Preparing for paramedic school

[CAOX3]

If it makes you feel any better mate I am spending my free time studying a basic chemistry book.

Yuk......

Van der Waals force thats about all I retained.

That was the worst five-hundred dollars my parents ever spent. :lol:

 

[themooingdawg]

thanks a lot. i hope to walk your path one day but after reading this thread i think i'm not ready to go through medic school. I still got a lot to see as an emt... and being employed in OC its hard to see the full spectrum of calls. mostly bls/cct/dialysis.

thanks again for starting this thread i will also started reading the texts you mentioned.

honestly, the faster you do medic school, the better, you dont wanna wait it out and take too long into going to medic school; do what cawolf is doing, and apply to medic school at mt.sac, im sure their precourse will be enough to educate you on the basis of a&p for paramedics, because what you havent seen yet, i guarantee you will see within the first couple days of your internship/clinicals in medic school

 

[Akulahawk]

I've had quite a bit of education along the way... and frankly, I thought that EMT was extremely easy. Actually, even Paramedic was not that difficult.

I think that A&P, Chemistry, Microbiology, Gen Psych, and some kind of statistics course would be a good foundation for going into Paramedic programs. Certainly, at least get A&P and Chemistry under the belt... even if your program doesn't require it. You'll have an easier time figuring out what's going on (and wrong) if you know what's normal to begin with.

 

[themooingdawg]

hey cawolf, how was the schedule for your pre course? I'm thinking about applying for it to take it and see what happens with that, but i wanna work while im taking that, if its possible

 

[Cawolf86]

hey cawolf, how was the schedule for your pre course? I'm thinking about applying for it to take it and see what happens with that, but i wanna work while im taking that, if its possible

Mt SACs pre-course is unique in that is in no means a prep course - if anything it shows you how under prepared you are. It consists of straight out testing and orientation for the medic class. It is an elimination process to choose the class. You can work during it thought, it only runs two full days a week. My pre-course was Mon and Weds though I think most of the time they run Weds and Sat.

On a side note, my preparation worked - I got in!

As another note - if you are taking it "just to see what happens" I can almost guarantee you will struggle. If you are going to put in the time, I would recommend doing it right - get the study packets and work your *** off up till the course starts and be successful the first time! There were people in the pre-course trying to get in for the third time. I guess it would give you a better idea of what to study....the majority of the people were there for a second time because they were under prepared the first time. Either way if you decide to go I would be glad to help you out.

-Andrew

 

[themooingdawg]

oh, its only 2 days a week.. that'll definitely be something to think about, I think i'll be readily prepared for it, already took a&p and med terminology, also have my acls and pals cert, i was waiting for saddlebacks.. but since they have a precourse going on in october i might try for that

 

[FoleyArtist]

updates?

CaWolf86 just curious hows everything doing? still in the program? finished with didactic?

its 2011 and i'm still on track to attend medic school this fall. Mt.sac vs. riverside comm. college.

still would like to know about Sacs course... so many more horror stories than sucess stories. nervous. ^_^

thanks

 

[Cawolf86]

Hey - old thread back to life! Medic school has been going well. I finished didactic with a lot of time and effort but I completed it - which made it all worth it. The class started with 25 and 13 finished to move onto clinical. Clinical was two months of free-time almost. I studied and had a pretty low-stress time getting my skills and assessment practice in.

I am currently three shifts into my field internship. This is a very challenging time as I have no fire experience and I am interning at LAFD. It is a great experience to have but it is very high stress and no free time.

Did you make a decision on what school you are going to?

 

[FoleyArtist]

Hey - old thread back to life! Medic school has been going well. I finished didactic with a lot of time and effort but I completed it - which made it all worth it. The class started with 25 and 13 finished to move onto clinical. Clinical was two months of free-time almost. I studied and had a pretty low-stress time getting my skills and assessment practice in.

I am currently three shifts into my field internship. This is a very challenging time as I have no fire experience and I am interning at LAFD. It is a great experience to have but it is very high stress and no free time.

Did you make a decision on what school you are going to?

great to hear. since the last post from last year i've been aiming for RCC, but up until recently i decided to reassess how i felt about mt.sac. its a lot closer, cheaper compared to RCC i believe, and all horror "stay away" stories aside Sac is known to churn out dialed medics.

whereas RCC i was all for it until i heard a story that a classmate's friend's personal account was "if you want to be a competent medic don't go to RCC. RCC will pass almost anybody." that didn't sit well with me. additionalyl i heard stories about riverside ems; fire medics clashing with private medics and medics clashing with ER RNs. doesn't sound healthy in promoting educational growth.

we'll see. i'm getting all my certs recerted so i can submit apps to mt sac and RCC. both have june dealines.

thanks again. good luck.

*oh, when you said interning with LAFD was challenging and you have no fire experience are you implying that you have no 911 prehospital experience as an EMT-B with an ambulance company?? if so i was wondering the same exact thing because my current experience is all IFTs. i do have an interview with CARE coming up so hopefully that may all change soon.

 

[Cawolf86]

Yes I had only IFT experience prior to paramedic school - and it is definitely a steeper learning curve in the field but nothing that should prevent you from passing. the LA city system is nice because the same dept is first in and transporting. Some students in my class are with AMR in Riverside though - so the chance of interning there is still possible even though Mt. SAC is a LA County school.

 

[backpeddler]

I would definitely say that if you plan or have any heart set on going to Mt.Sac, apply right now and get the packets that they give you; everything they say in the handouts are exactly what they mean, know and memorize everything that is in the curriculum/packets and the additional books they have you buy (math,a&p, and paramedic book). You might think you know the jist of it to pass, but the quizzes are extremely detailed in that you NEED to know exactly what the question is pertaining to. Mt. Sac is definitely no joke, but it also is doable. Like I said again, if you really have that feeling in yourself that you plan on going to Mt. Sac, get the required texts now and start studying it, and that really is the best way to succeed at sac.

