Have job offer from AMR,Liberty, and Ambuserve

DrParasite said:
Sounds like the best option is to take AMR and then transfer out of LA county.....
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That's exactly what a majority of people do. They mostly leave California in general.
 
@Geriexpert , the answer really repends on what you want to do with your career. Are you wanting to be a paramedic, or is this a job to go to nursing school, or what?

If your goal is to be a paramedic, go with AMR. Reason being is that you can (with a lot of work) go to medic school, get your NR-P, and transfer anywhere in the nation, to be a 'real' paramedic, or at least run 911. You'll have a lot more 911 contact opportunities at AMR than the other two.

If your goal is to go to school, then pick whatever fits you.

Finally, I'll leave you with this. You're in a terrible place for EMS, where you have very little clinical discretion and everything comes from the firefighters. That's not EMS, it's ambulance work; there is a difference. That's not your fault, but if you want to make paramedicine a career like a lot of us have, you really need to look at changing that paradigm. SoCal is a high-cost, low-wage, low-skills, low-IQ zone as far as EMS goes; and as many of our members can tell you (@CALEMT @DesertMedic66 @VentMonkey @Akulahawk @Jim37F @ParamedicStudent ). If you're driven to see what you can really do to help people as a paramedic, the LA County system is not going to let that happen, and if you don't want to move, you might still need to commute (although moving is a way better option). This is one of the few careers where you can go anywhere, and that's one of its peculiar strengths. Why not use that?
 
RocketMedic said:
@Geriexpert , the answer really repends on what you want to do with your career. Are you wanting to be a paramedic, or is this a job to go to nursing school, or what?

If your goal is to be a paramedic, go with AMR. Reason being is that you can (with a lot of work) go to medic school, get your NR-P, and transfer anywhere in the nation, to be a 'real' paramedic, or at least run 911. You'll have a lot more 911 contact opportunities at AMR than the other two.

If your goal is to go to school, then pick whatever fits you.

Finally, I'll leave you with this. You're in a terrible place for EMS, where you have very little clinical discretion and everything comes from the firefighters. That's not EMS, it's ambulance work; there is a difference. That's not your fault, but if you want to make paramedicine a career like a lot of us have, you really need to look at changing that paradigm. SoCal is a high-cost, low-wage, low-skills, low-IQ zone as far as EMS goes; and as many of our members can tell you (@CALEMT @DesertMedic66 @VentMonkey @Akulahawk @Jim37F @ParamedicStudent ). If you're driven to see what you can really do to help people as a paramedic, the LA County system is not going to let that happen, and if you don't want to move, you might still need to commute (although moving is a way better option). This is one of the few careers where you can go anywhere, and that's one of its peculiar strengths. Why not use that?
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As much as I hate to admit it, he is correct.
 
RocketMedic is pretty much spot-on. A lot of us that have been around EMS for a very long time all know that being an EMT, especially in SoCal, is pretty much soul-crushing if you let it. EMS will push you toward a state of being ground-down when you're an EMT. Some of us have generally gotten out of EMS in manner of speaking. I, like many, have gone into nursing. Others may gravitate toward PA or Physician. That being said, one of the big things you must figure out early in your own EMS career is what you want to do with it. If you're OK with holding a wall or shuttling psych or dialysis patients around, then staying in SoCal as an EMT is a good choice. Just know that if you do, typically within 7 years, you'll be burnt-out, and probably within 4 years at that. If you choose to become a paramedic, SoCal is a place you might want to work until you're done with medic school, but once you're done, you should go pretty much anywhere other than SoCal. That area really stopped innovating back in the early 80's and only is getting dragged along toward "new" ideas because the standard of care is so far ahead of where they're at that they can't ignore a change without getting much bad press.

If you choose to become something else, that's also your choice and often it's a good one. Know that nurses in SoCal (and most other places) aren't paid as well as they are in the SF Bay Area, but their compensation is often still quite good compared to almost anything purely EMS. Basically, once you've decided that you want to increase your education beyond that of an EMT, you are putting yourself onto a path of continuous learning and self-discovery. You just have to decide what it is you want to do. In my case, I haven't gotten rid of my P-card... I keep mine active and I have to renew it this year. Should I choose to regain my NR cert, I would have to do a bit more, but I have that opportunity. Another opportunity I have is to change nursing fields. While I've been an ED RN for the past 3 years, I can decide that I need to be an ICU RN. Sure I get paid the same but I would learn a different skillset. Or I can decide that I want to be a PACU nurse, or an OR nurse, or... well whatever else I want to learn, and that could very well end up being a PA or NP.

I didn't come to be where I am overnight. I started down the healthcare path a little over 25 years ago. I became an EMT about 20 years ago and paramedic very shortly after that, and after much work and patience, an RN 4 years ago. Yes, it took me nearly a year to find an RN job. You are, quite literally, where I was about 20 years ago. You have many choices to make and you may find, just as one of John Lennon's songs says: "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans..." Don't be afraid to make some choices, explore the possibilities, and adapt to new realities as they confront you. You may find yourself doing things 20 years from now that you had no conception of that possibility!
 
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