If you ever thought about becoming a paramedic, then this article is for you! You'll learn some information about the job of a paramedic, for example, in what consist the job, what are the risks of it, how much do paramedics made, how to become one... I believe that this article will answer some of your questions about this amazing job!
Being a paramedic is a difficult job due to the physical and psychological demanding nature of the job.
Paramedics respond to emergency calls form the population, such as injury, accidents, natural disasters... They provide emergency medical care for their patients, are there for any person who has mental health issue and need to talk to someone, transport their patients to hospital and educate the public on health and safety issues.
On a typical day, paramedics respond to the emergency call from the population. They give immediate care to their patient, depending on their injury or their medical condition. They transport people to hospital in an ambulance, in which they monitor the patient and adjust the treatment if necessary.
Paramedics work almost in any ambulance company in Quebec! They can either work for the government at Urgence Santé, for a cooperative (like CETAM or SPLL) or for a company.
In Quebec, you need to complete the Prehospital Emergency Care program in a cegep that offers it. New graduates must register with the National Workforce Registry of Paramedics in Quebec to be able to practice the job.
Paramedics are making $29 per hour in general. After 10 years of experience, they can make up to $66 700 per year.
Some formations and training can be done during the active years of a paramedic because new techniques can be added to the protocol or because it as been a long time since the paramedic as done a certain thing, and needs to be updated on it.
Many physical tasks involve awkward positions, many repetitions of the same movement or a wrong use of force that can all lead to injuries (many are related to back injuries). They can also be exposed to contagious or infectious diseases from patients, to extreme conditions and to period of intense stress, which can lead to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). They are also at risk of slips, trips and injury from the various locations that they can be called to and from carrying a patient on a stretcher.
The chances that paramedics will be replaced by a robot soon is really unlikely because in the medical field, the human contact between the patients and the medical worker is necessary. There is a complex facet in this field that can't be done and understand by artificial intelligence.
In general, paramedics retire at the age of 65 but many retires before that because of back problem or because of an injury that occurs during the job. Some will retire from the field but will still be working for the company by doing paperwork.
I have been studying Pre-Hospital Emergency Care for four semesters at Ahuntsic College. Being in this program will let me be a paramedic after I completed 3 years (6 semesters) of school. During the semesters, I have taken a lot of courses which are going to help me in my future job like biology, traumatic and medical prehospital intervention, psychology and many more who are related to the field of health. When I have finished the program, I'll have to pass the PNIC exam (Programme national d'intégration clinique) to have my paramedic's licence and to officially practice the job. When I have it, the place where I'll be working will give me some formations to do so that I'll be on the same level as the other paramedic who are working at this company. In the future, I hope that I'll be able to enter the Advanced Prehospital Emergency Care program at the University of Montreal because it'll allow me to do more technique and administer more treatment to different patients.
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Date: still relevant
Accuracy: probably true
Relevance: relevant for this document
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