How did you study in Medic School?

pghmedic580

pghmedic580

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Hey everyone.

I start paramedic school in the next couple of weeks and I wanted to see what worked for others when it came to studying.

I am more of a visual learner and am in my late 30's. What worked for you?
-Making study guides?
-Listening and typing out your notes right after class?
-Watching Youtube videos?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
YouTube was a big help for me, but I'm in "that" generation. I typically learn by doing, not by hearing or seeing. So, for example, when talking about med math and dosages it was a huge help for me to have physical vitals and syringes in front of me.

Words on paper are pretty hard for me to absorb unless I can connect it to something. So I'd often try to find a case or something involving a topic I didn't understand to better help me see how it effects things.

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Constantly testing myself with practice questions helped me a lot. I also read the assigned material and spent time thinking about it. If something didn't make sense, I'd find someone who could explain it better than the books.
 
I took notes in class and tried to do as much of the workbook as possible. If I couldn't figure stuff in the workbook out I'd then refer back to the textbook.
 
Noted and drinking copious amounts of ETOH and running scenarios with classmates
 
For things like med math and skills I had to actually practice them many times. For patho I had to cover the topic several times. For me to really make sure I was able to grasp the concept I would have to teach it to someone else or at least put the topic into a teaching format.

I’ve said it before but make sure you laminate your notes so that your tears will just roll off the page and won’t smear the ink.
 
I had trouble remembering drug dosages, especially for drugs that had multiple doses for multiple uses. My solution for this was to record all of the drugs, indications, contraindications, doses, etc., and then I would play it as an ongoing loop whenever I was driving anywhere in the car.

Basically, paramedic school is very easy information given in huge chunks with a small amount of time to learn it. There's usually tons of resources, and learning the concepts or information isn't really the issue. The condensed time format is the issue. If you make good use of your time, you'll be fine.


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Course material to Anki notecards. It's a game changer.

I wrote about it in another thread:
Completely agree w/Gurby: Anki, Anki, Anki.

I didn't use it/didn't know about it/didn't need it for the Basic. Started using it about 1/3 of the way through paramedic & it's been a game changer.

I generally don't have a problem understanding the material in my paramedic class as it all does seem fairly straightforward (tho, to be fair, having taken a bunch of science courses previously does help), but Anki has been great in terms of being able to remembering material and being able to recall it quickly and easily.

There is a bit of a learning curve, but there's a bunch of tutorials online that are helpful. And there are additional add-ons/extensions that increase the kinds of cards you can make which is helpful (e.g. image occlusion, cloze deletion). And there are a bunch of keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to make cards more quickly.

Last time I checked, there weren't any pre-made EMT-Basic or EMT-Paramedic decks available, so I've been making my own cards as I go along. A pre-made deck would be nice to have as a reference against which to measure the deck that I've been making but I'm confident in what I've made so far.

It's free for desktop & android but the iPhone app is $24.99.
$24.99 is more than I've every paid for all the other apps I've ever used combined but it was worth every penny because it lets me review stuff all the time: waiting in line, while I'm waiting on a nurse for report, on public transit, etc. All those little chunks of time have added up.

I almost feel as if I have an unfair advantage compared to my peers who don't use Anki. I do tell everyone who asks but I have yet to see anyone I know pick up on it and start using it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯​
 
Study Guides, Flash Cards. (Also note: my education is an EMT, I didn't see the paramedic part.)
 
Thanks!!! I really appreciate it. I will check it out.

marian said:
Course material to Anki notecards. It's a game changer.

I wrote about it in another thread:
Completely agree w/Gurby: Anki, Anki, Anki.

I didn't use it/didn't know about it/didn't need it for the Basic. Started using it about 1/3 of the way through paramedic & it's been a game changer.

I generally don't have a problem understanding the material in my paramedic class as it all does seem fairly straightforward (tho, to be fair, having taken a bunch of science courses previously does help), but Anki has been great in terms of being able to remembering material and being able to recall it quickly and easily.

There is a bit of a learning curve, but there's a bunch of tutorials online that are helpful. And there are additional add-ons/extensions that increase the kinds of cards you can make which is helpful (e.g. image occlusion, cloze deletion). And there are a bunch of keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to make cards more quickly.

Last time I checked, there weren't any pre-made EMT-Basic or EMT-Paramedic decks available, so I've been making my own cards as I go along. A pre-made deck would be nice to have as a reference against which to measure the deck that I've been making but I'm confident in what I've made so far.

It's free for desktop & android but the iPhone app is $24.99.
$24.99 is more than I've every paid for all the other apps I've ever used combined but it was worth every penny because it lets me review stuff all the time: waiting in line, while I'm waiting on a nurse for report, on public transit, etc. All those little chunks of time have added up.

I almost feel as if I have an unfair advantage compared to my peers who don't use Anki. I do tell everyone who asks but I have yet to see anyone I know pick up on it and start using it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯​
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