r/Paramedics

I’m currently 15 of 20 shifts on my internship with a fire department, It’s been a challenge. Basically getting the probie treatment and I’m sick of “playing the game”. I’ve been doing fine until now I had my first cpr on shift 14 and got rosc and felt on top of the world. But all of a sudden I feel like I’ve lost all my confidence. I’m surrounded by 4 medics, who are all jammers, I give classes every day and they always say that the classes suck and I say umm a lot. My preceptor said I’ve been looking less confident on these last calls, and doesn’t want the other medics to chew me alive. Idk maybe it’s just a wall I’m hitting but I just feel so unconfident I don’t know what to do.

Hello, I’m a 19F, I have always wanted to be a paramedic and have be looking into studying next year at university now I have come on here to ask a few questions any feedback would be amazing from anyone that knows thanks
What is the best way to become a paramedic?
If uni which one Auckland or porirua?
Should I go through St. John’s?
How do you pay for board/ rent or dorms?
Is it uni worth it?
Thankyou all
Any other feedback you may have is appreciated as well

Can someone point me at the law (if any) requiring someone needing a qualification to drive on blues/twos and claiming exemptions from RTA?

From my understanding it wasn’t set in stone that you need a qualification, but were “appropriately trained”.

I just got diagnosed a few weeks ago with DVT and a PE and am now on Eliquis blood thinner. A few days ago I bought the following silicone bracelet: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GWRRK7L/ As you can see, the print is really large, and I'm not too crazy about people asking me about why I'm on a blood thinner (especially at work). So at the moment, I've turned it inside out. I'm wearing the red one and there's nothing printed on the back. My question is, if you saw a such a red (or other color) bracelet on an unconscious patient, would you likely check to see if there was something printed on the other side?

I will eventually get a more discrete bracelet (with more info), but the reviews for many of the more traditional style bracelets talked about problems with the clasps or the chain, etc. So until I find one with better reviews, I figured this one was cheap enough for immediate use (it's comfortable too). Also, having something is better than no bracelet at all. But if nobody's gonna check the other side, then it's not really any better.

Your thoughts?

Hiya. Forgive me if the question seems ridiculous, but I’ve had so many varying answers that I don’t know which direction to take. I am currently based in the US and will graduate next year. I’ve been interested in moving to another country as my partner (UK citizen) is wanting to study either in Canada or in England. I’m aware I’ll have to pass another exam in order to work in these countries, but will an associates allow me to do that? I know each country is different. I really don’t want to go back and get my bachelors if I can help it. I don’t know if I’m going the right pathway here or if I’m wasting time. Ideally I would like a career in search and rescue, but for now I’m looking at the foundations for that. I also know how awful of a pay cut it will be, but I’ll be ok. I just want to know where to start.

I’m moving up to the bay, looking for insight on what counties offer the best opportunities and work life balance for medics. Not picky but would enjoy a vibrant experience. Thanks for any and all
Input you may have

I am through school and licensed. I did great in school, and passed the licensing exam easily. That said, I work part time in a small rural community so I just don't get enough exposure to various types of calls to feel confident. I don't do this for a living. I work about one shift per week, maybe 4-8 calls per shift. I feel like I'm not getting enough calls to remember everything. I can do my CE work and read the book when I have a question but that isn't helping me on scene. Don't get me wrong, I'm helpful and work with other good people on scene. But I want to be more than adequate. Any pointers or tips on keeping your knowledge and skills up as the memory of school fades? Thanks!

Today I finally received my very first citizen complaint. I knew it had to be coming, being in EMS 6 years and a paramedic for 3. But, It’s still making me a little bit uneasy.
The patient complained that I scared them, made fun of them, and did treatments without explaining what I was doing, along with turning the camera off. I will say, none of that is possibly true. Even at my lowest points, my patient care is never below what’s expected. And of course my team has my back, my partner knows none of it is true, but this patient is persistent. Not to mention, the patient was at the time on narcotics begging me for Narcan. Weird call to begin with.
Nonetheless, I know it won’t amount to anything but it still kinda sucks.

I have to put together a research project and present to a board of doctors. I chose to pitch switching to a multi tier response system with only BLS ambulances and ALS fly cars.

