What an EMT really does
You walk into someone's worst moment, figure out what is wrong fast, treat what you can, and hand them off with a clear story of what happened.
FieldHealth
Preparation (O*NET Job Zone)Medium preparation needed
What the work involves
What fills a typical week for EMTs, built from O*NET occupation data.
- Check the ambulance, equipment and supplies at the start of every shift
- Respond to calls from dispatch: falls, breathing problems, chest pain, crashes, and many non emergencies
- Assess patients quickly and set priorities for care
- Give basic life support: oxygen, bleeding control, splinting, CPR and spinal precautions
- Calm patients and families while you work
- Radio or call the hospital with a report and hand off at the emergency department
- Write a patient care report for every call and clean and restock the rig
- Work long shifts that can include nights, weekends and holidays; some services run 12, 18 or 24 hour shifts (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook)
What the days are like
What people in the job know
- Paperwork follows every call. The patient care report is part of the job, not an afterthought, and it goes to the receiving physician. Task: Observe, record, and report to physician the patient's condition or injury, the treatment provided, and reactions to drugs or treatment (O*NET task 11)
- A big part of the job is not medical skill at all but keeping scared people calm. Task: Comfort and reassure patients (O*NET task 4); Work Style listed: Stress Tolerance, Empathy, Self-Control (O*NET)
- You rarely work alone. Police, fire, dispatch and the hospital all shape each call. Tasks: Coordinate work with other emergency medical team members or police or fire department personnel (task 6); Communicate with dispatchers or treatment center personnel (task 5) (O*NET)
- Cleaning, decontaminating and restocking the ambulance is routine work between calls. Tasks: Decontaminate ambulance interior following treatment of patient with infectious disease (task 7); Maintain vehicles and equipment and replenish supplies (task 10) (O*NET)
How people get into it
An EMT course through a community college, technical school or fire academy, then the national (NREMT) cognitive and skills exams and state certification. O*NET places the job in Job Zone 3, which typically means vocational training and on the job experience. Many EMTs later train as paramedics.
The Firstday trial, easy to hard
Three simulated tasks with AI coworkers who message you, react to your work and coach with questions. Nobody scores you.
What the trial can't show: This trial cannot cover the physical heart of the job: lifting and carrying patients, CPR compressions, splinting, bleeding control, spinal immobilization, driving with lights and sirens, working in rain, dark or traffic, or seeing serious injury in person. It covers assessment decisions, priorities, radio reports, documentation and communication. You act as an EMT student on a ride along with a certified crew; all patients and scenes are fictional. Note that O*NET has not yet published Work Context data for this occupation, so the trial cannot cite figures on pace, schedules or exposure.
Reading about it is one thing.
Find out how the work feels to you before you spend on a degree, course or job change. Your first trial is free.
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Job details on this page are built from O*NET OnLine, 29-2042.00. This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.