Working during school

[Marcus Howard]

Hello all,

I posted recently about "what to expect going into paramedic school" and I would also like to ask about working during paramedic school. I am wondering if it would be for my best interest to still be looking for EMT jobs during school, or would it be best to keep the part time job I have now. Some benefits I currently have is:
1. my employer is flexible with my schedule
2. I get paid a very good amount (probably equivalent to an EMT job)
3. I have a middle management position.

With all that being said, I would like your opinions to see if I should risk leaving that job for an EMT job. I do understand that working in EMS would get me better experience and feel for the field.

Regards,

Marcus Howard

 

[Gurby]

I actually had written up a post for your last thread, but just deleted it instead of posting...

But yes, I think it's extremely important to have at least SOME experience as an EMT-B before going out into the field as a medic. It would be good to have at least a few full-time months' worth of experience (IE if you work part time throughout medic school, I think that should be enough if you're a quick learner). You want to be comfortable operating the stretcher, stair chairing, giving triage/radio reports, operating the radio without sounding like an idiot, checking pulses and auscultating BP's, etc.

Medics often need to fill a leadership role and everyone looks to them to get **** done. If you're fumbling around with the bags or tripping over your words on the radio, nobody is going to respect you. That's the big thing. People kind of groan and roll their eyes when you're a new EMT-B, but I think it would be really painful being a medic with no prior EMS experience (at least in my system).

 

[hogwiley]

It really depends on your financial situation and whether you can get an EMT gig that's flexible but still pays the bills(not easy). Just keep in mind Paramedic school is stressful and time consuming, so you have to weigh the benefits of EMT experience with the added stress of starting a new job. When you are in Medic school you can use classmates who are working the road to network, and find out who is good to work for while going through Medic.

 

[joshrunkle35]

Well, I think some experience before medic school can be helpful, but during medic school won't really matter. You'll already be spending all of your time on a rig, in the classroom and in the hospital. You won't need any extra time. You'll learn those lessons during your ride times anyhow.

Where I live, EMTs make minimum wage or a dollar or two higher. If you make more than that, you should keep your current job.

I had zero experience before medic school and I was upfront about it during school and people were fine with it. I had zero work experience in EMS coming out of school and I was upfront about it and got a job in it just fine. None of the Basics trusted me (especially the experienced ones) for about the first 3 months, until I had run calls with all of them and they saw that I could do the job on scene and handle it well. After that, no one gave a crap.

 

[Tigger]

I despise few things more than salty basics talking crap about how they don't trust green medics. News flash bro, they have an education behind them, you don't...

 

[STXmedic]

I despise few things more than salty basics talking crap about how they don't trust green medics. News flash bro, they have an education behind them, you don't...

Amen. I got a kick out of the guy yesterday talking about taking control of the patient from his medic partner. Yeah, good luck with that...

 

[hogwiley]

Operating the stretcher? How long did that take you to figure out as a Basic exactly? I did something like 300 hours of ALS ambulance time as a Medic student counting my internship, and that's pretty close to the norm I think. Exactly how much time do you think it would take a Medic student with no EMT experience to figure out how to use a stair chair, or give a radio report, or check a pulse and blood pressure(add another 300 hours of hospital time for a medic student to master those EMT "skills").
Really, if a medic student cant figure that **** out in hundreds of hours of ambulance and hospital time, they will have far bigger problems as a Medic than just fumbling with a stair chair. In fact its pretty unlikely theyd ever become a Medic. I say this as someone who had a few years of EMT experience before Medic school, and found that experience largely irrelevant. Im not trying to hate on EMTs, I was one up until a week ago, but lets be realistic here.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Operating the stretcher? How long did that take you to figure out as a Basic exactly? I did something like 300 hours of ALS ambulance time as a Medic student counting my internship, and that's pretty close to the norm I think. Exactly how much time do you think it would take a Medic student with no EMT experience to figure out how to use a stair chair, or give a radio report, or check a pulse and blood pressure(add another 300 hours of hospital time for a medic student to master those EMT "skills").
Really, if a medic student cant figure that **** out in hundreds of hours of ambulance and hospital time, they will have far bigger problems as a Medic than just fumbling with a stair chair. In fact its pretty unlikely theyd ever become a Medic. I say this as someone who had a few years of EMT experience before Medic school, and found that experience largely irrelevant. Im not trying to hate on EMTs, I was one up until a week ago, but lets be realistic here.

It will depend on your area. In my almost 600 hours of paramedic internship do you know how many times I have operated the gurney? 0 times (it's company policy). How many times I have used the stair chair? 1 times (once again I just had to watch).

Heck during internship I have taken a manual BP once (thank you NiBP).

Also the amount of hours will vary by state. We do 164 clinical hours and 600-720 field hours.

 

[Charcoal717]

Possibly get on with a smaller squad and be completely up front about your experience. I would say paying the bills would be an issue. If you can't afford that, school may take the back burner. I believe you can do anything if you have the motivation behind it, just might take some sacrifices in the short term. Good luck with school, sounds like you're making progress towards your goal. Personally, I would look for a PRN / Casual position like some around my area that would help you to build up your run experience. Not sure what your area offers though.

 

[EMT11KDL]

Hello all,

I posted recently about "what to expect going into paramedic school" and I would also like to ask about working during paramedic school. I am wondering if it would be for my best interest to still be looking for EMT jobs during school, or would it be best to keep the part time job I have now. Some benefits I currently have is:
1. my employer is flexible with my schedule
2. I get paid a very good amount (probably equivalent to an EMT job)
3. I have a middle management position.

With all that being said, I would like your opinions to see if I should risk leaving that job for an EMT job. I do understand that working in EMS would get me better experience and feel for the field.

Regards,

Marcus Howard

It is always a good idea to look for work in EMS. Some agencies will bring you on as a Basic, and once you get your medic, they will promote you into a paramedic slot.

It is possible to work during P school, but it can be difficult especially when you start your Rotations because of the time that is required for that. Also studying takes a good amount of your time. I worked full time in EMS (48 hour shift) while going through P school. You just have to dedicate time for studying during your off time. And the further you get into your program, the more time you will need for that. I am not sure what you mean by a very good amount that is equivalent to an EMT job, most EMT-basics make between 8-12 and hour, depending on your exact location and if you're IFT or 911 Fire or 911 EMS.

Working in EMS will help you with school, just because you get to see and put hands on patients. If your with a BLS agency it will help some, if your with ALS agency it well help more, because you do learn in the field and it will help with understanding how to do patient assessments. The more you do something, the more it becomes muscle memory. Also working on an ALS rig, you get to put hands on Medications, so during your rig check, take each med out, and tell your self dosing, contra-indications, indications, type of medication it is, and how it works. Also on an ALS rig, you can ask you medic to let you look at 12 leads after the call, and go through them, just like medications, the more 12 leads you look at the better you will get to understanding and being able to read them. But do not do this until you have learned the basics on how to read them, you do not want to get bad habits.

There were a handful of students in my paramedic class that have not worked on a rig before they went to P school, and they were able to get through the class just fine.