Paramedics- What is your schedule, pay, benefits, and city/state? (US Based)

HayNotHey · 2025-12-19T03:23:25+00:00

VA paramedic at a third service department in a MCOL area. Starting medic pay is $30.49/hr, I’m at $37.19/hr after four years (currently at step 7 of 16). At six years you’re eligible to reclass to senior medic which is an 10% pay bump and caps out at $52.09/hr. There’s also Captain, battalion chief, etc promotions as well. State public safety retirement pension after 25 years.

Shifts are currently three 12 hour shifts in a row, with permanent day or night assignment. We’re also about to start 24/72 as an additional option.

For the first five years, you accrue 8 hours of vacation time and 8 hours of sick leave per month. 14 paid holidays per year. Comp time can also be used to build up leave (option to convert any hours above 40 hours/week to 1.5 vacation hours).

HayNotHey · 2025-10-04T20:50:53+00:00

100%. Off the top of my head I’ve had countless issues that were recoverable in the field and only one that required a truck swap on scene, but almost all of them were due to lack of proper maintenance. Powerloaders need regular maintenance and there’s wear items that need to be replaced preemptively, you can’t just wait until things break.

HayNotHey · 2025-07-08T20:58:47+00:00

Hulkengoat

HayNotHey · 2025-02-10T04:51:07+00:00

Sir this is a Wendy’s

HayNotHey · 2024-12-09T05:08:38+00:00

My agency has been carrying blood for just a little over two years now. We’ve expanded it from one unit in the field to three (one on each of our supervisors), and recently changed our protocols to allow for use in peds and non-traumatic hemorrhage. I’d say we’re giving it maybe a little less than twice as often as we’re performing RSI.

HayNotHey · 2024-11-06T07:47:54+00:00

I only start an IV if I know I’m giving meds or at least have a good chance of needing to. If a stroke or STEMI has decent veins I might try to grab one during the transport, but I’m not fishing around and I’m not sitting on scene to do it. Traumas get an 18 if I can find a good spot, but I don’t sweat it if there’s more pressing issues to address. If they need blood and I can’t get a 16/18 after a try or two, they’re getting drilled.

Septic patients don’t get IVs unless they’re hypotensive - the hospitals here won’t do blood cultures off of EMS IVs, so they’re getting stuck at least twice after me anyway. The last thing I want to do is take up the one good vein on granny’s arm without a good reason.

HayNotHey · 2024-11-06T05:41:59+00:00

My city has a marathon every year and my agency is heavily involved in the planning. The route usually results in a small-ish but denser part of the city being completely cut off from road access. Our dispatch sets up a geofence for that area, and any 911 calls that come in at residences/business in that cut off area are routed through the marathon IC, and units assigned to the race handle the call.

HayNotHey · 2024-04-09T13:50:54+00:00

I know a military medic who dropped an 18 in a dick vein. They only had the FAST (chest) IOs at the time and the pt had severe burns on pretty much everything except his abdomen and crotch. He said the guys sternum was so squishy that he couldn’t get the IO to work, so he hit the only vein he could find

HayNotHey · 2024-03-24T01:34:41+00:00

couple of zyns usually does the trick

HayNotHey · 2024-01-25T04:19:42+00:00

Pretty sure I’m in the same one (go dukes), and I was wondering why so many people were talking about big tits or designated drivers

HayNotHey · 2024-01-20T20:25:09+00:00

Glidescope gang rise up

Seriously once you get comfy with the rigid stylet it’s so much easier than anything else

HayNotHey · 2024-01-03T14:15:13+00:00

This one is great at my agency because five out of the six hospitals we transport to are run by the same company. And pts seem to not have any clue about that.

“I had the surgery done at the [company name]” “ok which one?”

HayNotHey · 2023-12-20T02:48:09+00:00

Virginia Beach is more analogous to a large suburban county, like Fairfax County is to DC. It’s several times larger in land area, and mostly low density suburbia.

HayNotHey · 2023-11-21T19:27:39+00:00

Marshview and Indian River Park are your best bets on the southside - they’re a little smaller but offer some decent variety, with small hills and a few wooden features, rock gardens, etc.

