EMT--> Paramedic

[jeep4emtrn]

Do you have to be a EMT first before you enroll in paramedic school? How long does the school require you to be a EMT first (if required)? What schools are the paramedic students here going to? I know I have tons of questions. This is a great forum to get them!

Thanks

 

[usafmedic45]

You must first become an EMT to become a paramedic?

Yes.

How long?

An EMT program is normally 3-4 months in length or in other words, one standard semester.

How long does the school require you to be a EMT first?

Most reputable programs want paramedic program applicants to have a year or so of experience before entering the field. Some will however take people straight out of EMT training and whether this is a good thing or not has been and continues to be a subject of much debate on this forum. My general opinion is that it is always a good idea to have the experience as an EMT to help assure that you really want to be in EMS as a career before committing to a paramedic program. EMS is nothing like what you see on TV.

Get any notions about heroic rescues, bringing people back from cardiac arrest, etc being a regular part of the job out of your head now. Not to sound a sour note, but it helps to come in with an honest and correct view of the work involved. If you can work in a field with long hours, low pay, little thanks, even less formal recognition for your actions, very real risks (including being seriously injured or dying in the line of duty) and dealing with cranky, difficult people (but enough about your fellow EMS workers ) then EMS might be worth the time and effort it takes.

What schools are the paramedic students here going to?

Most community colleges have EMS programs and some fire departments and ambulance services run their own programs.

 

[jeep4emtrn]

WOW! Thanks for the quick response.

 

[usafmedic45]

WOW! Thanks for the quick response.

Not a problem.

 

[Sapphyre]

Do you have to be a EMT first before you enroll in paramedic school? How long does the school require you to be a EMT first (if required)? What schools are the paramedic students here going to? I know I have tons of questions. This is a great forum to get them!

Thanks

Yes, it's necessary to be an EMT first. In your (our) area there's two different experience levels requested. If you want to go to school close to home, they ask for 6 months of prehospital experience, aka on an ambulance, ER tech doesn't count. A little further away they want 1 year, with 6 months being prehospital. Those are both community college programs. There's a third option, a private school, which will take you pretty much as soon as you start working.

 

[medic417]

Actually many quality Paramedic degree programs include basic in first semester. You then just continue straight to Paramedic w/o wasting time learning bad habits while driving ambulances. There is no benefit to working as a basic as you have no medical education to use. Even he boy scouts can splint and bandage which is really all basics are trained (not educated) to do.

So point of this long post get into a quality program and do not stop until you are a Paramedic.

 

[jgmedic]

you are in SBCo, so yes, with the exception of NCTI(AMR's in-house) all the CC programs will require EMT experience. AFAIK, most programs in CA are like that. My school required one full year(2000 hours) prior to entrance.

 

[usafmedic45]

Actually many quality Paramedic degree programs include basic in first semester

Care to share with me some of these "many quality paramedic degree programs"? Almost all of the quality programs I am aware of are not diploma mills that feed people in and churn out "one year wonders" like you're describing. With rare exception, the programs that are not solely in the business to make money or put warm bodies on their own ambulances tend to be the ones that have experience requirements.

There is no benefit to working as a basic as you have no medical education to use.

Perhaps not clinically (although that is arguable), but there is the benefit I did mention of not wasting the money on training you won't wind up using because you find out you don't like the nature of EMS work once you get out of paramedic training and actually start working.

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

Actually many quality Paramedic degree programs include basic in first semester. You then just continue straight to Paramedic w/o wasting time learning bad habits while driving ambulances. There is no benefit to working as a basic as you have no medical education to use. Even he boy scouts can splint and bandage which is really all basics are trained (not educated) to do.

So point of this long post get into a quality program and do not stop until you are a Paramedic.

I have heard that working in the field isn't always a huge benefit as you're protocols may not be the same as what is being taught in your class.

 

[fortsmithman]

Hasn't this topic been covered already. It's my understanding that quite a few veteran Paramedics from this forum in favour of dropping the requirement of having to be an EMT to get into Paramedic school.

 

[medic417]

Care to share with me some of these "many quality paramedic degree programs"? Almost all of the quality programs I am aware of are not diploma mills that feed people in and churn out "one year wonders" like you're describing. With rare exception, the programs that are not solely in the business to make money or put warm bodies on their own ambulances tend to be the ones that have experience requirements.




Perhaps not clinically (although that is arguable), but there is the benefit I did mention of not wasting the money on training you won't wind up using because you find out you don't like the nature of EMS work once you get out of paramedic training and actually start working.

W/o pulling websites and wasting time here are a couple of accredited degree programs I am aware of.

http://www.southplainscollege.edu/ems/degree-plans.htm

http://www.gc.edu/gc/EMS_AAS.asp?SnID=1414150664

https://www1.dcccd.edu/cat0910/programs/degree.cfm?degree=paramedicine_aas

The only skill most basics will get is driving. If fortunate they will get involved with a quality IFT unit and actually get some patient contact.

 

[medic417]

Hasn't this topic been covered already. It's my understanding that quite a few veteran Paramedics from this forum in favour of dropping the requirement of having to be an EMT to get into Paramedic school.

See my above post. More and more colleges are meeting this ridiculous requirement by including it in the first semester of their Paramedic degree programs.

 

[usafmedic45]

The only skill most basics will get is driving. If fortunate they will get involved with a quality IFT unit and actually get some patient contact.

