# Paramedic School and full time job..



## Unconquered82 (Jun 11, 2014)

Has anyone ever done this? I am 32 and have a full time job but the combination of Lecture, Lab and Clinicals look like they cant be split up and take up 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. Is it possible to get trained while having a full time job? Or will I need to school it full time and rely on my wife's salary for the year? Any input or advice its greatly appreciated.:sad:


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## teedubbyaw (Jun 11, 2014)

Only a few people in my class had full time jobs through school. Some of their grades suffered, some didn't. We've all made it, though. 

I'd say prepare for little sleep and no life.


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## DesertMedic66 (Jun 11, 2014)

It depends on your full time job. I know a lot of people who did it and have a couple of friends in medic school with me this year who are doing it.


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## Unconquered82 (Jun 11, 2014)

It looks as though I can complete the EMT Cert. in one semester and (hopefully) at least get a job doing the EMT stuff while in school for the year long Paramedic education. Just the desk job (7-3, 5 days a week) I have now is not as flexible as I'd like to manage it all. I'm tired of the desk life and know this is what I should be doing. Someone save me from this desk!! :rofl:


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## joshrunkle35 (Jun 11, 2014)

Just remember that you will need to do clinicals and ride-alongs in addition to class time and homework. 

Every school schedules things differently. For me, the first 3 months or so didn't have clinicals or ride alongs, and the material was easy. After that, I had about 6 months of school left. For 5, I did nothing but school and work. I worked about 30 hours a week, did about 50-60 hours a week of clinicals and ride alongs, did about 20 hours a week of school, and then studied any other second I was awake. I had a long drive to where I did clinicals and ride alongs, and my girlfriend (gonna be my wife now), who I never saw, would read flash cards to me at 6 in the morning or at midnight. I rarely slept. The last month of class had no clinicals or ride alongs, but I was focused on passing class, registry, etc. I slept about 4-5 hours a night and literally got mono one week after class was over. 

It is definitely doable and I wouldn't trade it for the world. However, you should know what you're getting yourself into. If you work while in school, this is a 7 days a week, no sleep, rarely seeing your friends and family ordeal. I say go for it, but be aware that you will have to make sacrifices if you want to pass and stay in the class.


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## Unconquered82 (Jun 11, 2014)

I guess I should add that I am not even an EMT yet..  I am entering the EMT certification training in the Fall so I'm as "green" as they come. This will be a complete career change for me. If anyone has any input for someone just starting out in school, I'm all ears. Should I complete the EMT and then take a job as an EMT (as if it is that simple)? I appreciate your input!


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## joshrunkle35 (Jun 11, 2014)

Unconquered82 said:


> I guess I should add that I am not even an EMT yet..  I am entering the EMT certification training in the Fall so I'm as "green" as they come. This will be a complete career change for me. If anyone has any input for someone just starting out in school, I'm all ears. Should I complete the EMT and then take a job as an EMT (as if it is that simple)? I appreciate your input!




First, EMT is where you discover if EMS is the thing for you. Some people can pass the class all day long, but they're not right for the job, and some people are right for the job, but can't pass the class. You may discover that you do or don't have a passion for EMS. You might also discover whether you have more of an interest in caring for people, rescuing people or simply the science behind basic medicine or emergency medicine. Some people leave EMT school with the desire to become Nurses, Doctors, Paramedics or PAs, some people are more interested in fire and are taking the course because they are required to. Some people find they are interested in a certain type of rescue and decide that they want to be a really good EMT and that they want to focus their learning on a particular type of rescue. Regardless, a good EMT of any sort, be it EMT-Basic or EMT-Paramedic, places value on continuity of learning. Never stop the learning process. 

Secondly, there are a lot of people who will tell you that you need to work as an EMT before paramedic school, and there are some that will say that you don't. Either way, you should realize that EMT and Paramedic school build knowledge, but working the job builds experience. Experience is equally as important as knowledge. If you don't work as an EMT before medic school, you will learn all of your "experience" while doing hundreds of hours of clinicals and ride-alongs. So, you won't be a complete idiot, and you might be better off than someone who volunteers as an EMT, who may not get hundreds of hours of patient contact in a year or two, but it certainly won't be the same as working as an EMT for a while before school. 

