ok, i need help

[ulrik]

Well, when i first though about emt and paramedic as a career and stuff, i was around 15. Now i am 18 and i know i want to do something with helping ppl, thats all i want. and i am sure it is emt now. So here is my plan, i am in high school right now do to a Technicality of sorts and i will be joining a local emt explorers unit, which do lessons and ride alongs for us intrested in the field. So i hope tihs will give me some insight to the field so i can decide if i want to keep moving or not. Then at january i will start college with attending first reponder and cpr training, which will take me to may or june to finish. After that, i plan to take the emt-b course there during the summer semseter and hopefully finish in August. Then starting in the fall term, right after my emt-b cert, i can get in to the paramedic program and finsh that in the following may and when i am all done with this i should be 20 y/o.

is there any advice any of you wish to add?

 

[TransportJockey]

I'd say skip CFR if you can. It always seemed like a wast of time if you plan on going for your medic anyways

 

[silvercat354726]

Skip CFR and go straight to EMT-Basic, you would be learning things twice over. From what my instructors told us when class started that they have to unteach CFR'ers what they learned to become a CFR to an EMT. Same skills just taught different for some odd reason. Good Luck in school!

 

[BossyCow]

Definitely skip the CFR

 

[KEVD18]

in most jurisdictions cfr = big waste of time. there arent too many places still using cfr's as primary or even secondary providers and those that do, well i wouldnt want to live their. now having cops/firemen certified as fr's serving in a tertiary capacity is another matter all together.

my advice to you is this: get some street time under your belt as a basic before going on to medic. for the moment, lets completely disregard the "having the experience as a basic will make you a better medic" argument for the moment and just look at it from a fiscal standpoint. the basic program should be less than $1,000 and take less that six months. thats not really a significant expenditure of resources. if, two weeks after you get your ticket, you do a call that just ruins your drive to be an emt(pedi code, violent trauma, whatever) your not out all that much really. but if you have spent some time on the road and seen some stuff and keep coming back, your less likely to crack.

i have seen people go all the way through the basic course, pass their tests and pull a license only to quit on the spot the first time they have to deal with a dead body. it happens. people get freaked out by some of the stuff we see. me personally, id rather be sure this si what i want to do prior to dropping thousands and thousands of dollars and months upon months of my time only to find out that i cant hack it in the bigs....

 

[triemal04]

Without knowing anything about the paramedic program other than it's 8 months long, I'd say ignore that one and find a program that takes longer but will do a better job of teaching you to be a paramedic.

Unless there are a boatload of prereq's for the class, 8 months is not anywhere near enough to go from nothing to a paramedic; the amount of information you MUST know is to much. (If there are loads of prereqs you can maybe ignore this...maybe) If you are set on going to that particular program I'd advise you to take a full year of Anatomy and Physiology, pharmacology, medical terminology, brush up of your math if not actually take a lower level algebra course, and get some chemistry and biology under your belt first, then take the class.

If this is to be your career, don't be in such a hurry to get into it that you rush through your education; take the time NOW to explore other options for learning to be a paramedic and then make the best choice possible.

And skip the first responder.

 

[TransportJockey]

Without knowing anything about the paramedic program other than it's 8 months long, I'd say ignore that one and find a program that takes longer but will do a better job of teaching you to be a paramedic.

Unless there are a boatload of prereq's for the class, 8 months is not anywhere near enough to go from nothing to a paramedic; the amount of information you MUST know is to much. (If there are loads of prereqs you can maybe ignore this...maybe) If you are set on going to that particular program I'd advise you to take a full year of Anatomy and Physiology, pharmacology, medical terminology, brush up of your math if not actually take a lower level algebra course, and get some chemistry and biology under your belt first, then take the class.

If this is to be your career, don't be in such a hurry to get into it that you rush through your education; take the time NOW to explore other options for learning to be a paramedic and then make the best choice possible.

And skip the first responder.

My medic course that I'll be taking (still doing pre reqs ) is only 2 semesters (mine will be spring and summer), 40 hours a week of classes, 20 hours a week of clinical rotations. What can equal to 2 full semesters of pre reqs (I only need 2 partials since I transferred from an engineering school and had the basics of chem and math and bio) is required before you can even put your app in for medic school.

