-EMT-
Emergency Medical Technician
Education and Training:
Whatever schooling it takes to get a certification card with your name on it! You'll need to attend a certificate program that will grant you the skills and knowledge of an EMT. These are the results of a survey by O*NET:
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Skills Required:
With being an EMT there are a lot of required skills. These include:
- critical thinking
- active listening
- coordination
- speaking
- service orientation
- social perceptiveness
- active learning
- complex problem solving
- reading comprehension
- selecting learning strategies.
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Job Description and Duties
In this line of work, you'll have to have an open mind. Anything is possible. If you think about it, why do you call 911? It could be anything from a headache to a heart attack and you never know what you'll be responding to at the start of shift! Regardless of the call type, you'll have to:
- assist and care for others
- document and record information
- make decisions and solve problems
- work directly with the public
- inspect equipment, structures, and material
- operate vehicles and equipment
- get information from where it's needed
- identify objects, actions, and events
- update and use relevant knowledge
- perform general physical activities
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Salary
The salary of an EMT all depends on your certifications. For example, an EMT-I (Intermediate) will make a higher hourly rate than an EMT-B (Basic) because of the amount of schooling each has gone through. The photo below captures the averages for Maryland versus the United States:
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Outlook and Growth
People have been calling 911 since the digits "9-1-1" were implemented as an emergency code and they will continue to call 911 until the lines are busy. The outlook and growth for an EMT is projected to be much faster than normal due to the rising need for emergency medical care.
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Locations and Hours
There is no set location, nor are there set hours for being an EMT. There are paid EMTs and volunteer EMTs. The paid crews have a 12 hours shift, but the time that they work that 12 hour shift is all dependent on their supervisor and when they're scheduled. This is an example of a shift board:
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Values
According to O*NET, having certain values will allow you to excel in a particular job. By taking the inventory quiz, you can find what your values are and see if they correlate to the job that you're interested in. These are the values for an EMT:
- relationships
- support
- achievement
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