Going straight into Medic School

Proud? Emphasizes my point.

Copy and pasted that one should have taken it out but there weren't a lot of patients while I was sitting in class watching the same videos nor did the dummy mind my care. With 50% of my time spent doing mind numbing busy work I figured I'd make it more enjoyable for me.
 
First you have to realize whether or not you even want to be a medic. What you think being a medic entails, may not be what's cracked up to be and you might get burnt out on it and realize you wasted 9k grand and 2 years of your life.

Secondly, you need to the confidence you gain from running the show as a BLS provider before you can put on the big boy ALS shoes. I can say from experience, what I learned in school has for the most part drifted away from my mind, because I learned how to do my job well from experience and listening to experienced partners.

People say you'll get all the experience you need from clinical time, but I know from my own experience on 911 BLS trucks, and from what medics have told me about school that most of what you do is just BS, and it's only after so many crap calls that you do something decent. You don't want to get out there during your clinical time with zero BLS experience, having never done simple tasks like radio patches, reports to a nurse, or even using a stretcher and have to worry about completing your ALS skills at the same time. Just because you can make it through your clinicals doesn't mean you'll be any good at it.

There's one at my company, a certified medic right out of school who can't get on the road because they can't pass my companies 3rd ride testing. They won't clear them for the road, and now they're stuck being a dispatcher. It's okay to take your time and get a handle on what the hell being an EMT even is before you go to the top of the food chain.
 
Anything you'll learn as an EMT gaining experience...you'll learn as a medic student..do not delay expanding you knowledge base...experience is good..knowledge is better..experience and knowledge is best
 
SHFD said:
First you have to realize whether or not you even want to be a medic. What you think being a medic entails, may not be what's cracked up to be and you might get burnt out on it and realize you wasted 9k grand and 2 years of your life.
Click to expand...

One of the most original yet obvious responses to and already to an over-asked question. But 9k Grand is that $
9,000^1000 that's expensive lol. But its a really good point and is definitely even worth getting some ride along or Vol. Time.
 
ah2388 said:
experience is good..knowledge is better..experience and knowledge is best
Click to expand...

This.

EMS is mostly customer service when it really comes down to it.
 
NVRob said:
This.

EMS is mostly customer service when it really comes down to it.
Click to expand...

EMS is mostly customer service because most of your pts aren't having a true emergency, so you spend less time using skills and more time using Jedi comforting skills. But every so often customer service is thrown out the window when you have a very sick patient, and it's imperative you make no mistakes or else you risk hurting that pt.

That's why it's important to be patient and gain some practice at your craft first. No one expects you to have experience before becoming a doctor, but they go to school for 4 years and intern under direct supervision and in a controlled environment for a year before they let them loose. On the other end of the spectrum, medics get a very finite amount of time to practice their skills and are immediately thrust into streets and are expected to run the show.

With that kind of pressure on your shoulders, I would want to be comfortable with my abilities as an EMT before going to medic school. Maybe that's just me.
 
SHFD said:
EMS is mostly customer service because most of your pts aren't having a true emergency, so you spend less time using skills and more time using Jedi comforting skills. But every so often customer service is thrown out the window when you have a very sick patient, and it's imperative you make no mistakes or else you risk hurting that pt.

That's why it's important to be patient and gain some practice at your craft first. No one expects you to have experience before becoming a doctor, but they go to school for 4 years and intern under direct supervision and in a controlled environment for a year before they let them loose. On the other end of the spectrum, medics get a very finite amount of time to practice their skills and are immediately thrust into streets and are expected to run the show.

With that kind of pressure on your shoulders, I would want to be comfortable with my abilities as an EMT before going to medic school. Maybe that's just me.
Click to expand...

"thrust into the streets"

Your job didn't have you go through an FTO program?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
SHFD said:
First you have to realize whether or not you even want to be a medic. What you think being a medic entails, may not be what's cracked up to be and you might get burnt out on it and realize you wasted 9k grand and 2 years of your life.

Secondly, you need to the confidence you gain from running the show as a BLS provider before you can put on the big boy ALS shoes. I can say from experience, what I learned in school has for the most part drifted away from my mind, because I learned how to do my job well from experience and listening to experienced partners.

People say you'll get all the experience you need from clinical time, but I know from my own experience on 911 BLS trucks, and from what medics have told me about school that most of what you do is just BS, and it's only after so many crap calls that you do something decent. You don't want to get out there during your clinical time with zero BLS experience, having never done simple tasks like radio patches, reports to a nurse, or even using a stretcher and have to worry about completing your ALS skills at the same time. Just because you can make it through your clinicals doesn't mean you'll be any good at it.

There's one at my company, a certified medic right out of school who can't get on the road because they can't pass my companies 3rd ride testing. They won't clear them for the road, and now they're stuck being a dispatcher. It's okay to take your time and get a handle on what the hell being an EMT even is before you go to the top of the food chain.
Click to expand...

Your first point is excellent, far too many EMS providers are in this profession wondering why their current job is different from what they imagined.

However, I don't think it takes very long to become a proficient BLS provider. If someone is actually interested in learning how to become a good basic, it can be done in not much more time than a week. If you make yourself responsible for operating the stretcher every call for a a couple days, you'll be comfortable with it. Same with radio patches and triage/nurse reports, make everyone of them in the first week or so, and you're all set for the duration.

Someone that starts their ALS clinical time with no BLS experience will probably have a more difficult time with their clinicas then someone who worked as a basic, but the gap is far from insurmountable.
 
Heres a thought. What if someone went straight through to becoming a medic and let's in their clinical ride times they never really saw anything that was that bad. There have been a lot of medics that this was the case for. Once the become the leader and see some nasty things will they be able to handle it or not. Depends on the person. Some will and some will not. seems like alot of wasted money if this is not your "Cup of Tea"

Now with that being said I DO not believe there should be a finite about of time as a Basic. I would look into Volunteering or working PRN for a company while you continue your education and make sure that is is right for YOU. No one else will be able to tell you that but YOU.

Here is a Case in Point. I had a PRN medic come work with me and she was pretty fresh outta school. Book smart to no end. First call we got was at 3:30 AM for Chest Pains. We got on scene and she froze. I prompted her on a few things and then off she went. She had worked for a transfer company for a bit but this was the first 911 she had done. I have no doubt she will be a good medic but with out a good basic to help and knowing some advanced things she may have been stumped alot longer.

I say go for it but try to get some experience with all the BLS stuff as you do it, as you get that experience other things will come along as well.
 
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