Paramedics are the people who rush to the scene of an accident in order to care for all the people who happen to be injured. They are often the people who are involved in rescue situations where people have become trapped in a ravine or other place where they are injured and in extreme weather conditions. These people are highly trained in emergency medical treatment and dealing with new, crisis situations without blinking an eye. The training and skills they are taught begin with the very first EMT class and the learning process never stops.
Because paramedics have complete responsibility for the care of the patient while they are in transport, they have to be very skilled in how the human body works and what medications and equipment will be the most valuable in any given situation. They must be leaders, able to make stick with decisions that they make and also be able to take charge of the scene that they are called to through a 911 call.
In addition to being the one who is responsible for the patient, even though he is working on a team, he must be comfortable
directing the actions of the person who is his partner in the ambulance. The other person is usually also highly trained, but is often not a paramedic, but only a basic level EMT. As such, the paramedic has gone through much more training than his partner and usually has many more years experience in the field, and is thus best able to make final decisions on the team.
Usually people do not even attempt to go through EMT paramedic training until they have spent a few years in basic EMT service. In this way, they get experience in the field and can determine if they are willing to sacrifice the extra time in school that is needed in order to become a paramedic. The EMT paramedic training equips them to be able to know how all types of medications affect the human body. They cannot be confused by different medications such as analgesics, anti anxiety drugs, sedatives and more, because the 911 calls that they go to will have patients on these drugs, and they do not want to mix medications and cause harm to the patients.
One difficult part of the job entails the use of medications, since patients are not always able to give a complete drug history when the paramedic arrives at the scene. In addition, they have to be aware of any patients who might be pregnant, since there are medications that could cause detrimental effects to the unborn fetus.
The EMT paramedic training will also equip people to judge the size of the patient so that when medication needs to be administered, they do not give the patient too little or too much. They also have to know what to do for patients who have overdosed on a certain type of drug, so that they can keep that patient alive until they can get the patient to the hospital. The EMT paramedic training thoroughly equips the people who are successful in completing the program and the certification testing to take care of critical needs patients in the field.
