# Medic School Slackin on Clinical's..What to do??



## Dozer34 (Sep 13, 2013)

Ok Ive been in medic school for almost a year now, and finished my didactic work 6moths ago and my school wont get the ball rolling for our clinicals!  Is there any rules or regulations they are not following that I can show them, this is ridiculous...please help?


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## DrankTheKoolaid (Sep 13, 2013)

Name and shame so others don't waste their time and money.


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## Dozer34 (Sep 14, 2013)

WESTMED COLLEGE! SAN JOSE!  :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:s took $16,000 of my hard earned money and haven't done squat!


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## MSDeltaFlt (Sep 14, 2013)

$16,000 for a certificate program???  And this said $16,000 came out of your own personal checking account?!?  For starters you have more liquid assets than I do.  I am both impressed and envious of you at the same time.

Secondly, for verification, are you referring to your 200hr in-hospital clinicals and not your 480hr field internship?  If so, what does your syllabus say should be happening by this date?  What does your instructor say is the reason?  What does his/her immediate supervisor say?  What does their immediate supervisor say, and so on and so forth all the way up to the college board of trustees then even all the way up to the school's state governing council?

Every business/school/what-have-you has a chain of command.  I would suggest you find out what that chain of command is and follow it.

You might want to be careful regarding naming names professionally in a negative context on a public forum.  Remember what is said cannot be unsaid.  And slander tends to carry consequences.

Choose what you will, but be mindful.


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## Carlos Danger (Sep 14, 2013)

Dozer34 said:


> took $16,000 of my hard earned money and haven't done squat!



I would make phone calls and write a professional letter telling them you either want your clinicals arranged promptly, or your money back.

If they don't do one of those two very soon, talk to a lawyer.


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## Jambi (Sep 14, 2013)

It might be useful to note that westmed college is a private organization. They are not regionally accredited.  They appear to be the same as NCTI, DeVry, ITT, Bryman, etc.  If you don't get placement, or if you complain too much, you may have very little recourse should you get kicked out, and you will still be out the money.

Paramedic-intern placement is a huge problem right now, and waits of up to a year are not uncommon.  Even NCTI is having problems placing students and they and AMR are owned by the same company! 

And for more reference: $12,000, $14,000, and $16,000 are typical numbers here in California.  

Bright-eyed EMT's with a foggy vision of the future are lured in by promises of a job and enough pay to justify the expense (think $80K+ fire job).  So they jump in despite warnings thinking and believing that he or she will be different.  When it's realized that the future and vision is rather dim here in California, and that fire job is unlikely to materialize because he or she and 2,000 other people applied for that fire opening, 500 of which are also medics, they begin to realize that event with the medic license he or she is still just a nameless face in an unremarkable crowd because of the insane oversaturation of the industry in this state. 

OP:  I'm sorry this is happening to you, and that you've paid $16k for the honor of non-placement, but a little research with former students and current providers would have given you enough information to where you could have either expected this and accepted the risk, or avoided the school, and/or paramedic school altogether in your area.


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## DesertMedic66 (Sep 14, 2013)

For 16K I would be making a lot of noise about not getting placement. Keep going up the chain of command. This is the first time I have heard of a program having trouble placing students in a clinical setting. There has been an ongoing issue by one program mainly on placing students into their field time (NCTI). 

Sorry you had to shell out 16k for this program.


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## terrible one (Sep 14, 2013)

I've known people that have had issues finding clinical rotations from NCTI. And 16k?!?!? Wayyyyyyy to high for a two semester program.


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## Akulahawk (Sep 14, 2013)

I've only taken a refresher course at WestMed. It was OK. What I can say is that I've never (or at least rarely) heard a good thing about WestMed's Paramedic Program. I'm not saying that they don't turn out good students, but the just seem to always have problems with placement of students. 

Now with AMR/NCTI having problems with student placement, I'm not surprised that WestMed is also having problems. Now if I'm going to be paying that much money to a private program, I want to KNOW going in that they've got clinical and field placements ready for every student already lined up.


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## MagicTyler (Sep 15, 2013)

My paramedic program was $3500 including books and NREMT practical testing...


