Bachelors

[LadyMilitaryMedic]

Has anyone heard of the Bachelors of Technology in Emergency Responder Administration Program at Oklahoma State University at the OK City campus? I think it's suppose to be a mix between business management and emergency/disaster management. I was just wondering if it was a good degree. Has anyone on here earned this degree, or is in the program?

What other degrees have y'all gotten that didn't want to go into the nursing field but wanted to stay in EMS/Fire and go up the ranks.

TIA!!

 

[CALEMT]

And here I thought this was something else where I would be considered an expert in... oh how I've been mistaken.

 

[DrParasite]

Provided you want to be a boss, I would look at a Bachelors or Masters in Business Administration, or Masters in Public Administration. But keep in mind you will need 10-15 years in the field, along with supervisory experience, before anyone will even consider you for a supervisory position in most large EMS organizations.

And all too often, getting that initial supervisory experience has more to do with longevity at the organization and being a yes man to management so they will promote you, than actual competence and qualification.

 

[LadyMilitaryMedic]

Yea, I knew it took a while so I wanted to get started on my degree while I wait instead of waiting til it was time to promote cause that doesn't make sense but I wasn't sure which degree would be best since there isn't a EMS or Fire specific one that I know of. This was the closest one I found that was First Responder specific but I was curious if there was others out there. Thanks!

 

[DrParasite]

When it comes to degrees, it is my personal opinion that you don't want to pick something that is public safety specific, because it pigeonholes you into that niche.

Think of it this way: If I get a masters in emergency management, or public safety administration, how applicable is that outside of EM or public safety? if I get an MBA or MPA, do you think I can apply what I learned there to public safety? and after i retire from public safety, and want a high paying corporate job, my MBA/MPA still looks good and appealing.

A bachelors is the same thing. I can get a bachelors in EMS administration...... which looks great when I want to run an EMS agency, but how applicable is it in the corporate world.... or I can get a bachelors in business administration, which, coupled with my paramedic certification, makes me qualified to run an EMS agency, or I can take that to run a corporate business, a non-profit, etc.

I hear from aspiring firefighters that they are going to school for fire science, because many career firefighters have them. what they don't understand is a fire science degree will rarely help you get hired (the associates degree will help, the fact that it is in fire science won't), and most career firefighters got the FS degree after they were hired, because their bosses started pushing for them to get degrees.

If you get a degree that can help you after your public sector job ends, or allows you to do something totally unrelated on your days off (such as the career fire battalion chief who is also a lawyer, or the career firefighter who works as an RN), you will find yourself much more valuable, especially once you retire or decide to move on from the public safety career.

 

[rescue1]

I agree with DrParasite. EMS organizations just care that you have a degree, not what it's in. You don't want to limit yourself with some super specific bachelors in case you ever want to switch careers or go to graduate school or whatever. I don't know a single supervisor who had an emergency management bachelors, and this is in several states and services. You can save the specific stuff for a masters degree if you need to.

Personally I've always recommended a BSN to medics wanting a higher degree but still wanting to work clinically, since it's a bachelors and meets the requirements for departments to promote you if they require a degree (I've had two chiefs who were nurses and one who was a PA), and you have the option of making way more money working as a nurse if you want to jump to the hospital side of things/have an easier time doing critical care and flight, but a bachelors in business would also be a good idea from a supervisory standpoint, since you said you don't really want to do nursing.

 

[CALEMT]

I don’t know if it has already been said because... well... quite frankly I’m too lazy to read the replies lately but if public admin or buissness admin hasn’t been mentioned it’s a good degree to go for especially down the line when/ if you want to move up to more of a supervisor role.

 

[VentMonkey]

well...quite frankly I’m too lazy to read the replies...

There’s only 2 other posters aside from you and the OP!! (SMDH) Millennials.

And all too often, getting that initial supervisory experience has more to do with longevity at the organization and being a yes man to management so they will promote you, than actual competence and qualification.

Bingo. ^^^this, OP. Also, what is it you’re looking to achieve long-term? To own, and/ or run your own service/ a major service?

Laziness-wise (?) I can’t talk too much, I just like giving CAL ****. I suppose I could go back and get my A.S. since that’s only about 40-50 hours depending on the college chosen, but I digress...

A clinically-driven non-EMS management bachelors that’s primary focus is in ICP/ CCP is my pipe-dream degree so there’s really no incentive to pursue much more than my A.S. quite honestly. And, EMS management degrees really are quite a specialty in its infancy. You paint with a broader brush getting your B.A., MBA, and MPH.

I haven’t completed a degree aside from “some college-level” courses, but did dip into an EMS management course at a well-respected university. I dropped mid-term and it confirmed EMS management, let alone an EMS-A degree would be a complete, and total waste of time for me.

FWIW, I was and know, of maybe 2-3 supes at my service firsthand who were the exception and not the rule to DrP’s quoted thread post. I don’t know if he’ll drop in, but @NomadicMedic is also a good resource for this thread topic.

TLDR: like being an EMT, trying a front-line EMS supervisory role to see if you’d even like EMS management would be the best advice I could offer up.

