I am at a career crossroads. I've been wanting to be an EEG tech, so I looked into schools, but they all require going to classes during the day which I can't do because I work and I am not in a position where I could quit my job. So it seems if I want to get into health care (which I do) my options are only EMS or nursing because they both allow part-time evening study. I do not want to be a nurse because I don't want to work in a hospital and it seems that's where most nursing jobs are. EMS is not my first choice because the pay is low and from what I read on here, most of you seem to really dislike it! So are there any other decent health care careers to get into as a second career???
career crossroads
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Shishkabob
Forum Chief
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Wait, you think people that willingly come to an EMS forum in our spare time hate EMS? How did you come up with that conclusion?
Listen, do the career you want, not the one you don't want to do just because it's easier. Make sacrifices, like every paramedic has, and get your education. Work around your schedule, and before you say you can't, find a way to. If that requires cutting back to part time, or working nights, or finding a different job so be it.
Listen, do the career you want, not the one you don't want to do just because it's easier. Make sacrifices, like every paramedic has, and get your education. Work around your schedule, and before you say you can't, find a way to. If that requires cutting back to part time, or working nights, or finding a different job so be it.
alphatrauma
Forum Captain
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Absolutely priceless... gold! :lol:
People may moan and groan, but I speak for many of us when I say its one of the best decisions I've ever made. I may not do it career, but I might as well. I volunteer and I'm a full time college student, but my schedule is basically EMS and attend class when I'm in the mood 
(which isn't often).
Personally I find it very rewarding, even when I'm being yelled at by obnoxious patients and the occasional puker. At the end of the shift I always leave feeling great, because I had fun and work with awesome people.
(which isn't often).Personally I find it very rewarding, even when I'm being yelled at by obnoxious patients and the occasional puker. At the end of the shift I always leave feeling great, because I had fun and work with awesome people.
Tincanfireman
Airfield Operations
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I've been wanting to be an astronaut, so I looked into schools, but they all require going to classes that are really hard and very expensive, which I can't do because I work and I am not in a position where I could quit my job because I'm 51 years old and have a mortgage and a car payment to make every month. Really?
I would daresday that everyone has entertained dreams of doing something other than their present occupation. We either made the decision to keep on doing what we're doing, or made the sacrifices we felt were necessary to pursue an alternate career path. I would further venture that if you hung out on a board oriented toward nurses or EEG technicians you would discover that (a) they also feel they are poorly paid for the work they do and (b)there are days that they hate their jobs too. Same goes for cops, fireman, accountants, brain surgeons, fighter pilots, computer geeks, and any member of Congress. If you want to change careers, you're gonna have to make sacrifices, be they financial, loss of seniority, benefits, location, or schooling. If the sacrifice isn't worth the reward, then don't do it.
I would daresday that everyone has entertained dreams of doing something other than their present occupation. We either made the decision to keep on doing what we're doing, or made the sacrifices we felt were necessary to pursue an alternate career path. I would further venture that if you hung out on a board oriented toward nurses or EEG technicians you would discover that (a) they also feel they are poorly paid for the work they do and (b)there are days that they hate their jobs too. Same goes for cops, fireman, accountants, brain surgeons, fighter pilots, computer geeks, and any member of Congress. If you want to change careers, you're gonna have to make sacrifices, be they financial, loss of seniority, benefits, location, or schooling. If the sacrifice isn't worth the reward, then don't do it.
MusicMedic
Forum Captain
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We hate our jobs
,trust me you dont wanna be an EMT. We get puked on, we see lots of blood, and we have long hours and get paid minimum wage. If you really wanna be an EEG Tech, youll have to make sacrifices and become one.
god forbid we made sacrifices to become an EMT or Paramedic.
do what you really want to do, and not on the fact that its Convenient
/End Rant
usafmedic45
Forum Deputy Chief
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Trust me, the tolerance for being puked on does not increase linearly with pay. I've threatend to quit several times despite making two to three times what I did in EMS after being vomited on in hospitals. It's not until you start making amounts of money best described simply as "obscene" that the willingness to be puked upon begins to increase and then it does so exponentially. Vomit is still one of the trinity of things that make me squeamish:
-Childbirth
-Anything to do with the human eye; I even have a hard time putting in my own contacts for this reason
-Vomit (more the sound of retching than anything else actually; vomit itself, once it has come to a stop, is not intolerable)
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firetender
Community Leader Emeritus
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In that case, listen to your intuition and run the other way. As you've so eloquently pointed out, we have enough dismally unhappy people working ambulances; why add yourself to the ranks?
