Medical Technician

Non-Commissioned Member | Full Time, Part Time

In Demand

As a member of the military, Medical Technicians work with a variety of health care professionals including Medical Officers and Nursing Officers to treat the sick and injured invarious Canadian Armed Forces' operations and units.

As a member of the military, Medical Technicians work with a variety of health care professionals including Medical Officers and Nursing Officers to treat the sick and injured invarious Canadian Armed Forces' operations and units.

A Medical Technician has the following primary duties:

• Provide initial care for patients;
• Provide basic to advanced life support care independently and as a part of a multidisciplinary team;
• Administer lifesaving interventions and treatments to trauma casualties;
• Interview and record patient medical histories;
• Instruct soldiers on Combat First Aid and Tactical Combat Casualty Care;
• Manage soldier’s medical readiness, supplies and equipment;
• Administer intravenous therapy;
• Take and monitor patients’ vital signs;
• Administer and dispense some medications in accordance with their scope of practice;
• Assist patients in accessing various health services resources such as Mental Health services and physiotherapy;
• Provide medical support during environmental operations;
• Recover casualties from the point of injury and transport them to a medical facility by wheeled or tracked ambulance, or by air;
• Participate in rescues from crashed vehicles, tanks, ships, aircraft and damaged buildings;
• Give basic advice on disease prevention, hygiene and sanitation;
• Perform specific environmental health and preventive medicine duties;
• Collect specimens and perform basic laboratory procedures;
• Operate and maintain medical and life-support equipment;
• Perform electrocardiograms and audiograms;
• Initiate, maintain and distribute medical records, documents, reports and returns; and
• Maintain, replenish and account for general and medical supplies.

Work environment

Medical Technicians spend most of their careers working directly with the Canadian Armed Forces within Canada, on ships at sea, and deployed on international missions. In the field, overseas and on ship, they usually work in shifts and, occasionally, on call. In Clinics, they generally work regular hours.

If you chose a career in theRegular Force, upon completion of all required training, you will be assigned to your first base. While there is some flexibility with regards to postings (relocations), accommodations can’t always be made, and therefore, you can likely expect to move at some point in your career. However, if you decide to join the Primary Reserve Force, you will do so through a specific Reserve unit. Outside of training, your chosen Reserve unit will be your workplace on a part time basis, and you will not be obligated to relocate to a different base. As part of the Primary Reserve Force, you typically work one night per week and some weekends as a minimum with possibilities of full-time employment.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: I'm Master Corporal Emma Galloway from London, Ontario. I’m a Medical Technician currently posted to 2 Field Ambulance in Petawawa, Ontario.

NARRATOR: Whether it’s in the heat of battle in a war-torn nation, or a relief effort in the aftermath of an earthquake, in the Canadian Armed Forces, the role of Medical Technician takes on dimensions never imagined on a city street.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: Big difference between a civilian paramedic and a military Medical Technician is as a military Medical Technician, we do a lot of different jobs. So one day you're working in a clinic; you can move out to work in the field; you can also work on aircraft, fixed-wing and helicopters, as well as, could be working on ships. So the environment changes and the scope of your job can change as well based on those environments.

NARRATOR: They are a critical part of the Canadian Armed Forces healthcare team, working with doctors, nurses and physician assistants to provide acute and chronic healthcare services to Forces members.

The job of a Med Tech can be diverse and adventurous.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: The stress and excitement is definitely something that draws me to this job. Knowing that I can be the difference in someone's life is very rewarding.

NARRATOR: They do everything from patient screening to clinical care or pre-hospital emergency care on a general day-to-day basis . When Medical Technicians deploy, they provide the full spectrum of care to all military members serving on the mission.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: Our training is very trauma-focused and very battlefield trauma-focused. We focus on gunshot wounds, blast injuries, shrapnel injuries versus more car accidents and things that you would see on the civilian street.

NARRATOR: The training, experience, and level of responsibility is equal to or greater than what one would expect in comparable civilian occupations, but the Forces offers paid education and opportunities to travel.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: A Medical Technician has more responsibility than our civilian paramedic counterparts. We can be pushed out by ourselves. So it's our responsibility to identify what's going on with the member so that we can be on the phone with a clinician – so whether that's a Physician Assistant or a Medical Officer – to be able to make sure that when that patient gets to that next level, the care that they need is already ready to go for them.

NARRATOR: Military medics earn a salary while they are in training and then walk right into their careers. No student loans; no job search.

There are also opportunities for Med Techs in the Primary Reserve, serving part-time in their local community while going to school or working at a civilian job.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: I was a paramedic before I joined, for three years. And then I decided to join the military to give myself more opportunity to further advance my medical skills.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: For me, the most exciting part of my job is getting to do my job on the back of a helicopter. They know when there's a helicopter coming in to get someone, it's very, very serious. I fly on the Griffon as well as the Chinook helicopter, and there's nothing better than coming in on a helicopter.

NARRATOR: On completion of their occupational training, new Med Techs will be posted to a healthcare unit on a Canadian Armed Forces base.

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: My biggest advice to anybody coming through those first couple of years is to just absorb all the information that you can, learn every skill that you can, because it'll make your life so much easier down the road.

NARRATOR: Medical Technicians in the Forces have opportunities to train with civilian agencies to maintain and improve their skills. On occasion, military medics will ride along with civilian paramedics in an ambulance.

As their careers progress, Medical Technicians may have the opportunity to pursue a range of specialized qualifications, including working as a secondary Search and Rescue asset with the Combat Support Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force, or in aeromedical evacuation with the Canadian Medical Emergency Response Team, or with the Special Operations Forces .

MASTER CORPORAL EMMA GALLOWAY: I would definitely say, in my opinion, that our job is a fun job. I get to work with a lot of different people. I get to be doing a lot of different things. I've been up to the Arctic, I've been over in Africa, I've been around Europe with the military. None of these things I would have been able to do if I hadn't joined the Canadian Armed Forces.

The minimum required education to apply for this position is the completion of the provincial requirements for Grade 12 or Secondary 5 in Quebec with Grade 11 applied math or Math 426 in Quebec and any Biology and Chemistry course at the Grade 12 or Secondary 5 level.

The ideal candidate will already have a college diploma and a Primary Care Paramedic Level I certificate, the Forces may place you directly into an on-the-job training program following basic training.