 

[CALEMT]

Millennials

Ease up old man... I’m working the music festivals this weekend.

 

[VentMonkey]

Ease up old man... I’m working the music festivals this weekend.

Excuses are like arseholes...

 

[VFlutter]

As a Millennial I take offense to the use of the word Millennial

 

[CALEMT]

As a Millennial I take offense to the use of the word Millennial

As a millennial I’m offended that you’re offended.

 

[LadyMilitaryMedic]

Haha Idk what's up with the Millenial stuff but.... thanks for the advise everyone! I will def look into those other degrees and weigh my options. I have a vague idea of what I want but I'm a lil unsure of how to get there.
I'm active duty Air Force paramedic but my goal is to either cross train into Fire or commission as a Fire Officer. I'm not even sure if they even have commissioned officer...... I just want to get back to the field. I miss civilian EMS. Does anyone know about Air Force Fire? After I get out, I'd like to get into the education side of EMS/Fire.

 

[luke_31]

Haha Idk what's up with the Millenial stuff but.... thanks for the advise everyone! I will def look into those other degrees and weigh my options. I have a vague idea of what I want but I'm a lil unsure of how to get there.
I'm active duty Air Force paramedic but my goal is to either cross train into Fire or commission as a Fire Officer. I'm not even sure if they even have commissioned officer...... I just want to get back to the field. I miss civilian EMS. Does anyone know about Air Force Fire? After I get out, I'd like to get into the education side of EMS/Fire.

Most of Air Force Fire seems to be going towards civil service in country but overseas still has active duty assignments. It's actually not a bad gig on the civil service side as they get paid well and don't really run too much.

 

[LadyMilitaryMedic]

Most of Air Force Fire seems to be going towards civil service in country but overseas still has active duty assignments. It's actually not a bad gig on the civil service side as they get paid well and don't really run too much.

I noticed that trend. The military does it to save money but it has the potential to hurt us down range cause we don't always have the properly trained man power while deployed. I have also heard rumors that they're going to fully get rid of the Air Force Fire all together but I also heard that for the medics, too. Pretty soon we won't have a military except doctors and pilots, you know the people who actually don't want to be here. Although, you are right. On the civilian side it is a sweet gig and they know it's virtually impossible to fire them so they have job security. What about Army or Navy? Does anyone know what I could do in those branches with a degree in Emergency Management or MBA that's in the first responder fields?

 

[Jim37F]

I don't know much about Army Firefighting, except what I was told by the In Service Recruiter when I was re-enlisting from Active to Reserve back in 2012 and asked about reclassing to that MOS...Army Firefighter 12M is virtually extinct, I was told there's basically no more Active Duty 12M's left. All bases are civil service Fed Fire, only a handful of Guard or Reserve firefighting units are left, and those are almost exclusively for airfields. When I was reenlisting and planning on moving back to CA, they told me that in the entire state, there was a grand total of One Army firefighting unit (supposedly at some airfield somewhere in Central CA Fresno-ish area) That's about all the detail I remember from that conversation 5-6 years ago now lol, but I was under the impression if you wanted to be a military firefighter, Air Force was the best branch to go that still had that opportunity, as whats left in the Army is being phased out in favor of the Fed Fire civil service department. I can tell you here on Oahu, the multitude of bases from basically every branch use Fed Fire, not military MOS.

 

[luke_31]

I noticed that trend. The military does it to save money but it has the potential to hurt us down range cause we don't always have the properly trained man power while deployed. I have also heard rumors that they're going to fully get rid of the Air Force Fire all together but I also heard that for the medics, too. Pretty soon we won't have a military except doctors and pilots, you know the people who actually don't want to be here. Although, you are right. On the civilian side it is a sweet gig and they know it's virtually impossible to fire them so they have job security. What about Army or Navy? Does anyone know what I could do in those branches with a degree in Emergency Management or MBA that's in the first responder fields?

Actually in the military? Not much unless you want to be an MP. Those are the only first responders that are active on the ARMY bases that I've been to. The 68w does field level stuff at the BLS level stateside and has their full scope when deployed. It's not that great to be 68w stateside according to most of the ones I talk to. The CSH unit on our post spends more time sitting around when they're not being deployed, apparently they get really bored.

 

[rescue1]

Haha Idk what's up with the Millenial stuff but.... thanks for the advise everyone! I will def look into those other degrees and weigh my options. I have a vague idea of what I want but I'm a lil unsure of how to get there.
I'm active duty Air Force paramedic but my goal is to either cross train into Fire or commission as a Fire Officer. I'm not even sure if they even have commissioned officer...... I just want to get back to the field. I miss civilian EMS. Does anyone know about Air Force Fire? After I get out, I'd like to get into the education side of EMS/Fire.

Per my friend who did AF fire at Dover and then DOD civilian fire after there are no commissioned officers in fire. DOD fire sounded like a sweet gig from what he said but it was boring as hell, and they did no medicals other than the occasional BLS first response.

Between military experience, a paramedic cert, and a bachelors degree, you'd be a shoe in at most civilian fire departments though.