Being a paramedic can be challenging as well as exciting as it requires lightning fast reaction. Your job would be to save people’s lives and only competent care and service can guarantee that a condition does not prove fatal. It is a coordinated service that requires working closely with fire department and police personnel. Incidents could be childbirths, accidents, gunshot wounds, sudden drowning or a heart attack and you have to provide the vital attention upfront.
Backup pre-hospital service training
As a paramedic, you would be the first to reach the spot and care for the injured or the sick and transport them to the nearest medical facility. You would be dispatched to the scene of the accident by a 911 operator and on the spot you would have to think on your feet and sometimes out of the box.
From checking out their health background to the nature of the injury or accident, you would have to literally provide the backup service required before they undergo regular medical treatment at a health facility.
To become a paramedic, you need to get registered with the Health Professions Council and need the license from them to practice. You would have to work in the most trying of conditions and that could be working indoors as well as outdoors. The job opportunities are great and according to 2004 estimates, there were nearly 265,000 paramedic jobs available coast to coast. You will receive additional training in body function and at the advanced level learn more about health and first aid treatment.
Field experience and clinical training
You need to graduate from school and then take the National Registry EMT examination for becoming a trained paramedic. You would be a certified EMT and the coursework will cover field experience and clinical training. The training is long and most paramedics prefer paid positions rather than volunteering jobs. You can find a wide range of courses that range from refresher types of total and extensive programs.
It has also been estimated that jobs for paramedics are expected to rise in the years ahead and it is supposed to be one of the most popular occupations. With population increase, there is increased urbanization leading to a surge in demand for paramedics.
Medical emergencies are most in demand from the baby boomers generation that are fast slipping into old age and their numbers are expected to increase in the years ahead. They constitute a large segment of the population.
State and community colleges
Courses on paramedics are offered by state and community colleges as well as hospitals where proper training is provided to enable you to get a job. You also get a certification as a paramedic and it requires you to go through 750 to 1500 hours of classroom and on the job instruction or field studies.
As a paramedic, you can also opt for a firefighter’s job. There are fire fighters jobs in the US that require candidates to be paramedics as well. To become a paramedic, you would have to become an EMT.
If you are planning to take up paramedics as a career option, check out the website of the EMT review link and the pages are frequently updated to prepare you for the examination. You would be updated and trained for pre hospital care and learn to administer oral as swell as intravenous drugs.
As a paramedic, you need to check EKG’s and manage complex equipment like monitors. The working hours are usually 40 to 50 for fire departments and hospitals, and a little more for ambulance services.
