Thinking about paramedic school

[BayEMTmaybeP]

hello all, question for you.

I am a volly FF who got their EMT-B 2 years ago for the department. We really don't run many medical aids so as you can Imagine some of the knowledge didn't stick (I'm not saying I lost everything however I took a written test recently for a private company and felt helpless on a good portion of it)

I just recently got hired for a private ambulance and am also doing my pre reqs for medic. I will be working as an EMT for the next year and a half before I apply to the medic program.

My question is, should I do paramedic school? Or would it be better to retake EMT and then apply to medic school so everything is fresh?

Thanks

 

[EpiEMS]

I just recently got hired for a private ambulance and am also doing my pre reqs for medic.

If you passed their exam, I can't imagine you did too poorly, right? And the pre-reqs should help you refresh, no?

My question is, should I do paramedic school? Or would it be better to retake EMT and then apply to medic school so everything is fresh?

You could try doing a refresher (which you may need anyway - 3 year cycle and all that), or at least reviewing a textbook...

The questions are easy:

1) Do you *want* to be a paramedic?
2) If yes, is there anything else you might want to do? If no, then don't bother with a medic program.

 

[mgr22]

To the OP: Passing an EMT refresher doesn't make you as "fresh" for medic school as simply working in the field. Sounds like you'll have that covered. I'd be a little concerned about problems with written exams, though. You'd have lots of them in medic school.

 

[hometownmedic5]

Do you want to be a paramedic in the long term(not necessarily forever, but for more than a few years)?

If yes, go to medic school.
If no, figure out what you want to be and go to that school.

It really is just that simple. It is ultimatley going to take you years to pay off the the total investment(not just money, but time, energy, aggregation and so on) of attaining certification as a paramedic; so if you dont plan on staying in the business for a long period of time, your investment is never going to show a return.

Beyond that, back in the day the prevailing mentality was you had to be a basic for (insert arbitrary number here) years before you should even think about medic school. While some maintain that idea, i do not. My thought process goes like this:

Work as a basic long enough to get an honest feel for the job. Not the sexy calls, but the grind. Day in and day out of crappy working conditions, no money, missed holidays and family events, back to back to back calls, and so on. Once you really know what working in this business is like, decide if this is a long term thing for you. This might take you a month if you work full time in a busy system. It might take you a year part time in a medium system. It might even take you longer working per diem in a slow system. Either way, once you really know what things are like and have decided you want to do this long term, the immediate conclusion is that you dont want to spend too much of your career working at the entry level.

Bottom line, we cant tell you if you should go to medic school. That's a deeply personal question. All we can tell you is that medic school is long, hard, expensive, and takes a long time to show returns. It is however necessary to get out of the basement of ems and make it a career that has the capacity to provide a living.

 

[VentMonkey]

The questions are easy:

1) Do you *want* to be a paramedic?
2) If yes, is there anything else you might want to do? If no, then don't bother with a medic program.

I think this is the most important question to ask yourself, OP. Too many times on here we rag on fire medics, and most of the time it's because the majority of us who have seen the ones who don't want to become paramedics, then get their paramedic license either on their own, or through their department end up hating life more often than not.

So indeed, the most important thing to ask yourself is do you want to endure paramedic school? If you end up doing it as another notch on your belt chances are it will reflect in your patient care, and you won't enjoy it very much. If you enjoy fire suppression much more than you think you'd enjoy becoming a paramedic, hey man, more power to you. There's nothing wrong with knowing what you want, or don't want. Just don't end up doing something because you feel obligated without any real desire, that benefits no one, mainly yourself.

 

[BayEMTmaybeP]

Thanks everyone, this is definitely something I want to do. I think what I'm most afraid of is not being a good enough EMT while starting in medic school.

 

[VentMonkey]

Thanks everyone, this is definitely something I want to do. I think what I'm most afraid of is not being a good enough EMT while starting in medic school.

This alone is a healthy start. The fact that this concerns you is good, it indicates that you want to do well, good luck.

 

[hometownmedic5]

Thanks everyone, this is definitely something I want to do. I think what I'm most afraid of is not being a good enough EMT while starting in medic school.

Here's the thing. Unless you have money, you're going to have to work through school, which is at least a year. So add that year to whatever period of time you worked before starting school and and you'll have plenty of time to figure out how to be a basic. It's not rocket science. The principal factor that determines whether you're a good basic or a bad basic is desire to be good. It's not like is so hard that even if you want to be the best, the complexity still might overwhelm you. BLS pretty low on the brain buster scale.

So if you have a year and a half or two years to work on being a basic, and you want to do it well, you'll be fine.