State of Maryland

An Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Systems Technician I is the intermediate level of work installing, maintaining, testing, repairing and calibrating bio-medical telemetry equipment and various types of emergency medical communication systems including two way radio, pager, video, telephone and microwave systems.  Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive moderate supervision from an Emergency Medical Services Systems Technician Supervisor or Emergency Medical Services Systems Engineer.  Employees in this classification may be subject to 24 hour on-call duty and overnight travel throughout the State.  Work is performed at a central electrical shop, hospitals, communication base stations, and outdoors under a variety of weather conditions.  Employees are exposed to hazardous conditions and substances, such as high voltage, tall radio towers, radio and microwave radiation, lead solder, solvents, asbestos, high noise levels and animals including rats and snakes in wiring tunnels.  The work may require the installation and moving of heavy communications equipment.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Emergency Medical Services Systems Technician I and Emergency Medical Services Systems Technician II are differentiated on the basis of the degree of supervision exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Emergency Medical Services Systems Technician I performs duties under close supervision at times and with general supervision at other times, depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed. while the Emergency Medical Services Systems Technician II performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.

Installs, maintains, tests, repairs and calibrates a wide range of emergency medical communication equipment in accordance with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations and manufacturers’ specifications;

Installs, tests, repairs and calibrates electrocardiogram (ECG) monitor defibrillators to manufacturers’ specifications using patient simulators;

Inspects radio equipment and ECG monitor defibrillator telemetry equipment in commercial ambulances for compliance with communications specifications;

Installs, repairs and maintains emergency medical pager system including pagers and pager base stations;

Installs, wires, maintains and repairs the emergency medical telephone system including statewide microwave links;

Troubleshoots malfunctions in electronic components of the various emergency medical communication systems at county alarms or 911 centers and hospitals;

Performs preventive maintenance on emergency medical communication equipment and bio-medical equipment;

Designs modifications and modifies electronic equipment to meet the needs of emergency medical communications;

Maintains a geographical positioning satellite system for medical evacuation helicopters;

Installs, maintains, repairs and may program a computer network at the Emergency Medical Resources Center;

Contacts vendors to order parts, electronic components and batteries;

Installs generators and battery power systems to minimize the impact of commercial power failures on emergency medical communications;

Prepares system documentation including wiring lists, schematics, and drawings of equipment modifications;

Assists supervisors with the analysis and selection of sites for communication equipment;

May oversee contractors installing towers and antennas to ensure compliance with contract specifications, FCC regulations and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations;

May write computer programs for communication applications;

May instruct emergency medical personnel in the proper use of communications equipment and bio-medical equipment;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of digital and analog electronics;

Knowledge of two way, full duplex, very high frequency (VHF), ultra high frequency (UHF) and high band radio communication systems;

Knowledge of telephone communications systems including microwave technology;

Knowledge of bio-medical telemetry equipment;

Knowledge of video communications including optical fiber networks;

Knowledge of electronic pager systems including pager base stations;

Knowledge of microcomputer hardware and software including operating systems and programming languages;

Knowledge of Federal Communications Commission regulations;

Knowledge of Federal Aviation Administration regulations regarding tall radio towers;

Knowledge of electrical wiring codes for local jurisdictions;

Knowledge of safety procedures for working with high voltage electrical currents;

Skill in soldering and desoldering electrical components and circuit boards;

Skill in wire wrapping; Skill in the wiring of telephone circuits;

Skill in terminating and coupling radio frequency (RF) cables;

Ability to diagnose and repair malfunctions in a variety of electrical, bio-medical, and communication systems;

Ability to use test instruments such as oscilloscopes, patient simulators, selective level meters, transmission impairment test sets, deviation calibrators, frequency counters, RF millivolt meters, function generators, audio distortion analyzers, spectrum analyzers, watt meters, voltmeters, ampere and ohm meters;

Ability to use hand and power tools;

Ability to understand manufacturers’ manuals and schematics;

Ability to understand handbooks and electronic standards published by various organizations;

Ability to understand Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS) specifications for emergency medical equipment;

Ability to modify electronic equipment;

Ability to prepare system documentation including wiring lists, schematics, and drawings of equipment modifications.

Education:   Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Three years of experience installing, maintaining, testing, repairing and calibrating bio-medical telemetry, two way radio, video or microwave systems.

Notes:

1. Candidates may substitute successful completion of a program of study in electronics at a recognized training school, trade school, or college on a year- for- year basis for up to two years of the required experience.

2. Candidates may substitute either a Federal Communications Commission General Radiotelephone license, or a certificate from the Association of Professional Communications Officers, Society of Broadcast Engineers, National Association of Radio and Telecommunications Engineers, National Association of Business and Radio Engineers, or equivalent association for the required education and experience.

3. Candidates may substitute U.S. Armed Forces military service experience as a non-commissioned officer in Emergency Communications Repair and Maintenance classifications or Emergency Communications Repair and Maintenance specialty codes in the Emergency Management field of work on a year-for-year basis for the required experience.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies. Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is not assigned to a bargaining unit, as indicated by the designation of S (Supervisor), M (Manager), T (Agency Head), U (Board or Commission Member), W (Student), X (Used by Agency or Excluded by Executive Order), or Z (Confidential).  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

Employees in this classification are eligible to receive overtime compensation.  An employee who works more than the normal workweek is entitled to be compensated for that overtime, as provided by the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 8-305.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series. NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance level in a classification series. In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class, as defined by the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.