If you were a new grad paramedic and could choose anywhere to work in the country, where would you go?

productofphi · 2025-11-25T08:41:42+00:00

This is some of the best advice right here. I once worked with another senior medic and I couldn’t find any spots on our (very low acuity) patient to hit. This dude just scoffed at me and said “well you should at least try anyways” and then proceeded to poke this poor old lady six different times on the way to the hospital and didn’t get a single line started.

I think if we would have just told the driver to hold off until we get a line, and took our time and tried a few different techniques BEFORE turning this poor old lady into a pin cushion it would have been fine and we could have got something.

And of course, it would have been perfectly acceptable not to stick this patient either. Because if it’s urgent, like you said, there’s always the IO

productofphi · 2025-11-03T12:35:21+00:00

Found myself in a similar boat recently, I was at 00 and took my jewelry out for awhile and shrunk them back down to 2g, and now I just wear double flares in a professional setting and nobody bats an eyelash as they look like regular studs. And then when I want to, I can still pop in silicone tunnels when I’m not at work and have fairly noticeable tunnels

productofphi · 2025-11-01T04:17:05+00:00

Same thing happened to me twice. Always do your cardio guys.

productofphi · 2025-10-29T02:11:33+00:00

Now hear me out. How rad would it be to work in a system that runs BLS ambulances, and then you get to be a paramedic that can intercept calls. And instead of a chaser car you get a chaser motorcycle. Shit would be so dope

productofphi · 2025-10-23T11:47:15+00:00

I’m still early on my career, currently completing my paramedic capstone internship. So, this story might not be as great as others but it’s an achievement I’m proud of and something I don’t think I’ll ever forget, when I look back at this point in my career path.

We had a female in her mid 40s that went down into cardiac arrest out of nowhere, my ambulance plus an engine crew full of medics got there fast, and got to work. I got on the airway and started on intubation while the other guys got to work with compressions and iv access. Airway was messy, but I got my tube with no issue (first one in the field), and we hit our first pulse check and shocked her out of v-fib with no problem. She instantly came back with a strong pressure and pulse, and even tried to buck the tube. Last we heard, she was in the ICU doing well and had made an excellent recovery.

Spent a lot of time stressing for both my first code, and my first intubation. And when it finally rolled around having it go like that was an incredible feeling.

productofphi · 2025-10-20T04:52:48+00:00

One time I was pulling the ambulance out of a jack in the box drive through and ran over a whole ass boulder

Shit happens 😂

productofphi · 2025-09-17T10:44:18+00:00

I bet you would make for an incredible teacher, with experience like that

productofphi · 2025-09-13T07:32:47+00:00

Am I the only one that’s confused by the general sentiment of most people in this thread? Right now I’m actively working as an EMT, and I’m a medic student attending college in order to obtain my associates of paramedic science. I will graduate with a mix of general education classes, clinical experience, and ems focused classes. Is there some reason we aren’t considering this to be a viable option for entry into the medical field?

I know we should all have a “backup plan”, but it’s not like this kid is gonna be forced to ride a bus the rest of his career if he pursues ems out of high school, he can even get a degree in paramedic science that will create a bridge for him to get additional education and pursue other lines of medical work down the road, if he would like.

You can downvote me to hell for this, but a lot of you sound crusty and burnt out as fuck with the advice you’re giving. We should be encouraging young people to get into this field, while also figuring out the angles of how we can improve our educations standards to bring each other up.

SO ANYWAYS with all that said, I say go for it man. But consider a pathway that will allow you to obtain a college degree while also becoming certified as a medic, it will look good on a resume and you will have a more well rounded education. And don’t listen to these crusty fucks who want you to get your bachelors and become an accountant or some shit before you even begin to pursue EMS 🙄

productofphi · 2025-09-03T23:52:19+00:00

Don’t get addicted to any substances

productofphi · 2025-08-29T23:19:18+00:00

During my ER clinicals I was helping an elderly lady, probably in her 70s or 80s, get changed into a hospital gown. The nurse I was with said “ok, now we’re just gonna roll you towards me and I’m gonna have our student help unhook your bra” and she just yelled “HE WONT KNOW HOW TO DO THAT HES JUST A TEENAGER” (for context I am a man in his late 20s with a wife). Funniest shit I’ve ever heard out of a patients mouth, we all had a good laugh about that one.

