:unsure: I work for a fire dept and my chief and other people are telling me to get into medic school NOW!! But some people told me it would be best if I wait about a year to get it down first, but I was thinking some people say that its best if u do it right after emt school cause you take the "book emt" with you and not the "street emt" but I have had a lot of medic's tell me that they would rather have a good basic then a card carrying medic. So what do you people out there thing? :unsure:
If you have the ability to take a medic class now, I would do it. That way you'll go out into the field to gain that street experience with more knowledge, skills and tools. It's really not that difficult to get a hang of the skills necessary to be an EMT. What's the point of working on becoming a good basic before going to medic school when you can just dive right into medic school and start working on becoming a good medic sooner? I suppose you could justify that decision if you aren't sure that this field is right for you or if you are unable to attend medic school due to financial difficulties or something like that, but if you have the opportunity by all means grab it.
heres the two sides of this one, which past posts identical to this one will reveal our membership is just about equally divided on:
1) medic school right out of -b school will leave you with few or no bad habits to break. you wont already be jaded and lazy. you'll already be in "education mode" which will make more education easier. the theories that you learned in -b school(but haven't practiced yet) will be fresh in your mind. you'll make a better medic.
2) wait (fill in arbitrary time period) between school. this will give you time to develop your basic skill to the point they are second nature which makes a good medic. freshly minted medics with no street time have to gain proficiency in both als and bls skill simultaneously causing more of a strain.spending time on the street between will make you a better medic.
Go now and work as a EMT while you are in school. By the time you get your Paramedic, You will have a year or more of street experience.
I think it is better to work while in school. Yes, you will have no outside life, but you will be able to practice everything you learn in class. A lot of things come easier, if you see it in real life.
ditto on reapers post. i did work as an EMT/medic Intern in school and it made things a thousand times easier. if you can find a program that does your internships and clinical's at the same time as class then do it. you go to class during the day and when you get out you can immediately go to your internship and see it done for better understanding.
I think its a prefference thing. Theres good and bad to both ways. Either way just make sure you pass and get your patch. Otherwise it would be a waste of time.
The medic schools here required 1 year experience minimum after some issues with dropouts and failures. I did a year of fire/rescue emt when I went through the first time. The second time through I had 5 years fire/rescue experience and did much better and am now a licensed paramedic. It's a catch 22 that I would think depends on your area and on the individual person.
I have simmilar opininions as those already posted. The school that I went to suggested 1yr experience. I enrolled with 9 months as a Basic and was able to make it through.
Take the admissions test and see how you do. If you are heads up and ready to work you should do well.
To add on to what I've already said, if you MUST get one year of experience, DO NOT go into fire in any way. Make sure that experience is in a private EMS-only service.
