I accept your challenge
If you are considering entering paramedic school for the sole purpose of thinking it will give you the advantage of getting into nursing, PA or medical school, I urge you to think twice before enrolling.
I don't.
Despite my opinion that PAs are the bane of medicine, some programs require healthcare experience prior to being admitted. Being a paramedic offers the experience of having to make independant judgements often without consult. Aside from a handful of very specialized nursing disciplines and physicians, I know of no other healthcare field that does so that has such a range of options both right and wrong to choose from.
Being a medic grants a host of valuable experiences and even skills. (absolutely nobody rivals my skill at putting in an IV) Additionally from being on the low end and working my way up, when I ask people to do things in the hospital, it carries the respect earned from somebody who has actually had to do the grunt work themself.
Why should we choose you over a student who wants to become a career paramedic?
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
Because you are one of hundreds if not thousands of paramedic programs in the US and if you want to keep your job, you better have full classes regularly. Paramedic programs don't offer enough to be selective.
I even taught at one that almost closed its program when it raised the standards because every paramedic student in the area decided it was easier to go someplace else and not have to spend that much time or do that much work. Enrollment went from 3 classes of 30 people to 1 class of 5 in 1 semester.
I promise you that your program, no matter how good, isn't too far off of the average.
Additionally, volunteers are often not "career" paramedics. If medic schools only accepted potential career medics, they would never take people who were just going to "volunteer."
Furthermore, dual role fire services look at medic as an addendum cert to firefighting. Similar to hazmat, tech rescue, etc. Using your "career medic" logic, medic schools would have to exclude admission to aspiring dual role firefighters as well and those already in the fire service advancing their education.
Moreover it would also exclude those who would work in austere environments such as expeditions, park rangers, etc, because often their medical prowess augments what they were originally hired for, it is not the sole reason for hiring them.
Why should a career EMS department hire you, knowing that you will leave in 4-5 years?
The average EMS worker outside of the fire service can be expected to last 3-5 years at any given service. That has been the national average for more than 2 decades.
Also the workforce culture in the US has changed. HIghly capable people change jobs more often, why work for one agency and get a promotion in 10 years when you could switch agencies and get a higher title and raise?
If you are only hiring people who will be there for longevity, the chances you attract the best employees is greatly diminshed.
What commitment will you have to that department if you are busy trying to get into another school?
Depends on what that department offers you. At one of my medic jobs, not only did they pay me an outstanding salary, they worked my schedule around school, and gave me $1500 a semester in tuition reimbursement for advancing myself. (Because they realized as my education advanced so did my value to them as an employee)
As you might imagine I am still exceedingly proud of and loyal to that organization, even though I no longer work there.
How much comitment do you think you get out of an employee who is "stuck" in their position and looking for another job?
I would wager a lot less.
If you have a tough time answering these questions, please leave the spots open for the students that want to be paramedics
I think I did well.
As a paramedic, instructor and preceptor, the one comment that amuses me is "I can't imagine working on an ambulance as a career."
Among my other titles, I am still a paramedic, EMS instructor, and preceptor. I take special interest in those aspiring to move on to higher levels of healthcare careers. Even when I do not agree with their plans, I do my best to enable them. I also have been around long enough to know EMS is a decent career when you are young and single. Once you start having responsibilities like a family, only the most competative and locale specific agencies offer reasonable compensation for your time. There are simply not enough spots for everyone to get one of these jobs.
The highest paying medic job I had was as an ED tech. It more than doubled my salary from working in one of the most exceptional EMS only agencies in the US. I haven't calculated it, but considering I went from working 50-60 or more hours a week at that EMS agency to 36 hours a week in the hospital ED, it probably more than tripled it.
Why did you become a paramedic in the first place? Why did you enroll in paramedic school? Why would I want someone taking care of the ones I love and care about with that attitude?.
I was forced to become an EMT by the FD I was with in order to keep the job. I later became a paramedic because I seemed to have a special talent for medicine and it helped make me better marketable for a more desirable FD job. I later became an instructor because I was pissed off having to precept what I viewed as low quality grads coming out of medic classes on the rig.
Why would you want me to take care of your loved ones?
I hope for your and their sake I never do. I often get involved in cases that nobody else can help.
I'm not knocking nurses or docs who at one time where paramedics. The ones I have worked with all LOVED being a paramedic. As a matter of fact, I spoke with a medical director who still works as a paramedic a few times a month.
That is a strange comment considering that your opening stated people aspiring to move on to these careers should not apply and their short term employment was undesirable.
