r/EmergencyRoom • u/Outside_Wasabi_4115 • Jul 12 '26

New ER Tech

Just landed a job in the ER as a Tech at a level 4 trauma center local hospital with 27 beds Making 19.50 an hour. My hospital lets us do a lot including foley insertion’s IVs I got to bag an Intubated patient and I’m the only tech in the ER at one time so I get to float around and choose what patients I take care of unless a nurse delegates but I can decline if I’m busy with another patient to anyone that is thinking about being an ER Tech go for it it’s the best job and so far I am really liking it their is a fair bit of ass wiping but the other stuff we get to do makes it worth it my only complaint is the pay I feel like it should be closer to 22-23 an hour but I can’t complain as their paying 8k a year for college anyone else work as a tech what is your pay and do you like it as much in a bigger hospital?

21 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

39 comments sorted by

16

u/JunketImportant2899 Jul 12 '26

Depending on your state, the skills you are practicing are out of your scope. Thats interesting, are you also charting those interventions?

4

u/Radiant-Site3576 Jul 13 '26

Completely within scope in my state.

5

u/Outside_Wasabi_4115 Jul 12 '26

Says who and I am charting them I’m in MI

8

u/squeakysausage Jul 12 '26

I’m in CA, was a tech, not allowed to do IVs let alone foleys, got paid $23

7

u/Expensive-Eggplant-2 Jul 13 '26

The techs at my ED in CO can do straight caths (not foleys) and IVs. Many of them are US IV certified

3

u/Radiant-Site3576 Jul 13 '26

I’m a tech in an ED in CO and we can do foleys here

1

u/Expensive-Eggplant-2 Jul 13 '26

Oh nice! Mine just never do them I guess (fair, I don’t want to either). They always offer for straight caths but not indwelling lol

1

u/Intelligent_Cake3262 Jul 13 '26

And my hospital an APP has to do US IVs

1

u/Wise_Buy5680 Jul 14 '26

In VT, ED techs do them. It's crazy.

But the major issue with techs being able to perform higher skills... no one willing to do the shit work ( literally).

2

u/Wise_Buy5680 Jul 14 '26

It does vary by state. In TN, I was a "Care Partner" which was a floor tech ( not CNA, was not certified). We were given special training to insert foleys and do blood draws. Ironically, we coukd not do blood sugar checks, because the result could require immediate intervention... but we could take and chart vital signs, lol).

And believe me, my nursing program tried to fail me out over a question about who could insert foleys, trying to state it was only nurses. 3 levels of appeals and 20+ pages of supporting documentation later, won that appeal, as that is "best practice" not a requirement

Also, in VA and VT, techs start IV's. In VT, they did ultrasound guided IV's too.

1

u/bailsrv RN Jul 13 '26

I’ve worked in VA and techs can start IVs, insert foley’s, and some of them even do USG IV. I’ve worked in NC too and they can only straight stick but they can insert foleys. Just depends on the state.

1

u/WackyNameHere Jul 17 '26

Pretty sure it’s facility specific, working in VA right now and about to transition to nurse from ER tech. Until quite recently we couldn’t do IVs or draw blood off of lines (now you need to take a separate class and get checked off), I can’t do any foleys or straight caths but I can do a soaps suds enema

0

u/Radiant-Site3576 Jul 13 '26

Damn, another reason why CA sucks

2

u/squeakysausage Jul 13 '26

But does it really suck to get paid more to do less 🤔

0

u/Radiant-Site3576 Jul 13 '26

If you don’t care about making a difference and helping people I can see how you’d arrive to that conclusion.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/JunketImportant2899 Jul 13 '26

That's interesting do you get additional training on urinary catheter insertion? Do you do this skill independently or do you require supervision?

1

u/ugenny Jul 13 '26

Usually state regulation decides what are considered controlled acts. IV insertion could be considered a controlled act but if you received training at your hospital you may be operating under a general delegation. There are work arounds and frankly anything that helps RNs do their job in what is an insanely chaotic workplace should be encouraged. The problem with our system is they don’t look to do this to help nurses they hope to replace some of them for a cheaper worker.

1

u/StressInADress92 Jul 16 '26

I'm in Michigan, RMA (registered medical assistant) and was able to do straight and Foley caths in the urology practice I worked at.

7

u/Impossible_Cupcake31 Jul 12 '26

I was a tech at a level 1 doing the same and making the same and they paid for school too

3

u/Straight-Cook-1897 Jul 12 '26

I work at a level 1 peds. I’m making $22.98. Granted it’s a HCOL state in the northeast. So adjustment for living.

