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lookshayna

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hello, Im Shayna. Im 18 years old and im about to start EMT-B classes at my community college. I plan on working as an EMT while I get my AA and go on to eventually get my med school degree. I want to be an EMT because I love medicine and would love to get the experience and hopefully help out a few people along the way. Im nervous about taking it however because I have a boyfriend whom I have been with for a year now. Were not like some of the couples now adays. We are faithful and we love each other. Im worried that he will become upset when I have long hours or jealous that im working long hours with most likely guys. How do i go about handling this? We work out all of our problems but we've never encountered a major situation like this. We are just going out into life so this will be our first big obstacle.

Im also nervous because taking this class means that its longer until I complete my AA. I think it is worth it but has anyone gone through this and has advice?

I guess I am just getting nervous because this is a big decision and I know im making the right one but I would love feed back. My orientation is this Thursday. Hopefully im not the only girl.
Any advice on how to handle relationships, graduating college, or the EMT class in general?

I know im asking alot but thanks for reading!
:)
Shayna
 
When my class started there were 27 of us. I was one of 7 girls. By the end I was one of 3 that finished the program. So don't be too surprised if there are few girls in the class with you. And also consider that most of the guys in your class may also be in relationships/married. I think there was maybe 1 single guy in my entire group?

I have absolutely no advice for you on dealing with your boyfriend if he does develop issues. As I have the same problems with someone I've been with for nine years. But on my end, I've recognized it's an insecurity problem with him. I've always had more male friends then female and he feels that he can't keep up with the other guys around me. So I tried to nurture security in him through the years. It was all I could think of to do. Constant reminders that he was my one and only and no one else could compare. And he is not happy about me going into a male dominated field where I'll be gone for such long hours but at this point, to be totally honest with you.. I dont really care. He either trusts me or he doesn't. After a while, proving yourself gets very tiresome. So if he does get to that point, try to see what it is within himself that makes him feel insecure and try to develop that part of him to a better place. It's all I have for you. Sometimes it works, in my case it didn't.

How long is your class? What are your hours? What days do you have class? Do you work? My program was 4-5 hours an evening, 4 days a week for 3 months. Because of the hardcore testing schedules we were on it made things a bit overwhelming because we needed to have an 80% average and 80% on the final exam after passing ALL of our skills just to finish the course. So I probably would not have been able to juggle that with other courses as well. But see what you can do and what you can't. Try to see if you can get some of your stuff out of the way online at your own pace if you dont have those prereqs already done. EMT class doesn't last long, so it shouldn't set you back too terribly far.

Best of luck to you!
 
well...school will always be hard to manage with life no matter what, you kinda just have to play it by ear..the whole BF thing..I'm 20 and my ex-GF was completely understanding about my job and that she knew i wouldn't ever be unfaithful to her...i had a female partner(very,very attractive) and it was fine...eventually you will hang out with the people you work with because they are the only people who understand so he'll get used to them being around allot ...so if he cant deal with that i guess thats your decision
 
bunkie said:
When my class started there were 27 of us. I was one of 7 girls. By the end I was one of 3 that finished the program. So don't be too surprised if there are few girls in the class with you. And also consider that most of the guys in your class may also be in relationships/married. I think there was maybe 1 single guy in my entire group?

I have absolutely no advice for you on dealing with your boyfriend if he does develop issues. As I have the same problems with someone I've been with for nine years. But on my end, I've recognized it's an insecurity problem with him. I've always had more male friends then female and he feels that he can't keep up with the other guys around me. So I tried to nurture security in him through the years. It was all I could think of to do. Constant reminders that he was my one and only and no one else could compare. And he is not happy about me going into a male dominated field where I'll be gone for such long hours but at this point, to be totally honest with you.. I dont really care. He either trusts me or he doesn't. After a while, proving yourself gets very tiresome. So if he does get to that point, try to see what it is within himself that makes him feel insecure and try to develop that part of him to a better place. It's all I have for you. Sometimes it works, in my case it didn't.

