Medic- 6 or 13 month course?

[exitandleave]

I intend on starting my medic before the end of the year. My two options are:

1: 13 month program, two days a week 1800-2200 and some Saturdays.
2: 6 month program, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day, academy style.

Being unemployed (looking for work as a basic or a basic/firefighter- unable to find any) I was planing on taking the 6 month program to be employable sooner.

Browsing the forum I've realized there's not much good to say about accelerated programs. I'm not too worried about being able to handle the coure itself- but is this going to make me look bad for going through a 6 month course?

Also, another factor in my decision is that the 13 month program doesn't start for another 9 months, where as the 6 month program starts in 4.

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

 

[medic417]

Neither program seems to offer any difference as described. The education we are talking about is a program that ends up with a college degree. If you are taking just a certification program with no other courses like A&P 1,2, microbiology, etc then while you will be certified you will be lacking many items of benefit to you and more importantly your future patients.

I sympathize with the being unemployed but I hate to see anyone take a bad path to fix it. But if you have no other choice and the courses are identical except for how long stretched, and if you are a strong student then you might as well do the short one. I would prefer to see you take some other job to support yourself while you take a college degree program so that you will be one of the ones that will help move our profession forward rather than help hold it back.

 

[VentMedic]

I take it neither program has any prerequisites and the only difference is the time but the "hours" are still the same?

Do you want to be better prepared to be a medical professional? If so, you can take a couple of A&P classes while waiting for the other program.

Is your primary interest in fire fighting and you are just going for some addtional points on your application as a Paramedic? Or, because you live in an area where all FFs are Paramedics?

If the "hours" are the same and depending on your goals, it probably doesn't matter. If your goals were more toward the medical aspect of becoming a Paramedic, you probably would have chosen a different route.

 

[medicdan]

Are you already an EMT? Just checking, as it is a pre-requisite for medic programs. Do you have a sense of EMS in your area? Are you sure you want to invest the time and money to work in EMS? Have you worked out the cost of the course compared to how much you would make? Like others have said, dont jump into a medic program as an easy fix for unemployment, unnecessarily.

 

[exitandleave]

I am currently an EMT working on a pay-per-call FD. As for working toward a degree, I intend to continue after recieving my medic to get at least an associates in emergency medicine. The college I will be taking the medic course through offers a program to take me from certification to a degree. Currently at the collegiate level I am working toward an associates in fire science.

My main goal is to get on as a firefighter but working as an EMT or medic would be fine by me. Nearly all FF's here (MI) need to be a medic. Seems to be the norm in every state I've looked at.

I don't see taking the medic course as an easy fix- I see it as being entirely neccessary to get into a career, either in EMS or firefighting. Aside from that, I welcome the opportunity to learn more and better myself, both professionally and personally.

There is no difference between the two programs except the length over which it is stretched. The reason I am leaning to the 6 month course is that, seeing as I don't have anything to fill my days currently- why bother taking a full year to do when I don't need to- you know?

Ventmedic- what do you mean if my intention was to be a medic I would have probably chosen a different route? Do you mean moving straight through the college level medic program instead of the certificate?

Thanks for the input, everyone.

 

[medic417]

We refer to programs as both that you mention as diploma mills. They teach you to pass the test not actually practice medicine. If being a Medic is your priority that will not suffice. You will be doing a disservice to your patients. The reason these mills survive is fire requires almost everyone they hire to be a Paramedic so they encourage schools to turn them out fast to place a warm body on the ambulance. Sorry to be blunt but quality requires more than these courses can provide in either time frame.

 

[AJ Hidell]

I am currently an EMT working on a pay-per-call FD. As for working toward a degree, I intend to continue after recieving my medic to get at least an associates in emergency medicine. The college I will be taking the medic course through offers a program to take me from certification to a degree.

Those are a horrible idea, and any school that encourages it is strongly suspected of suckage. You only get one chance to establish a foundation. Taking your foundation courses after becoming a paramedic is like trying to build a foundation for your home after it is already built. It is not the same, and the results are not nearly as good.

True education is a pyramid, not an inverted triangle. It is a strong and solid foundation, with all concepts building upon previous concepts, until you reach a point of focus. You simply cannot do that by taking your scientific core after paramedic school. Although it is certainly helpful, you will never be nearly as good a medic as you would have been otherwise.

