Ambulance driver careers or ambulance attendant jobs, should not be confused with EMT careers, as they are not the same thing. An ambulance driver or attendant career requires doing as much as the name indicates. He or she drives the sick, wounded and injured from point a to point b, hopefully, in the safest ways possible. 

 

Whenever you see someone falling out of the back of a speeding ambulance in a movie, it’s likely that you have a person working an ambulance driver or attendant career to thank for such hilarious hi-jinks. Ambulance drivers and attendants work with those serving EMT careers to get patients to the hospital in a safe and quick fashion. No doubt they play a role in saving people’s lives, which of course, is a consideration for anyone considering this an ambulance driver career during their career planning or job search. 

 

Yet, there is a downside. The ambulance driver or attendant career does not come with much in the way of pay, and stating that the job has a degree of stress can be an understatement. Anyone considering this career should keep in mind that the job of ambulance driver or attendant could be very stressful when critically injured patients are involved. Even having a patient that is in high levels of pain is no fun and does not make for a great “day at the office.” Having someone screaming at the top of their lungs while you are trying to whip through traffic, is not as much fun as it might sound.

The ambulance driver career is a high stress job that does not pay much. Those who work ambulance driver or attendant careers are doing a definite service to society and all those insurance companies that keep prices oh-so-low. The average ambulance driver or attendant earns $10.77 an hour, with the lowest ten percent earning around $7.60 per hour. Let’s face it, and again, this is a job that brings lot of stress for less than $16,000 per year, and it is NOT the same as EMT careers.

While the exact job growth for the ambulance driver career, or ambulance attendant job is hard to determine, in all likelihood, because it is a health care related job, it is likely that the job growth will be strong. The nearly saint-like pay combined with the stress of the job likely means that there will continue to be openings. The wave of retirees and decreasing health of Americans across the board means there will be clients. In short, individuals in ambulance drivers and attendants careers will probably stay in strong demand for quite some time to come.

This is a stressful and largely thankless job. The wages are often less than can be considered reasonable, and one should consider this fact before embarking on ambulance driver careers. However, those who are planning on pursuing some sort of career in the medical industry might consider the career of ambulance driver or attendant a decent learning opportunity and resume booster. Being able to say, “I’ve seen that horrible injury in the field and watched it be treated,” can go a long, long way on a job or school application.

In all fairness, the salary, in relation to the stress is pretty much a joke. Less than $11 per hour for driving an ambulance and dealing with high levels of stress is an unfortunate policy undertaken by the medical industry. However, this is only one of many examples, as several other occupants such as nurses are woefully underpaid as well.

While qualifications vary, being able to drive is a plus when considering an ambulance driver career, or career as an ambulance attendant. Lastly, again, do not confuse this career with EMT careers. They are vastly different.