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Hi, i am a premed student currently at carnegie mellon university in pittsburgh, pa
i live in los angeles, ca (my permanent residence)
my school has an ems that only requires first aid and cpr training, but they welcome more, i am starting to look into going all out and getting the emt-b license or certificate, whatever it is called

my school (carnegie mellon) offers this training in the spring semester as a course, but i would have to wait to take it spring 09 because it is too late now

i believe i could also take it this summer when i am back home in los angeles.

I was wondering what any of you thought i should do-is an emt-b license in los angeles good for one it pennsylvania (would i have to take the emt-b class at my school to become registered in pennsylvania anyway?)
also would the one i get at my school (pennsylvania one) work for certifying me in los angeles?

i dont know exactly what my goals are in terms of working, but i may want to volunteer as an ems in los angeles during the summers, but i may also want to move up in carnegie mellon ems, and i believe to get to a higher level, the emt-b is required

additionally, i saw some postings and i was wondering how emt's who currently are not working for any ems prove themselves as emt's. are id's issued by the state that people carry around in their wallets? i am asking the question because i was reading some posts about people deciding whether or not to show identification of their emt status in emergency situations. i was just wondering, if they decided to, how would they do that?

i am sorry this may be a little confusing and all over the place, but i would appreciate some help

thanks
 
PA and CA both accept NREMT certification, so if you take an approved class in either state and pass the NREMT-B test, you can be licensed in both after a bit of paperwork. It is also possible to be licensed in PA without passing the NREMT if you pass the state test - if you did that you have to take a refresher course in CA to get the license there per. their website.

in PA you get a credit-card style license card....just says your name on it and your level of certification. They live in your wallet - if you take the EMT course they'll go over some of the legalisms of what you can and can't do on a scene - but long story short you'll never have to produce it if you're helping out as a bystander because unless you're on duty with a licensed EMS agency, you can't perform any EMT-level interventions anyways - its akin to practicing medicine w/out a license.

Go talk to the CMU EMS people if you have more questions - or e-mail whoever teaches the CMU EMS course. Google can be your friend too - both PA and CA have EMS websites, and PA additionally divides the state up into EMS regions - Pgh is in EMSI's area.
 
ive heard there are two of the best EMS schools in the country located in so cal around LA, its what the instructor from my EMT class said cause im originally from LA and was thinking about doing paramedic school down there.

And im guessing since you schools ems only requires first aid and cpr they dont have an EMS lisence which means to be an emt you would only have more knowledge, but you couldnt use any skills beyond the first aid training. It would probably be a good idea for you school to get an EMS lisence, i know there is a national association of college ems programs that your school can join too. I know my university is in it for our EMT squad. These are things you could suggest if you do join up with your schools ems program.
 
Thanks for both the responses-do you know the ems schools that are in southern california?

also, i wasnt very clear. the carnegie mellon ems (the actual service) only requires people to be licensed for first aid and cpr. however the class "carnegie mellon ems" trains people to be an emt-b, and it counts as the class hours required for the nremt-b certification. the ems and the class are basically unrelated-the training to be a member of the ems is only 8 hours-while the class is half a semester long.

i hope that makes it clearer

once again, thanks to both for your responses, i really appreciate it
 
Here are two in the LA Area

EMS Training Institute
http://www.emstraininginstitute.com/

California Institute of Emergency Medical Training
http://www.ciemt.com/

Hope those help you out, im not sure if they are the ones my inteructor was talking about. Ill see if i can figure out which ones those were but those should give you a start.

and since the first aid/cpr is all your program requires then you would probably going to have to go outside them to get EMT experiance, like a job with an ambulance company, but having the EMT knowledge would be very helpful since First aid really doesnt teach you much.
 
Again, you should talk to the CMU people, but I'm pretty sure they actually are a state approved EMS agency - so they can perform BLS interventions. Of course they don't have vehicles to my knowledge, so they have to run to calls (with all their equipment I presume), but hey, whatever floats your boat...
 
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