im becoming a paramedic

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bassman1490

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hey guys i finally got around to applying for the a.a.s paramedic course at my local college. i was wondering how all you paramedics did it out there. the college suggests i take 17 credits the first semester but i have been told by many people thats to much. how did you guys do it, and set up your classes. in my first semester i will receive my EMT-B card and then work up to intermediate. so on and so forth. any suggestions or thoughts on the subject would be great!:D
 
bassman1490 said:
hey guys i finally got around to applying for the a.a.s paramedic course at my local college. i was wondering how all you paramedics did it out there. the college suggests i take 17 credits the first semester but i have been told by many people thats to much. how did you guys do it, and set up your classes. in my first semester i will receive my EMT-B card and then work up to intermediate. so on and so forth. any suggestions or thoughts on the subject would be great!:D
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It isn't too much. Do what the medic program tell you to do. People outside the program don't know what the deal is.

I don't understand how some programs give you an EMT-I in the middle. We have to be EMT-Bs to apply so it is a pre-requisite.

My thoughts are to spend alot of time in the E.R. following both doctors and nurses. I have learned much from them. The hospital my medic program is based at is a teaching hospital and I have gone on rounds with residents learning Emergency medicine. I love doing that because we learn together. Some day those docs could be your medical director.
 
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if you get cert. you need your emt-b before but if you get the degree to they do the emt-b course as part of it
 
You really can't compare units without knowing what the classes are. A unit is, generally speaking, an hour of class a week. Now, depending on the courses, that could be a large load, or it could be nothing at all. For example, if someone was to take organic chemistry (4), biochemisty (4), physics(4), along with physics lab(2) and O-chem lab(3) at my undergrad, then they would be at 17 units. That would not be an advisable course load. On the other hand, 17 units of political science (I have a minor in Poli Sci) can be be a very light course load.

The general guidelines is that 14-15 units (about 3 lecture courses and a lab or seminar course) is about what to shoot for if unsure of what load you want to take. 12 units, though, is the minimum to be considered a full time student.

On the other hand, specific programs might talk about units but give their students no, or very little say in what courses to take. For example, unlike undergrad, I had no say over the 16 units last semester or 15 of the 19 units (4 unit elective of our choice, can be split between 2 units this year and 2 units next year) this year.
 
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