Boston EMS

[edburke]

Ed, sounds like you have a fun job right now.  Are you on the streets doing clinical shifts anymore, or just admin?

 

Pretty much admin.  We just sat our 4th recruit class since I got promoted in March of last year, which is 100 recruits in the door since then, and that will yield about 80 newly badged members by the end of this one next June.  Sadly, with retirements and defections, we will still not be at full staffing.  Teaching the recruits is one of my primary assignments and it is handled by myself and one other Training Captain.  They do 3 months in the classroom and then 9 weeks in a field internship where they are evaluated after every call by Field Training Officers.  We try to get out and observe them as much as possible to ensure they are meeting the standard and identify any issues early.  I am also responsible for clinical review of the evening shift BLS (medication administrations and any clinical complaints requiring educational remediation,) the bi-weekly continuing education on the evening shift, the BLS AED data collection and analysis and the BLS medication logbooks.  It sounds like a lot of BS, but I'm honestly having a blast doing it.  I have been able to implement some changes using technology that has brought the department kicking and screaming into the year 2003.