Great experience, a few bad trainers, HORRIBLE management
Pros
-Great first experience AMR will take people who have just completed their EMT-B Certification without any other prior experience. It's an excellent way to start working in a fast paced environment -Directly working with Seattle Fire Department and Seattle Police Department The majority of the calls (unless you're an IFT car) are done with the Seattle Fire and SPD. Usually Seattle Fire will give you a good report about the patient you're about to transport to the hospital (not always...) and they take care of majority of necessary procedures for your patient. Usually, you will transport a patient without needing to do a lot of interventions. -Good and fun coworkers The majority of coworkers were awesome people to work with. They're honest, talk about their life experiences, give good advice, flexible, jump in to help, etc. A few good people to work with. -Easy Here are the 7 things you'll do on almost every call... Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, Respiratory Rate, Lung Sounds, Pupils, A&O Questions, Rapid exam/full head to toe. You'll do this pretty much every time and you can never really go wrong as long as you do these things. Fast exam/lams scale is always good as well. Other things you might do are: Backboarding/C-Collar, Blood sugar check, give sugar (rare), give epi (almost never), oxygen, bleeding control, CPR, etc -Union AMR has a decent union, and honestly they're the main reason why Seattle EMT-Bs are paid so well compared to other places. There's a current contract negotiation going on that might increase the salary from $15/hr to $20-$25 an hour. -Overtime AMR has a lot of opportunities for overtime at 1.5x the rate of the salary. -Vehicle Service Technician They take care of the majority of ambulances so when you start your shift, you're usually good to go after a quick rig check.
Cons
-You are disposable to this company AMR lets you know from the moment you get hired that you are disposable. The job turnover rate is high and the trainers will let you know that as well -Training is insanely bad and inconsistent Whether you finish your Field Training at AMR is mostly dependent on your luck with the trainers you have. If your trainers towards the end of your field training like you, you'll clear training and everything will be smooth sailing. If you're unfortunate and have trainers who dislike you or your style (even if you're following all the AMR standards), they will not clear you for training, you'll be fired, and you'll be told that it's your lack of ability that prevented you from clearing training. There are MANY trainers who are bad teachers and shouldn't be Field Training Officers. Additionally, something you learned yesterday from one trainer will be false the next day when you're with a different trainer. Guess who's fault that is? It's yours and you'll be seen incompetent. As someone else told me, a lot of people at AMR have nothing better going for them in their lives and they act as such. Truly, I cannot say I've had a worse training experience in my life. You are supposed to work with 1 trainer for 3 days and then continue this pattern until you've had about 12 days and 4 trainers. It allows your trainer an opportunity to know your strengths and weaknesses. In my experience, it was nothing like this at all. In about 15 days of training I had 12 different trainers. What makes this especially difficult is that if you're close to the end of your training and you only get to have a trainer for 1 day, they'll tell you directly "Hey you did an awesome job today. I think you're ready to clear training, however I can't tell the supervisor this because I've only had you for one day. Sorry" or "Hey you did a great job these past 2 days. However, we had a low call volume, so I can't clear you for training". or "Hey you did a great job today, but all the calls were easy. If you don't get any difficult calls, I can't clear you for training". Whether you pass your training shouldn't be dependent on the luck factor of whether you get "difficult calls" or whether you get a high call volume, etc. -A few difficult people The main difficult people are management and a few bad trainers. A lot of the time you'll be blamed for something and there's nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut. The environment when you're with these people is toxic and disturbing. You know why you can't speak up when you're being treated unfairly? Because you're disposable and they let you know it. If your trainer is evaluating you unfairly, what do you think your supervisor will say when you bring it up? Absolutely nothing, or they'll say it reflects poorly on your character for not being able to get along with said person. It is in your best interest to keep your mouth shut until the probationary period is over, because truly the company does not care about you. Truthfully, the absolute worst part about this company are the managers, supervisors, and a few bad trainers. Everyone else is amazing.