Floridastudent

That is a concern - here in Florida as well as in New York. I always thought that healthcare was the safe fallback career, you can always get a healthcare job - ha. I am sure there are more jobs in healthcare than there are in a lot of other fields - but also a lot more people competing for each job these days, as EVERYBODY floods into healthcare. What about nursing? Does the job market seem better for that in NYC?

I hear ya. The reason we'd move to New York is to get the in state tuition. Other than that, I'm fine with having her go to college wherever she wants. She's been obsessed with going to college in NYC for years, and I'm fine with that. Once I moved there' I'd assess things, and after she got her one year of residency, I'd decide if I wanted to work and live in NY forever or if the high rents eat up too much of the higher salary. (Florida salaries are really low but rent is cheap.)

Yes indeedy! Are you taking it at the Sanford Campus?

That is certainly a possibility! I guess I could use my mother's address here in Florida. I am cutting and pasting all this great information! Thank you! Middle Village looks very promising, and even relatively affordable. So is there much EMT work available out in the boroughs or would I most likely need to commute in?

That is GREAT info! Thank you, I really appreciate it. Wow, the salaries in NYC are way higher than they are here in Florida. Of course so is the rent. I may just ditch my beloved vehicle when I move to NYC - I don't think I could afford a parking space. I went to NYU way back when, still visit friends in the city from time to time, and as I recall - parking is a beeyotch, traffic is awful, etc. If you were going to pick a borough to live in, taking schools into consideration, which would you pick?

Nobody? There MUST be some NY paramedics or EMTs on here!?

I am living in FLorida, but my teenage daughter wants to go to college in New York so among the things I am considering is relocating to New York State. (I'm now a CNA and am taking an EMT course starting in January). I'd love to hear from anyone who works in New York state about paramedic/emt working conditions, salary, job opportunities, etc. I'd consider anywhere in the state.

You are AWESOME! Thank you so much.

The CNA agencies I called require that I take CEUs in domestic violence, HIV, Alzheimer's and medication assistance. I googled it, and there are a lot of choices online, hard to tell what's good and what's not. Any idea where to take these CEU classes either in the Orange County/Seminole/Osceola area, or online? Also how do I ensure that these classes are state-approved?

In Florida technically you don't have to take any class at all - you can just go challenge it. However I don't see how you could pass the test without the class - there are a lot of very specific things that you need to do, which aren't necessarily how you would do it once you get hired at a nursing home, but which are required for the test. The short classes that I'm talking about are just classes that help you pass the state-required test. You go through the steps of each skill, either on a fellow classmate or on the dummy (perineal care and catheter care come to mind. Ha ha, our female dummy had a strip of velcro on the front of her crotch where one could velcro on male genitalia. No-one made immature jokes about THAT. Anyhoo...) The local community colleges, and plenty of other schools, offer courses of varying lengths for patient care technician.

Well, where are you located? Orlando has a number of CNA classes within driving distance. There are also two-weekend versions of the class. The one week version is 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Costs about $300. I think the two weekend version one is both Saturday and Sunday, for two weekends. The CNA class itself probably wouldn't help you much on BSN application, but if you get your CNA license and work even part time, that gives you some healthcare experience. And when I talked to the admissions people at several nursing schools they said that one of the things that helps an applicant is prior healthcare experience. Also of course - once you go apply for a job - it doesn't hurt to have references from the place you worked as a CNA. And that place might even hire you as a nurse. The 16 week programs probably include phlebotomy and EKG, which the one week programs don't have. Not a bad idea to have those two skills!

VERY good points! That is true about CNA turnover - every CNA student I met plans on becoming a nurse or PA or some other medical specialty - nobody wants to earn $9 an hour forever. One question though - don't hospitals employ their own paramedics and/or EMTs? When my diabetic son had low-blood sugar seizures last year, and the local Fire Department ambulance took him to the closest hospital, I am pretty sure it was a hospital ambulance that took him to Arnold Palmer hospital afterwards. Although it was the middle of the night and my brain was somewhat fuzzy at that point.

My only concern with getting a CNA job these days is that hospitals and nursing homes and even some agencies say they want at least a year's experience. I have none. The job market is so competitive that tons of unemployed people out there are rushing into the CNA field and competing for a chance to change poo-covered sheets. You should have seen the week-long CNA class I took; every class they offer is jam packed! I would LOVE to get in to a hospital because it would give me such great connections in the medical field, so when I start applying next week, I will certainly apply to the two local hospital systems here, and maybe Seminole as well - I'm not that far. Next semester, when I take my EMT course and do clinicals at the hospitals in Seminole, I can always try again if I don't get in the first time. In the meantime there is at least one agency where they aren't asking for experience, so I'll apply there too. I am just so happy to have a usable job skill again! Worked as a newspaper reporter since 1990 - have a B.A. in journalism - that and $5 bucks will get me a Frappucino at starbucks. (Updated version of "That and 10 cents will get me a cup of coffee.) And thanks for the good wishes, everyone! Now I have to write up a resume with 18 years of non-health care related experience and try to make it look good.

Well, I passed the CNA exam this afternoon, anyway. Not hired anywhere yet. My first step into the healthcare field! Now I just have to find a place in Orlando that will hire me with no prior health care experience.

