Basic->Medic or Basic->AEMT->Medic

[STXmedic]

I would hope most could separate the good from the bad apples and keep an open mind. I can easily pick out medics to stray away from.

The blatantly bad medics that should never have gotten a patch are obvious. I see students all the time talking about how great X and Y medic are because they did this or that. I cringe knowing that many of those medics couldn't tell VT from asystole, or that whatever the student is praising them for is something incorrect. Without the knowledge, you don't know what you don't know. If they just fake it to make it, you may not catch on because they are confident despite their ineptitude.

 

[Handsome Robb]

I ran something like 350 calls in my internship. Schools placing interns in slow systems are doing them a disservice.

 

[Angel]

I ran something like 350 calls in my internship. Schools placing interns in slow systems are doing them a disservice.

I agree but in CA its a huge issue. Not necessarily the schools fault but availability. At my school there (were) students waiting ~1 year to get them because the Dept where we were contracted put them on a hold so they could train their own personnel. Luckily, when I went that all ended and I got placed within 20 days of taking the protocol test, but I consider our group the exception, as folks are still waiting.

 

[MonkeyArrow]

What I don't understand about the California model is why they have so many of everything? If you live in Cali, then you should know the job forecast before you ever step into a medic school. Therefore, if you know the job forecast is looking bleak, why would you move to get you P patch and then whine about not being able to get a internship/job/decent salary. Of course there isn't going to be availability if there are 100 students getting pumped out with spots for 10 of them to be hired (and, therefore, 10 of them to be properly precepted). I think they should just shut down the schools over there for a while (a half-hearted joke). It's not like there will be a sudden shortage of medics or anything.

 

[Christopher]

I would hope most could separate the good from the bad apples and keep an open mind. I can easily pick out medics to stray away from.

This is tougher than you think, especially with the high quantity of Low Information Healthcare Voters out there (h/t Kelly). Worse still, even if you're a great paramedic you probably still have no idea what you don't know and probably never received actual instruction in how to instruct. Not to mention the sheer mass of myths and traditions EMS lives by

Experience is no substitute for education. They're two separate things entirely.

 

[TransportJockey]

What I don't understand about the California model is why they have so many of everything? If you live in Cali, then you should know the job forecast before you ever step into a medic school. Therefore, if you know the job forecast is looking bleak, why would you move to get you P patch and then whine about not being able to get a internship/job/decent salary. Of course there isn't going to be availability if there are 100 students getting pumped out with spots for 10 of them to be hired (and, therefore, 10 of them to be properly precepted). I think they should just shut down the schools over there for a while (a half-hearted joke). It's not like there will be a sudden shortage of medics or anything.

money. They see it as a way to earn a quick buck being patch mills

 

[Angel]

Exactly. Money is all it is out here. I think by requiring an AA for entry level will cut down on schools like ncti and the like. One can hope

 

[bradpop14]

Some counties don't even recognize the AEMT cert. In LA County there is no job placement as an AEMT. You're either EMT-B or a Medic. Now, some companies may give a pay increase. But, unless you're with a company that has a license to perform ALS, the AEMT scope of practice will never be utilized in the field.
As far as experience goes, I had a few classmates that were going straight from EMT school into medic school. IN MY OPINION this isn't the smartest choice. What if you get to clinical or your intern and you dont like the field? You just wasted $$$ on something you don't want to do. I want to be a medic. But I also know I need to experience EMS from a basic level to make a rational career decision to stay in EMS. Some people can't hang man!
I am also an EMS noobie though. So if I'm wrong in any way please correct me. And my apologies in advanced.

Best of luck to you

 

[rmena]

Dont just pick on CA, Utah is the exact same....they certify so many medics that just end up in the ER with the scope of a basic.

 

[rmena]

Great Depression 1: run on the banks. Great depression 2: run on the schools

 

[rmena]

I despise medics (any EMT) that hide behind their "experience" card and dont keep hitting the books and train 24/7. While at my clinical rotations I watched medics play endless madden and then asked me the signs and symptoms of increased ICP...I was fresh in the books so I was able to rattle them off and then he disputed me and googled it...commonly saying "oh I forgot...gosh its been so long since medic school...doesn't matter though..I know what to do...AND i have google!". Watched another meat head call a gal with a epidural bleed a "faker" because she didn't stay unconscious.