Is becoming a paramedic a good job?

What is it like to be a Paramedic/EMT?

• I'm going to be a senior in high school this coming semester and I've been really thinking about heading into the medical field. I have at this point considered becoming a Paramedic but I want to know more about it before I head for this career. -What are the irregular hours like? Will I be able to enjoy a nightlife? Or have time for hobbies? -How high are the risks of myself getting injured on the job or contracting a disease? -What is an average day like? -How much training does it take? If I move out of state, will I need to redo that training to work there? -What are the benefits? I want to know all about it. Any details from experience is well received. Also, what other careers within Medicine would you recommend?

• Answer:

  I retired from nursing after many years. During the 70s our hospital had the first hospital based ambulance service. I was the director of the unit, and got my EMT license as my nursing license gave me the skills and certification to start IVs and such. I really liked it. The odd hours didn't bother me as much as the slow times. It's an on call sort of thing, so you can be really slow or really busy. If you worked as a firefighter/paramedic you'd have that schedule which is usually 1 day on (24 hours) and 2 days off. I always thought that was pretty sweet. When those guys take a weeks vacation they get a week of work days -- which is like 21 days in the rest of the world! Our service eventually went to the local fire departments and lots of those guys with their paramedic licenses worked part time in the hospital ER. In health care of delivery there are some risks of contamination with the people one comes into contact with, but I always found that the people who are in health care are really careful about wearing gloves, and hand washing techniques. The hand washing is truly the answer to infection control. So far as being injured, I expect that depends on where you work. In a big city traffic is an issue and even with lights and sirens you'd be surprised how many people have no idea you're around. Thank the car industry for those "quiet rides". Any job where one drives or rides for a living has a greater risk for accidents, but I don't think it's something that would keep you from doing it. As I went to the EMT training I can't really recall what the paramedic training required in terms of time. Sorry. Most states offer reciprocity for licensure. You would have to pay your licensing fee, but not take training over again. The benefits will be according to where you work. That isn't something that's uniform across the board. I haven't answered all your questions but hopefully some of them!