Even as the economy starts to pick back up, many EMS professionals are having trouble finding — and keeping — work. We wondered whether the EMS field was too competitive. Our Facebook community offered a variety of interesting takes on the current EMS situation: Some say it should be competitive; others think moving forward in the EMS field is a political game. Let us know how you feel in the comments.
Photo PMC 1stPix via Flickr
A. Yes, among departments
“I am a part of a volunteer rescue squad. The only competition is against the other local squads. We still are number 1!” - Jordan Welsh
“Education aside, the question is are we too competitive? As a whole? Is your department more worried about their little piece of the world and not so much about patient care? Case in point: There is an intersection where I run. Four jurisdictions converge there. No one is willing to agree on who responds there, so if it can’t be determined where the call is happening (like an MVA), dispatch will send all four. Then you have department personnel flat-out arguing over who gets the patients. That, in my mind, is too much competition (and not for the betterment of patient care)... We should compete with ourselves. Always educating, always striving for better skills and always providing better care with the next patient. The push is already coming from a national level to make paramedics an associate-level program. The push is already here for training programs to be nationally accredited (which means the director and lead teaching staff must have degrees).” - Brenda Hanus
”... It’s all about the pt and how good of care you give him or her. I’m a volunteer as well. I don’t think there should be competition; we should all work together to provide the best pt care we can, put as much as we put into classes, and set time aside to take care of people we don’t know. This is a gift that we can help others. When they can’t help themselves, they look to us for help. This is what ems is about. This is what we do. This is who we are.” - Christopher Howenstein
A. It’s too political
“There are too many people who are under-qualified applying and wasting other people’s time.” - Abid Nader
“It’s more politics than “Are you qualified to do the job?” - Amy E. Gann
“It’s not who you are; it’s who you know.” - Antoine MedicTronn Robinson
“I have always found the ego issue a major problem. In the past, I have experienced people actually spending more time making others look bad instead of just doing their best work. I considered this fiction and something to be seen on TV and not experienced in real life, where real people and their livelihoods are in the balance. Unfortunately, I have learned this isn’t the case and probably made some enemies in my steadfast resolve to always keep my patients’ (and students’) best interests at heart. In terms of competition, I believe fragile egos are the most pervasive and the most dangerous to our patients and profession.” - Brenda Hanus
A. It’s too underpaid
“Not for an average of $11.00 an hour for a paramedic! Better money as a Wal-Mart cashier!” - Jay P. Zimmerman
“Look, at the end of the day, most of us aren’t in it for the money because it’s not good. I’m not a medic yet but I will be one day. I’m only an EMT and my only concern is the continuity of care for the patients I deal with daily at work or when off and volunteering for my squad. Do we deserve more money? Yes... but I don’t think we emphasize enough the key topic here, which is patient care, and that’s why we all do it, right ? Because we care? Well, I do, and I am assuming that’s the same answer for most of us since we continue to struggle financially doing this job.” - Darius Mosley
“I’ve worked for a county ambulance service for 20 years now and still have to work a second job to pay bills. Too competitive? No way. If you are breathing and have a medic license, you have all the jobs you want. I can walk in and start working just about anywhere I want as long as I have this license in my pocket. Basic EMT’s have a little more trouble because there are so many out there looking for jobs. When they get one and can’t survive on the pay, some leave but the ones who care stick around.” - Chris Black
A. Depends where you work
“Wow... EMTs who can’t find jobs. Come to south Texas. You will get hired. I worked in a rural community as an EMT then as a paramedic. I did it in stages. I worked as an EMT while going to school for each level, which made me a better medic. I think competition is good but political competitors ruin it.” - Bonita Guerra Troia
“Depends what state and city you are working in. Some cities have too many medics and not enough jobs, and others have medic shortages.” - Harold Chaves
“Here in Florida, it’s hard to get a job with good pay. Yes, it’s oversaturated. Private ambulance companies figure if you don’t like the pay, they can easily pick up one of the few thousand or so fresh new graduates off the street to pick up the slack. No one tells these new kids how oversaturated this career is.” - Alexander Molina
A. EMS has the right level of competition
“I think that when your job is to save lives and provide the best patient care possible, that competitiveness is a good thing. People who think that just because they have the cert that they should be able to get a job have a reality check coming. Services are picky because they have to be, and because the market is oversaturated, they can be. I had to beat out 20 other people for the position I have right now, and it was over a year and a half before I first got a spot on a volunteer service. You have to be competitive to get a job in this business.” - Cody Randall
“Not competitive, we are all just very good at what we do.” - William Martinez
“If anything, it should be competitive. It should be who is trusted to save a life.” - James Aubert
“Yes and no... It’s good so many people want to do good things; it sucks that I have to compete with them all to get a job!” - Julianne Loux
“Competitiveness is a good thing in this field. It has a way of weeding out the not-so-desirable from the EMS gene pool. Regardless of cert level, one should always continue to educate themselves. Personally, I would like to see EMS go to a B.S. for Paramedic and A.S. for EMT. National Registry should go away and die, and we should be pulled into Homeland Security and become a true national department.” - Todd Daniel
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