I have about 10 studies on the topic, but would love if anyone had data from a similar system. Anything would be helpful, thanks

Hi, I'm 27 years old and currently work for USPS but I'm m thinking about going down the EMT/Paramedic path to eventually become a Firefighter. Only thing I currently make 53k as a mailman and get around a 1,500 bump every year guaranteed because its a union job. My biggest thing though is that I do wanna pursue this as a career but I have to be realistic with finances, my age, and considering I live in Southern California. Im also open to going down the forest fighting side but either way this is something I truly want to do but I'm afraid I may be better off with the income I make at my current job and just sticking with it. I'm afraid it maybe to late for me

I’m struggling HARD with school right now. My job is putting me through my medic and it’s a 10 month program. We just started our ride outs and clinicals and as I’m planning them out I’m realizing that I will maybe, MAYBE if I’m lucky, have one day off a month where I’m not working or doing my internship. On top of no days off, I still have a shit ton of schoolwork to do. How tf are y’all getting through this and still having time for schoolwork and studying? And when am I supposed to go grocery shopping or go to the laundromat? It all just seems so impossible right now. I work in a busy 911 system that does 12hr shifts and system status posting so I’m not able to really do any of my schoolwork or personal tasks on shift. I’m just at a loss as to how I will make this work. I don’t make enough money currently to just buy more uniforms and get food on the go to remedy the lack of time to do basic human survival tasks so I’m freaking out pretty damn hard. Part of the problem is that this is a short program that requires more clinical hours than any of the other longer programs in my area but there’s absolutely no chance in hell I can afford a program that’s not paid for by my job.

Has anyone else had this experience with paramedic school and if so, how did you manage? If anyone has any advice please help lol

Thanks much for taking a minute and sharing your thoughts on any appropriate question.

-How much time do you estimate and FTO/evaluator will spend on a shift eval for a trainee?
-Does the system you use accurately reflect trainee progress and collect useful data, or (like mine) is the eval just treated as a pencil whipped thing to get done?
-How does your agency actually track trainee progress, or just collect the evals?
-How long does it take on the back end to organize trainee data?

-If you are an instructor at a school, how long does it take to gather student rider evals? Are you able to use those to help the student?

Thanks, and may you work the right amount on your next shift.

2 weeks ago I went to a person on the highway who had been hit by a car, head was completely in half, brain was not in his head. I’m struggling a lot with what saw, I feel angry with what happened, I feel upset but I find it difficult to explain how I feel following this due to the EMS culture of being “fine”. Any advice if anyone else has experience similar would be appreciated.

I have been tasked with creating a CQI program for my operation. I know imagetrend has standard CQI forms but they suck and I’m trying to create forms for high acuity calls without the fluff of the standard forms. The best part is the only person within the company who knew anything about imagetrend CQI quit a few months ago so I’m trying to do this with no help. I’ve tried the Imagetrend University but it was less than helpful. Is anyone able to help guide me in the right direction or have any pointers on how to be successful with this?

https://static.info.content.health.nz/docs/news/Aeromedical%20Commissioning%20Programme%20update%20Jul%202026%20appendix.pdf

Outcome of NZ's Aeromedical Commisioning Project has been to move away from a doctor/CCP model and to a CCP/paramedic model for its rotary wing operations.

Lots of debate - mostly on LinkedIn - which I found quite interesting with a few points I've highlighted below, and I'm not taking a position one way or the other.

- Rationale was that there is little-no evidence that doctor/CCP model produces better outcomes than CCP without doctor in NZ context.
- Most of the argument for benefit of doctor presence centres around complex decision making/oversight, which can potentially be replicated with back end/video conference support from base.
- ^ conversely, if doctors aren't regularly actually flying, how will they be sufficiently experienced to provide actually useful advice when asked.
- Many of the limitations on CCP's are artificial/those of governance structures, rather than technical ability.
- Some of the benefits of doctors experience will be mitigated by the fact that a proportion will be rotating registrars, who will still be learning the trade.
- Doctors undoubtedly have a unique critical care skill set and experience of the hospital interface that paramedics won't, and this probably can't be replicated by even the most skilled CCP and the benefit of this is likely to be hard to capture in clinical trials. For a similar reason - they can never fully replicate the skill set - a doctor/doctor model wouldn't be proposed.
- CCP/paramedic likely is cheaper to run, and it may be difficult to fully overlook financial considerations.

Does anybody have any good teaching resources on medical emergencies? I’m in the Medical/OB portion of class. I am struggling heavy in this topic for some reason.

Hello people on reddit 👋

Would anyone happen to know an easy way to obtain Training Methoxyflurane (Commonly known as a green whistle) without a significant cost.

Context: I have a friend doing a diploma in paramedicine, and apparently, the coursework requires you to actually use a training one.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.