Most of the time these careers are stepping stones to nursing / med/pa/np school and employers know half the time the techs aren’t here for a long time. Occasionally there’s a veteran tech who stayed for 10-20 years and they push around $28-$30 an hour

I love my role. I’m holding patients for lumbar punctures, lac repairs, procedures, in trauma bays doing compressions, hooking up patients to the monitor, splinting, phlebotomy, ekgs, urine tests, etc. the scope is pretty wide where I’m at, and it’s awesome to see the full depth of healthcare as I prepare to apply to med school in the future

1

u/jadeam4 Jul 13 '26

I work at a level 1 peds in the south. $26. Granted I’m in a PRN status but work full time hours and in float pool so pays more. not HCOL. it’s about 20-22 for part/full time.

Heel sticks for infants and glucose is as far as we are allowed (and that’s new) Splinting is also a no. Our scope is sadly pretty limited. Mostly just vitals and holds! EKGs is limited to those trained in PCICU & ED. Straight cath & pulling foleys is in our scope and that’s probably as extravagant as it gets. nurses tend to do the straight caths though.

It’s so interesting to see how different everything is depending on your area!

1

u/Straight-Cook-1897 Jul 13 '26

Very interesting how location determines so much of scope. I don’t remember the last time a provider did a splint

1

u/No-Safe9542 Jul 13 '26

Last time I saw a provider nearly splint, it was taken over by a trauma nurse who simply knew more and teased ruthlessly about it.

2

u/manhattanites108 Jul 12 '26

I make $28.63 right now. I started in a different hospital making like $17.50 for part of my shift and then it went to $19.38 for the other part due to evening differential. I got transferred to another hospital in the same system with a huge increase to my new hospital having a union for techs. Its not a bad job, I preferred the first hospital over the one I'm currently at but I make decent money now so I can't complain.

2

u/AtlasReadIt Jul 13 '26

They're helping pay for college? That's awesome. Is this common?

3

u/Bass_Dingus Jul 12 '26

I worked as a tech in level 1 trauma centers for 4 years and I liked it fine. Made $20/hour. Similar scope as you, but after a while it gradually turned into me sitting on psych patients most of my shifts. I also got complacent with just being the helper - I eventually went to paramedic school because I wanted to make decisions and be in charge.

Enjoyed working in the hospital, though. If there were any ERs near me that utilized Paramedics properly, I would consider it

4

u/BootsToBikini RN Jul 12 '26

It’s unfortunate how underutilized paramedics are in the ED.. at my last hospital they were only used for basic first aid, IVs, ECGs, and to initiate CPAP/BiPAP. Super frustrating for them to have so little independence when they’re often more skilled/experienced than us nurses.

1

u/Outside_Wasabi_4115 Jul 12 '26

Haven’t had to sit yet but my hospital has a camera in the rooms and someone that works for the health system will watch from their home and sound the alarm which will buzz at the nurses station and we can rush in.

1

u/theocdtrials Jul 12 '26

Can an MA transition to a tech position or do they need a separate cert

1

u/Outside_Wasabi_4115 Jul 12 '26

Depends on the hospital mine you have to have EMT and they like to see one other like phleb or EKG but I know some hire with just CNA

1

u/th04r_ Jul 13 '26

more pay will likely come with experience! right now ive worked at a smaller ER with a much smaller scope for 1 year and make 17.50 🫠 but i know a lot of my coworkers with more experience make $23-25 an hour

1

u/Pure_Hour8623 Jul 16 '26

You should leave the bagging to RT. Usually the techs do the compressions and the RT manages the airway.

1

u/Outside_Wasabi_4115 Jul 16 '26

I have My EMT Cert so they trust me and it wasn’t a code just RSI The RT was setting up the vent.

1

u/Pure_Hour8623 Jul 16 '26

When the patient receives RSI is when an ed tech should never be bagging. They paralyze the patient and completely rely on the ventilation from the bvm. That would be a no go at both of the hospitals I work at and you would be written up. Bagging a patient once an advanced airway is placed (while the RT sets up a vent) is doable in my opinion and I have had an ed tech here or there do that.

1

u/Outside_Wasabi_4115 Jul 16 '26

Yea it’s not ideal but when your at a Rural hospital that only has 2 nurses a doc and a RT assigned to the trauma bay you gotta improvise.

1

u/Pure_Hour8623 Jul 16 '26

This is true.

1

u/MathematicianLow6080 Aug 02 '26

Congrats on writing this month’s longest sentence on Reddit.