Looking for some advice

[EMTCop86]

I’m a new EMT-B who wants to be a paramedic. I would like to start paramedic school next year but I’ve been getting a lot of mixed reviews. Most tell me that I’m to new to the field and that I should get more experience first. I’ve had equal amounts of people tell me that this would be a good time in my life to do it. Since I don’t have anything tying me down. Do you recommend that I wait or get started with the school? Can anyone recommend schools in the Boston area?

IMHO if you want to be a good paramedic you must first be a good EMT. If you don't get experience as an EMT how will you know if your good at it or not...

 

[AJ Hidell]

IMHO if you want to be a good paramedic you must first be a good EMT. If you don't get experience as an EMT how will you know if your good at it or not...

No offense, but having completed neither EMT nor paramedic training, or achieved any experience as either, what do you base your humble opinion on? A wild guess? What you heard from others who aren't yet paramedics either?

I'm sure you also believe that someone should be a good security guard for a few years before becoming a police officer, right?

 

[Sasha]

A wild guess?

My guess is preceptors or instructors who waited for Medic school and are preaching to her that you should wait.

That is what clinical ride times are for. To find out if A) You really want to do it, and B) IF you'll be any kind of decent at it. Contrary to what students think, being an EMT-B is not rocket surgery. Put pressure here, hold that really still, put oxygen on anything with a head, pump up and down right there. The people who aren't good EMTs, in my very limited experience, usually aren't in EMS for the patients, but for the "cool job" lights and sirens and wont make it through medic school. All you have to do is have three and a half brain sells and care about your patient.

I can tell you that I went directly into Medic, and I'm a "good basic", and will be a great Medic :] Even with less than a year experience as a basic. Part of the reason I am a good basic is because of what I've learned in Paramedic school.

So why spend time being a B? Get into P school and start being a better provider.

 

[JonTullos]

I've also been told different things by different people. Friends of mine who are medics have about evenly told me to wait a year after Basic and to head to medic school after Basic. Even instructors at schools I've talked to have been somewhat mixed. I do know that I have to take A&P I (and would prefer to have taken II) before I can get into the medic program so there's a part that says take A&P I the semester after Basic and all... as of right now I'm not sure what I'll do. I will probably make the decision closer to time for the Basic class to start. As for whether I think you should go ahead to medic school... I say if you really think you can handle it and you're sure being a medic is what you want to do, go for it. However, as others have said, check school and state requirements. One school I talked to (not in MS though) said they require someone to have their Basic patch for a year before they'll even let them apply.

 

[AJ Hidell]

Completing both A&P classes, as well as microbiology, chemistry, psych and sociology will do much, much more to make you a better medic than any amount of being an ambulance driver. There is zero doubt about that. For that matter, they would make you a much, much better EMT too. If at all possible, you should take those before EMT school. Your skills are meaningless without the scientific foundation to understand them. And trust me, you don't learn that in any EMT school. Good luck!

 

[sir.shocksalot]

If at all possible, you should take those before EMT school.

I personally don't think you need any science background to be an EMT, as many others on these forums have said, it's a little better than advanced first aid. However I do fully agree with AJ that a good science background is essential to success as a paramedic, as a paramedic you have to have a thorough understanding of how the body works, and why certain things do the things they do, like understanding oncotic (sp?) pressure, and simple/facilitated diffusion, osmosis et, all so you can understand why we give saline to people. I would also suggest taking freshman composition, and a communication class as these classes are also essential to good being a good care giver.

 

[AJ Hidell]

Nobody is claiming you need education to be an EMT. A lot of complete idiots prove that every day. And if all you want to be is another one of those idiots, it's easy enough for anyone with an 8th grade education to do. What I am saying is that you will be a much, much BETTER EMT with it than without it. Again, there is zero way to intelligently or credibly dispute this.

 

[PapaBear434]

Nobody is claiming you need education to be an EMT. A lot of complete idiots prove that every day. And if all you want to be is another one of those idiots, it's easy enough for anyone with an 8th grade education to do. What I am saying is that you will be a much, much BETTER EMT with it than without it. Again, there is zero way to intelligently or credibly dispute this.

Just so I can be clear on your stances, do you consider EMT-I idiots? Or just Basics?

Either way, I wouldn't consider it very fair to call them idiots. Uneducated, maybe ignorant, yes. But I think it's a little elitist of you to claim that everyone below your current level is an idiot.

