I'm an EMT and I'm starting medical school. Does this change anything?

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newEMT

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I am an EMT with a very small volunteer EMS service, and I'm starting medical school this year. I often respond directly to the scenes of incidents in a POV, take care of the patient until the ambulance gets there, and then go home since I don't live close enough to the station to get on the rig. As a medical student, will I still be allowed to release care to other EMT-basics? I will have an ACLS certification.

Thanks in advance.
 
You are not going to be a licensed doctor for a long time. An ACLS cert means little except that you have completed a class. It gives you no privileges.

But good luck in med school.
 
when you graduate medical school and pass your licensing exams, then you are a doctor with all the inherent benefits and drawbacks. until then, you are just a basic. your acls at the basic level means nothing in 99% of the prehospital world. all it means to me personally is that you wasted the time and money to get a card that you cant even use.

the very worst thing you can do to further your relationships with your collegues is start talking all big and bad like you're a doctor. people will laugh at you, make fun of you and eventually alienate you. you wont have a friend in the department. trust me, ive seen it.
 
Good to know. That's going to be the hardest part about me becoming a doctor and being an EMT. Since I'm a new EMT (very inexperienced), I feel pretty incompetent up against the more seasoned members. Then, when a medic or someone asks about why I'm in college and I say I'm starting med school, it's like instant respect. It's going to be difficult to downplay the fact that I'm in med school especially when I feel inferior to other members of our crew.
 
KEVD18 said:
when you graduate medical school and pass your licensing exams, then you are a doctor with all the inherent benefits and drawbacks. until then, you are just a basic. your acls at the basic level means nothing in 99% of the prehospital world. all it means to me personally is that you wasted the time and money to get a card that you cant even use.

the very worst thing you can do to further your relationships with your collegues is start talking all big and bad like you're a doctor. people will laugh at you, make fun of you and eventually alienate you. you wont have a friend in the department. trust me, ive seen it.
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Just a note: ACLS certification is required for medical students to do clinical rotations. It's part of my tuition > luckily, because its $67,000/yr. I don't think I could afford any added costs.
 
newEMT said:
Just a note: ACLS certification is required for medical students to do clinical rotations. It's part of my tuition > luckily, because its $67,000/yr. I don't think I could afford any added costs.
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True, but you won't start rotations till you're an MS3.
 
newEMT said:
Just a note: ACLS certification is required for medical students to do clinical rotations. It's part of my tuition > luckily, because its $67,000/yr. I don't think I could afford any added costs.
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so for you its makes sense, but your far from the first basic to get acls and not be able to use it.
 
ive known about a dozen emts/medics that went to med school while working a truck. just being a medical student wont cause you grief. what will cause you trouble is if you start to act like a superior provider because you're a med student. this i have seen first hand, especially around your third year when you start getting involved in direct patient care.
 
newEMT said:
Just a note: ACLS certification is required for medical students to do clinical rotations. It's part of my tuition > luckily, because its $67,000/yr. I don't think I could afford any added costs.
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67K? Holy crap. U of Colorado OOS or something?
 
KEVD18 said:
ive known about a dozen emts/medics that went to med school while working a truck. just being a medical student wont cause you grief. what will cause you trouble is if you start to act like a superior provider because you're a med student. this i have seen first hand, especially around your third year when you start getting involved in direct patient care.
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I can back that up. I have had to deal with arrogant medical students. I have also dealt with not so arrogant students were surprised how much medics knew.
 
medical school is consuming, it might be hard for you to consistently volunteer on an ambulance. Get settled with school first, then start riding a rig again.
 
jochi1543 said:
67K? Holy crap. U of Colorado OOS or something?
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No, I'm attending Jefferson. The actual tuition is about 45,000 a year. But, with books, apartment costs, and the cost of the medical equipment it works out to be $67,000.
 
welcome to medical purgatory.
 
newEMT said:
No, I'm attending Jefferson. The actual tuition is about 45,000 a year. But, with books, apartment costs, and the cost of the medical equipment it works out to be $67,000.
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Yup... expensive enough... oh, and those telling you that it's too consuming... well, you are obviously going on to med school because you know what you're doing. You'll be fine even if you are on a rig; just a little more difficult, but keeps you very disciplined... trust me on that...
 
^
What sort of experience do you have with graduate and/or medical school course load?
 
I thought the Catholic church got rid of medical purgatory. I think its just plain medical hell now.
 
firecoins said:
I thought the Catholic church got rid of medical purgatory. I think its just plain medical hell now.
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Medics tell you you are not a medic, you are certainly not a doc, and it is quite unfair to group you in with the glossy eyed medical students who think they are going to compassionately save the world despite the fact they can barely tie their shoes.
 
JPINFV said:
^
What sort of experience do you have with graduate and/or medical school course load?
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Well, I'm sure all the other medical students can agree with me on this... it doesn't get easy, EVER.... It's just a matter of pushing through it, and it is honestly all about the mindset and discipline.

Honestly, I wasn't planning on going into EMS as an EMT/Paramedic, but a lot of my fellow students went that route, and I heard many great things, so I made the decision to go for it. At my local EMS, I actually got to know the medical director pretty well. Basically, his story was, back in the day when he was attending med school, there was an EMT course going on at the school, and he thought it was interesting, and he went ahead and joined the class while at med school; he became an EMT, worked at night, and went to med school during the day...

Well, he inspired me, and well I have a friend, 3rd year med student at Midwestern, and he did the same thing... So it is definitely 'doable', and well, it gives you some great experience. That's really about it, just experience. It exposes you to patient contact well before your 3rd year of med school, and I think that is great. I know i'm not really answering any question at this point, but just thought I'd throw this all in there, if it means anything... Take care guys.
 
ShoaibS15 said:
Well, I'm sure all the other medical students can agree with me on this... it doesn't get easy, EVER.... It's just a matter of pushing through it, and it is honestly all about the mindset and discipline.
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That's the issue though. If you're working for any halfway active ambulance company you won't really have the drive or time to study during a shift. To be fair about my knowledge of medical school. I'm currently reapplying to medical school after completing a specials master program (SMPs are set up where the courses either mimic or a copy of the courses for MS1. For example the physiology course is taught by the same instructors and have the exact same tests as the MS1 course). I couldn't imagine working while taking those courses. Of course a major difference is that the SMPs are graded where a large majority of med schools use a pass/fail or honors/pass/fail grading system. I definitely wouldn't advise someone to work during their first quarter/semester of a graduate or medical program.
 
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