Hey guys,
I'm currently a college student and want to take the EMS classes at Moreno Valley College. I have a few questions about the program:
How long was the program? (don't want to get too conflicted with this and schooling, if it's too much I'll see if they have the program for next summer)
Anyone that took it, what did they think of it?
Any other tips for the future?
I would stay away from any program that is ran that way. When I was in the police academy they run it boot camp style, but they do it for a reason. They want to induce a level of stress onto the recruit, since they can't shoot at you they induce physical stress. That said, the police academy is not that physically hard.
While EMT / Medic jobs are definately stressful, it is a different type of stress. There is absolutely NO point in running a school like a boot camp. The amount of knowledge and skills you need to learn is too important to be stressing kids out in a boot camp style school. I would be shocked if a college would even allow a program to be ran like that as there is too much liability. In the police academy it is very common to have recruits get injured due to the level of training.
If a program was ran like this I would run far, far away. This is a bunch of instructors who were probably picked on in their class or military and now want to show off by acting like a bunch of jerks. It doesn't make for good EMT's or Medics, and it doesn't increase professionalism. Even police academies have stopped acting like boot camps.
I took my EMT class through AMR. It was 280 hours (as opposed to the legally required 180) and was very good. If I were you I would look around. Maybe the AMR in your area offers a class. If not, maybe another ambulance or hospital does.
The problem with taking EMT through a college is you are on the College's schedule. Where my class was able to give us a longer class, almost 5 extra weeks, a college just can't do that due to their scheduling.
Look around see whats in your area. Wherever you take it, prepare for it to be a fast paced class, usually with a 100% attendence requirement. Lots of homework.
