Does anyone know?

tiffanyfwhitworth

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Does anyone know if in Texas or any state that you have to go through each course from bottom like ECA, basic, advanced and than paramedic or can I just go to parademic school and start there? I have had about 20 different stories or do you know where I can go to look for the facts myself. I really want to start at paramedic school but was told by one person I couldn't and than another I could so just wanted to know where I could look or who I can talk to about it in person or by phone.

Thanks you all!!!
 

DrParasite

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Tigger

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I would be surprised if you could find a paramedic course that didn’t require you to already have your EMT.
 

akflightmedic

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I have never heard or seen a paramedic program that would allow you entry without first obtaining EMT. If they did, I would be highly skeptical.

There are many zero to hero programs, however those do put you through EMT first.
 

AMaverick

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In Texas, it currently stands that you must first become an EMT-B. Thereafter you can pursue paramedic school. Many programs for your EMT can be as short as one month. If you go through a college program for your paramedic here in Texas, usually they climb the ladder: EMT, AEMT, Paramedic. Many colleges will allow EMT straight to Paramedic. You always have the option of choosing private programs to go through the process, but multiple county departments will put you through paramedic school if you're already an EMT for their service. Never a need to start as an EMR/ECA.
 

NomadicMedic

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Texas is currently running TWO pilot programs that start with zero experience.
Really interesting stuff. Best quote from the webinar was “preceptors had no idea these students had no previous experience”.

See the NAEMSE webinar here.
 

DrParasite

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A couple interesting things from when I skimmed the presentation:
In Corpus Christi, the rookie academy's EMS program is 4 months long, running 8am to 5pm Monday to Friday (the paramedic portion is 13 months as the typical rookie training process is 2 year as per the presenter).

As expected, the non EMTs did worse than the EMTs on the EMS ops class.

The preceptor couldn't tell the difference, which is good news; what was the difference in the credentialing process when they got out in the field, when they were cut lose to practice in the field as a paramedic?

While I'm generally against zero to hero paramedic classes (although, I wish they were taught EMT->EMT-I->EMT-CC->NR-P, or a similar progression, so if someone didn't pass the P class, they still had something to show for it), I do think there are additional criteria that can be reviewed and considered aside from the subjective quote of "preceptors had no idea these students had no previous experience.”
 

DrParasite

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Might as well dump EMT then and have everyone go be a PM.
if only there was research on this topic... and published articles/journals... oh wait, there are...


While some might be more reputable and objectively fact based, if you remove many of the anecdotal comments that people will make, you would find that doing that would likely not be in the patient's best interest, despite what fire unions want to claim.
 

E tank

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PA training doesn't require a specific explicit background before beginning and no harm is done to that profession. Not exactly a 1:1 analogy, but if the training is robust enough and the candidate selection is thoughtful, it's absolutely doable, IMO. But there would be the problem of eventually having only supremely over qualified folks doing routine inter-facility transfers tho...
 

Carlos Danger

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There's no reason at all to require EMT certification or experience before starting paramedic school. It's definitely true that a general familiarity with prehospital care and ambulance operations is helpful, but there's no reason a paramedic program couldn't be structured to include that exposure early on. Would that make the program longer? Probably, a little, but they should be longer anyway.

Nursing school, PA school, medical school......none of them require any clinical experience (aside from the token handful of hours volunteering or whatever) for acceptance.
 

DrParasite

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Nursing school, PA school, medical school......none of them require any clinical experience (aside from the token handful of hours volunteering or whatever) for acceptance.
all of the PA programs I was looking at wanted hands-on clinical experience prior to being considered for the program. Here is one such example

 

Carlos Danger

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Yes, many PA programs require some form of clinical work experience in order to be accepted. Medical schools do, as well. Those are general work-experience requirements that exist in order to ensure that the applicant has the work ethic to be a good representative of the new profession and also has had enough exposure to the clinical setting that they have some idea what it is like dealing with patients. Otherwise you'd have people trying to become PAs and MDs who have never had a real job and literally have no idea at all what they are getting into. That isn't the same as needing to be an EMT before starting a paramedic program, though; it isn't required because anyone thinks a person can't complete a PA program without a primer or mini-course that teaches the same things that are already covered in the PA program.

You can apply to a PA or MD program with experience as a phlebotomist or CNA and most programs would view that as entirely acceptable, even though those roles have absolutely nothing to do with the study of medicine. When it comes to a paramedic program, however, only EMT certification and experience is viewed as an appropriate pre-requisite.
 
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