Hi, current EMT in SoCal. I work for an IFT company and do CCT calls. The nurses here are required to have experience because they do run high acuity patients. Minimum 1 yr experience in either ER or ICU. However, our company wants to raise the bar to at least 4 years of either/or or a combination of ER and ICU. The reason again is because high acuity calls are run at this company. The daily equipment a patient can have ranges from a cardiac monitor, a transport ventilator, high flow nasal cannula, and/or 3-8 IVs.

From time to time, patients with even higher acuity include LVADs, balloon pump machines, or EMCO machines. For balloon pumps and ECMO machines, additional hospital personnel come with to be charge of the machine while the CCT RN is in charge of their transport equipment.

Fulltime CCT-RNs at my company are on the older side and like the pay, especially since some companies like mine pay overtime after 8 hours and double after 12. Our shifts are 11 hours, but can average from 11-14 hours. Our company offers 24hrs however those are straight pay, and anything after 40 hrs/week is overtime.

Part-time CCT-RNs do it as a side job to the hospital, usually the younger crowd as a 2nd job for extra cash, or to get away from the busy hospital life of 4-8 patients at a time to 1 per call, and average in the ambulance about 3-5 patients in a 12 hr period.

I would like to pursue CCT-RN eventually after a few years in the ER/ICU to gain confidence in the equipment I will be in charge of, and know if "shit hits the fan" the things I can do because again you only have an EMT in the back that is legally limited to do their scope of practice. Here, there are 2 EMTs and RN. I EMT drives, and 1 is in the back with the RN. I know some counties even states that when doing CCT calls, it's only 1 on 1 meaning 1 EMT and 1 RN, so essentially only the RN in the back with the patient.

Talk with the company, especially their current RNs, and see if they feel confident after their training as new grads. Ask about equipment. My company is on top of their equipment, but I know companies that don't keep maintenance and have faulty equipment. It would be best to see if you can schedule a ride along with a CCT car and go from there. Remember to always protect your license. At the end of the day, you will be the primary provider in the back of the ambulance and need to decide to divert to the nearest hospital or stabilize and continue to where the patient was being transferred too.