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ViperDriverWill

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Greetings!
I'm a 26 year old man with a BS in Aviation Admin and I'm going back to school for my EMT/Paramedic License. I have a few questions today regarding things.

A.) Medication and Fire Departments
What is the general standing order on SSRI's and if anyone has heard of Afiliby? If the physch tests are anything like the police tests I don't think this will be much trouble, but does anyone have an idea as to any fall out they've had with anti depressant use? Odds are I'm going to be off of both of these by the time it even comes time to test. Now, before you guys post I want you to read this disclaimer.

***********I am not interested in hearing how anti-depressants are a stigma, and how I can't handle the stresses of real life. I'm sorry for being direct, but I've seen just about enough of these forms online that really just hammer people who want nothing more than to serve their community. The rest of you all are good people. ***********************

(If I could notarize this, I would.)

B.) EMT/EMT-P

I'm a whole newcomer at this and I'm wondering what the entire process is from EMT to Paramedic. A few of my EMT friends and instructors have been telling me that once you graduate EMT, you work on a rig and build up expierence and THEN apply to paramedic school. however, I would like to start prepping for it early so I can be that much more understanding of my duties when someone's life is in my hand.

Again, I am sorry about the rant about the anti depressants and the negative people but in reality there's really no big deal to these medications. Did their job and I live a normal life. Hit me up. I look forward to talking to you all!
 
I have heard of Abilify. Gave some last week in clinical. If you expect to be completely off of your medication before you begin testing for fire Dept. employment, I think the underlying issue is going to be whether or not your underlying condition is going to be a problem for them, not your medication.

The process of becoming a paramedic is relatively straightforward. I typically suggest working as an EMT for about 6 months so that you get a chance to get a feel for the working conditions that you would experience as a paramedic. It also serves as a gut check to see if you want to go further in the field. Generally speaking, paramedic is a terminal license in that you really can't go much higher than that unless you go critical care or flight. In those 2 specific areas of employment, you might have an expanded scope of practice as a paramedic, but that would probably be during in interfacility type transport rather than a 911 type transport.

Another option would be to become a PHRN. The PHRN is basically a nurse that functions like a paramedic in the field. Often, they work with the same protocols. Just hazarding a not so wild guess, outside of flight nursing, prehospital RNs in the US are going to be fairly rare.

Getting back to the mechanics of getting into paramedic school, it is pretty much limited to selecting your school, paying your fee, typically/possibly taking a pretest and doing an interview and then they choose whether or not to admit you to their school at that time. Once you are in school, it takes about a year to complete, sometimes 2 years. Depending upon the class/clinical/internship schedule, you may or may not be able to work full time or maybe not even part time unless your employer is very flexible.

As far as taking the antidepressants (SSRI and the Abilify), I could actually care less about that. I just hope that you're able to get off the meds as planned and you remain in a good place. Being a Paramedic can be emotionally rewarding at times, but can also be very emotionally taxing too.

I hope this helps you and that you don't take this as an attack on you or people taking antidepressants in general. It's not meant to be that.
 
I would assume, and this is in no way backed by hard facts, that if you would be fine on the police psych test a fire one would be no problem seeing as you aren't carrying a firearm.
 
The nice thing about it it's for a period of depression and not chronic. Thank you both! And thank you for the Paramedic advice!!!!!!!!!!!! I really appreciate it.
 
Working on a 1:1 rig will be the best thing you can do for yourself in regards to prepping for paramedic school. You learn things that can't be taught in a classroom and it becomes second nature for you. Especially if you have good medics that actually want to pass on some knowledge and help out.

As far as the anti depressants, I don't believe that will be a problem in an EMS job, seeing as they don't do extensive backgrounds on employees. I'm with you about the hammering people deal, I'd much rather have someone who was on anti depressants in the past on my crew than the typical arrogant johnny bravo who just wants the title for the perks. But that is going to come up at some point in your hiring process just because of the mental wear and tear of the job.
 
I dont think the SSRI will be a problem. I work while on Zoloft.
 
Thank you gents! I don't think it's going to be for Police or EMS. The educated person will see that I saw a problem and addressed it. I can't wait to start school.
 
I agree with TriednTrue, the best learning experiences don't come from the classroom. If you're on an ALS rig ask your medic on any downtime you have about anything that you're not sure about. Ask him or her about the meds they're pushing or to explain the 12 lead EKGs and what they mean. The EKG samples that they use in the classroom are fairly easy to make out what is going on while in reality they aren't always so clear.
 
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