Stepping stone (Rant)

I have a friend who is 19 and starting medic school in the fall. He is very intelligent and is leaving college for medic school. I have alot of respect for him.

I am one of those stepping stone people who wants to go to med school but I admire everyone who is making a career in EMS.
 
I'm a "Stepping stoner". EMS was never my long term career goal, nursing always was, it was just what was available at the time. I briefy considered making some kind of career out of EMS.

While I like EMS, and think it's interesting, the mentality gets under my skin. Then I see people who have been working years to better EMS met with waves of people who don't want it to change and who win out.

So yes, I'm using EMS as a stepping stone, and I feel no guilt or shame in it.,
 
I plan on staying a Paramedic :) Of course, I will get my CCP and continue my education in the EMS feild. I have thought about going into Nursing, but always find more reasons to stay in EMS. I like it here and plan to stay for a long, long time :D

tydek
 
Sasha said:
I'm a "Stepping stoner". EMS was never my long term career goal, nursing always was, it was just what was available at the time. I briefy considered making some kind of career out of EMS.

While I like EMS, and think it's interesting, the mentality gets under my skin. Then I see people who have been working years to better EMS met with waves of people who don't want it to change and who win out.

So yes, I'm using EMS as a stepping stone, and I feel no guilt or shame in it.,
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You should not feel any shame. It's your life do what you have to do to improve it.
 
Linuss said:
I thought you were leaving?
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:P :P



I swore I would never go into the medical field. (Especially during the Fire Academy)

Do I want to do this as a career? Eh...not sure...

I was going into LE but anyone that lives in Michigan would understand its not good right now. I'm not leaving Michigan. As much as the economy sucks here, I just can't.

I'm still looking for Public Safety Officer (Fire/EMS/Police) position with a large agency in SW Michigan. I am also looking up in the TC area.

Again, career wise, I don't know. I mean after all, it is one of the easiest jobs I have ever had (nope, not smoking anything).
 
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Sasha said:
He missed your wit too much.
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Yeah, I get that quite a bit, but it ends up being from the opposite sex.





Hey, it was a legit question.
 
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Another stepping stoner here (may or may not have added the "stepping" in the past few years, but that's a topic for another thread).

EMS has been invaluable for me. It's taught me that I like working in the field, that I could never be an EM doc, and that I can interact with patients far better than with people.

I'm not sure where I'm going after EMS, but I'm almost definitely not staying. If all other career plans fall through, I'll get my RN and work towards CCT and/or flight. Otherwise, MD/MPH or a PhD in epidemiology/public health.
 
EMT007 said:
It is certainly a good thing to have an EM physician who has worked in the field, and knows where the EMS personnel they work with are coming from.
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Definitely. They are more aware of how inadequate EMS education is, so they are less likely to be one of those idiotic, rubber-stamp medical directors that gives advanced protocols to 13-week wonders.

What I find much more disturbing than those who leave EMS because they have better options in life are all those nitwits that stay in EMS because they have no options. Those people are hurting us much more than those who leave.
 
Not a stepping stone, but times may change

Right now, I am looking at EMS as a career. I will be taking pre-med biology or movement science to leave my options open, if I ever decide to go to med school or anything like that.

However, I am also taking these classes to make myself a better paramedic. I am the type of person who likes to be the best at everything, so I will be working hard to make myself the best medic possible. If I get into EMS and decide that I do not like it, I will still do the best I can until I move on to something else. But like I said, right now I am looking at making EMS a career. But as somebody else said, "times and goals change".

Alright, I will stop ranting. All I really meant to say is that no, at the moment I do not plan on using EMS as a stepping stone.
 
First of all you can't deduce logically that the reason people use EMS as a stepping stone is because of the inherent faults in the EMS system. The reality of society today is that the average length of stay in a job is now under 6 years. Jobs change, careers change, people move, get married, have kids, divorce, move, change careers....

There are those who choose a linear life. They pick a career, follow that career until retirement advancing to the highest level their ambition, intelligence and emotional satisfaction will take them. Others follow a more meandering path. I know of a P.A who started out as a flight instructor, a nurse who began her career as a high school chemistry teacher. I have a dear friend who works as a botanist who graduated with her Masters Degree in classical spanish literature.

To insist that everyone follow the linear path and that young people with no life experience make final, unalterable decisions regarding their future careers is unrealistic. I've followed the stepping stone path through my life with employment in hospital purchasing, accounting, printing, I managed an Art Gallery, I worked in the labor movement as an organizer, I even waited tables. I was able to find financial stability, raise two kids, pay off my house and put money away for a retirement.

Do I care if my personal life choices make those who are more linear uncomfortable? Not at all! I work hard at whatever job I am in and do well within it. A personal work ethic is going to make you do well in a job whether or not you do it for months, years or decades. A long time in a job can make you excel or stagnate depending on how you spend your time there.

So I raise my glass :beerchug:to those willing to move on, change roads, switch horses in midstream. to boldly go where they have never gone before! Hooray to the unconventional! EMS will survive our presence in their midst. Every other career has!
 
I've been in EMS for 7 years, and it looks like I'll be in it for quite a while into the future. I consider myself lucky to still enjoy EMS as much as I did when I first started. I think it's important to keep setting goals for yourself. I'm hoping to get into RN school this year, but I plan on also working as a medic after I become an RN.

Wouldn't it be great if we had an EMS system like The Netherlands where you have to be an experienced nurse to work on an ambulance? If being a medic required years of education, then the job wouldn't just be a stepping stone anymore.
 
Veneficus said:
As for EMT-B helping you, I can’t see that it would. (honestly I can’t say for sure) but based on the opinions of many physicians I have encountered as soon as a person says they are an EMT, they are immediately dismissed out of hand.
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A former co-worker is in med school right now. He got extra "points" on his med school application for having volunteered as an EMT while he was getting his under-grad degree. The last time I saw him we talked about it a little, and apparently the med school admissions people loved that he had hands on experience, even though it was only at the EMT Intermediate level.
 
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