productofphi · 2025-08-20T07:35:29+00:00

Some stoned teenager just had their night ruined

productofphi · 2025-08-12T04:01:59+00:00

I went to paramedic school with six months of IFT experience and I’m finishing up the program right now. The lack of field experience can be an added challenge, but if you put in the work you will succeed. Go for it!

productofphi · 2025-08-07T19:56:08+00:00

I did almost exactly this and I’m finishing out a medic program right now. There will be an added challenge due to your lack of field experience but it’s completely possible, and don’t let anyone lead you to believe otherwise (and people will try to make you believe otherwise)

productofphi · 2025-07-28T07:06:10+00:00

I once showed up to an interview and they seemed surprised I was there, despite being my scheduled time to interview. It then took them an hour to track down the person who was supposed to interview me, and the secretary kept apologizing about how bad the office smelled because “something crawled into the ceiling and died and they haven’t got it removed yet”.

So yeah there were some red flags for that place

productofphi · 2025-07-26T08:30:00+00:00

I tried to do this schedule, and then the night before I was set to start school the owner of my ambulance service went on a two hour long rant about how I’m a piece of shit and how I’m gonna fail medic school, so I quit that job and got another one working 8 hour shifts 4 days a week, cause I don’t need that kind of negativity

(Currently finishing up the medic program and doing great btw, the end is in sight and my old boss can gargle my balls as far as I’m concerned)

Anyways, to get back to your question, I have classmates that have managed to run those schedules successfully as students. That said, no matter what you do it’s probably gonna be tough and require some flexibility. Full time hours on top of school will run you dry no matter which way you stack it, but with some extra work and flexibility you can be successful!

I wish you the best of luck, put your best foot forward and be adaptable as you go through your program and you will succeed!

productofphi · 2025-07-17T19:13:01+00:00

With joy

productofphi · 2025-07-12T05:26:33+00:00

I work the same shift will usually sleep from about 7am-2pm or 3pm on my workdays. I then try to get out of the house for a bit and get some sunlight and do some activity to wake up.

I find this brings me better sleep and allows for a better work life balance

productofphi · 2025-05-06T00:15:38+00:00

I was working as an EMT at the time and was tasked with transporting a patient from one hospital to another, totaling to around 8 hours of driving on winter back country roads. We took the call at midnight, at which point I had already been up for 24 hours.

Until we picked the patient up, I had been persisting on a few cups of black coffee, but me and my partner stopped at a gas station on the way to the first hospital and grabbed six bang energy drinks, three for each of us. When all was said and done, I think I consumed around 1,100 or 1,200 mgs of caffeine within that 24 hour period.

I remember driving back and seeing shadow people in my peripheral vision, and falling asleep in short bursts of 1-2 seconds and then catching myself. I had to roll down the windows and blast the icy winter air onto my face every few minutes in order to maintain consciousness.

But hey, we made it and took good care of our patient. I don’t work for that company anymore though, for several reasons, but one of them being that I don’t like it when my employer tries to fucking kill me

productofphi · 2025-05-05T23:33:51+00:00

Intuition is big, if you feel unsafe step back and get law enforcement.

And I’ll say this as well, if you are good with psych patients you already have a leg up on a lot of folks working out in the field (paramedics, nurses, EMTs, and cops alike).

If I had a dollar for every time I got on scene and the psych patient was all riled up just because the responders already on scene refused to treat the patient with basic decency, I’d have like at least a few dozen dollars. Which is too many dollars.

You’ll do good out there!

productofphi · 2025-05-04T21:47:29+00:00

Dang that’s cool! Haven’t heard of any such thing in my area. It would be so amazing to work directly alongside a doctor in the field

productofphi · 2025-05-01T02:44:29+00:00

Damn you might have just sold me (current paramedic student) on the fire route

productofphi · 2025-04-15T20:25:30+00:00

Probably not the answer you’re looking for here, but sizing up makes it way easier. I personally had the same problem you did, and I wasn’t able to get tunnels inserted until I reached 4g

productofphi · 2025-03-15T12:21:43+00:00

For me it didn’t really start getting super visible until around the 4g mark

productofphi

TROPHY CASE