Hey Michelle, Here are the answers to the questions you sent. I hope this helps. 1.

I selected this occupation through my experience in the military. I was a combat medic in the army and that was equivalent to an EMT in the civilian world. 2. The Basic EMT course is about 6 months. The Intermediate EMT course takes about 9months. The EMT-Paramedic course takes about a year to complete. 3. As an EMT, you can progress through your education and become a paramedic. Once you achieve the level of a paramedic, you can obtain positions as an ems supervisor, a flight medic, or even an ems instructor. 4. The thing that I like the most about my job is that it always varies from day to day. I never do the same thing on any two shifts. Also, this job gives me a chance to give back to the community. 5. As an EMT, I work 24hr shifts. We work 24 hours on and then we have 48 hours off. We follow pretty much the same schedule as the fire department. We have no control over our work schedule. 6. There is some sense of job security in that there are always going to be sick people or people that get hurt and are in need of pre-hospital medical treatment. However, just like many other employers, ems services are cutting back on overtime and the benefits that they provide. 7. No. EMT pay is nowhere near what it should be. For all of the responsibility and liability that we have, we make peanuts in return. This seems to be the trend in all public service careers though. That is why I am currently in nursing school. The wear and tear on your body is not worth the small salary that we make. 8. There is some flexibility on the job. When you are not on a call, you can pretty much do whatever you want as long as you stay in your specified territory. 9. I feel as though I am respected amongst other EMS professionals and the general public. However, the rest of the medical field do not respect EMTs that much and look down on us because we did not attend any formal "medical school" for our training. Most of our training is done at a technical school and even online. 10. My major responsibilities on the job are to stabilize sick or injured patients and get them to the hospital without causing any more harm. We also deal with emotional family members, the media, crime scenes, and some very horrible deaths. It is not a job for the faint of heart or anyone who gets their feelings hurt easily. We work weekends, holidays, and all hours of the day and night in all types of weather conditions. We provide basic life support, advanced life support, and pre-hospital trauma life support. Taking care of patients to the best of my ability is my main responsibility. If a patient needs an intervention that is out of my scope of practice, my paramedic partner takes over patient care. As an EMT, I do a lot of the driving and make sure that the ambulance is always stocked appropriately at all times with anything that we may need. Well, I hope this is what you were looking for. I am glad that I could help. Let me know if there is anything else that I can do. Colby Dean