MusicMedic
Forum Captain
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oh yeah we all have our things that make us squimish
for me its: Feces, and the smell of Feces, thats something that i really have a hard time standing.
and chilbirth too. too slippery and slimy for me!
usafmedic45
Forum Deputy Chief
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I've delivered four babies in the field. Yeah, the guy who hates doing it holds the record back home for the most field deliveries by an EMS provider in the history of county. The last kid is actually named after me (poor kid!) because his parents were expecting a little girl and had never picked out a boy's name. The other interesting fact is that he and I also share the same birthday.
For the longest time, there was this joke that went "You know the old saying: 'When you deliver a baby, you start out with one patient and you end up with two'? Well, when Steve delivers a baby you start out with one patient and end up with three." It stemmed from the fact that for the first three deliveries (including a breech (baby #2)), I would deliver the baby, excuse myself and step outside. This would rapidly be followed by my vomiting and passing out.
Needless to say, I still catch crap for it to this day among my colleagues from back then. It amazed them that traumas and bad medical calls didn't bother me but if it was an obstetric case, you can pretty much guaranteee I was going to drive if I could find a way to arrange it. I would rather work a botched shotgun suicide every day for the rest of my professional career than ever deliver another baby.
Congratulations, you all know my Achilles heel now... :lol:
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firetender
Community Leader Emeritus
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...and here, I'll throw in some appreciation: Great stuff!
I'm the OP. Thanks for your replies. My "problem" is I have a good career in the field I'm in now with good pay and excellent benefits, so it's not easy to walk away from that and I don't really want to. But...I've been wanting to work in health care for a long time but have never had the opportunity. I'm looking for something I can do part-time so I can continue with my current career, but still be involved in health care. EMT fits into that schedule because I can volunteer or even work for an ambulance company part-time, but I don't think my heart is really in it.
I guess maybe I shouldn't be posting this on this forum, but a lot of you have had experience in other areas of the medical field so I thought you might have some ideas. EEG Tech is something I'm very interested in, and I even found a school that offers online classes with clinical experience at a local hospital, but the clinical part is during the day only. The director of the program told me if I can find a hospital that does EEG during the evenings, she'd be happy to arrange it for me. So that might be an option...
I guess maybe I shouldn't be posting this on this forum, but a lot of you have had experience in other areas of the medical field so I thought you might have some ideas. EEG Tech is something I'm very interested in, and I even found a school that offers online classes with clinical experience at a local hospital, but the clinical part is during the day only. The director of the program told me if I can find a hospital that does EEG during the evenings, she'd be happy to arrange it for me. So that might be an option...
medichopeful
Flight RN/Paramedic
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Mangled fingers and toes for me :wacko:
dudemanguy
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So you want to be an EEG tech, but think maybe you'll do EMS instead? Seems to me the two dont have much of anything in common, aside from both are health care related.
If you just want to break into health care the fastest and cheapest way. Probably CNA would be your best bet, as you can actually get a job doing it, unlike as an EMT.
Most EMTs seem to see being a CNA as beneath them though. Which makes me wonder if they really have much interest in patient care or helping people, or if its all about lights and sirens and a uniform.
If you just want to break into health care the fastest and cheapest way. Probably CNA would be your best bet, as you can actually get a job doing it, unlike as an EMT.
Most EMTs seem to see being a CNA as beneath them though. Which makes me wonder if they really have much interest in patient care or helping people, or if its all about lights and sirens and a uniform.
I did a lot of soul searching after reading everyone's comments and decided that EMT is what I want to do. I've looked into CNA and also LPN, but LPN jobs are hard to find around here and CNAs seem to work mostly in nursing homes, which is not what I want to do. Plus, as an EMT, I can volunteer and see how well I like it and it fits into my schedule. I have a full-time job and just found out I'm getting promoted so leaving that is not an option, but EMT will give me the chance to be involved with health care while keeping my current job. Also, the company I work for has a first aid team that responds when employees are sick or injured, so I could join that. Seems like a win-win situation. Thanks to everyone who responded. You really gave me a lot to think about.
firetender
Community Leader Emeritus
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Just know most of what you searched out were the practicalities. That's not unlike most of us. The real soul-searching is yet to come. Enjoy!