I'm currently in that 16 week class. I agree that this is not a game, or a hobby. But please, don't equate this first step into EMS as something trivial. We all start here, and I get a sense from some of your posts that you are dismissive of the EMT course. You have posted quite truthfully that it is low on physiology, anatomy etc. I agree with that as well. But I can't help getting a bit defensive when you so casually toss away training that to me is the first step into a whole new world. Having never done anything medical before, I find the course challenging and something a bit overwhelming. I understand that my role as an EMT is one of support to higher levels of training, and I understand the limitations my training comes with. But it is worthwhile and honorable in it's own right.
/off-topic
Agreed.
I regard both the EMT and the EMT-P courses as merely providing the rough basics which then allow the provider to begin his/her real training: on the streets. Anyone who graduates from paramedic school believing themselves to be well-trained is mistaken. After fifteen years of working in a high-volume area, I still learn new things almost daily.
If the EMT-Basic course could be represented as simply a "drop in the bucket" of knowledge which the provider must have in order to be regarded as competent, then the paramedic course is perhaps best represented as ten drops in a bucket; more than the basic course, to be sure... yet relatively speaking, he/she is still much closer to being unprepared, than to being prepared.
The school provides just the most basic of frameworks necessary to ensure that the provider isn't too lethal when he hits the streets.
I have known experienced EMT-Basics who are infinitely more competent and dedicated than certain paramedics. It most definitely boils down to their level of commitment, their experience, and a certain innate aptitude which some possess and some do not.
/resume topic