Even if it doesn't help me get into med school, it definitely won't hurt any chances, and it will help me learn something you don't learn in school - empathy for patients.
I hate to say this but if you don't already have empathy for your fellow man, being an EMT isn't going to help you much. Actually for a lot of people, it tends to make you more critical of your fellow man. I am a great example of this.
I think over the next 3-4 years I'll have many experiences worth mentioning during the interview from EMS.
Like I said, a lot of admissions officers are ambivalent at best towards that sort of thing because so many premeds use EMS for exactly that purpose. It is not something that is really going to make you stand out.
Couple that with a desire to help people, and it can only help me.
The desire to help people....please for the love of God, don't mention that as your primary or solereason for going into medicine during your interviews. It makes you sound like an immature clueless kid and can hurt your case unless you can really expand on that and make it sound less like a contrived answer. As for the EMS experience, it may have no effect at all or it might help a tiny bit but only if you can really demonstrate that you grew as a person from the experience and not simply did it because it was "cooler" than following a primary care physician around in your spare time.
When do you want to use a NRB vs NC vs BVM. I know a cannula is only low concentrations of O2 for people who don't need much or won't tolerate a NRB.
The trick is remembering two things: one is the difference between ventilation and oxygenation and is something that screws with a lot of EMS personnel. Ventilation is the movement of air in and out of the lungs while oxygenation is the movement of oxygen across the alveolar membranes in the lungs (it is a little more complicated than this, but this will suffice for what we're talking about). Now the purpose of the NRB and NC are to provide supplemental oxygen but they do not improve ventilation. The BVM is indicated where you have inadequate ventilation. The supplemental oxygen you can provide through the BVM will also help with oxygenation problems. The choice between the NC and the NRB in real life (as opposed to EMS testing) is a matter of using the smallest amount of oxygen necessary to achieve an adequate oxygenation status. If you can get by with an NC go for it. If the patient is
in extremis (very critical) or obviously has serious injury or illness, you can not go wrong with providing extra oxygen. When in doubt, always err on the side of giving too much and not enough.
This is the Cliff Notes version, but I'm on my way to bed. If you want more detail, just ask and I'll post it tomorrow.
Is a BVM for only unconscious patients or can it be used with a conscious one who desperately needs ventilation assistance?
If they need to have their ventilations assisted, do it regardless of their level of consciousness. BTW, the first person I ever used a BVM on was a fully conscious trach patient. A lot of patients who have a BVM on them are breathing spontaneously but are not meeting their physiological needs because they are not moving enough air.
I don't know why I'm having trouble grasping that but I figured I'd rather feel stupid for 5 minutes than not know it when I'm on a call.
It's nothing to feel stupid about. If I can be of any help on this or anything else, feel free to PM me if you'd rather not post a question publicly. I'm cross trained as a respiratory therapist so I can provide all the detail you want on airway and oxygen questions and probably more. Good luck with your training.