 

[ulrik]

i'd love to skip frist responders and cpr to get into emt-b

 

[TransportJockey]

i'd love to skip frist responders and cpr to get into emt-b

You mean you can't skip CFR? I had to take a AHA CPR for health care providers course for my B, and they crammed in HIPAA, BBP, and First Aid (only a 3, 8 hour session course) along with it.

 

[ulrik]

no, you need totake them first and then emt-b

 

[emt_angel25]

if you have to take the cfr then take it....but in my own opnion i think that you should work as an EMT for about a year before jumpin into medic. some people can go from one right into the other and do wonderfully and others can. get field experience first. and the medic program choose wisely 8 months seems like a really short amount of time to be in class. but none the less i wish you the best of luck

 

[emt19723]

no, you need totake them first and then emt-b

wow....thats the first time i ever heard of that. think you might want to investigate that a little more :huh:

 

[ulrik]

and i only get two years of funding T_T so if i take just emt-b then quit for a year, the money i am getting to go would too...so i would have to but myself into deep dubt cause most of my money would need to come from outside sources cause emts dun make the most money...plus i am going to do a few ride alongs with levy county ems so hopefully that will get me

 

[BLSBoy]

no, you need totake them first and then emt-b

OK, first off, you wanna be in this career field, learn to spell, use correct grammar and punctuation. That is key, especially since your PCR is a legal document, and can be used in court.

Second, where exactly are you looking at doing your EMT at?
In most places, AHA BLS CPR/AED for HCP (enough acronyms for ya? :lol is the only pre req. for EMT. I have never heard of anywhere that requires CFR, especially here in Fla. In fact, the only people that even go through that (at least in my area) are Lifeguards and LEOS.

Check into that again.
Welcome here, feel free to ask questions. There are a few Fla EMS providers in here that can assist you.

 

[reaper]

The spelling and grammar issue has already been brought up with him. He has a reason for it and is working on it!

CFR is not required for entrance to EMT. If you are going to attend Santa Fe CC, You will need nothing prior. They will take care of your CPR during class. CFR is really a waste of your time.
The best thing would be an A&P course, prior to class. It will help you understand everything. Plus, you will need it for Paramedic anyway. Take A&P I and II, do not take the Essentials class.

 

[rchristi]

I thought that it was an odd prerequisite also. But here is a link to the Santa Fe CC site that does show First Responder as a prerequisite.
http://ips.sfcc.edu/ips/EMS/index.htm

 

[reaper]

Guess they decided to screw up that course too! Drive north to LCCC.

 

[mikie]

My only prerequisite for the class was CPR for Health Care Providers. The school did require a math & English proficiency test (which some of you might fail!)...but that's different.

 

[soccrwon]

I just took my EMT-B exam at 21 and wish I had taken it earlier. There were several 18 year old in my class, so I'd advise you to take the class now if it's what you really want to do. I took a 7 week class which met for 3 times a week. If you want to, you can take an even more advanced course at 4 weeks (or go the opposite way and take a more relaxed class over a 10 or 14 week period)

Also, I don't mean to be harsh, but if you want to be taken seriously, you need to use correct spelling and grammar. "Now i am 18 and i know i want to do something with helping ppl, thats all i want. and i am sure it is emt now." is barely coherent English. You can't expect someone to trust you with their life when you won't even spend the time to proof-read what you wrote.

 

[Sasha]

Where do you live? I cant believe they wont let you skip first responders! That is such a waste of a course! Cops are first responders, they get there, do CPR if needed or apply pressure for a bleed and then wait.

Is it just that SCHOOL that wont you let skip first responders? If so, I would totally be going somewhere else!

If you want to go straight into medics, great, that is exactly what I did. People will tell you that makes for horrible medics because you don't get EMT experience, but it makes getting hired a lot easier if you tell them you are in medic school. Going straight into medic school doesn't mean you just jump on the truck as lead medic without a lick of experience, you have the entire time you are in medic school for EMT experience.

My medic school is 5 classes, over a year. Ill have my AS when I'm done. Its great