reading posts so I thought I could share my experience/advice!!

Only studied material for 1-2 days, and did practice problems for 5 days on Pocket Prep.

When I started on pocket prep I was averaging like 50% for the 10 question mini quiz. I never finished a full practice exam, when I went through half of one I got like 50%. I also only did like 30 mins a day.

Toward day 4-5 I was getting around 80% accuracy just by focusing on the areas I kept getting wrong.

(The 10 question mini quiz was basically the only feature I used on pocket prep)

There’s a study guide that someone posted on NewToEMS that I used to study the material the two days before the test. I read the entire study guide through and memorized what I didn’t know (should be easy to find, if not I can link it).

In total took me only 7 days and I was only “locked in” for 2. Definitely don’t need a 90% on pocket prep or do 1000 questions.

Good luck!!

My course starts in a week and I wanted some advice on the recommended text book i.e. Emergency Care, 14th edition. Is it ok to 'rent' it for six months or am I better off buying a copy? Thanks.

I used to volly prior to becoming an RN as a EMT-B in NYS for many years. Since starting I do miss the experience and would like to continue as a medic or at least a CC (which last I remember was being phased out so that may not be an option). My EMT-B card expires next month, didn't think I would use it again so I kind of put it on the back burner for a while. I know this requires I take a refresher. Is it possible to test out or challenge the exam so that I don't have to take the full course? Next stupid question is can I do something similar with Paramedic in NYS? Obviously there are clear portions of a paramedic course where our scope of practice differs greatly, but I'd like to skip portions that do overlap (ACLS, PALS, pharmacology, etc). If I have to attend a full course I could suck it up, but figured I'd ask if anyone went through something similar.

Hello I live in Arizona looking for a EMT program to go to. I currently work 5 days a week 6:45 to 5:30 and a Toyota dealership. Looking for something to work around my schedule. Any advice would help! Thank you.

I thought about going to phoenix medical training center and doing that EMT program. Has anyone heard of it or know any night programs?

I'm looking to apply for a department in Pennsylvania, i have been a Maryland/NREMT and DC cardholder for the last 6 years.

I got a background check done in PA, but the PA website says i also need a "official" background check for states I've practiced in, and that "third party checks are not accepted".

This means i need a BG check from Maryland, DC and technically Virginia, as i held a license there as an employment requirement years ago, but never used it.

My main question is, where should i go for these BG checks? Can i go to a gun store and get a check done that way or do i need to try state police or some other avenue?

What is the time it takes for the shipment to arrive from EMS? It was shipped on July 25 and the shipment left on the 26th. So, what is the time remaining for the shipment to arrive? I live in Colombia.

I’ve been an EMT basic at a pretty busy 911 agency for around a year now. We only have ALS trucks and I’ve been on night shift as of a couple months ago. Since working this job it has been exhausting and difficult to balance any other part of my life, so I promised myself that I wouldn’t get sucked into the vortex and get my medic. Well… I feel myself getting sucked into the vortex.

There’s a lot of issues at my agency and a lot of people are leaving so I wonder if I would enjoy it more working somewhere else. The schedule is exhausting, but it is also largely due to being night shift and I can swap at some point. I love to learn and I feel like I’ve gotten to a point where I want to do more on high acuity calls. And I want to call the shots instead of all the idiots I have to work with all the time! It’s exhausting seeing people handle situations incorrectly while also not being qualified or knowing exactly how to handle it yourself… just that you can tell they’re fucking it up. You know what I mean?

The place I work pays you to get your medic. I’ve been looking for other jobs because I really want to make more money, but if I can’t find a job fast enough I might just join the next medic class that starts. I really enjoy the job itself, it’s just the long shifts and tough 2-2-3 schedule that is pretty grueling. I miss having weekends off every week.

Let me know your thoughts. Should I just say fuck it and do it or should I not. Please be honest!