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## DrankTheKoolaid (Sep 15, 2013)

Haha 2k out the door including ACLS, Pals, and PHTLS.  And It was Friday evening Saturday night. So you could still have a life and work full time.


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## TheLocalMedic (Sep 16, 2013)

Westmed... lol...  Sorry man, you may be out of luck.  They're a shady program and I hear they may be discontinuing medic classes.  I'd get in touch with their management and start demanding a refund.  Talking to a lawyer isn't a bad idea either.  $16,000 scam is a little spendy and they ought to be held accountable.


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## Christopher (Sep 16, 2013)

Corky said:


> Haha 2k out the door including ACLS, Pals, and PHTLS.  And It was Friday evening Saturday night. So you could still have a life and work full time.



Less than $800 for everything ($1k including EMT)...and that was because I wasn't affiliated (hat tip to the Duke Foundation).


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## DrankTheKoolaid (Sep 16, 2013)

Christopher said:


> Less than $800 for everything ($1k including EMT)...and that was because I wasn't affiliated (hat tip to the Duke Foundation).



Wow now that is a deal for medic school!


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## MrJones (Sep 16, 2013)

EMS Administration Bachelor Degree/Paramedic for free. Post-9/11 GI Bill FTW!



:usa:


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## DrankTheKoolaid (Sep 16, 2013)

MrJones said:


> EMS Administration Bachelor Degree/Paramedic for free. Post-9/11 GI Bill FTW!
> 
> 
> 
> :usa:



Thank you for you service, you earned it.


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## MrJones (Sep 16, 2013)

Corky said:


> Thank you for you service, you earned it.



:blush:

:beerchug:


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## Blue Medic (Sep 17, 2013)

Ugh... I'm too old.  My school was $365 and that included the books.


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## VirginiaEMT (Sep 17, 2013)

Dozer34 said:


> WESTMED COLLEGE! SAN JOSE!  :censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored::censored:s took $16,000 of my hard earned money and haven't done squat!



WOW!!! $16,000.00  I only spent $3500.00 for tuition


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## VirginiaEMT (Sep 17, 2013)

Halothane said:


> I would make phone calls and write a professional letter telling them you either want your clinicals arranged promptly, or your money back.
> 
> If they don't do one of those two very soon, talk to a lawyer.



Better yet, have a lawyer do these things and they will know you're serious..


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## Wes (Sep 18, 2013)

And, in said letter, be sure to CC whichever government agency regulates EMS education in your jurisdiction.


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## Jambi (Sep 18, 2013)

California Code of Regulations
Title 22. Social Security
Division 9. Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Services Chapter 4. Paramedic

Page 14 paragraph c:

(c) An approved paramedic training program and/or CCP training program shall not enroll any more students than the training program can commit to providing a clinical internship to begin no later than thirty (30) days after a student’s completion of the didactic and skills instruction portion of the training program. The paramedic training program course director and/or CCP training program course director and a student may mutually agree to a later date for the clinical internship to begin in the event of special circumstances (e.g., student or preceptor illness or injury, student’s military duty, etc.).

Dr. Howard Backer is the EMSA Director, but all the contact I for for the state can be fond here:  http://www.emsa.ca.gov/contacts


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## Jambi (Sep 18, 2013)

Wes said:


> And, in said letter, be sure to CC whichever government agency regulates EMS education in your jurisdiction.



Wes. What kind of lawyer should the OP look for, and what kind of fee do you think might be reasonable to have what ever letter or contact drawn up and sent, be? Would 2-3 hours cover it?


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## Wes (Sep 18, 2013)

I'd either look for someone who's familiar with consumer law in California or who's familiar with California EMS regulations.  Honestly, it'd be hard to say how many hours it would take, because you might be looking at the possibility of litigation....


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## NomadicMedic (Sep 18, 2013)

This is VERY close to violating the NO LEGAL ADVICE rule on the forum. 

Nothing aside from "seek help from a lawyer" is appropriate here. Please keep your future responses in line with this rule.

I am now closing this thread, as the OP has received his answers.


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