is there anything that i can study before my emt class starts in jan to get ahead

[nicolel3440]

hi i am new here and i start my emt-b course in jan. I am a stay at home mom right now and i could prob use all the extra study time ahead of time. keep in mind i have not recieved by book yet. thanks for any help in advance

 

[Aerin-Sol]

Basic anatomy would help a lot.

 

[Lifeguards For Life]

This book, as recommended to me by an EMTLIFER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316034436/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0393325695&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=11DFPM8E0XR64YTJDPPV

 

[bunkie]

When you get your book, read as much ahead as you possibly can. I should have done this before I started class. That's the best piece of advice I can give from my own experiences, one mom to another. Good luck!

 

[EMSEdukator]

If you can get your book ahead of time and prep. There are many good sites on line that you can quiz yourself on after reading.
emtb.com is one

GOOD LUCK

 

[nicolel3440]

thank you all for your help i am really excited about this course. and a little nerves too as i have been a stay at home mom for six years.

 

[mycrofft]

Just read the book first. THEN study it.

If it makes sense at all, the first read can be the most productive, but be sure to mark or copy p[hrases etc you don't understand yet, then look them up.

 

[thegreypilgrim]

You might wanna try reading the book Anatomy & Physiology for Emergency Care by Bledsoe et al. Getting the best handle on A&P you can will do wonders for you.

 

[Melclin]

I would second/thrid/forth getting an anatomy and physiology book. I've not read the Bledsoe one, but it sounds like a good idea. Any proper A&P/pathophyiology text will do, that is to say, a university text. That said, the internet is a great resource. The online Merck manual is my favourite place for this (1) but it requires some pre-existing knowledge of A&P to work with. Wikipedia is often wrong, but it can point you in the right direction sometimes and almost always gives you good links and references to the relevant journal articles.

Use any of these resources to get acquainted with:

-Autonomic nervous system: particularly the functions and effects in different pathologies, know the difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and what they do (2).
-Cardiovascular system: how it works, what affects it, preload, afterload, systemic vascular resistance.
-Pulmonary system: get familiar with the trip that Oxygen takes from when its in the air to when it gets to your cells (its called the Oxygen cascade), and some of the things that can stop it along the way (3).
-Basic structural anatomy: the important bones, location of the major organs, blood vessels, and the the different organ systems (circulatory, pulmonary, reproductive etc).
-Anatomical terminology: distal-proximal, superior-inferior, etc (4)

All the time be conscious of the affects that age has on all these things (children have higher heart rates, the elderly will tend to have reduced cardiac output).

If you can grasp these concepts before you get into class, you'll already be further ahead than most of your classmates will every be before you even start.

(1) http://www.merck.com/mmpe/index.html
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomic_nervous_system#Function
(3) http://www.nda.ox.ac.uk/wfsa/html/u10/u1003_01.htm
(4) http://learning.mgccc.cc.ms.us/science/ap/anaterm.html


Further reading:

http://www.ccmtutorials.com/rs/oxygen/page02.htm --- This one is great but it taken me a few months to really get through it an understand it. Maybe one for when you start paramedic school.

http://www.nursingpharmacology.info/learning2.htm --- A good one for the pharmacology, but again, depending on the scope in your area, this may be one to leave until paramedic school.

 

[bunkie]

thank you all for your help i am really excited about this course. and a little nerves too as i have been a stay at home mom for six years.

Dont be nervous. You'll do just fine. You'll have it harder then some people in your class who don't have kids. You wont have as much opportunity to study/practice. You'll have other things on your mind. But when you are in class, be at class. Don't worry if the baby is being diapered right, the dishes are done and the trash was taken out. Wipe your mind clean, open it up to learn and absorb. When you schedule time to study. Study. Don't do the dishes or dust. Study. I was a stay at home mom for the last four years and I did extremely well in my EMT class despite several aggravating outside factors that should have slowed me down. If I could do it, you can do it too!!

 

[kd7emt]

hi i am new here and i start my emt-b course in jan. I am a stay at home mom right now and i could prob use all the extra study time ahead of time. keep in mind i have not recieved by book yet. thanks for any help in advance

Where are you going to be going to school? I'm starting at TCC in January.

 

[Mountain Res-Q]

is there anything that i can study before my emt class starts in jan to get ahead

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brown-Paper-School-book-Blood-and-Guts_W0QQitemZ280428179175QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Childrens_Books?hash=item414ad26ee7

Don't laugh... This Book ROCKS... it was this book (as well as a combination of Doctor McCoy and Doctor Crusher) that got me initially interested in Medcine and Biology back when Push Pops were all the rage... ^_^ Or, if you are must, find a good anatomy book and start there... you can never have enough anatomy...​

 

[MrBrown]

Marieb 7e A&P is really good it comes with a DVD and online portion that are just fantasmic

 

[nicolel3440]

Where are you going to be going to school? I'm starting at TCC in January.

I am in pa and going to hacc but the class is held at a local FD

 

[nicolel3440]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Brown-Paper-School-book-Blood-and-Guts_W0QQitemZ280428179175QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Childrens_Books?hash=item414ad26ee7

Don't laugh... This Book ROCKS... it was this book (as well as a combination of Doctor McCoy and Doctor Crusher) that got me initially interested in Medcine and Biology back when Push Pops were all the rage... ^_^ Or, if you are must, find a good anatomy book and start there... you can never have enough anatomy...​

My dad works for good humor bryers and makes push up pops. LOL

 

[Achromatic]

Where are you going to be going to school? I'm starting at TCC in January.

TCC is a good school - I'm in Thurston County and Medic One does our training, but I'll be headed to TCC in a little while (well, ASAP) to do medic training.

 

[kd7emt]

That's great to hear, Achromatic. I liked that they had a medic program as well, which I'll be prepping for during my EMT-B time. Really can't wait for January.

 

[Aerin-Sol]

There is no need to prepare for a class that takes no effort to pass.

That's a good attitude.

 

[Achromatic]

There is no need to prepare for a class that takes no effort to pass.

Right. Who'd want an emergency medical provider to actually have anything beyond a baseline interest in what they're doing?

I think the word is: troll.

Would you like a medal for being an exalted paramedic student? I mean, why would you want your EMTs to understand Cushing's triad and what it means, its role in a differential diagnosis, and so on?

Or why episodes of vomiting might be of just a little importance when attached to a PT complaining of HA...

No, that couldn't possibly require anything beyond "no effort" to learn.

Here in my county, the controlling authority requires paramedics to go through EMT school, then get at least a year of field experience and 1,000 pt contacts before being taken into medic school. It's not possible that an EMT student in such a situation might find value in working on A&P, or learning at least at a baseline level what different indications are for the various anti-dysrhythmics are, be they amiodarone, lidocaine, adenosine. No, can't imagine how that might be possibly useful following an ALS upgrade. Best that we learn our place now, shut up and drive the rig, and remember where the bandaids are kept, right?

 

[Melclin]

There is no need to prepare for a class that takes no effort to pass.

I seem to remember you being big on the whole education thing. Undoubtedly you are remarking on the low level of education involved in the EMT-B. In that case, why wouldn't you want to encourage someone taking a course that is not required to be very hard, to make the effort to extend themselves in the interests of building their clinical knowledge.

I might add too that even an easy class takes somewhat more effort to pass when you are otherwise engaged with the important and time consuming task of raising a family. There is no harm in getting a head start on the material when you know there will be unforeseen circumstances popping up that will get in the way of study down the track.