How long is your class? What are your hours? What days do you have class? Do you work? My program was 4-5 hours an evening, 4 days a week for 3 months. Because of the hardcore testing schedules we were on it made things a bit overwhelming because we needed to have an 80% average and 80% on the final exam after passing ALL of our skills just to finish the course. So I probably would not have been able to juggle that with other courses as well. But see what you can do and what you can't. Try to see if you can get some of your stuff out of the way online at your own pace if you dont have those prereqs already done. EMT class doesn't last long, so it shouldn't set you back too terribly far.

Best of luck to you!
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Thank you for your reply i really appreciate the help. My class is either going to be Mon-Thurs 9-1pm or Monday and Wednesday 9-530pm. So i will have spare time to take a couple classes, I am going to try to take one online. I will find out which class i got into soon. I put down the Monday/Wednesday class as my first choice so I have full days to get other things done or homework for the class.
In my EMT class you have to make a 80% or better as well.
I am not currently working, but i plan on eventually getting a job but most likely I will wait and see if i can get a EMT job after the class. It ends in May. Your right about the boyfriend issue. i know that there isnt much i can do and i know he will be insecure I just hope we can both handle it especially after I have a long hard day.
 
EMT class is generally not going to provide alot of experience or skills relevant to med school. If your goal is to go to med school, then devote your time to studying in a masters degree, not bandaging and o2 administration.

I also got my emt at 18 and went straight into paramedic school after getting my EMT. I also would now like to go to Med school. Though unlike you, at that time i had no interest in becoming a doc, or even working in a hospital. A year ago, i didn't even want to to go to college, I just wanted to be a police officer on the beach. I took EMT school to get a promotion at work, liked it so took paramedic school. EMT and Paramedicine exposed me to situations that made me consider an ER physician as a career choice.

If you already know you want to be a doctor, then my advice would be to go for it. Just my opinion though. Good luck with which ever path you choose:D
 
lookshayna said:
Thank you for your reply i really appreciate the help. My class is either going to be Mon-Thurs 9-1pm or Monday and Wednesday 9-530pm. So i will have spare time to take a couple classes, I am going to try to take one online. I will find out which class i got into soon. I put down the Monday/Wednesday class as my first choice so I have full days to get other things done or homework for the class.
In my EMT class you have to make a 80% or better as well.
I am not currently working, but i plan on eventually getting a job but most likely I will wait and see if i can get a EMT job after the class. It ends in May. Your right about the boyfriend issue. i know that there isnt much i can do and i know he will be insecure I just hope we can both handle it especially after I have a long hard day.
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WOW. 9am to 5:30pm with my group I would have shot myself. :lol: I hope you get the class you want.
Just speaking from experience (as I'll be getting a divorce next year) the insecurity will eventually tear you apart if you can't figure out how you resolve it. So if you really care about him, do everything you can. But if it still doesn't go away, don't take it too hard on yourself. Somethings just can't be helped, and that sucks. Good luck.

Lifeguards For Life said:
EMT class is generally not going to provide alot of experience or skills relevant to med school. If your goal is to go to med school, then devote your time to studying in a masters degree, not bandaging and o2 administration.

I also got my emt at 18 and went straight into paramedic school after getting my EMT. I also would now like to go to Med school. Though unlike you, at that time i had no interest in becoming a doc, or even working in a hospital. A year ago, i didn't even want to to go to college, I just wanted to be a police officer on the beach. I took EMT school to get a promotion at work, liked it so took paramedic school. EMT and Paramedicine exposed me to situations that made me consider an ER physician as a career choice.

If you already know you want to be a doctor, then my advice would be to go for it. Just my opinion though. Good luck with which ever path you choose:D
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I made super good friends with a girl in my class who's going to med school. She wanted to do it for pt care time, so she could get her toes wet before she was thrown in without ever having experienced it before. That was all she was looking for out of it.
 
piranah said:
well...school will always be hard to manage with life no matter what, you kinda just have to play it by ear..the whole BF thing..I'm 20 and my ex-GF was completely understanding about my job and that she knew i wouldn't ever be unfaithful to her...i had a female partner(very,very attractive) and it was fine...eventually you will hang out with the people you work with because they are the only people who understand so he'll get used to them being around allot ...so if he cant deal with that i guess thats your decision
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Your right. Im just going to play all of this by ear one day at a time. I hope he understands everything like your Ex-GF did. If not, well try our best to work through it Thanks!:)
 
bunkie said:
WOW. 9am to 5:30pm with my group I would have shot myself. :lol: I hope you get the class you want.
Just speaking from experience (as I'll be getting a divorce next year) the insecurity will eventually tear you apart if you can't figure out how you resolve it. So if you really care about him, do everything you can. But if it still doesn't go away, don't take it too hard on yourself. Somethings just can't be helped, and that sucks. Good luck.



