Laundry List of Q's

[juxtin1987]

Rather than bombarding the EMTLife forums with a plethora of question threads i figured i'd hold on to these questions i've come accross the past week and make one thread. I just recently passed registry and am going through the motions of getting my county certification (gotta love CA) and have a few questions pertaining to the months to come.

1. I read that i have up to 1 year to attain my ambulance drivers license after i'm employed, is this information still correct or should i go and get my ambu license on my own accord?

2. I'm not in a position to take a year off from life for paramedic school, however i'm going to put myself through it by whatever means necessary, that being said, the schools in my area all have a minimum 1 year field experience as a prerequisite to admission, would it be useful for me to attain a copy of the likely schools texts and begin educating myself?

3. One of our local ambulance companies hosts a few courses available to EMT's such as International Trauma Lifesupport, Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals, Advanced Medical Lifesupport etc. Now the classes are 2 8 hour days, 1 day of didactic and 1 day hands on, and run from $175-$225, do you think these courses would benefit me on an application? (I'm planning on taking them regardless however if they're not going to aid me in finding employment i will wait a couple months to recoup from holiday expenditures if you know what i mean).

4. Are there any other educational tools you guys have found useful that i could take at a community college level? I'm starting an anatomy and physiology course in February but i'm eager to learn more and thought you all may know of another beneficial course i might take.

5. Some companies in my area (not sure how common this is) offer scholarship programs to pay for your medic school, I know myself very well and if i get hired for one of these companies i WILL win this scholarship, my question is this... If any of you have worked for one of these companies who offer scholarships, what's the likelihood of a person winning it after being with the company only 1 to 2 years? I don't want to wait much longer than a year to go to medic school but if waiting 2 years will get it paid for i may reconsider, 3 years out and i'll finance it myself.


Thanks for taking the time to read my post and any information is appreciated.

-JC

 

[JPINFV]

1. I read that i have up to 1 year to attain my ambulance drivers license after i'm employed, is this information still correct or should i go and get my ambu license on my own accord?

You have up to a year after receiving an ambulance driver certificate to obtain your EMT-B. Just about any place will want you to be able to drive if you meet their insurance requirements, so you might as well go ahead and get it before you apply anyways.

2. I'm not in a position to take a year off from life for paramedic school, however i'm going to put myself through it by whatever means necessary, that being said, the schools in my area all have a minimum 1 year field experience as a prerequisite to admission, would it be useful for me to attain a copy of the likely schools texts and begin educating myself?

What will be even more beneficial is taking, at a minimum, chemistry, anatomy, physiology, physics, and technical writing regardless of if the schools require those prereqs or not.

4. Are there any other educational tools you guys have found useful that i could take at a community college level? I'm starting an anatomy and physiology course in February but i'm eager to learn more and thought you all may know of another beneficial course i might take.

See answer to question 2.

 

[redcrossemt]

2. I'm not in a position to take a year off from life for paramedic school, however i'm going to put myself through it by whatever means necessary, that being said, the schools in my area all have a minimum 1 year field experience as a prerequisite to admission, would it be useful for me to attain a copy of the likely schools texts and begin educating myself?

The book might change before you enroll. I would suggest focusing on the college classes JPINFV recommended, as well as getting the EMT-B part of the job down. Keep studying your basic textbook while you are working, and look things up that you don't know yet.

3. One of our local ambulance companies hosts a few courses available to EMT's such as International Trauma Lifesupport, Pediatric Education for Prehospital Professionals, Advanced Medical Lifesupport etc. Now the classes are 2 8 hour days, 1 day of didactic and 1 day hands on, and run from $175-$225, do you think these courses would benefit me on an application? (I'm planning on taking them regardless however if they're not going to aid me in finding employment i will wait a couple months to recoup from holiday expenditures if you know what i mean).

PEPP is an excellent class and I recommend it to all levels of providers. ITLS is okay basic material, probably mostly covered in your basic class, but required to work a lot of places. Note that both of these classes have "basic" and "advanced" level certifications, so you will technically need to repeat them once you are a paramedic. AMLS is of little use to you without first obtaining your EMT-P cert.

5. Some companies in my area (not sure how common this is) offer scholarship programs to pay for your medic school, I know myself very well and if i get hired for one of these companies i WILL win this scholarship, my question is this... If any of you have worked for one of these companies who offer scholarships, what's the likelihood of a person winning it after being with the company only 1 to 2 years? I don't want to wait much longer than a year to go to medic school but if waiting 2 years will get it paid for i may reconsider, 3 years out and i'll finance it myself.

It probably depends on the number of candidates, each of your competitors' seniority, dedication to the company, etc. Just depends on who applies in the same year as you. I would give you a pretty good chance at one year, and a really good chance at two.