If you enjoy working with a wide variety of people, being challenged by new, surprising situations, and helping others, you will probably enjoy being an emergency medical technician and fashioning an EMT career. EMT courses that are taught online and in community colleges train you to know what to do when faced by a wide variety of emergency situations. Not only will you get the book learning that you need, but you will also learn emergency medical training skills through hands-on practice.
Once you have completed the EMT courses, then you will need to take your state’s certification test. There is a written part of the test as well as a practical portion that will thoroughly test your emergency medical training. Each one of these has to be passed in order to be certified as an EMT and this is only the beginning as you journey toward a well paying EMT career.

Options in the Career

The normal career path that an EMT career involves will take dedication, time and effort. Individuals must complete the educational requirements, pass their training and certification courses and then they are allowed to work in an ambulance. There are different types of ambulances that you will encounter in a normal EMT career. The higher level ambulance is designated as an ACLS unit and it can respond to the 911 calls and is equipped to handle a wide variety of medical emergencies.

Another type is a less demanding unit and it handles primarily cases involving only medical transport ,such as moving a nursing home patient from the home to the hospital or vice versa. Usually, the partners will switch positions in the 911 ambulances, allowing one to drive during the first call while the other is in the back and on the next call, they switch. You can enjoy a variety of different duties and assignments and practice your emergency medical training skills as you progress in your EMT career.

There are other positions that EMT workers can also fill after taking the EMT courses. They may work in an emergency room, helping as an assistant when people come in for help. They usually do not handle as much of the emergency work since the nurses and doctors handle that. Instead, they assist the doctors and nurses in what they do. This is a good position for those who like the action but do not like to deal as directly in the field with the patients with traumatic injuries. No one EMT career has to be exactly like another and to some degree you can tailor yours to suit your needs.

Finally you can even find an EMT career that is in conjunction with the fire department, allowing you to be there on the scene when the fire department arrives and be part of the team that is helping. Most people who want this type of EMT career will need to advance their education and become a certified paramedic.

The emergency medical training that EMT technicians must endure is rigorous and physically demanding. It involves many instances where you have to bend down, lift, push, kneel, and more each day, multiple times per day. In addition, they have to work in extreme weather, dealing with hot and cold weather as well as snow and rain. They will usually work about forty to sixty hours per week in all of these conditions if they are ambulance workers. Hospital workers do not have to deal with these weather conditions, but the long hours are still common.

The good thing about an EMT career in the health care system is that the need for these workers is consistent and even growing. There are also opportunities for advancement in the career through additional emergency medical training courses and you may possibly become a paramedic, nurse or even a doctor further down the road. You can be guaranteed of one thing, an EMT career provides any individual with an exciting, rewarding, and an every changing job.