The 911 dispatcher is trained to give emergency first aid instructions, and he or she will tone out the closest volunteer fire department. Volunteer emergency medical technicians are vital in the rural communities, as they live in your neighborhood and can get to you fast. This is important in life-threatening conditions. If you need CPR, you need it within three to five minutes. When the paramedics arrive on scene, they use advanced life support measures that stabilize the patient for transport to the closest appropriate facility.
Training is available at hospitals, community colleges and universities.
After nine months of classroom instruction, there's a 250-hour hospital internship, with rotations through the emergency room, cardiac care unit, surgery, surgical recovery, obstetrics, labor and delivery. Then you must have 300 hours on the ambulance with an instructor assessing your skills. The final exam for Nevada state certification includes a written test and hands-on practical skills demonstration. Our release after a difficult call is to talk it out with our shift. We critique the calls, and we learn from them.