What's it like to be an EMT?

[resqgeek]

Back in the day, when I was still an active EMT, people used to ask me what it was like. How do you explain what it feels like to work on an ambulance? Do you focus on the boredom of the waiting between calls, or the frustration when we have to transport a patient who really doesn't need an ambulance? Its easier to talk about those rare calls where someone's life hung in the balance and we actually could make a difference. This, usually, is what people want to hear about. But the one thing we almost never talk about is fear. Sometimes there are patients who are in serious danger, and nothing we do seems to help. The feelings of helplessness and fear in these situations is something most of us don't want to dwell on, and even have trouble expressing. However, Tom Reynolds, an EMT with the London Ambulance Service maintains a blog about his work, and earlier this week posted an entry about an asthmatic child that really captured these feelings, at least as I remember them. If you really want to know what it is sometimes like to work on an ambulance, read that entry, and you'll get a bit of an idea.