# Paramedic



## TuRu (Sep 16, 2011)

I am currently an Emt-B and wanted to continuing my education to become a paramedic. How many years should I work as a Emt-b before applying and any suggestions on continuing my education to become a paramedic?


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## bigdogems (Sep 16, 2011)

Your going to have a ton of opinions on this one. Personally I like the idea of at least a year. Even if its for a private doing IFT. You can actually learn alot working for a private if you take the time to do so. I know plenty of people that run straight through and their only pt contacts are what they had in clinicals. I was a basic for a few years doing 911 and IFT in a high volume system before I went to paramedic. Personally I felt it was an advantage because I had a good base knowledge going into class


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## MedicBender (Sep 16, 2011)

When I went through medic school it was easy to pick out the people who had a few years experience and the ones who didn't. 

The majority of them struggled quite a bit with assessments and understanding the flow of a call. With more and more clinicals most of them improved, but some just never quite grasped it.


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## TuRu (Sep 16, 2011)

*Required Amount of hours*

Does any one know if there is a required amount of hours need in Wa state before your able to apply to medic school?


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## Shishkabob (Sep 16, 2011)

My advice?  Do what makes you most comfortable.  If that's no experience, do it with no experience.  If it's 20 years, than take 20 years.  However, I question anyone that says one is 'better' than the other.



I finished at the top of my class.  Me and the 2 others at the absolute top, all had practically NO EMT experience before starting medic school.  

They send you through countless hospital and ambulance ride outs for a reason.


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## VCEMT (Sep 16, 2011)

You're ready, when you know you're ready. I waited a few years, helped me out. I felt confident after 1 year, I felt prepared after 2, and ready after 3.


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## dstevens58 (Sep 16, 2011)

You do know when you're ready.  Some people have no problems breezing through all the class they can take.  I personally had some field experience in the military before I went to EMT, then EMT experience (more years than I care to admit) before I applied for medic school.


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## johnmedic (Sep 25, 2011)

TuRu - In Washington State to be accepted in all programs that I know of, you have to have a current EMT-B or Intermediate cert that has been active for 1year. It does not require you to have been with an agency & practicing for that full year. My opinion, having just finished medic schooling, my internship & the registry exam in WA, is that instead of judging readiness by the length of time certified as an EMT, base your readiness for Medic school off of the quality of calls & amount of experience working with Paramedics.

A volunteer EMT in a nontransporting BLS agency should wait significantly longer than an EMT working fulltime in downtown Tacoma (ALS). Consider the total number of calls experienced into account as well as the scope of practice from BLS to ALS in those calls. So with us responding to your question without knowing about your agency, take the opinions you get with a grain of salt.

Do what you're comfortable with & ask for genuine advice from other medical professionals who know your skill/experience level. I expect they'll give you sound advice!


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## octoparrot (Sep 28, 2011)

I've seen some other posts just like this and its amazing to see all the differences in opinion. I believe that it helped tremendously to get the hang of SOP as emt-b before diving into als. On the other hand, i know lots of docs that went right to medical school knowing squat about prehospital care.


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## BigBad (Oct 1, 2011)

The more experience you have the easier it will be for your patients and yourself in the long run.   You will be able to get a job a lot easier with previous ambulance experience.   How easy do you want it to be?


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## Sasha (Oct 1, 2011)

TuRu said:


> I am currently an Emt-B and wanted to continuing my education to become a paramedic. How many years should I work as a Emt-b before applying and any suggestions on continuing my education to become a paramedic?



None. Go directly to medic. 

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## NomadicMedic (Oct 1, 2011)

TuRu said:


> Does any one know if there is a required amount of hours need in Wa state before your able to apply to medic school?



Each program is different. Medic One requires 3 years. Tacoma at least one year. I think Central is now accepting medic students with no experience. You'll want to check. Also, programs in Washington are very competitive to get into. 


Sent from my iPhone.


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## Fish (Oct 1, 2011)

Get atleast a year, you can surely tell the difference between people who did and those who did not.


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## fast65 (Oct 1, 2011)

Fish said:


> Get atleast a year, you can surely tell the difference between people who did and those who did not.



Try not to make generalizations like that. A lot of the time the only way you can tell the difference is by looking at their resume. 

Like others have said, a person is ready when they think they're ready, and to so definitively say that someone needs EMT experience before they can go to medic school is close minded thinking in my opinion. I had zero EMT experience going into medic school and nobody could tell the difference.


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## Fish (Oct 1, 2011)

fast65 said:


> Try not to make generalizations like that. A lot of the time the only way you can tell the difference is by looking at their resume.
> 
> Like others have said, a person is ready when they think they're ready, and to so definitively say that someone needs EMT experience before they can go to medic school is close minded thinking in my opinion. I had zero EMT experience going into medic school and nobody could tell the difference.
> 
> ...



It is not closed minded, it is making a comment based off of my experiences. Also, based off of my experiences a new Medic performs differently in there first year or two depending on how their clinical time in Medic school was structured. If you go through a course where you do 540hrs of an internship where you are running the call and doing every intervention and being graded on every aspect of the call, then your call management is going to be better than someone whose program just required your 540hrs to be ride along time, start an IV here, push a Med there.


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## fast65 (Oct 1, 2011)

Hence the last three words of my statement


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## Shishkabob (Oct 1, 2011)

I had minimal 'experience' before starting medic school / becoming a medic.  Anyone want to question my aptitude?  







fast65 said:


> Hence the last three words of my statement



"iPhone using Tapatalk"?  Odd...


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## AlphaButch (Oct 1, 2011)

You could probably get a better response by asking someone who knows you and understands the demands of paramedic school.