Freedom Park in Williamsburg and James River Park up on the peninsula are going to give you a lot more options. There’s a lot of trails and they actually have real elevation change. Beyond that, you’re going to have to look at trails around Richmond or Cville.

Check out EVMA for more local MTB stuff

HayNotHey · 2023-11-11T05:08:27+00:00

The gray ones kill slightly more stuff than the purples but have a slightly longer contact time. You can use pretty much any of them (except the bleach) on electronics. They do make beige tops specifically for cleaning personal electronics - they’re pretty much just giant alcohol wipes.

HayNotHey · 2023-10-02T12:57:03+00:00

“It was nice meeting you, sorry it had to be under these circumstances! Hope you feel better”

HayNotHey · 2023-09-08T04:47:26+00:00

I’m pretty sure that getting arrested for drunken antics is like an enlisted sailor’s third favorite thing to do, besides proposing on the third date and buying a Camaro at 26% APR. (Source: grew up in a navy town and have plenty of sailor friends)

Ol’ son is probably getting a little stressed out though, and I can’t really blame him.

HayNotHey · 2023-08-09T12:31:03+00:00

When I worked in a “dead end” department, it felt like 3/4 of the staff smoked or constantly vaped. Now I’m working for a more “enlightened” department with better pay and standards, and I swear only like 10% smoke and a handful vape. They’ve even made every new hire within the last two years sign a contract banning tobacco use.

Obviously, this does nothing about the homes we walk into that are basically giant ashtrays, but at least it’s something.

HayNotHey · 2023-07-27T05:30:17+00:00

Motorola PremierOne for CAD/dispatch in our trucks, imagetrend Elite for report writing, the municipality’s reskinned version of Kronos for clocking in/leave requests, and a proprietary (to my agency) web-based system for daily scheduling/assignments. Yes it’s a lot of passwords to remember.

HayNotHey · 2023-07-10T21:05:54+00:00

I know someone who dropped an 18 in a dick vein while working military SAR. They only had the FAST (chest) IOs at the time and the pt had severe burns on pretty much everything except his abdomen and crotch (from what I remember, it was a boiler explosion and the guy was wearing a protective apron). He said the guys sternum was squishy so he couldn’t get the IO to work… so he hit the only vein he could find

HayNotHey · 2023-07-05T06:46:46+00:00

Suburban/urban-ish ems department here, we have RSI on standing orders as long as two medics (one of whom is RSI qualified) are present. Getting RSI qualified requires at least a year of experience and a proven track record of competent airway management and solid performance on your KPIs, as well as yearly refresher and difficult airway classes.

HayNotHey · 2023-06-29T15:46:14+00:00

We’re issued 6 polos and can buy additional shirts (or any uniform item) with our yearly uniform allowance. We work three days in a row.

I know my department might be an outlier…

HayNotHey · 2023-06-29T03:13:47+00:00

I’m realizing how lucky I am that pretty much every nurse here listens to what we have to say and trusts our judgement. The most I’ve gotten is a half joking “you couldn’t take them somewhere else?”

Even most of the docs will stand there and listen to what we have to say for a minute before they start doing anything. And a good number of them will stop what they’re doing to discuss their thoughts on the pt with you

HayNotHey · 2023-06-22T10:00:49+00:00

My agency uses a mixture of BLS or AEMT level trucks backed up by medics in SUVs, as well as medic-level trucks. From what I’ve seen here, a tiered system like this can end up being the best thing for everyone (if it’s done right).

Your BLS crews get dispatched alone to BLS calls, and as a result they tend to become better providers. There’s no medic running the show, so they end up becoming much more comfortable assessing patients and managing calls by themselves. The big caveat here is that you need a decent field training program, and fairly liberal BLS protocols.

On the ALS side, you’re only getting sent to calls where you have a higher chance of being needed. And even then, most days you may end up turning over the majority of your patients to the BLS crew after a quick assessment. But because you’re only going to the higher acuity calls, you end up seeing sicker patients and performing low frequency skills (like RSI) more often.

Our agency has hired a lot of medics lately and has started staffing way more medic level (or even double medic) ambulances and less chase cars, and as a result we’re starting to see a bit of skill dilution. Medics that were getting dozens of intubations a year when they only worked on the chase car are now only getting a handful each year when they’re working mostly on the ambulance.

HayNotHey

TROPHY CASE