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Sunshine92

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Well first I'm new here, so hello! :)

Ok we'll my question is what is it like for a boyfriend/girlfriend husband/wife to both be emts or paramedics? Like how often do you see each other and childcare. Just a basic week schedule. The reason I ask is because my long term boyfriend is an emt on his way to paramedic and he keeps telling me I would really enjoy this line of work (were are both still in college and I have yet to pick a path yet), also I'm in a college major career planning class, because I am so clueless on what I want to be, we'll we took a career assessment and my second career the test picked for me was emt. I do have a lot of medical background, mainly in animals though and I've taken medical terminology.
 
Sunshine92 said:
Well first I'm new here, so hello! :)

Ok we'll my question is what is it like for a boyfriend/girlfriend husband/wife to both be emts or paramedics? Like how often do you see each other and childcare. Just a basic week schedule. The reason I ask is because my long term boyfriend is an emt on his way to paramedic and he keeps telling me I would really enjoy this line of work (were are both still in college and I have yet to pick a path yet), also I'm in a college major career planning class, because I am so clueless on what I want to be, we'll we took a career assessment and my second career the test picked for me was emt. I do have a lot of medical background, mainly in animals though and I've taken medical terminology.
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It depends on where you work, how your shifts work how much you work ect. It can be great because if you work opposite schedules you always have someone with the kids. The drawback is you don't see much of each other but let's face it most married couples don't exactly spend much quality time together even when they see each other every night. A little bit of quality will get you a lot further than a crap load of quantity.

I wouldn't sweat it to much. Become an EMT and work a bit if you don't like it quit and do something else. It's not a medical degree so your not out much. We have a fair number of married couples on here hopefully they'll chime in. Welcome to the forum.
 
Sunshine92 said:
Well first I'm new here, so hello! :)

Ok we'll my question is what is it like for a boyfriend/girlfriend husband/wife to both be emts or paramedics? Like how often do you see each other and childcare. Just a basic week schedule. The reason I ask is because my long term boyfriend is an emt on his way to paramedic and he keeps telling me I would really enjoy this line of work (were are both still in college and I have yet to pick a path yet), also I'm in a college major career planning class, because I am so clueless on what I want to be, we'll we took a career assessment and my second career the test picked for me was emt. I do have a lot of medical background, mainly in animals though and I've taken medical terminology.
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There are a large variety of schedules in EMS. I've seen 8 hour shifts, 10s, 12s, 24s, and 48s. In general, we have more days off than most people.. but we put in so many hours that on those days off you either sleep all day or sacrifice sleep in the long term. It's easy to get cranky.

I don't have any kids, but from what i've seen, it works out well with all the extra days off. As long as you do have coverage for when you are working. They just have to understand why mommy and daddy are tired and sometimes cranky.

My advice on a career path? Go nursing, nursing, nursing. At least in California, nurses are able to challenge the Paramedic course. The money is just so much better. I've seen countless Medics work until they get burnt and then decide to go to nursing school. If you go to nursing school first then you only have to go to one school. (As opposed to going to both Paramedic and Nursing school). Plus you're young, if you're an RN by age 23/24 you're set with a well paying career for life. If you really, really, want to be a Medic and make about a 1/3 of what you would make as a Nurse....then you can still do it. Just goto nursing school first and challenge it.
 
I would suggest shadowing various healthcare providers and see what you enjoy.

As far as nursing goes I would do some research into the job market in your area. In most states there is no longer a shortage and actually an over abundance in some. In California for instance it is not uncommon for new grad BSNs to be job hunting for 6 months to over a year. Getting an associate degree makes things even worse.
 
Yeah definitely check the job market... There really was never a shortage of nurses, and simply a shortage of experienced nurses...
 
Sometimes it hard, sometimes it's not.

I feel like the logistics of scheduling aren't as important as what the field can do to a person sometimes. My wife and I work together... Kind of. I'm full time, she's part time and works at another smaller-semi-volly-semi-paid service I volly with. The small service is our small rural town and we know everybody around.

I love working with her, she loves working with me. The problem is that she refuses to play te politics that we all find ourselves playing from time to time.

We talk trash about people, which is a great stress reliever ad keeps it out of the workplace, but some times it can wear each other thin at home.

I think she's a better medic than I am, she never believes me.

It does really suck to leave for work before she wakes up and get home and she's in bed sound asleep when I get home. But that usually only happens once a week.
 
my wife is a chef and works mostly evenings/nights. I used to work 2 days 2 nights 4 off. It wasn't a bad schedule as we only had 3-5 calls a shift, but there were weeks that we were barely able to see each other. I just started a new job where I fly to remote location to provide als for drilling rigs and the worker camps (oil fields). I work 2 weeks in 2 weeks out. I am actually able to see my wife more now on this shedule.

In the past I have also worked 24/48, 24/72, 16/8on call, 24on 12 off 12 on call

If you are willing to look around and maybe relocate you will have a better chance of finding something that will work for you...... thought it may take so time to figure that out.
 
All this feedback is great. And I really don't mind relocating, but I don't know exactly when that will be. But if follow the nursing route I deffintly would have to move because the area I am in we have a surplus of nurses and 2 colleges and 1 high school in the area that have nursing/pre nursing programs.
 
Sunshine92 said:
All this feedback is great. And I really don't mind relocating, but I don't know exactly when that will be. But if follow the nursing route I deffintly would have to move because the area I am in we have a surplus of nurses and 2 colleges and 1 high school in the area that have nursing/pre nursing programs.
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What state are you in? If you don't mind answering

There are some areas/states/regions,etc where you can walk into a ft job no problem. There are others where it will take more than a year to find a job (minimum wage at that)

For nursing, some places have 2-4 year wait lists to even get into the program. Others you can apply on monday and get accepted that same week to start the next semester.

If you are willing to move and look around there will be many more options for you.
 
Medic Tim said:
What state are you in? If you don't mind answering

There are some areas/states/regions,etc where you can walk into a ft job no problem. There are others where it will take more than a year to find a job (minimum wage at that)

For nursing, some places have 2-4 year wait lists to even get into the program. Others you can apply on monday and get accepted that same week to start the next semester.

If you are willing to move and look around there will be many more options for you.
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Washington state, tri cities area
 
Sunshine92 said:
Washington state, tri cities area
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There are a few people here from that area and could probably help you much more than I can. From what I have seen here, it can be difficult to get a decent job in the area.
 
Medic Tim said:
There are a few people here from that area and could probably help you much more than I can. From what I have seen here, it can be difficult to get a decent job in the area.
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It is. My boyfriends step dad is training officer/fills in for the chief a lot, I think I'm not that good with ranks and all that, and he has been passed over for residency 3x at the place he volunteers at and residency at different place and this is with the name dropping and doing everything possible to get the job.
 
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