New EMT student. Any advice/tips?

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Lizard531

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I just registered for an EMT Program yesterday through a hospital near me. Any advice? Things I should maybe read up on before I start. I have orientation next month. Also I have no prior medical knowledge.

Anyone else in Michigan?

Any advice is appreciated!! Thanks :)
 
Get your EMT book and start reading it before class starts. Also look up some medical terminology (superior, inferior, lateral, medial, distal, proximal, etc)
 
DesertEMT66 said:
Get your EMT book and start reading it before class starts. Also look up some medical terminology (superior, inferior, lateral, medial, distal, proximal, etc)
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^ This. This will save your life. Always try to be a chapter or two or three ahead of your class.
 
What helped me most was keeping what I studied simple. The first day of class I tried taking notes and that was the last day I did. Afterwards I highlighted everything I needed in the book since our powerpoints were the exact same information. Some basic A&P will help, but a lot of what you will learn is easy to pick up as the class goes if you put the work in.
 
Since you do not have any medical knowledge, you should crack open your book and start learning human anatomy. Get ahead in the reading. Learn the vocabulary and outline the chapters before class. Be prepared before each class so the only notes you need to take will be anything that your instructor explicitly says to write down or some tid bit that you may have missed when reading. Always go back and review your notes or skim previous chapters, the course is culmative, so don't let things fade into the background of he current topic.
 
Your exams are likely to be scenario-based questions and test your ability to know which action to perform first. That always tripped people up in my class. I'd recommend that when taking those exams just remember your ABC's.
 
Thanks for the advice! I am still waiting on my letter that has all the info about what book I need and all that stuff so I don't have my book yet. As soon as I do though I will definitely start reading it!!
 
Scenarios get a lot of people and even I had a rough start with them. Being good at them though significantly helped my overall grade though. Our final was 200 questions and a lot of those were scenarios. That really separated who had gotten things down and who didn't, there were some pretty poor grades.
 
Learn as much of the anatomy, terminology and common abbreviations as you can before you start.

During college courses, I take notes, as the lecture provides information for tests. My EMT was not that way. The book explained things in very lengthy terms. The class time explained general overviews of the information and gave specific info on any tough concepts or methodology. The class also had fun/funny stories to help newcomers begin to enjoy EMS, because the books are never funny. Class time also highlighted very serious stuff like bad decisions that get people fired or worse.

I chose to study hard at home, during homework time, and took the classroom much more informally as more of a "summary" of the concepts behind specific ideas.
 
Lizard531 said:
I just registered for an EMT Program yesterday through a hospital near me. Any advice? Things I should maybe read up on before I start. I have orientation next month. Also I have no prior medical knowledge.

Anyone else in Michigan?

Any advice is appreciated!! Thanks :)
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I am in the middle of class right now and like someone said, if you can keep a chapter or two ahead, you will be good. Every test we have, I find answers on the next weeks reading. I was a big note taker but have a problem doing it at the same time as reading so I would have to go through chapters twice. The pace of these programs usually doesn't allow the time for that if you have any sort of life outside of school (work, family, etc.) Yes, anatomy and terminology is big. The biggest thing I am seeing with our class right now is some people are having difficulty remembering the sequence and actions of patient assessment so become familiar with that as it is a basis for everything else.

I could go on but these are some things I wish I had learned before class.

Good Luck and Have Fun!
 
For scenarios, there's a thread in this forum that goes through them. Every body can respond. I found them helpful as far as learning went. Just reading and observing. You might, as well. Because it's true. A lot of your exams will be about 85% scenario questions. And they're tricky.
Learn what the book says is procedure. Because sometimes the questions aren't always what your book says. Especially the "What should you do FIRST" questions. If you know your book like the back of your hand, you can challenge the questions you get wrong if your book and the test say different.
That's not to say real life and your book go hand in hand. Sometimes real life is more in line with what the test said to do.
You'll figure it out. It's not as scary as it all seems. You just have to be dedicated to learning EMT.
Because as I have heard numerous times throughout my schooling, "No one is going to spoon-feed you anything."
 
I found that being a volunteer at a local ambulance worked to my advantage while I attended EMT school. I don't know what the EMS System is like near your neck of the woods but experience can be useful.
 
Getting your text early is fantastic advice. I teach in a college setting. We have mandatory information sessions for students prior to admission to our program. I tell every prospective student this. I will even tell them what will be covered the first two weeks of class and the assignments that will be tasked. Those that are proactive will complete the program successfully.

The number one thing I pass to potential students though is to start studying Pathophysiology as soon as you can. A solid grasp of patho will vastly enhance your critical thinking skills. Immature critical thinking skills is the pitfall of most students and most (if not all) that fail do not develop critical thinking. Understanding pathophysiology will help you understand what's going on with the body and guide you in your treatment of said body. I spend 12-16 hours on just pathophysiology in my EMT classes compared to 2 hours the canned lesson plans recommend.
 
smurfe said:
Getting your text early is fantastic advice. I teach in a college setting. We have mandatory information sessions for students prior to admission to our program. I tell every prospective student this. I will even tell them what will be covered the first two weeks of class and the assignments that will be tasked. Those that are proactive will complete the program successfully.

The number one thing I pass to potential students though is to start studying Pathophysiology as soon as you can. A solid grasp of patho will vastly enhance your critical thinking skills. Immature critical thinking skills is the pitfall of most students and most (if not all) that fail do not develop critical thinking. Understanding pathophysiology will help you understand what's going on with the body and guide you in your treatment of said body. I spend 12-16 hours on just pathophysiology in my EMT classes compared to 2 hours the canned lesson plans recommend.
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Is there any specific resource/text you recommend for starting on pathophysio? Thanks for the advice!
 
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