Only a few people know exactly what a paramedic can or can not do. The majority thinks that they only transport sick people as fast as they can but it's not only that. There's, much more!
It's helping people psychologically and physically. It's helping others before yourself.
They follow protocols written by doctors to best treat their patients. They have to know them by heart and use those in traumatic and medical incidents.
At the beginning of their shift, they start by doing an inspection of the vehicle and what's in it. Then they get in that same big yellow truck and call the dispatch to say that they're ready. After that, they wait for calls of duty!
Their space for work can be anywhere. It can be in someone's home as well as in the woods. However, they always end up in their ambulance.
To become a paramedic, you have to do a minimum of three years of study in cegep. It is a degree college.
They make $30 per hour in average.
Paramedics have formations every couple of months or less because because emergency care medicine is a field that changes a lot. There's often new particularities in the protocols and new things to learn. For example, when the pandemic started they learnt how to do Covid testing to help the population
There's a lot. Being a paramedic is sometimes dealing with violent patients. Plus, they are often in uncontrollable environments, for example, on a highway.
It's quite unlikely because you need to reassure the patient. The patient needs to feel the warmth. The pain that needs to be sooth is often more psychologic than physic and I can hardly see a robot do that.
It really depends on the person. Some find it too hard physically or mentally to do more than 10 years. However, some of them find the passion and the strength more powerful than the pain, so they can retire after more than 40 years of service.
I am at the end of my second year of study in cegep. My goal is to become an advanced care paramedic, which you can do after two years of work as a primary paramedic. I just want to help people as much as I can.