I made super good friends with a girl in my class who's going to med school. She wanted to do it for pt care time, so she could get her toes wet before she was thrown in without ever having experienced it before. That was all she was looking for out of it.
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lol yeah i have a feeling that the 9-530 class is going to kill me.. Im not a big school person at all. Thats why I am trying EMT and if I cant make it through med school I will get my paramedic degree and go on to that. I chose the 9-530 class so i have full days lol i hope that that doesnt bite me in the ***! we'll see what class i get into. Im actually going to try to find out tomorrow so i can continue to sign up for other classes like english and science before they all fill up. Hopefully they will let me know my class now. (they are supposed to send out a letter at some point)

as for my boyfriend, I will do everything i can to help our relationship. he gets upset even if a guy looks at me or if it looks like im looking at them, thats really why im a little worried. But if he trusts me like he said he does all will be okay.. well just have to see i guess


Quick question, if you dont mind me asking what made you decide to become an EMT?
 
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lookshayna said:
lol yeah i have a feeling that the 9-530 class is going to kill me.. Im not a big school person at all. Thats why I am trying EMT and if I cant make it through med school I will get my paramedic degree and go on to that. I chose the 9-530 class so i have full days lol i hope that that doesnt bite me in the ***! we'll see what class i get into. Im actually going to try to find out tomorrow so i can continue to sign up for other classes like english and science before they all fill up. Hopefully they will let me know my class now. (they are supposed to send out a letter at some point)

as for my boyfriend, I will do everything i can to help our relationship. he gets upset even if a guy looks at me or if it looks like im looking at them, thats really why im a little worried. But if he trusts me like he said he does all will be okay.. well just have to see i guess


Quick question, if you dont mind me asking what made you decide to become an EMT?
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Don't go into medic school thinking it's going to be easier if you aren't a school person. You'll be in for a big shock.

I guess I'd just remind your boyfriend that they are in a relationship/married. Because most people now and days are. That may help him a bit?
 
I didn't see the last bit you added on what made me become an EMT. Sorry about that! It's actually a long and complicated story. Wanted to be a cop (k9 narcotics) more then anything in the world. Was training for it and testing for a sheriffs department and when I was dx'd with kidney disease I got the boot on the medical side. <_< So I looked for another way to do what I wanted (helping people, though on a much much much different end of the spectrum) and this is what I came up with. :)
 
bunkie said:
Don't go into medic school thinking it's going to be easier if you aren't a school person. You'll be in for a big shock.

I guess I'd just remind your boyfriend that they are in a relationship/married. Because most people now and days are. That may help him a bit?
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yeah thats true i heard medic school is really tough but i love medicine so im going to try my best. I think if im doing something i love ill be way happier. thanks for all the advice. I will remind my boyfriend that if we have a tough time
 
Lookshayna: If you're looking to get into medicine, EMT will introduce you to doing patient care, hands-on. You'll find out pretty quickly if you like doing that stuff. If you don't, you'll know that before things start getting expensive.

Every once in a while, someone gets into medicine and finds out well into it that they hate doing patient care. That's why I bring that up.

If you're looking to go to Medical School, don't bother with Paramedic. Concentrate on getting your med school prereq's and undergrad degree done. Med School will teach you what you need to know to be a Physician. That whole road will be expensive. Because of that, you're going to want to take the most direct route to that goal. Paramedic would be a pretty decent, somewhat expensive, bump in that road...

I don't want to go down that road. I found out a long time ago that I prefer field care. Akulahawk, MD is not in my career path.
 
If you wanna be a doctor, your boyfriend is ganna have to get used to not seeing you.
 
