Paramedic Students Unite!

[Bags]

Hi, I started my paramedic degree in Feb. It's a full time, three year course. Although I came into it as EMT B equivalent, EMT-B is not a pre requesite. We've already had 120hrs on the road and in ER. I'm lovin' it.

It's great to read about EMS on the other side of world.

Good luck all with your studies.

Bags

[Roughy78]

After two years of trying to get into a program, I start my first year of PCP right after labour day.

[FormerEMSLT297]

After two years of trying to get into a program, I start my first year of PCP right after labour day.

Ohh boy,, sounds more like medical school than Medic school.. why did it take so long?.. is this standard in Canada???

[Roughy78]

FormerEMSLT297,

I can't say what it is like in the rest of Canada, but where I am located, in southern Ontario, there is lots of competition for spots at many of the schools. My school, Conestoga College, takes 35 first year students out of more than 1000 applicants. There are other schools that are easier to get into though. I had to spend last year in a General Arts and Sciences program to upgreade my marks. Very few people get accepted to a program straight out of highschool. Everyone just seems to want in I guess 8) .

Roughy

[paccookie]

I'm an EMT-I student and also a pre-nursing student (at two different schools...man, that's fun! LOL). I'm in my first quarter of EMT classes and we just started a week ago, so we haven't really done much. I'm in my second year of pre-reqs for nursing, currently taking A&P I, Human Growth & Development, Medical Terminology, and US History to 1865, and I just finished a "first session" First Aid class. The nursing program is extremely difficult to get into, so I may continue on with paramedic classes if I don't get in for next fall. So far the EMT classes have been fun!

CG

[fiznat]

I started medic class in January of this year (06), been going since with A+P, Clinical sessions (ED, Pedi Clinics, OR for tubes, CICU, MSICU, CHF units, L+D, OBGYN, etc etc etc), and lots of lecture material. On November 12th we FINALLY get to start our ride-time, which we have all be eagerly awaiting this whole time. I absolutely cannot wait to get into the back of the truck and start learning how to do this with real hands-on practice. ...Also it feels good to be just about done with all of this. We are scheduled to take the National Registry practical exam on January 6th, 2007. We will be the first class in the nation to use the new computer-based testing for the written exam, too-- so hopefully we should all have our results by mid January. Wish me luck guys, I wish you all the same!

[Thunderchild145]

Started in August of this year. We've done dysrhythmia, parenteral medications, and A&P.

[Dustdevil]

That's good news, Fiznat! I hope it is all coming together smoothly for you. There is very definitely a bell curve in Paramedic school, and once you are over that hump, it is generally smooth sailing for most people. Good luck with your rides!

[T.summerville]

Is there really any difference (good or bad) between the courses that an agency (AMR) offers vs. the program that a college offers? I am looking at the program through San Antonio College because the credits will transfer if I decide to do something towards a Bachelor's later on. But for getting the bang for the buck AMR has a 5 month program and guaranteed employment for a year with them. I am planning on doing the EMS program through the college and taking it to Medic, but have been getting discouraged by the comments of not getting respect because of not having time in the field as a EMT first.

[Dustdevil]

Greetings, T. And welcome.

Both of those questions have been cussed and discussed at length here, on an almost daily basis. They are hot topics. By now, you have probably searched around the board a little and found some topics and posts that have been helpful to you. But here is the general (meaning applicable to most, but not all situations) consensus:

• 1. When it comes to education, more is better. In fact, anything that takes place in 5 months is not even education. It is just training. Training is for firemen and monkeys. Education is for medical professionals. Which do you want to be? There is your decision in a nutshell. If you are concerned about the level of respect you are going to have, then the answer is clear. You need more education, not less. Think about it. Who are you going to respect more; some slug who spent five years as an EMT (ambulance driver with a first aid card) and then five months learning monkey skills, or somebody who went in with determination from day one to become the best medic they could be, and spent two years doing it? It's a no brainer.

2. The theory that more experience as a basic ultimately makes you a better paramedic is a fallacy. A myth. An urban legend perpetuated by those who don't have enough education and exposure to the educational process to know any better. Mathematically, it doesn't even make any sense. Check the numbers. Candidate A spends two years as an EMT, then two years in medic school. At that point, he is still a rookie medic. Candidate B goes directly from EMT school to two years of paramedic school. After graduation, you are a rookie medic. Now, two years later, you have two years of paramedic experience, just the same as the guy who drove an ambulance for two years before medic school. He didn't become a better medic than you, and he didn't do it any faster than you.

• There is a lot of idiocy in EMS, and in EMS management. Consequently, there are a lot of poorly educated administrators still operating on old, disproven, and outdated theories because "that's the way we've always done it." But we are in the midst of a major era of change in EMS too. The old ways have yielded us piss poor results for thirty years now, and the intelligent and progressive leaders in this field have recognised that if we do what we have always done, we will get what we have always gotten, which is shite. Therefore, you will see (in any employer that is worth working for) a rapidly changing atmosphere where EDUCATION is king. Where EDUCATION is what is looked at, not how long you worked as an EMT because you lacked the professional dedication to improve yourself. Where the amount and quality of your education is valued more than how fast you got it done. We are rapidly moving away from being a "technical job" that people are "trained" to perform, to a medical PROFESSION where lengthy and in-depth EDUCATION is expected from each of us. Those with nothing more than a five month tech-school certificate will be relegated to the bottom rung of that career ladder. In fact, in a growing number of states, they are being excluded from the profession altogether. That is the coming trend.

It does not matter that the five-month wonder wears the same patch as the two-year professional. The patch does not make the man. We all know the difference between those two men, and it is significant. And anybody who believes that those extra hours of Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, Psychology, Sociology, Chemistry, Physics, Ethics, etc... do not make a difference in the quality of a paramedic is either fooling himself, or quite frankly an idiot. Or both.

Good luck, Man. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. You are about to take the first step into the profession. Make it the right step. Dedicate yourself today, 110 percent, to being absolutely the very best medic you can be, not the fastest. And that means getting into a two-year (minimum) paramedic school ASAP, and remembering every single day that somebody's life depends upon how well you do.