And they showed us so fast and then put us on the spot and expected me to regurgitate step by step, which I get. However, I don’t need to be told in front of everyone “it’s so easy, like it’s not that hard” or “you just need to pay attention”. Funny thing is, I do. But my mind goes completely blank when put on the spot. I think anyone who isn’t used to doing stuff like that, would.

It triggered a very old wound in me for some odd reason from childhood and growing up where I was always called stupid and slow by my family members, siblings, teachers. Always made fun of. I’m actually pretty intelligent, I just go blank sometimes.

And yes, I’m sure I’ll get comments about “well you need to have thick skin for this line of work” cool, most the time I do. But I don’t when I get triggered. Yes I understand my triggers aren’t anyone’s responsibility. I guess I’m mostly just talking to the void here because I have no friends, no one to vent to, nothing.

After a ROUGH 2025, (I got laid off early in the year, got another job, held it for 6 months, got laid off AGAIN) I decided to put in the effort to become a firefighter. I went through a basic emt program, got certified, applied for a ton of different cities in my area, made it to the interview stage with a few of them, and didn’t get hired. Talking with the people I did physical assessments with, I came to the conclusion that I was the least certified person in the room, which probably contributed to me not getting hired. My college is opening a fire academy that’s being sponsored by a pretty big department that oversees a lot of the downtown SLC area, and I decided to sign up for it. It’s starting in a week and for the last month and a half I’ve been;

\-reviewing EMS textbooks/medical terminology/
\-working out 4 to 5 days a week, focusing on cardio and strength training
\-trying to put myself into a pretty rigid sleep schedule (except for tonight cause I’ve been simmering on this)

But the biggest thing I’ve been trying to do is get my head into the right mindset to succeed, because to afford things like food/gas/life I’ll have to put in about 34 to 40 hours a week at my current job, which the academy is gonna to be 30 hours a week on top of that for the next 14 weeks…..
I’m extremely grateful that my current job is willing to accommodate me with scheduling around it.

I guess what I’m asking is,
\-how did y’all make it through fire academy?
\-what else can I be doing to be prepared/succeed while going through fire academy?

*also any other advice about interviewing at stations/ride alongs/etc is welcome*, *I’ll take anything y’all got.*

Im getting my medic soon and am looking for a place that would give me 911 calls without experience. I worked as an ED Tech for 6 months after getting my EMT and never worked on an ambulance. Wondering if cataldo or a place in southern nh or in the boston area would give me 911 without experience.

If anyone could speak to that, thatd be amazing, thanks!

Hi everyone, I’m in EMT school and we’re going to be doing vital signs pretty soon. I have a stethoscope from a while ago but it’s not very easy to listen to anything. Do you recommend any stethoscope that is worth the money? Obviously everyone turns to the littmann at some point but just want to see if there are any better options out there too. I’m also going to be in nursing school soon after the program is over so want something that’ll last the distance. Let me know thank you!

Hi everyone!
I became an EMT-B almost a year ago, and I’ve been working in the ED ever since. After getting some experience I chose to volunteer at my local 911 station. Does anyone have any tips/advice? I haven’t been in an ambulance since my clinical rotations a year ago. Thanks :)

I have everything! My Nremt, State license, Ambulance drivers cert, and every job I apply for, 911, IFT, I hear nothing, or get denied! Can I be missing something? It feels like I have wasted 2 grand chasing a thread!

Hey guys! I have about 4 years of experience working as a primary care paramedic (PCP) and am currently back in school for my advanced care license. While I won't give out any specifics regarding region or program for anonymity sake, all other questions are fair game. Hoping I could help some people interesting in making the PCP-ACP jump, or just anyone interested in Canadian paramedicine as a whole.

Hi friends
Before I start to get in a habit of adding overtime to do 24-36 hour shifts I’m hoping to have a condensed list of things I actually should be bringing to make staying in a bunk room comfortable as a female!

Do people bring changes of clothes to sleep in

Curly hair friends do you have any hero products to bring to these long shifts to not look like you have a rats nest on your head- are we bringing our whole curl routine or have you found 1-2 hero products that do the job?