romee

Mike, first of all this is another Mike who happens to be a medic in San Diego. I briefly skimmed over the other responses to your question & request for advice. I would concur with some of the views of others that getting into a Fire Department can be a challenge but if that is where your focus is then definitely go for it. With that being said, the trend for the past 5 years or so has been that people go to medic school to be "more eligible" to get hired by a Fire Department. Well, that trend has proved to be faulty in some regards and slowly but surely the before-mentioned trend has started to be reversed. Long story short, if you want to be a medic to actually BE A MEDIC then stay with that focus & I am here to tell you that both AMR & Rural Metro in San Diego are ALWAYS looking to hire medics on the private sector side. It's just a matter of a little timing. I am a product of both agencies with my current employer being Rural who just happens to be the 911 provider in the City of San Diego. It's really an awesome system to work in. You're correct in the amount of schooling that you mentioned but I do need to mention this.....if you want to be a GOOD medic you have to be a GOOD to GREAT EMT first. Whatever you decide on doing, for the sake of your future patients & partners & mostly YOURSELF, don't rush going to Paramedic school just to be a MEDIC. Trust me, you'll know what I'm talkin' about somewhere down the road. Good luck in your endeavors. ROMEE

Jenny74, this is Mike in San Diego. Cardiology was tough for me also in school but EKG stuff just comes with repitition. There are so many books out there available but the best ones are the ones that basically simplify the instruction. Long story short, sorry too late, is ask your instructors for "rules" to go by. Things like regular vs. irregular, fast vs. slow, rhythms that have p-waves vs. ones that don't. National registry testing doesn't go into j-points and u-waves. I hope this helps but if it doesn't I do have a couple resources that I continue to use even today. Google "online EKG rhythm interpretation" You'll get it, hang in there. I 'll check for reply in a couple days. -Mike