How valid are my EMT hours?

[ToXicity09]

For any of the adcoms on the forums, how valid will my EMT volunteer hours be when I apply in a year? I work at a rural service where EMTs lead each call unless it requires advanced life support, in which case the single paramedic available in the region comes in and helps out. Patient volume is quite varied (of course), but can be pretty sparse at some points in the year (occasionally only 1-2 real patients on weekends), so I'm also worried about that when considering my hours. Just to be clear, the work I do is NOT like at some urban services where EMT is basically an overqualified taxi driver, but I still want to ensure that the 2,000+ hours I will have accumulated by the time I apply will be valid in most adcom's eyes.

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[ToXicity09]

@gyngyn @Goro

 

[glider95]

Interesting. I have logged my patient contacts for the past 4 years as an EMT/Paramedic. I now work for a high call volume 911-only system, but previously volunteered. When I am getting paid straight time (ie. on the ambulance) I log my patient contact hours based on the shift I am working (we traditionally see 15-25 911 calls in a 20 hour shift). So, If I'm doing an 8 hour shift, I log 8 patient contact hours, as it usually works out to be the equivalent anyways.

If I am the on-call medic, I log each patient contact as an hour (how long a call takes from start to finish). Similarly, when I was in high school and I volunteered, I only counted patient contact hours if I actually had a patient contact. To say that a 12-hour on-call shift gave me 12 patient contact hours, when I saw 0 patients, would be extremely dishonest.

So I would be careful in saying you have 2000 patient contact hours, when you admit that you may only be seeing 1-2 patients in 48 hours. Sitting on the couch in the crew room or at home waiting for a call to come in, even if you are on-call, is not patient contact. This is not meant to be harsh, I just don't want you to get yourself into trouble when your questioned about those hours further.

 

[glider95]

Also, don't sell yourself short or other EMT's short. Even the city 911 EMT's are getting AMAZING experience. In most cities by me, a BLS ambulance is not uncommon. Given the transport times, it usually means BLS ambulances doing ALS calls due to medic intercept practicality/availability.

 

[ToXicity09]

I entirely understand. I did not mean 2,000+ pt contact hours, I meant over 2,000 hours on call.

 

[glider95]

I entirely understand. I did not mean 2,000+ pt contact hours, I meant over 2,000 hours on call.

If you haven't been keeping track of patients contacts in terms of number, you can always look up all your total runs in emscharts (or whatever software you use). If you cant do it on your end, I'm sure your lieutenant or QA person would be happy to give you a run-down of exactly how many medicals you've been on.

 

[ToXicity09]

Thank you for the help guys, I will definitely format it as you suggested gonnif. With that being said, do you think I will need more opportunities at patient contact to prove that I really do enjoy serving other people through medicine? I worked hard to find a job in my area and to fit training in my schedule during the school year so I could be an EMT, but if the call hours don't favor me I'm debating on finding a secondary method to get my clinical hours.

 

[ToXicity09]

I appreciate the help, thank you gonnif and glider95.