I went straight from EMT to Paramedic school and then started my first job in EMS after I was a paramedic. About 1/3 of people working have a big problem with that. It's usually very experienced EMT-Bs who have a problem with that. I try to stay humble and ask questions, lean on their experience and then do an excellent job whether I'm doing advanced or basic work or mopping the floor. 

If you have your head screwed on straight and you can stay humble, you can do it without working as a basic before Paramedic school, although, I wouldn't advise it. If you have the opportunity to work as an EMT, you should. You should experience what you like in EMS before deciding whether you want to do P-school. Either way, stay humble, ask questions and stay focused on whatever your goals are.


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## Unconquered82 (Jun 11, 2014)

Josh, Thanks a bunch for your knowledge and advice! I think, as you put it, it would be best for me to tackle the EMT classes and then judge if it's right for me. 

I just have this feeling that a work schedule as an EMT is going to be a little more manageable that a 9-5, 5 day a week job if it turns out I pursue Medic school. I have a wife and 2 very young boys at home so obviously this is going to be a big family decision. My wife is an ER Nurse and I've seen/experienced her career for years. I will take this one step at a time. Thanks again


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## joshrunkle35 (Jun 11, 2014)

Unconquered82 said:


> Josh, Thanks a bunch for your knowledge and advice! I think, as you put it, it would be best for me to tackle the EMT classes and then judge if it's right for me.
> 
> 
> 
> I just have this feeling that a work schedule as an EMT is going to be a little more manageable that a 9-5, 5 day a week job if it turns out I pursue Medic school. I have a wife and 2 very young boys at home so obviously this is going to be a big family decision. My wife is an ER Nurse and I've seen/experienced her career for years. I will take this one step at a time. Thanks again




EMT schedule if it's unit days, may conflict with school. If you work regular-part-time like every Saturday and Sunday two, 12 hour shifts, that might be a little easier to do.


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## Unconquered82 (Jun 11, 2014)

joshrunkle35 said:


> EMT schedule if it's unit days, may conflict with school. If you work regular-part-time like every Saturday and Sunday two, 12 hour shifts, that might be a little easier to do.



The Paramedic school scedule from semester to semester looks pretty uniform.. Mon-thurs 12:30pm - 3:30 pm (lecture) and 4-7 (lab), plus clinicals. As it stands now there is NO way my current job will flex to allow me off 4 days a week lol and remain employed. As an EMT, I could (maybe?) work 12's (8-8 or something?) Or do I have no idea what I'm in store for? My school requires me to take lecture, labs and clinicals all at once. Any ideas how a work schedule as an EMT might fit in here?


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## epicEMT (Jun 11, 2014)

It's very challenging but possible. If anything I would recommend trying to switch to part time. Remember you will probably be doing 2 12 hour shift clinicals a week along with school/homework. Also as mentioned before, it really depends on the job you're working.


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## Unconquered82 (Jun 11, 2014)

epicEMT said:


> It's very challenging but possible. If anything I would recommend trying to switch to part time. Remember you will probably be doing 2 12 hour shift clinicals a week along with school/homework. Also as mentioned before, it really depends on the job you're working.



Thanks epic. I just know there is no way my current employer is going to bump me from my full time position into a part time one. I'm almost certainly convinced that if I get a EMT cert and then start medic school I will have to leave that position entirely. I was just wondering how those of you whom are EMT's managed to do that and attend medic school at the same time. It's scary to think about.. and that I have a wife who works a weird schedule in an ER along with 2 kids, if it's even feasible for me to accomplish. Kind of discouraging actually, because I know something is calling me to the field. Maybe I should have taken more thought when declaring a major as a kid and not gone with Computer programming, lol


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## TransportJockey (Jun 12, 2014)

Unconquered82 said:


> Thanks epic. I just know there is no way my current employer is going to bump me from my full time position into a part time one. I'm almost certainly convinced that if I get a EMT cert and then start medic school I will have to leave that position entirely. I was just wondering how those of you whom are EMT's managed to do that and attend medic school at the same time. It's scary to think about.. and that I have a wife who works a weird schedule in an ER along with 2 kids, if it's even feasible for me to accomplish. Kind of discouraging actually, because I know something is calling me to the field. Maybe I should have taken more thought when declaring a major as a kid and not gone with Computer programming, lol



I went to paramedic school three nights a week four hours away while working 48 hours a week or so. I saw my apartment maybe oncea week. I lived at the station. I dont know how I would have done thag with kids, but mine is also an extreme case


