[Sharon]

What industry are you in? I would first review both the Nurse Practice Act and the practice act for Paramedics. In the states I practice in Paramedics cannot do Audiograms or PFT’s. I don’t have time to look this up – anybody who knows jump in- I don’t know if PFT and hearing testing by allied health professionals meet OSHA standards.

Since they are not independent practitioners they usually must work under a Medical Director who is on duty. Do you have a Medical Director on duty when they are?

These people have the same personality as fireman. I found it can be a dominance issue. I would suggest if you can challenge both your states EMT and Paramedic exam which many states allow RN’s to challenge the exam. (What you will need to get experience with is the use of the equipment in the field, like back boarding.) If you are also certified as an EMT/Paramedic they will have nothing about skill level to complain about plus you will outrank them in the field with a Paramedic/RN designation.

Next ,if they are spending so much time being paid and not working, why don’t you document and suggest reductions in force for additional corporate savings.

What is your chain of command? Is your company a single site? Are there other sites using the same staffing structure?

[WayneRN]

This reply is also to scrubsinthewasher,

Scrubs,

This is just to let you know how our system was set up so that you might be able to take something from it to use. If not, I apologize in advance for wasting your time.

At the coal-fired power plant that I worked at, the EMT's on site were actually employees of the power plant in other capacities. Some were mechanics, electricians, wharehouse personnel, administrative assistants and more. Each was a volunteer firefighter/EMT for the all-volunteer Emergency Response Team. Each carried special radios/pagers so that they could hear the tones and instructions over the internal emergency medical response system.

Now, all of the medical, nursing, and EMS oversight functions were contracted out to a provider. My boss was also the occ. med. provider for the plant and the medical director for the EMT's. The Emergency Response Team had a coordinator that they elected from among their own ranks, but they reported directly to their medical director, which was also my boss. Anytime I had a problem with an EMT, I simply reported it to my boss, and they took care of it. If the EMT's had a problem with me, they did the same. Each of us had our own sets of protocols/policies&procedures. The EMT's were responsible for first response out in the plant, and for pre-hospital care. These area's are really outside of the expertise of a nurse, so I was very glad for their presence.

My relationship with the EMT's was more of a collaborative one than one of supervisor/supervisee, the later which seems to have a built in antagonistic component.

Can you restructure so that the EMT's report directly to their medical director?

Anyway, I wish you good luck in finding a solution to your problem.

WayneRN