Is there a Paramedic shortage in Texas

[Guest guest]

Just a few questions,

1. Are other services recognizing a shortage of Paramedics.

2. If so how are the shortages of Paramedics affecting your service,

ie, decrease in level of advanced care you are providing to your

service area, possible trucks removed from service due to lack of

Paramedics, is existing staff being asked to work more overtime shifts.

3. In your opinion what is the cause of the Paramedic shortage?

4. What action is your service taking to overcome the Paramedic

shortage, if you believe there is one.

Gillaspia

Llano County EMS

[Guest guest]

A shortage goes through phases:

1. There is no shortage

2. There is a shortage of candidates, but not so much that it drives a

willingness to increase costs (wages) to fill the positions. Cycle

times in hiring get longer, but they eventually find the appropriate

candidates.

3. Cycle time is long, and when they DO find the candidates, they aren't

as good as they'd like, but they make do.

4. Some agencies start to pay more to get the better candidates.

5. This causes more people to enter the field, and leads to better

candidates (more to choose from).

So there may be a shortage, as noted in fewer applicants and longer

hiring cycles. But there has to be a shortage for a longer period of

time before it begins to impact wages.

=Steve=

Gillaspia wrote:

> Just a few questions,

>

> 1. Are other services recognizing a shortage of Paramedics.

>

> 2. If so how are the shortages of Paramedics affecting your service,

> ie, decrease in level of advanced care you are providing to your

> service area, possible trucks removed from service due to lack of

> Paramedics, is existing staff being asked to work more overtime shifts.

>

> 3. In your opinion what is the cause of the Paramedic shortage?

>

> 4. What action is your service taking to overcome the Paramedic

> shortage, if you believe there is one.

>

> Gillaspia

> Llano County EMS

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

,

1. I do not see a paramedic shortage around the San area...I

do see a shortage of well-trained and qualified paramedics.

2. Recruitment, testing and hiring is much more lengthy than it used

to be. We have to progress through 20 or 25 paramedics to find 2 or 3

that can work the beginning stages of a mega-code without freezing up,

getting drugs out of order or wrong dosages or the inability to

intubate " Fred-The Head " on command. That is very frustrating. We

have not had to reduce our double-medic staffing although we are

running a higher than normal Part-Time staff so that we can hold

full-time holes open longer if we need to.

3. An absolute refusal of EMS personnel in this state to understand

the importance of and need for advanced education at the Paramedic

level. The need to conduct basic math and reading comprehension tests

so that our students will be better prepared to learn, and if they

cannot pass those to get them into formal math and reading courses so

that they can. Then to have paramedics complete collegiate courses to

at least the associates level...to make them more well-rounded, better

educated, and better prepared to work with and around the diverse

population we deal with on a daily basis. We didn't have associate

degree programs back when I became a medic...but I wasn't expected to

know and deal with the stuff that our crews today are put through...

Secondly, we need to get past the goal of many training programs now

(including the majority of card classes) where making sure everyone

passes exceeds the desire to make sure everyone knows the information.

This dumbing down testing scenarios and questions is killing EMS and it

is dropping the level of quality in all areas of the health care

system...

4. We are working to hold onto the folks that we have by concentrating

on job satisfaction and providing opportunities for our folks to better

themselves without leaving our organzation. Tuition help, great

benefits, appropriate time-off, limiting P & P while building independent

thought skills, etc, etc. Unfortunately we are located about an hour

from an agency that pays WAY over what the job market will bear around

them (that is their method to recruit the best) and we have to fight

that through lower work loads and the things I mentioned above that a

smaller environment can foster that is more difficult in the larger

services.

So, no, I don't believe there is a paramedic shortage....the numbers

reported by DSHS in the EMS Magazine continue to climb...the problem is

the end product is farther and farther away from what is needed

everyday.

Dudley

Is there a Paramedic shortage in Texas

Just a few questions,

1. Are other services recognizing a shortage of Paramedics.

2. If so how are the shortages of Paramedics affecting your service,

ie, decrease in level of advanced care you are providing to your

service area, possible trucks removed from service due to lack of

Paramedics, is existing staff being asked to work more overtime shifts.

3. In your opinion what is the cause of the Paramedic shortage?

4. What action is your service taking to overcome the Paramedic

shortage, if you believe there is one.

Gillaspia

Llano County EMS

[Guest guest]

Yes

Money

More Money

henry

Gillaspia wrote:

> Just a few questions,

>

> 1. Are other services recognizing a shortage of Paramedics.

>

> 2. If so how are the shortages of Paramedics affecting your service,

> ie, decrease in level of advanced care you are providing to your

> service area, possible trucks removed from service due to lack of

> Paramedics, is existing staff being asked to work more overtime

> shifts.

>

> 3. In your opinion what is the cause of the Paramedic shortage?

>

> 4. What action is your service taking to overcome the Paramedic

> shortage, if you believe there is one.

>

> Gillaspia

> Llano County EMS

>

>

>

>

>

>