Advice on school

[LisaO925]

This is my second time taking EMT-B class. Because I was unable to complete my first time around, IM starting all over again, vaccinations / CPR cert, etc. Here is where I am torn. I want to be a Paramedic. The school that I am going to is a Jr. college that offers EMT-B then you can take the medic classes and graduate EMT-P with some field time. I was told years ago that paramedics hate it when a fresh paramedic graduates out of school with very little field time. So, I thought ok, I will stop after EMT-B, work in the field for a year, and then go back to school either while working, or quit working and go back. But I am seriously in doubt if I will be able to do that given that I do have two kids, a husband, animals , and will do whatever I can to be the best medic I can be. What would be the best option. Go straight through, and hit the ground running as a Paramedic. Or graduate as an EMT-B, get some field time, and cross my fingers and pray that I can complete work, family, and more school to then become a Paramedic about a year later?

Thank you

[Dustdevil]

Welcome to the forum.

This is the number one most commonly asked question at EMT City. Do a little searching around the "Students" forum and you will find it discussed exhaustively. The bottom line is that the most well educated and well experienced medics will tell you to go straight through and get a paramedic associates degree without stopping for experience. Doing otherwise makes about as much sense as taking a two year break between middle school and high school. It's retarded. Anybody who tells you different is either an idiot, a jerk trying to make you "pay dues" like they did, or somebody who simply has no intelligent understanding of educational theory.

About the only real reason at all to "get experience" before medic school is if you are not completely convinced that EMS is what you really want to do for a career. In that case, then a little exposure can help you decide before wasting too much money. However, remember, you're still wasting time. Might as well be getting some college credit for that wasted time, even if you decide against an EMS career.

Any EMT "experience" you get will NOT be helpful to you as a paramedic student. It doesn't give you a head start. It doesn't help you understand advanced medical theory. It will only give you a bunch of bad habits and half-baked ideas that will ultimately interfere with your professional development. Yes, you will come out of paramedic school still needing to learn a bit about field operations (not medical operations) that somebody who has been a basic will already know. But that takes about three months, not a year. And a year after graduation, they will be no better than you are, and they wasted a year that you didn't.

No other medical profession encourages their people to get "experience" before their education. That's because it's a stupid idea. While EMS runs their "educational" process like a series of increasingly harder first aid courses, every other medical profession actually educates based on sound educational theory. Think about it; practising a job before acquiring an educational foundation is back-asswards. It makes no sense, and slows down your development.

Don't give it another moment's thought. Go straight through, giving 110 percent to a quality, degree education, and then start practising only after you have that foundation to build upon. THAT is how you can be the very best medic you can be.

Best of luck!

[BushyFromOz]

Ha! you know i was going to answer this thread a couple of hours ago, but stopped as i figured dusty needed to exercise his leg 8)

[LisaO925]

Its my job as a newbie, to be annoying. IM happy to see IM off to a good start j/k

Actually, I've been flipping around here and there so much, I got overwhelmed, and I didnt think to look to see if it had been asked before. I will next time look first, before posting.

Thank you for your reply, again....

[ERDoc]

I think Dust pretty much sumed it up. If someone gives you the BS about needing experience before becoming a medic, ask them why doctors aren't PAs first.

[LisaO925]

I think Dust pretty much sumed it up. If someone gives you the BS about needing experience before becoming a medic, ask them why doctors aren't PAs first.

At the time, I was just someone (kinda like now, just older) who was trying to learn everything and anything. Guess I just need to figgure out what and who to listen to, about what, and when. As if school isnt hard enough..lol

[ERDoc]

At the time, I was just someone (kinda like now, just older) who was trying to learn everything and anything. Guess I just need to figgure out what and who to listen to, about what, and when. As if school isnt hard enough..lol

Always listen to the doctor (ask your mother, she'll tell you the same thing). When I'm not around, listen to Dust.

[AZCEP]

Dust and ERDoc are absolutely correct with their advice.

Allow me to provide an alternative. You say you are enrolled at a junior college, and the paramedic program is held there as well. Would it be feasible for you to obtain an associate's degree from this institution? If so, you might consider pursuing the degree requirements after your basic class.

You would be furthering your base of knowledge, and getting a feel for what the EMS systems in your area are like, while obtaining something that will be useful as a new paramedic. If the degree is not an option, enroll in the first paramedic program that comes available from an accredited source.

[p3medic]

ERDoc and Dust are of the school of thought that there is no need for working in a BLS capacity before ALS. I'm not so sure I agree. The analogy of a doctor not working as a PA or nurse first is a poor one. A doctor is afforded years of clinical experience during school, and a several year residency prior to being "on their own." Same with a nurse, very lengthy clinical experience during the education process. If your medic school provides extensive clinicals, and extensive field internship (not a couple of weeks riding "3rd" I would agree, however I don't believe many medic programs provide enough field time to make the provider proficient, and a classroom is no substitute. So, I would recommend getting some BLS experience with living patients with numerous pathologies that you can do assessment, take vitals and history on prior, UNLESS your program can provide you with a complete and lengthy field preceptorship, IMHO.

[mobey]

I'm with the Doc and Dust on this one.

The point I make is that BLS and ALS are two completly different entities. As an ALS provider you will find your approach to patients and EMS is completely different. You stop looking at patients an a human and start looking at them as a series of complicated systems.

As BLS when you see a short of breath Pt, you put on oxygen because that's what you were taught. As an ALS provider thoughts run through your mind of the Acid - Base balance and pics of the oxygen dissociation curve come to mind as you apply oxygen.

OK bad example... The point I am trying to make is there is nothing in the field that will prepare you for the education you are about to recieve in ALS school. Everyone will tell you to work BLS to learn good assesment before going paramedic but it's a crock! The way a Paramedic assesses is far beyond the mind of an EMT-B. Why do you think Paramedics forget what nmonics stand for all the time. I mean do you really think they ask Provocation because it is in the nmonic OPQRS? A Paramedics assessment is a step in a long treatment algorithm, that's something that is far beyond the realm of a BLS EMT.

And in reality what "skills" does BLS have that will take a year or two to perfect? splinting? Oxygen administration? Oral glucose use? come on!!