A working medic who knows you, your EMT instructors, etc. It's really dependant on the individual in question and the school's curriculum/culture.

Linus didn't need experience. 

I needed a year of experience as an EMT to develop my patient contact skills and co-worker integration skills (transitioning from the military to civilian) before feeling comfortable in p-school ~ still working on that last one.


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## Nervegas (Oct 1, 2011)

I was an EMT for 6 years before I took the plunge and got my LP, It wasn't that I felt I needed the exp before I could move on, I was just doing college full-time and part time as a ff/emt. However, I will say that the extra experience helped when it came to clinicals and MICU rotations as I was confident in my patient contact and not afraid to just get in and do skills for practice, the only mistake you can make is to not try, otherwise you never learn. Honestly though? There were a few in my class who were straight from EMT school and did just fine, its really up to you and how comfortable you would feel.


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## fast65 (Oct 1, 2011)

Linuss said:


> I had minimal 'experience' before starting medic school / becoming a medic.  Anyone want to question my aptitude?
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yes, I would Linuss...




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## Shishkabob (Oct 1, 2011)

And I was about to send you those cookies, too...


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## Oiball (Oct 11, 2011)

For what it's worth, I had zero EMT work experience, and went directly from completion of EMT-B to paramedic training.  I was the valedictorian of my paramedic class.  Of note is the fact that I am 47 years old and have had plenty of life experience in that time.  Getting a medic job will probably be easier if you have EMT experience before or during your training.  Your mileage may vary.  Do what feels right for you.


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## fast65 (Oct 11, 2011)

Linuss said:


> And I was about to send you those cookies, too...



You lie!!!

I don't know how I just realized that you responded to me 


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## Shishkabob (Oct 11, 2011)

10 days later...


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## fast65 (Oct 11, 2011)

Shut up, I've been busy 


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## zzyzx (Oct 12, 2011)

Linuss, are you saying that the moment you started as a medic on your own you were Da :censored::censored::censored::censored:? With all due respect, I'm sure you're a top notch medic now, but I think you are forgetting that everyone kinda sucks when they are new to a job. 

To the original poster: Like others have stated, how much experience you need depends a lot on how you learn and what your comfort level is. Generally, you need two years in a busy system running 911. Most importantly, you will be educating yourself during that time, getting to know the ALS protocols, ACLS protocols, meds, etc., not to mention furthering your general knowledge of medicine by taking classes (physiology, micro, etc.) and doing lots of reading.

If you are going to start out as a new medic working alongside an experienced medic, then you can get away with being a lot less experienced, but in most systems that I know you will be working alongside an EMT when you start out on your own. And that EMT may have even less experience than you!


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## Handsome Robb (Oct 12, 2011)

zzyzx said:


> To the original poster: Like others have stated, how much experience you need depends a lot on how you learn and what your comfort level is. *Generally*, you need two years in a busy system running 911. Most importantly, you will be educating yourself during that time, getting to know the ALS protocols, ACLS protocols, meds, etc., not to mention furthering your general knowledge of medicine by taking classes (physiology, micro, etc.) and doing lots of reading.
> 
> If you are going to start out as a new medic working alongside an experienced medic, then you can get away with being a lot less experienced, but in most systems that I know you will be working alongside an EMT when you start out on your own. And that EMT may have even less experience than you!



That's an extreme generalization. Personally I don't think you need experience as an EMT. You do a decent amount of ride time in medic school that will grant you experience. Any good system will put you through a good FTO period with an experienced medic trained in precepting new hire ALS providers. 

I do agree with you on a new medic/experienced medic combo. I have already been told when I finish school and my FTO period that I will be on a dual medic truck, unless something changes and I get lucky enough to have contact with high acuity patients during my internship for school. No experience in the field but in class it is nice to be able to bounce ideas about pt care and differentials off my partner.


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## Medic2409 (Oct 15, 2011)

My personal experience and opinion is that at least one year of seasoning, if not more, can be very beneficial.

Yes, some can go straight through and be competent medics.  HOWEVER, by and large most "straight throughs" don't have any idea how to be a good EMT first.  I have personally witnessed a number of hot shot medics that don't remember to take care of the basics first.  One glaring case, me and my partner arrived on scene of a full arrest.  The local FD beat us, 2 members of which were working on IV/IO access while one was digging through the med box and the 4th was getting patient history when we arrived.  Any guesses as to what the only EMT on scene had to start doing?  

If nothing else, take some time to learn how to drive an ambulance!  I can't tell you how many medics I work with that have no idea how to give a patient and a partner a smooth ride.


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## usalsfyre (Oct 15, 2011)

Part of the problem is the idiotic notion that we need to separate out levels of care. If we would just go ahead and consider it all patient care we could get away from the "I'm a medic it's not my job" crap.


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## Shishkabob (Oct 15, 2011)

zzyzx said:


> everyone kinda sucks when they are new to a job.



Ta-da.  My point exactly (in a roundabout way).  You could have been an EMT for 20 years, still does not mean you will be a good medic.   EMT experience does NOT equate to medic ability. 


You might feel more comfortable quicker, but that doesn't mean you're more competent.





zzyzx said:


> Most importantly, you will be educating yourself during that time, getting to know the ALS protocols, ACLS protocols, meds, etc., not to mention furthering your general knowledge of medicine by taking classes (physiology, micro, etc.) and doing lots of reading.



Except that's the problem.  EMTs that wait learn the protocols, not the medicine.  They might know that their agency gives solu-medrol to an asthmatic, but probably wont understand the whys beyond a watered down explanation from their partner or some quick Wikipedia search.


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