What made you actually chose to become a paramedic?

[sra]

Just curious here....what exactly made you decide to become a paramedic? What about your job now lets you know you made the correct career choice?

 

[DrankTheKoolaid]

I'm happy In the morning going to work even after 20 years of ems, that's how I know I chose the right career.

I chose it because the other thing I am good at is boring enough to make me want to stick a knife in my eye repeatedly....... Computers. They are for games not work

 

[STXmedic]

Took EMT for a fire gig. Thought medical was cool. Decided to go to paramedic. Realized I loved medicine. Realized paramedic didn't teach as much or let you do or as much as I wanted. Now working on getting into med school.

 

[Shishkabob]

I hate being told what to do.

 

[Veneficus]

Took EMT for a fire gig. Thought medical was cool. Decided to go to paramedic. Realized I loved medicine. Realized paramedic didn't teach as much or let you do or as much as I wanted. Now working on getting into med school.

That sounds very familiar.

 

[Christopher]

Just curious here....what exactly made you decide to become a paramedic? What about your job now lets you know you made the correct career choice?

I got bored as a software engineer and not having served in the military became an EMT to volunteer in my community. Turns out EMS is challenging and fun.

 

[NomadicMedic]

I started in EMS in the late 80s, and then started a career in broadcasting. Becoming a medic was always the "fallback plan", if I wasn't successful in radio.

Turns out, I did okay in radio, but after 20 years, I became bored. So, one day I quit and went back to school.

Now, I'm a medic. I wouldn’t trade any of my experience, it’s made me who I am today, and years of public speaking and interaction have made me very comfortable with patients and teaching.

 

[abckidsmom]

I like my job 20 years in. I started in EMS in high school in 1993, and got my medic in 1998 at 18. The job has been there for me through my time of working full time, part time through 7 years of pregnancy and parenting infants and toddlers, and now full time again while I homeschool. I can't imagine a career that would allow this flexibility. I love it.

 

[ExpatMedic0]

My hatred for nurses. J/K that was sarcastic and pertaining to another thread.

Funny enough I had never thought of becoming such a thing. One day I was flipping through a local college course catalog to see what I should "blow my gi bill on" and saw a picture of an ambulance loading a patient into it. For some reason it really caught my eye so I started doing some ride a longs, became a first responder, and in the Army became my infantry squads Combat Life Saver, then an EMT-B then after discharge got my EMT-I, and finally the ol -P card. The first day I did a ride a long there was no turning back for me.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Watching 9/11 as it happened in school. Seeing the firefighters running into the buildings as everyone else was going out.

Joined the Fire Explorers soon after my 14th birthday. Learned I'd have to be an EMT to get a fire job. Told by many many people that due to my race I would have to be a medic to get a fire job.

Took the EMT course and loved it. Planning on medic school in a couple of months followed by fire academy and then start applying to fire departments.

Could never work behind a desk in an office. I love not knowing what you will be doing. I love being outdoors.

 

[Household6]

It's a fantastic skill to have for when the Zombie Apocalypse happens..

I hate being told what to do as well.. And I want to serve.. I want the training to know how to react when someone needs help. Before medic school, fate has put me in situations where I've had the ability and state of mind to act, but not the medical knowledge to know what to do. I don't want to be in that position ever again.

 

[Veneficus]

fate has put me in situations where I've had the ability and state of mind to act, but not the medical knowledge to know what to do. I don't want to be in that position ever again.

and you got that in medic school?

I feel seriously ripped off, because I still don't always know what to do.

 

[ThatPrivate]

I was always told I was going to college from a young age. I wanted to be a firefighter but couldn't do it in high school because fire fighters don't go to college. I went to college for nursing and didn't do well at all. I ended up changing my major and started paramedic school. Don't plan on using my degree at all but at least I have it like my family wanted. I am much more happier now then I ever been. I enjoy the work environment and the culture of EMS. I'm doing what I love even if it goes against the grain of my family.
Funny part my family still brags about me graduating soon but doesn't brag about my choices. They still think I'm going to grad school.

 

[SeeNoMore]

The honest answer is that I was lured in by the promise of getting to call the shots in life and death situations but was not organized or edcuated enough to pursue nursing or medical school. I took advantage, semi unwittingly of the low standards that exist in our field. Luckily I realized this and have worked very hard, and still have a lot of work to do to become the type of Paramedic I want to be. I am very different from the person that first entered EMT class. Not happier as in general my foolish expectations have been dashed, but I do feel vaguely competent now. Thats nice

 

[Hunter]

I chose it because the other thing I am good at is boring enough to make me want to stick a knife in my eye repeatedly....... Computers. They are for games not work

Same... I was actually halfway through a degree in networking and programming before I realized it.

Before that I was undecided between medicine and computers, I like most of the public had the wrong impression of EMS; "lights and sirens everywhere, do what doctors do except at 60mph." But during EMT and doing my ride times I realized the truth quickly, and even though the truth wasn't as exciting as I expected it to be I fell in love with the job. I also found this forum and while I didn't post all that much when I first found it reading through posts helped me realize I would have to do a lot of studying on my own outside of school and work to become a good enough paramedic to do the job. Also this is the only medical job where you get to make the patients feel like they matter, considering we only get 1 patient at a time, unlike nurses and everyone else who have at least 6-30 patients at a time.

 

[RocketMedic]

Paramedics for parents, grew up around it (my dad would probably fit right in on EMTLife, he's a Free Thinker, probably where I get it from). First 'job' was cleaning ambulances out, then third-rides, and I was hooked. Seeing that it could actually be a readily-accessed viable career helped too.

 

[bahnrokt]

I was at a company roll out meeting with 300 co workers, my VP is speaking on stage when he drops. 300 people stand there looking at him lay there. Nobody knew what to do. Turns out he had a massive heart attack. I was upset nobody knee what to do so I took CPR at my Vol Ambulance Corps. Realized that I learned nothing, joined the corps and took emt.

 

[hibiti87]

A great man once told me " a good paramedic doesn't really know why he does anything."

 

[EMT B]

It's a fantastic skill to have for when the Zombie Apocalypse happens..

 

[Household6]

Ohh..... Glad to see I'm not the only one who takes it seriously..

I wouldn't waste good Fentanyl and Versed on the deteriorating undead though. <_<