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## joshrunkle35 (Jun 12, 2014)

One more thing to take into consideration is that every school schedules stuff differently. For example, around here, a community college program is 3 semesters in length. That's 12 months. You go 8am-1pm for clinicals or ride alongs (alternating days) and 1pm-6pm for class. They start clinicals on day one. You do homework at night and on weekends. If you fail out, you restart the semester you failed. This school has very low test standards and then while most pass the registry eventually, it doesn't have a high "first time" pass rate. The school I went to was in the same area, but 9 months long. They waited about 3 months into school for you to start clinicals so that you could actually do stuff during clinicals. You had to finish clinicals a month before the end of class, so you had about 5 months to do all of your clinicals rather than 12 months. Because it was 9 months and not 12 months, the material came at you faster. They had harder testing requirements. Consequently, more people got kicked out of the program. There was no option to restart portions of the class. It was much harder to get through, but every person passed registry on their first try. 

One type isn't necessarily better than another, they're just different. You should look into the specifics of different programs in your area. Some might be easier than others to work and go to school.


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## UnkiEMT (Jun 12, 2014)

First, let me disclose that I'm in the camp that thinks you work as an EMT before you go on to medic school.

The reasons I think you should are a few fold:

1) Until you actually work in the field, you don't really know if you have the passion. EMS is very much a career choice fueled by passion, god knows we don't do it for the money. I've seen many people come in thinking that EMS is going to be the great love of their life, only to discover that they don't really like it all that much after a few months. I think you're way better off discovering that when all you've got invested in it is the EMT course, both because it's easier to walk away at that point, and because medic will burn you out a little before you even begin.

2) I think that running straight to medic makes it harder to be a good medic, it doesn't make it impossible, but I think that even 6 months of working as an EMT gives you a foundation to build upon when you're in medic school that makes everything easier. I absolutely know good medics who ran straight through the schooling, I just think they had to work way harder to make it there.

3) Pretty much every service out there will bend over backwards to work with your schedule in medic school. That sort of scheduling flexibility will make your life much easier if you want to try to work full time. (Note: There won't be nothing easy about it, medic school is fairly brutal when you're working full time, and if you want to actually see your family in there, you're gonna learn to love caffeine.)

4) Some employers, possibly even most, though certainly not all, will pay for part or all of your medic school in exchange for a contract to work for them for a certain amount of time after.


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## Christopher (Jun 13, 2014)

Unconquered82 said:


> Has anyone ever done this? I am 32 and have a full time job but the combination of Lecture, Lab and Clinicals look like they cant be split up and take up 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. Is it possible to get trained while having a full time job? Or will I need to school it full time and rely on my wife's salary for the year? Any input or advice its greatly appreciated.:sad:



I worked 50+ hours while going to P school. Numerous other folks in my class not only worked full time, but had kids.

I guess the only difference is my class was night school based, from 6-10pm.


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## Christopher (Jun 13, 2014)

UnkiEMT said:


> First, let me disclose that I'm in the camp that thinks you work as an EMT before you go on to medic school.



As an FTO I can tell you there is one thing that separates good paramedics from bad paramedics: the will to be a good paramedic.

There is zero difference in how many years they spent before medic, what certs they held, where they came from, how tall they are, whether they're a man/woman/child, online program, college program, night school etc.

The only time I've seen it matter is if the paramedic school is of a particular poor quality. Those require you to do field time to make up for their inadequate educational program.


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## Chewy20 (Jun 13, 2014)

When my work partner was in medic school he was working full-time during the overnight shift. Ran 0-5 calls a night so we had time for sleep. Then he went to class during the day. Think he only did 2 or 3 days a week for classes though. It obviously can be done, just depends how much you want it.

If I decide to go through with Paramedic, I will be working full-time or real close to it.

The good thing about being an EMT is that there is usually at least a couple hours a shift where you are just sitting around. Use this time to study or catch up on sleep!


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## UnkiEMT (Jun 14, 2014)

Christopher said:


> As an FTO I can tell you there is one thing that separates good paramedics from bad paramedics: the will to be a good paramedic.



I don't disagree with you, but did you go on to read the rest of my post, particularly point 2?



> 2) I think that running straight to medic makes it harder to be a good medic, it doesn't make it impossible, but I think that even 6 months of working as an EMT gives you a foundation to build upon when you're in medic school that makes everything easier. I absolutely know good medics who ran straight through the schooling, I just think they had to work way harder to make it there.