Melclin said:
If you wanna be a doctor, your boyfriend is ganna have to get used to not seeing you.
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Depending upon your class load, this could be an issue well before you can even think about actually applying to medical schools... and having known a few people that have gone to med school, the available free time (what's that?) decreases dramatically. Melclin is right on the money here. Your boyfriend will have to adjust to the new situation if he wants to continue to be with you. Medical school, from all accounts I've ever heard, is extremely hard on relationships...
 
thank you to everyone who replied. I am looking forward to the EMT part more than the med school part, I have mostly been thinking about Med school due to pressure from people about how EMT is a hard job and you cant do it your whole life. If i was a doctor, i would be a ER doctor. Or a ER nurse ive been thinking about as well. Im not sure what profession I am interested in other than paramedic. Ive been trying to figure that out. I want a career in medicine, being a doctor would be great. Great pay. but i decided that i wanted to do EMT first because it seems like such an important job to me. Alot of people seem to not realize that. But i think it is. And its also fast paced and you get to actually talk with patients. Sounds nice. The only thing i was truly excited for was to be a paramedic.. That idea came up recently and i looked into it, applied, got information, learned about the job, and fell in love with it. I could tell that my boyfriends family looked down on me for the idea. It was uncomfortable. (Im very close with his family) and they are very critical and seemed to think that its not something i could do and the hours are to long and the pay isnt the best and im not the strongest the list goes on and on. And thats why I was trying to consider doing that and then med school. So everyone is happy. I might rather do something shorter however, like become a physician assistant. Has anyone done that after being a paramedic or EMT? How long did that take?
 
Go talk to a school counselor...

before you commit to anything else.

You're literally all over the map with what you say you want to do. That's understandable given your age but you need to speak to someone who can show you the real steps you'll have to take to get to where you think you want to be. Being an EMT is NOT a logical first step to becoming a doctor. You might very well be better off using the time that you'd waste in an EMT class to take some classes that you will need to further your medical education. That's what a counselor can hopefully show you. The time spent becoming an EMT then a Paramedic could also be time spent getting a medical education. As for your ideas that being an EMT is an important job, it certainly can be but the folks who keep the sewers working and the streets clean of garbage are important jobs too. There are a whole lot of jobs that are more important than being an EMT. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that you're going to be out saving people's lives on a regular basis cause you're almost certainly not going to be. Not with a typical EMT's level of training.

As for the boyfriend, when you decide what and how you want to proceed with your education, sit down with him and discuss it like adults. If he can't or won't support you and your decisions, either learn to live with the fact that he's immature or kick him to the curb.

Good luck.

John E
 
Take an EMT class.


At worst, you'll decide that you hate it and don't want to do it, and all you'll be out is a couple of months and a couple of hundred dollars.


However, if you fall in love with it, you'll be able to make a much more sound decision about your future, knowing full well what you want to do.
 
I really don't have much advise for the whole relationship thing other than to say that this career path (and really anything in medicine) is hard on them. My ex-girlfriend was pretty understanding when I went to paramedic school for about the first 2 weeks...then I suppose the reality of it set in for her and she wasn't willing to put up with it any longer. So that was that. I suppose this could be a sort of litmus test for your relationship - if he can't put up with seeing you only minimally for a mere 3 or so months then it probably wasn't meant to be. That's really all I've got.

As far as everything else. Like others said, being an EMT will expose you to patient care first-hand; so, it'll be an eye-opener for you. If it turns out you don't like that sort of thing, at least you won't have gone through 4 years of medical school and spent tens upon thousands of $$ to figure it out. It might also bring you some valuable experience, but much of it won't really be relevant to being a physician.

The best advice I can give is to go ahead and do it, but do not get too caught up in it. Don't bother going through a paramedic program - it'll just be a distraction, and push back going to med school several more years. Concentrate on finishing your bachelor's and completing all the med school pre-requisites. It would probably be best for you to work in the hospital emergency department as an ED-tech rather than on an ambulance in the field, as it would be more valuable to you to see how all the ER docs work. I really can't overstate this - if your goal is med school, DO NOT get caught up in EMS and being an EMT. Get a job as an ED-tech (requires EMT), start shadowing physicians, and concentrate on completing your degree. Don't bother getting an AA/AS degree either, just go straight to BS.
 
"If you love it let it go."

If something as simple as going to EMT school is going to put a strain on your relationship, might want to re evaluate that relationship.
 
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