 

[AJ Hidell]

But I think it's a little elitist of you to claim that everyone below your current level is an idiot.

And I think it is illiterate of you to claim that I said something that I never said. That's either an absurd assumption, or you really need to improve your reading comprehension skills.

 

[Ridryder911]

Okay, let's look at field experience realistically.

Fortunately my service allows Basics & Intermediates to care for those patients meet their level of license. The reason is one cannot learn much behind the wheel. Patient care is provided in the back and most while en route. Hence the reason we encourage and demand those limited personal to be able to gain experience. Now, all of our lower level license personnel are all Paramedic students or graduates awaiting testing. We limit how many, and one understands they must advance within one year.

Many Paramedic level EMS will only allow BLS EMS personnel to drive. Again, how much patient care does one get behind the wheel. How many times does one have to place a LSB before they get proficient?

So many emphasize "skills" as they should be the main point; when in reality one can master the basic skills with just a little repetitious practice. They are rated as one the easiest skills to master within medicine. Yes, its been proven.

Also, where does one obtain this so called required experience? How much gainful experience does one get driving a wheel chair van or transporting non-emergency patients. Truthfully, those experience has nothing to do with EMS. They could develop their own requirements and industry standards but why when they can get it for free?

So now, you have a patch for one year. If you did not use the intent of the patch what good did it do?

Compare this. One could being getting experience or be getting an education (maybe both). When the student graduates, the EMT will have one to two years experience and the medic student will have graduated and guess what? They will be in charge of the EMT. While the new Paramedic gains their experience and rises up the career ladder; where will that EMT be?

One can always obtain experience, depends upon what experience is really considered beneficial.

 

[sir.shocksalot]

The reason is one cannot learn much behind the wheel.

For services that only let the EMT drive, then yes you are absolutely correct, there is no real experience to be gained from just driving. What about services that allow the EMT to attend on most calls, barring those that need ALS treatment? I think there is a lot of experience to be gained from preforming your own assessment, calling in your own phone report etc. While these may not be vital to success in paramedic school in so far as education goes, but wouldn't this kind of experience be essential after paramedic school? Just bouncing ideas around.

 

[ffemt8978]

Play nice people, it would be a shame to close such a productive thread.

 

[medic417]

For services that only let the EMT drive, then yes you are absolutely correct, there is no real experience to be gained from just driving. What about services that allow the EMT to attend on most calls, barring those that need ALS treatment? I think there is a lot of experience to be gained from preforming your own assessment, calling in your own phone report etc. While these may not be vital to success in paramedic school in so far as education goes, but wouldn't this kind of experience be essential after paramedic school? Just bouncing ideas around.

It is nothing that will not be picked up in the clinical portion of your paramedic program. My students are required to do all that under the supervision of a quality preceptor, thus any mistakes are fixed. So it really did no add to your experience. And if you are taking care of patients and doing an assessment with the limited training recieved and unsupervised how do you know if your experience is quality. Remember perfect practice makes perfect but uneducated which equates to imperfect practice just makes bad habits.

 

[medic417]

Play nice people, it would be a shame to close such a productive thread.

Thank you for allowing as you even said a productive discussion of what is often just a mudslinging competetion.

 

[PapaBear434]

For services that only let the EMT drive, then yes you are absolutely correct, there is no real experience to be gained from just driving. What about services that allow the EMT to attend on most calls, barring those that need ALS treatment? I think there is a lot of experience to be gained from preforming your own assessment, calling in your own phone report etc. While these may not be vital to success in paramedic school in so far as education goes, but wouldn't this kind of experience be essential after paramedic school? Just bouncing ideas around.

Beat me to it. My service lets BLS handle BLS calls and transports on their own, call in the reports, do turnover, and render whatever Basic level treatment is necessary.

While some zero-to-hero medics I've seen are decent medics when they first get on in so far that they memorized their protocols (ie: cook book medic,) they don't have many skills in the way of assessment, talking to the patient, or even calling in the report.

Not stuff that's necessarily vital to doing their job, but things that they retroactively had to work on.

I'm not even saying that you should wait for a huge amount of time before you start medic school. I waited two months, long enough to get released as a Basic in my system, and I went right back to it. I found it a benefit, some people may not. As I said four pages previous, your mileage may very depending on who you are.

 

[ffemt8978]

Since people can't seem to play nice even when reminded...