EMT-Paramedic School Question

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griffithsgriffin

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How difficult is it to be accepted into paramedic school with no EMS work experience? I have my EMT-B certification, but no field experience. I would be looking at applying to schools in the Portland, OR area (OHSU, PCC, OIT, CCC). Thanks!

Zack
 
It would depend highly upon the program. I had two guys in my class who had no field experience, they've already dropped and we just started in January, but I'm going through a fairly fast paced program that by it's very nature pretty much requires field experience.
 
PCC is tougher to get into based on numbers alone. They take 24 students once a year while OHSU and NCIT take students twice a year, pretty confident about OHSU and NCIT. I don't know anything about CCC's program.

While you can get into a program without field experience it is tougher. Highly recommend getting some field experience. It doesn't have to be running 911 calls, IFT experience is great.

Each program has their own entry requirements. Have you checked those out?

What happened with Metro?
 
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nwhitney said:
PCC is tougher to get into based on numbers alone. They take 24 students once a year while OHSU and NCIT take students twice a year, pretty confident about OHSU and NCIT. I don't know anything about CCC's program.

While you can get into a program without field experience it is tougher. Highly recommend getting some field experience. It doesn't have to be running 911 calls, IFT experience is great.

Each program has their own entry requirements. Have you checked those out?

What happened with Metro?
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Im still talking with Metro. They're not doing interviews for a few more weeks but I am just looking into PS as a backup, should I not get a job anywhere. I do plan on going eventually anyway, but I'd like to gain experience first
 
I lieu with the question that experience is needed in going to medic school, what part medic school will help you if you only underwent an IFT work? Are there things in work experience that will help you with the academic aspect of medic school?

And ,will you not get the needed "medic" experience later at the clinical rotation and preceptorship?


I'm just asking because why bother to work at an IFT company if i can go straight to medic school?
 
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I went in to medic school with no true EMS experience. I have done just fine and haven't felt like experience was necessary. I started working as an Intermediate part way through school and while I have no doubt you could work and function as a medic with no prior experience even 6 months does help with the operations aspect of the job. Learning the system, the protocols, the city, how to interact with co-responders. The fact that I already know all of this plus have built a good rapport with other agencies seems like it will make my FTO time as well as when I'm out there by myself go much smoother.

Cliff notes: You don't NEED experience by any means, but it will make the job easier to learn.
 
NVRob said:
Cliff notes: You don't NEED experience by any means, but it will make the job easier to learn.
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Great! Thank you for the enlightenment sir!
 
Melmd said:
Great! Thank you for the enlightenment sir!
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No problem.

Please don't ever call me sir again, it makes me feel old! hahahaha
 
the reasons why i wanna work as a basic before going into PS is because I want to be sure I am set on EMS as a career, I want to gain experience, and in hopes of the possibility of getting financial assistance for school from the job
 
I'm getting into the discussion a little late, but I'll throw my opinion in.

I had no problems getting into a paramedic program without EMS experience, however, I will admit that the program I went to lacked the quality I initially thought it had, so I did a lot of self-teaching as well.

As far as the debate about experience vs. no experience prior to paramedic school goes, there are plenty of threads about it if you really want to dive into that topic. My personal opinion is that it depends highly upon the person, and upon their drive to succeed. You could have all the experience in the world, but if you don't truly work hard in school, then that experience is useless.

Just an FYI, I think some of Metro's sister companies on the coast MAY be hiring basics. So if you're willing to travel, that could be an option.
 
fast65 said:
As far as the debate about experience vs. no experience prior to paramedic school goes, there are plenty of threads about it if you really want to dive into that topic. My personal opinion is that it depends highly upon the person, and upon their drive to succeed. You could have all the experience in the world, but if you don't truly work hard in school, then that experience is useless./QUOTE]

Best advice in this thread by far.
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NVRob said:
fast65 said:
As far as the debate about experience vs. no experience prior to paramedic school goes, there are plenty of threads about it if you really want to dive into that topic. My personal opinion is that it depends highly upon the person, and upon their drive to succeed. You could have all the experience in the world, but if you don't truly work hard in school, then that experience is useless./QUOTE]

Best advice in this thread by far.
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Why thank you SIR, I do what I can. :ph34r:
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fast65 said:
NVRob said:
Like I'm scared of you Rob, you might break a hip. :P
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Psh. Texting and talking smack on EMTlLife...that's how cool we are :rofl:

I will end you and you know it! We should probably stop before the infraction stick swings for derailing a thread.


I know someone mentioned the experience you gain during your internship which definitely is a factor but it is very heavily dependent on what type of system you do your ride time in. If it's busy like here you are looking at ~300-400 patient contacts in a 3 month internship but in other places you might be looking at more like 100-200. Also the operations stuff still comes into play. You aren't driving, or mapping, or communicating with dispatch, or technically being the one that is ultimately responsible for being "in charge" of the scene. You might be running the show but your preceptor is still in charge.
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NVRob said:
fast65 said:
Psh. Texting and talking smack on EMTlLife...that's how cool we are :rofl:

I will end you and you know it! We should probably stop before the infraction stick swings for derailing a thread.


I know someone mentioned the experience you gain during your internship which definitely is a factor but it is very heavily dependent on what type of system you do your ride time in. If it's busy like here you are looking at ~300-400 patient contacts in a 3 month internship but in other places you might be looking at more like 100-200. Also the operations stuff still comes into play. You aren't driving, or mapping, or communicating with dispatch, or technically being the one that is ultimately responsible for being "in charge" of the scene. You might be running the show but your preceptor is still in charge.
Click to expand...

Of course, we're like the coolest...but yeah, I suppose we should get back to the original topic. :P

It's rather difficult to say whether or not you need experience prior to paramedic school, but I'll echo myself in saying that it's highly dependent upon the person. You don't need experience to learn the academics of being a paramedic, where it may help you however, is in the actual application of theory. I had a slight struggle at the beginning of my internship because I was just simply not used to how a scene was ran, so I had to pick up how to integrate my communication with my crew, the patient, other entities, etc. In my opinion, the experience will help you during your internship, not so much during your classroom time.
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Now I'm getting the real picture! Interesting! Thanks for the great help!
 
Fast has a good point. A AP level high schooler could do the paramedic didactic, hell a regular, driven high schooler could probably do it as well. The application of it is the tough part.

There are plenty of people out there that rock it during didactic then fall on their face in clinicals or their internship. Just like there are people that are "bottom of the barrel" during didactic then are rockstars during clinicals or their internship.

Fortunately for me I have been a rockstar in both thus far ;) Alright, you can pop my ego bubble now. :D
 
NVRob said:
Fast has a good point. A AP level high schooler could do the paramedic didactic, hell a regular, driven high schooler could probably do it as well. The application of it is the tough part.

There are plenty of people out there that rock it during didactic then fall on their face in clinicals or their internship. Just like there are people that are "bottom of the barrel" during didactic then are rockstars during clinicals or their internship.

Fortunately for me I have been a rockstar in both thus far ;) Alright, you can pop my ego bubble now. :D
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Dammit, I was gonna say the same thing about myself...except you probably deserve that title more than I do. :P
 
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