EMT training, getting hours, and questions

[rugrat]

Hey guys,

I am pretty new to all of this.
So I will be taking an EMT-B course in MN this summer (june through august) while I am on college break...

At the moment I am going to a ministry college in Kansas City. Which I will be attending for one more year. Upon the ending of next year I will be moving to Grand Rapids Michigan.

Over the summer I am looking at volunteering with my local FD and also with the EMS at a local hospital... (in MN where I am from)

How does working in different states work? At this moment I will be getting trained in MN, living in KC one more year, then in MI for 2-3 years... Then who knows after that Do different states want different training certificates etc? Is there a national one?

How do most EMT jobs work are they 12 or 24 hour shifts? (usually)
Whats the best way to look for jobs? go to hospitals talk to FD etc?

I talked to the FD at where I live in KC they said they hire at 18 (my current age) but it sounds like its a two year commitment... they were also not EMS which I have a preference towards. Do most jobs have time commitments such as that?

If you guys were me how would you go about training? (I would like to get to paramedic eventually) Should I try to take as many courses as I can? How many hours should I try to get in?
What kind of workouts should I be doing?


Anyways I know many of you have tons of experience and as I have none I am wanting to listen to your guy's opinions and wisdom. Maybe you guys even have better questions I should be asking.
Anyways thanks for the help

Thanks,
Matthias

 

[emtblaze]

-EMT shifts here in NJ are usually 5-11 hours long. It all depends on where you work. But i don't think they'd allow you to work over 18 hours.

-As for job hunting just look around at the local transport companies and other emt companies and such. It depends on where you live and if the hospitals and other places are hiring. Some places require experience first, so try to start riding on a volunteer squad.

- No idea as to what you are talking about. Some places such as NYC have the ems and fd systems fused together and they handle the ems operations instead of hospitals. While some other places have hospital ems systems along with the volunteer and other ems companies and such. But I don't know why the fire dept. would hire EMTs and not be geared towards ems..

-I'm not a paramedic, so i can't help you there. But for the emt class, buy the book and read it and memorize it. And get as many hours as you can.

-As for workouts, try to stay in shape overall as BLS work requires a lot of patient moving. Oh and do a lot of squats. It'll help.