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## Christopher (Jun 14, 2014)

UnkiEMT said:


> I don't disagree with you, but did you go on to read the rest of my post, particularly point 2?



I did, I just think that is because their paramedic schools were subpar or insufficient. In the very rare instances experience in the field as an EMT will help in paramedic school. It shouldn't be necessary nor should it separate those who are good from those who are not. We value experience over education for the most part, and that's a problem.


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## Margarida Giese (Jun 23, 2014)

*Education and Training*



joshrunkle35 said:


> Just remember that you will need to do clinicals and ride-alongs in addition to class time and homework.
> 
> Every school schedules things differently. For me, the first 3 months or so didn't have clinicals or ride alongs, and the material was easy. After that, I had about 6 months of school left. For 5, I did nothing but school and work. I worked about 30 hours a week, did about 50-60 hours a week of clinicals and ride alongs, did about 20 hours a week of school, and then studied any other second I was awake. I had a long drive to where I did clinicals and ride alongs, and my girlfriend (gonna be my wife now), who I never saw, would read flash cards to me at 6 in the morning or at midnight. I rarely slept. The last month of class had no clinicals or ride alongs, but I was focused on passing class, registry, etc. I slept about 4-5 hours a night and literally got mono one week after class was over.
> 
> It is definitely doable and I wouldn't trade it for the world. However, you should know what you're getting yourself into. If you work while in school, this is a 7 days a week, no sleep, rarely seeing your friends and family ordeal. I say go for it, but be aware that you will have to make sacrifices if you want to pass and stay in the class.



Hi, joshrunkle35. I guess this sums it all. I have been curious about how this kind of work really goes about clinically. Thanks for sharing your views. You are correct, I agree that in order for you to achieve something in class then sacrifices and even determination are needed.


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## questing answers (Jun 28, 2014)

Have you looked into scholarships, bursaries, or grants in your area?


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## Emergency Metaphysics (Jul 8, 2014)

*Oh boy, me, too*



Unconquered82 said:


> Has anyone ever done this? I am 32 and have a full time job but the combination of Lecture, Lab and Clinicals look like they cant be split up and take up 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. Is it possible to get trained while having a full time job? Or will I need to school it full time and rely on my wife's salary for the year? Any input or advice its greatly appreciated.:sad:



Thanks for posting this. I just turned 36, am a career changer, and looking at EMS and eventually medicine as my second career. After undergrad and grad school I have student loans, etc., that requires me to work full-time -- or close to it. So, I worry a lot about going to paramedic school and trying to make the finances work.

Let me know what you learn about making the work-school-life balance work.

Cheers,
E.M.


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## EMT4EVA (Jul 18, 2014)

It can be done with a full-time job, but it's definitely tough.  The best advice I can give you is to keep the coffee pot fresh.   Good luck! 




Unconquered82 said:


> Has anyone ever done this? I am 32 and have a full time job but the combination of Lecture, Lab and Clinicals look like they cant be split up and take up 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. Is it possible to get trained while having a full time job? Or will I need to school it full time and rely on my wife's salary for the year? Any input or advice its greatly appreciated.:sad:


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## Btalon (Jul 25, 2014)

Unconquered82, I heard a good quote the other day and can't remember it verbatim, but it had to do with being an emt before medic school and he basically said that being an emt before medic school only helps you if you learn the right way, if you are new and get stuck with someone that is cutting corners and doing things the easy way and learn that, it will work against you in medic school.

It is good to get the experience and have an idea if you really want to continue in the EMS field.  Medic school is a big investment to jump into if you aren't sure.

Have you thought about any of the distance learning programs?  I currently am in NMETC out of Massachusetts and it is a hybrid course.  We have class 2 nights a week for 3 hours, I'm close enough that I travel 2 times a week for practical at the school.  It is 10 months of class/practicals and then you go into clinicals and internship in the field after.  I currently work with a medic that went through the program and they are an excellent medic.  Another co-worker is finishing up on his program and has spoken highly of it.

If you don't live close enough for Saturday travel, they have a 10 day boot camp version that is very good and you learn online, then go and stay for 10 days of practical.  After that you do clinicals, if you can't find a site near you, people have stayed longer and done it at sites local to the school.

Something to think about.


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