Yes, I was born in New York. I'm in my mid-40s. Maybe I had a worse reaction than usual to the vaccine? Yep, I was thinking that. Would it be bad to show up on my first day in a haz-mat suit? "Excuse me, you expect me to touch patients with nothing but gloves on? Ewwwww, cooties!!"

So I have a funky kidney-bean shaped scar on my arm for nothin'? Well, I have till January before the program starts and actually we don't do clinicals for the first month anyway, so just as a precaution I'll get updated with all of the shots mentioned here and I'll get a TB test.

I got my other degree in the 1980s (when I was, er, 10. Yeah, 10, that's the ticket.) Good tip about getting titers checked. I'm sure all of my past immunizations have long since lost their effectiveness.

woot woot! I'm in! I was accepted into next semester's EMT program at my community college! (Pending my criminal background check, but I'm pretty sure I haven't committed any major felonies and then forgotten about it. Fairly sure. College was kind of a blur...) So, couple of questions - 1.) Since I'm doing clinicals and ridealongs, what shots/immunizations should I get as a precaution? 2.) How do you all make sure you don't wreck your backs? I'm headed over to the gym today to start working out again and when I'm there I'm going to ask the trainers for some good back strengthening exercises. 3.) Any other advice?

You are so awesome for suggesting that! I will most definitely look into it! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to end up as a PA with a specialty in emergency medicine. However, I'm not even going to think about it for the next few years as I get my various science classes out of the way, get healthcare experience as either a CNA or EMT or both, etc. From what I gather, even if I COULD go to a PA program without health care experience, it's not a great idea and would be doing a disservice to my patients. Nurse Practitioner is also a possibility. But again - years in the future.

Here's another one - Physician Assistant - recently a Yahoo article talked about how it is a two year program! HA!!!!! Ha, I say. I hope to go to a PA program some time in the future. But here is the reality: yes, it is a two year program. But first, you have to have about 2 to 3 years of prerequisites, and then you have to have PAID healthcare experience in most cases - some require 2000 hours minimum - and your grades better be EXCELLENT and you will be competing against a lot of other very well qualified people. So when an article says that after a two year program, you can earn $75 an hour, they are really doing a dis-service to the field.

I would rather take a different psychology class than developmental psychology, that's all. Developmental psych involves a lot of memorization of the early-childhood theories of Freud and Jung - Oedipus complex, anyone? - and I'm not entirely convinced that it will help me with emergency medicine. It's probably helpful in other fields of medicine. I am LOVING my medical terminology class, though. I find it fascinating. I am going to go study pee now. Or rather, the kidneys and urinary bladder. Quick, who knows what a Bowman Capsule is?

The "two-year associates in nursing" is a myth. There are at least two years of pre-requisites BEFORE you can apply, at least with all of the two year programs that I checked. And that's not necessarily a bad thing; I'd rather have a better educated nurse. I would not like it if someone with a high school diploma could go to school for two more years and become an RN. And most of the pre-req's make sense. I'm not crazy about having to take developmental psychology, but whatever. A&P I & II, biology, nutrition...not bad things to know as a nurse. It's just a drag for me, in my mid-40s, to have to take all these courses and completely reinvent myself after decades in the journalism field. But what can you do - I can sit here and cry about it while going broke, or I can go take the classes I need and get a job.

I would definitely be interested in an accelerated bsn - heck, one year to a BSN would be AWESOME - although I do worry about how competitive those programs are. Tons of people applying for limited seats. I guess I could just apply to all of them in Florida and see where I get accepted. My current grades are all A's; back when I got my B.A. in Journalism my GPA was horrible, like a C average. Hopefully they would look at my current science & math classes, see that I now get all A's, and I could plead my case. Are you going for the BSN yourself?

All of your advice is great. My best option at this point is to explore a LOT of options and also to see what happens once I get hired as a CNA and take EMT class. That will get me in the door at hospitals/nursing homes/LTC facilities, and I can see if any of them help with tuition too.

I am in Orlando. Taking classes at Seminole CC. Here are UCF's pre-req requirements for accelerated 2nd bachelor's degree - I have general psych, I have sociology, don't have anything else. And since I am in basic algebra this semester, I think to take statistics, I need at least one more algebra class first. So my concern there - that's a good year and a half of pre-req's, maybe two. Then I would need to apply to a super competitive second BSN program - way more people applying then there are seats. If I did get into a one year BSN program, I guess I could just borrow money - assuming I qualify - for student loans for living expenses, and then graduate with a lot of debt (but a valuable degree). But it's an option! I will definitely consider it as I check out various programs. Again - the appeal of the LPN program I want is that it's first-come first serve, so I could definitely get in, and it's part time so I could work while I was in there. I will go talk to the program directors at the Accelerated 2nd BSN program, just to see what my chances are and my financial aid options are. General Chemistry with lab Microbiology with lab Human Anatomy* Human Physiology* General Psychology** Group B C (2.0) 3hrs General Sociology STA 2014 or STA 2023 Principles of Statistics** DEP 2004 Developmental Psychology HUN 3011 Human Nutrition