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You gotta have thick skin when starting out in any health care setting, because your dealing with peoples lives and there is so much potential litigation involved. There is a saying that Nurses eat their young, but the same could probably be applied to some EMS settings as well. I wouldnt...

There are MANY jobs out there that pay more than an EMT that require as much or less training.

The "formal" training difference between EMTs and CNA is almost irrelevant, because CNA is a job that pretty much has to be learned on the job, it cant really be taught in a classroom or lab, so not a lot of time is wasted on that. The class is basically a formality that allows you to take the...

As a "transporter" you make the same money I stated out as a patient care tech, which seems crazy to me. But then again our pay was diluted by RN students who would work for peanuts so they could gain experience and get their foot in the door at a hospital. EMTs make little money I suspect...

How many undergrad anatomy courses have cadaver labs? My class had a cadaver lab, but I didn't find it to be particularly beneficial. We had a couple cadavers in the cadaver room and the professor would periodically take us back there to show us certain structures. We had one lab exam where...

An experienced EMT nearly passed out in the ER where I work while doing his Paramedic clinicals. He was helping a doc suture up a patient and went wobbly. A nurse wheeled him out of the trauma room in a wheel chair and had him lie down and had me get a set of vitals and get him some orange...

If you are going on active duty, much of what you learn is going to be forgotten by the time you get out of the navy, so if you are going to take college classes I would knock out boring pre reqs like English comp or Pyschology. I wouldn't bother with an EMT class. I would take the time on...

I hate to say it, but the blood and gore probably is what attracts some people to EMS, at least until they find out how little of that we typically encounter. I have to work with a guy who almost acts giddy every time we're dispatched to a call that has the potential to be a bloody mess, and...

I don't mean to sound callous, but deaths I've encountered in EMS haven't really affected me greatly. I don't know the people and im with them for such a short time. Yes if its someone younger, especially a suicide, I do feel sadness, but its not someone I knew. If its a cardiac arrest its just...

I've never heard of Paramedic School being competitive for admission slots. Nursing School yeah, you need at least a 3.5 in your pre reqs to even be considered for a BSN program, and a 3.8 or above to have a decent chance, and even then theres often a long waiting list, but for Paramedic usually...

My experience of being an EMT is that it can be stressful starting out like just like anything new, but how stressful depends on the culture of the organization you are working for. Some places do a good job of helping new EMTs along, and others have a toxic culture and its sink or swim for...

I suppose Im basing my experience too much on phlebotomy school. Doing IVs is just one part of being a Paramedic, and there are probably schools that dont allow students to practice on each other. Phlebotomy school on the other hand was pretty much ALL about sticking people with needles, so I...

Needles dont bother me, when I went to school for phlebotomy I never had any problems with getting stuck, even though Im a hard stick and other students struggled. The rule was you stick someone and they stick you. I probably had about 20 blood draws done on me during the class, with about 1/4...

There are different levels of A&P, and the level of detail can vary a lot depending on what class you take. Most community college Paramedic programs from what I've seen require a one semester or A&P essentials class. Going beyond that probably wouldn't make much difference in Paramedic school...

Try being in the military right out of bootcamp/training with your first unit just getting back from a combat deployment. We actually missed the petty torments of bootcamp. I thought my first name was boot for about 6 months. The happiest day of my Marine Corps career was when we got some new...

The EMS environment tends to vary depending on the location from my limited experience. Rural EMS tends to be more laid back and the people friendlier and more helpful, and there seems to be less of an ego driven culture and pecking order. As a new EMT I was welcomed and as long people know...

I agree with the coffee grounds. Working a few years as a hospital PCT on different units have left me almost immune to bad smells though. Ever taken care of a morbidly obese continuously incontinent bed ridden patient with a GI bleed AND C diff for 12 straight hours? How about when you...

I would voice my concerns to the Paramedic first off, if they persisted with no explanation as to why, then I guess it would depend on what exactly they were asking me to do, how obviously wrong it was and how badly the patient outcome might be because of it. Ultimately if it was something...

So you went to field medical school when you were in the Corps? I thought it was just to teach Navy Corpsmen how to function in the field and familiarize them with the Marine Corps way of doing things. I never heard of any Marines going through it, Interesting. When you say you went through...

I don't even remember what my first call as a licensed EMT was, it obviously didn't leave an impression. I vividly recall my first call as an EMT student though, even though(or maybe because) it was a total BS call from a drunken frequent flier. It was a pretty appropriate introduction...