 

[Rykielz]

Backpeddler did you have Steve Williams as your instructor?

 

[backpeddler]

Yeah, when i went, steve williams was the primary instructor for both EMS1 and EMS10, after that the lectures kinda broke off into multiple instructors. But i mean, Steve is always there though, always watching, haha

 

[Rykielz]

I was considering going to Mt. SAC when I was looking into the paramedic programs but ultimately I decided against it solely because of all the horror stories. To me, failing 10-15 students in didactic alone shows a deficiency in the instruction. Is it any better now?

 

[backpeddler]

you would be surprised actually what people fail on; its actually math and a&p that takes most people out, it has nothing to do with the lectures, its the simple stuff that alot of people overlook that get failed on. There are mandatory pass/fail tests in the actual program, like the drug calcs and what not, and thats what gets a good amount of people. And i mean it is what it is, they even tell you beforehand that you'll be doing alot of studying on your own, and i mean, its really no different from any other paramedic school, what you put in is what you get out of it.

 

[jgmedic]

great to hear. since the last post from last year i've been aiming for RCC, but up until recently i decided to reassess how i felt about mt.sac. its a lot closer, cheaper compared to RCC i believe, and all horror "stay away" stories aside Sac is known to churn out dialed medics.

whereas RCC i was all for it until i heard a story that a classmate's friend's personal account was "if you want to be a competent medic don't go to RCC. RCC will pass almost anybody." that didn't sit well with me. additionalyl i heard stories about riverside ems; fire medics clashing with private medics and medics clashing with ER RNs. doesn't sound healthy in promoting educational growth.

we'll see. i'm getting all my certs recerted so i can submit apps to mt sac and RCC. both have june dealines.

thanks again. good luck.

*oh, when you said interning with LAFD was challenging and you have no fire experience are you implying that you have no 911 prehospital experience as an EMT-B with an ambulance company?? if so i was wondering the same exact thing because my current experience is all IFTs. i do have an interview with CARE coming up so hopefully that may all change soon.

RCC will pass anyone? we started with 33,24 made it to field and I believe 20 or 21 made it through field. Here's the deal, RCC is not a hit 80% or you are done school, they offer remediation and do have more "chances" than most programs, but not to the point of any idiot passing. People who were doing this just for FD didn't make it and the people who somehow made it through didactic with the bare minimum didn't make it through field. There are a lot of extras with RCC(uniforms, community service, PT(kind of))but I know I heard before I went that they made you pick up trash on the freeway,which is true if you waited til the last minute to get your comm. svc hours, but I got mine by doing presentations at HS career nights or volunteering at Ronald McDonald House. I felt RCC was a good program, lots of mentoring, a very anti- "purple-box medic" program.


EDIT: I would also run screaming from any program that has you intern in LACo. Too many FD-games, terrible protocols, and along with OC, some of the most ***-backwards EMS in the US.

 

[Cawolf86]

you would be surprised actually what people fail on; its actually math and a&p that takes most people out, it has nothing to do with the lectures, its the simple stuff that alot of people overlook that get failed on. There are mandatory pass/fail tests in the actual program, like the drug calcs and what not, and thats what gets a good amount of people. And i mean it is what it is, they even tell you beforehand that you'll be doing alot of studying on your own, and i mean, its really no different from any other paramedic school, what you put in is what you get out of it.

What class were you in?

And as far as the school goes they recently made some changes which will make the testing better for the students.

 

[Icenine]

Throw that AAOS A&P book away!

Get yourself a decent book like Marieb and read it back to front, up and down and all around, then do it again.

The Lippincott 12 lead ECG book is also great, they have a red one and a brown one, get the brown one as it's better.

A basic chemistry book could also be useful

I'm not seeing red and brown. Is this maybe the latest edition?

http://www.lww.com/product/Only-EKG-Book-Youll-Ever-Need/?978-1-60547-140-2

 

[Phlipper]

Throw that AAOS A&P book away!

Get yourself a decent book like Marieb and read it back to front, up and down and all around, then do it again.

The Lippincott 12 lead ECG book is also great, they have a red one and a brown one, get the brown one as it's better.

A basic chemistry book could also be useful

+1 on the Marieb book. I used it as an adjunct to my A&P text (The AAOS A&P) and I find myself referencing it all the time now in medic school.

The Lippincott is the book I have for cardio as well. Very good.

 

[FoleyArtist]

RCC will pass anyone? we started with 33,24 made it to field and I believe 20 or 21 made it through field. Here's the deal, RCC is not a hit 80% or you are done school, they offer remediation and do have more "chances" than most programs, but not to the point of any idiot passing. People who were doing this just for FD didn't make it and the people who somehow made it through didactic with the bare minimum didn't make it through field. There are a lot of extras with RCC(uniforms, community service, PT(kind of))but I know I heard before I went that they made you pick up trash on the freeway,which is true if you waited til the last minute to get your comm. svc hours, but I got mine by doing presentations at HS career nights or volunteering at Ronald McDonald House. I felt RCC was a good program, lots of mentoring, a very anti- "purple-box medic" program.


EDIT: I would also run screaming from any program that has you intern in LACo. Too many FD-games, terrible protocols, and along with OC, some of the most ***-backwards EMS in the US.

thanks for the input. i am still putting RCC as my front runner for this fall. just gotta pass A&p this semester and renew my certs.

this thread is truly back from the dead