That seems only to be an issue if you're working in a major urban area. Actually it wasn't until I after I had been promoted as a supervisor that I ever drove- even as a basic EMT partnered with an EMT-Advanced (Intermediate) or EMT-P since we normally had a third person on the crew at the first service I worked for. I've seen that argument time and again and it never has materialized in any of the areas (ranging from rural farmlands up to cities of I am familiar. Contrary to popular belief, even doing nursing home transfers count as experience. It might not be the most glamorous, but it does count as something worthy of more than derisive brushoff that you and others seem to give BLS transport duty. Experience of any kind- be it emergent or non-emergent, transport or non-transport, paid or volunteer- when approached with the right mindset (basically the exact opposite of the attitude I detect exuding from every word of your posts) is a vitally important teaching experience. In many ways, more important than anything you get from simply cramming the EMT course into the front end of the degree program. The only acceptable alternative I can think of (given the current standards for EMT training) would be stipulating additional "post-certification" clinical courses to reinforce and build upon what is taught in the initial EMT class if it is included in one seamless program.

Now, I do agree that we should really strive to get away from the current method of EMT education and move towards a two-tiered system where you have 6-12 months of training to be an EMT, then have to work for a year or so (or have additional clinicals as mentioned before and then progress on to the paramedic credential. Either way, the goal should not simply be "hours" but meaningful patient contacts and the learning that comes with them. This is the reasoning behind what you believe to be an arcane idea. It is not simply a stumbling block but intending upon providing people with the insight and skills before they are turned loose as ALS providers with some more background and experience than can be gained through the marginally adequate hours currently constituting the pinnacle of EMS education in most areas.

I honestly get the feeling that you and I see eye to eye more on this issue than what is apparent at first blush, but see different issues to be most important in the debate.

 

[medic417]

I honestly get the feeling that you and I see eye to eye more on this issue than what is apparent at first blush, but see different issues to be most important in the debate.

I like the idea of them getting a taste of EMS as they are working on completing their Paramedic degree. That is what is accomplished by the method of going to Paramedic described above.

Just like medical school some may change their mind after they start going out in the field, but because it is college level they now have credits to transfer to another career plus they have some great first aid training to benefit themselves through out life.

 

[Dominion]

At risk of getting into another Experience vs. Non-Experience debate (and for the OP who has apparently not seen these debates) I disagree strongly.

Gaining experience as a basic in my opinion develops bad habits that you will have to break as a paramedic. Not neccessarily bad for the basic, but bad for the medic. I've seen it first hand, the ones who are doing the best in my paramedic class are those with less than a year of time as a paramedic. All the ones who had 10+ years experience washed out long ago.

 

[wyoskibum]

At risk of getting into another Experience vs. Non-Experience debate (and for the OP who has apparently not seen these debates) I disagree strongly.

Ummm....Too Late! ;-D

Gaining experience as a basic in my opinion develops bad habits that you will have to break as a paramedic.

So you can learn bad habits as a Paramedic? Paramedics suck at good BLS care, especially brand new Paramedics. They are eager to start that IV, push that drug, or tube the patient at the expense of ABC's, oxygen, transport.

I've seen it first hand, the ones who are doing the best in my paramedic class are those with less than a year of time as a paramedic. All the ones who had 10+ years experience washed out long ago.

My experience differs from yours. In my Medic class, the best students all had 10+ years experience. Paramedic school tends to take good EMT's and make them mediocre Medics.

 

[wyoskibum]

Oh, I forgot to mention....

I've seen people who have the book smarts to do well in Paramedic school, but lack the common sence needed to "put it all together" or lack the "critical thinking" skills. I think it would be better for those people to find out while an EMT before they invest 1500 hours into a Paramedic School.

 

[medic417]

Oh, I forgot to mention....

I've seen people who have the book smarts to do well in Paramedic school, but lack the common sence needed to "put it all together" or lack the "critical thinking" skills. I think it would be better for those people to find out while an EMT before they invest 1500 hours into a Paramedic School.

And Doctors should be candy striper's for several years before wasting all that money and time if it turns out they don't like being in medicine. Sorry very poor logic.

 

[Ridryder911]

So you can learn bad habits as a Paramedic? Paramedics suck at good BLS care, especially brand new Paramedics. They are eager to start that IV, push that drug, or tube the patient at the expense of ABC's, oxygen, transport.

Paramedics don't suck at BLS as there is no such thing as BLS or ALS (medicine is medicine). If any level sucks at providing care, they suck period; no matter what level they are.

Let's quit the b.s. of BLS before ALS propaganda and save it for T-shirts, belt buckles and other whacker sayings. Alike the trench medicine crap. If you do not have the "book smarts" then you are only guessing on what you are doing and what you were trained , alike a chimp. One needs the book smart, the intelligence to adapt and modify those to be utilized in each different situation. Again, medicine is medicine.... rural, urban, and metro. A bleed is a bleed; an AMI is an AMI... etc.

Let's be knowledgeable about medicine and quit worrying about the skills. Skills (especially those contained in EMS) are very simplistic and can be mastered with reputation.

R/r 911

 

[Hockey]

I'm glad I worked the field for sometime before starting my medic course this month. But thats just me. I feel I learned quite a bit and now understand it a whole lot better since I actuall did it. Again, thats just me.

I never ever wanted to be an EMT when I signed up for the course. It was just a way to make my job pay for something.

Same thing with Paramedic, I'm scared poopless about becoming a medic and all they do, but I'm taking it because eh, can't hurt I might like it. Heck, once I started the class and worked the field, I found out I liked it much much more