Good Advice for a New EMT

As a good Emergency Medical Technician, here are a few tip and tricks to make life easier for the patient and the provider.

1. The EMT is always one call away from killing someone. If the wrong treatment is rendered, this could mean the difference between life and death of the patient.

2. If the EMT doesn’t know, he must say he doesn’t know. There is nothing worst than to have an EMT assisting an ALS provider with treatment and the EMT is asked to provide vital signs, not being able to hear the Blood Pressure, he takes a guess at it to prevent himself from looking like he doesn’t know what he is doing.

3. The day the EMT stops learning is the day they must quit. One never knows everything. Just because one possesses an EMT card, wears a National Registry EMT Patch and knows how to pass a test doesn’t mean he is ready to take on the world. The best knowledge is learned by experience, not in a classroom.

4. Just because one has all of the above, doesn’t make them automatically ready to become a Paramedic right away. Going from zero to hero in two years is– in most cases– dangerous to both the patient and the Paramedic.

5. If a patient says no, it doesn’t mean yes. No simply means no. If the EMT moves a patient from point A to point B without proper consent, they can be charged with kidnap.

6. A lawsuit is a lawsuit. Knowing local protocols is the only way to practice. Don’t wait until the call comes in to look it up. Know it ahead of time.

7. Have respect for those who have more years of experience. A paramedic can even learn from an EMT-Basic.

8. Remember BLS before ALS. Always have a practical approach to patient care. Don’t just perform a skill for the sake of doing it.

9. It goes back to basics. First, do no harm. (arthur unknown)

10. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. The driver of the ambulance has done no good to anyone if he kills everyone on the way. Use caution when driving. Safety comes first always.

Just remember above all, stay humble and remember everyone has to start somewhere. When one becomes un-teachable, they are undesirable to be around. To become highly sought after in the EMS field, one must maintain a good attitude and patient care must be of the highest quality.


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