As for 6 vs. 12 months, it's all the same amount of training. The only difference is how long they drag it out. You won't be half the medic by attending the 6 month class now as you would be if you get your scientific prerequisites over the next year and do the 12 month program, or even the 6 month program. The only real difference between the two is the pace at which the information is delivered. Therefore, you have to honestly ask yourself if you are such a naturally awesome student that you easily digest rapid fire information, including difficult mathematic and scientific concepts, with very little time for studying before moving on to the next topic. If that has worked for you in high school or college, then the "accelerated" program can certainly work as well for you as the year long program. But if you are not 110 percent positive that you can keep up with that kind of pace, then that is a LOT of money to risk, and I'd pass on it. Those schools have absolutely no hesitation to flunk you out if you can't keep up, and quite a few people do flunk out. Then you've wasted a lot of time and money, and you aren't any closer to getting a job thanyou were. For that reason, I say that the 12 month program is the safer bet all the way around. Either way, get the science prerequisites first before taking either course.

Of course, I say all of this on the off chance that you care. With fire being your focus, I doubt you do. EMS is just a way to get a fire job, I'm sure. And if you do, I'm betting that the chances that you would ever actually go back and get an EMS degree are almost non-existent. You'd have enough seniority to get off the ambulance and go be a fire truck driver before you ever finished that degree, so there would really be no point in it.

 

[exitandleave]

I understand the medic program isn't going to be as thorough or beneficial to me as getting a degree in emergency medicine- however, my main goal is to get on as a firefighter. Therefore- I find it time consuming to put two years into a degree ontop of the degree I am pursuing now when I will be just as employable as a FF with my medic cert.

AJ Hidell- As for the comment about me not going back to further my education- all I can tell you is that you have entirely misread me. I know there are a substantial number of people who work through this exactly as you are assuming I will, but I assure you that I am not one of them. I apprecaite the accusation, though.

Medic417- Thank you for actually answering my question and I understand the point you make.

In any case, thanks for the responses and for giving me something to consider.

 

[Veneficus]

Spade

such a naturally awesome student that you easily digest rapid fire information, including difficult mathematic and scientific concepts, with very little time for studying before moving on to the next topic. If that has worked for you in high school or college, then the "accelerated" program can certainly work as well for you as the year long program. .

I am not sure this is a good comparison.

If the OP originally had a science background. ( A real science background, like chemistry, physics, engineering, etc, not what passes as “fire science” which is more appropriately “fire service methodology”)I would think your comparison holds true.

(If you are a firefighter, don't get all upset and tell me I don't know, I review the books for those classes, I know what is in them)

But the medic mill students I have seen are not given rapid fire concepts, any kind of science or mathematics. They are drilled in skills and given a glossed over topics in lecture while reading truncated texts designed to be cheap and meet the minimum standards.

All you need to pass a medic mill is wrote memory ability. As you said, 6 months or a year to do it makes no difference.

It is unfortunate the OP has to become a paramedic to become a firefighter, nothing any of us can do about that. But let me just call it like I see it.
exitandleave: I don’t begrudge you. You want to be a firefighter. You have to do what it takes. But it is pointless to come here and ask advice and defend a position if you have no intention of doing what it takes to be good at what you will be doing.(which assuredly is not spending a lot of time in fire suppression unless you get picked up by a large old city.) By your statements your dedication to medicine is no more than you absolutely have to. Why waste any more time with it?

Go to the short program, get your medic cert, apply at the FD. Get hired, IV, O2, cardiac monitor, and drive your patient to the hospital and give money to the IAFF to hold back EMS for another 25 years and tell everyone you are ALS, just as skilled, with the same cert as all the people who want to be medical providers.


Oh and don't forget to add the letters ACLS, PALS, NRP, ITLS, ADLS, ABLS, and the other 2 day classes after your name designating you as a true medical expert.

 

[sir.shocksalot]

exitandleave, If you are looking for support from firefighters on what to do go to forums(dot)firehouse(dot)com. Bad medicine is found in abundance there, as well as people encouraging other potential firefighters to run through a medic mill. Here you will only find paramedics that view themselves as medical professionals, as we should do. In my opinion, paramedicine should be a minimum of a two year degree, just like nursing, with plenty of science prerequisites. Someone who can't pass an anatomy and physiology course has no business being a paramedic, just my opinion though. Good luck to you.