How long to wait to become a Medic

[racing-emt03]

Do what you want. Ignore all the ones that have experience and posted.

If you don't want advice don't ask. The fight is not a fight it is each person backing the reason he feels so strongly one way or the other. If you can't handle the heat in the forum you'll never survive in the field.

I am a state certified firefighter-emt, rescue technician, and haz-mat tech... so heat aint an issue

[brentoli]

I am a state certified firefighter-emt, rescue technician, and haz-mat tech... so heat aint an issue

[spenac]

I am a state certified firefighter-emt, rescue technician, and haz-mat tech... so heat aint an issue

Then why in hell are you whining like a baby. You are getting peoples opinions. People are fighting to show why their opinion is the best choice. You should be happy that so many people cared enough to give you advice on a subject that has been dealt with many times. With your current attitude wish it would have just been left at do a search dude.

And your FF credentials impress no one. Many of us have been involved in fire as well and many have been smart enough to get of the fire :wink: .

A few points that will make your stay at the city more pleasant. 1. Always use spell check. 2. If you ask a question don't take offense at the answers you get. 3. Express your opinions but do so respectfully. 4. Don't demand respect or throw credentials to get respect, earn it by contributing intelligent discourse.

[akroeze]

[Dustdevil]

...your FF credentials impress no one. Many of us have been involved in fire as well and many have been smart enough to get of the fire :wink: .

You have to read between the lines of his chest-beating. I notice he says he's state certified, but nothing about gainful employment. What he means is, "I've spent a lot of time and money buying certifications, but still nobody will hire me, so I think I should buy a paramedic cert next."

well, none of these really answered my question, this has become a place for shameless bickering. well, nevermind I will ask someone else this question

You've got to be shitting me. In addition to all the other replies, you got a dozen direct answers to your question in the first 24 hours. :?

I think what you are saying is, "Well, I didn't get the answer I wanted to hear, so I'll keep asking around til I hear what I want to hear." That must be it, because you absolutely got a very complete answer, as well as a critical discussion of the answer to help you evaluate it.

Don't let the door hit you in the arse, ingrate. :roll:

[Dustdevil]

Fiz, you have a couple of very valid observations. Unfortunately, you are doing the math incorrectly, resulting in incorrect conclusions from those observations.

Yes, attitude, maturity, and commitment are extremely important factors in the professional growth of a provider. No doubt about it. But you list these things as if it is an either/or situation. It is not. Just like you say that you can't just be educated and be an exceptional professional without those other factors, the reverse is also true. You can't be a well intentioned, mature provider with a good attitude and expect that to contribute anything to your foundation of medical knowledge. It doesn't. BOTH are necessary. Think about how much better those guys you talk about would be if they actually had a solid understanding of anatomy and physiology, pharmacology beyond Nancy Caroline's cartoon characters, and human psycho-social factors, instead of just the DOT minimums. It doesn't matter how smart and mature you are, or how great your attitude is. It does not, and cannot compensate for a lack of knowledge. Knowledge from education. It takes all of these factors for excellence. And anybody who is not committed to being the very best they can be, through achieving as much education as they can achieve, is seriously lacking in attitude, maturity, and professionalism.

You have to stick to apples vs. apples comparisons. You have to compare providers that are equal in all respects except for education, and then ask, which one is better? There is no other possible answer to that question than the obvious; he with the most education wins.

I wouldn't ever hire anybody who thought he was just so smart that he didn't need all that book learnin, which is exactly what you seem to be saying. I really don't understand how this doesn't register with you. But then again, it almost sounds like you do understand it. You're just trying to rationalise mediocrity for some reason. It makes you look silly. I know you're smarter than that.

[fiznat]

I wouldn't ever hire anybody who thought he was just so smart that he didn't need all that book learnin, which is exactly what you seem to be saying. I really don't understand how this doesn't register with you. But then again, it almost sounds like you do understand it. You're just trying to rationalise mediocrity for some reason. It makes you look silly. I know you're smarter than that.

I guess we're both sorta saying the same thing, but from different angles. I feel that people who respect the job do well because they are self driven and seek out ways to be the best they can be. The part I ignored is that these people often choose to better themselves through education: a smart choice on their part.

What I wanted to point out was the people who have college educations and various other educational experiences, and then seem to toss an EMT or medic cert into there as if it were something to brag about. Just because these people are educated does not mean they will be good providers. Excellence requires not only education, but education for the right reasons- if that makes sense. Simply passing classes is not enough, I've found that it really matters whether people care about why those classes are important.

This relates back to the original discussion because I don't believe that piling up college credits is the shortest (or best) path to good paramedicine. I feel like a solid EMT experience reinforces for would-be medics the real reasons why we do this job, why education is important, and gives us reasons to be as good as we can be.

That said, I think that there need to be real prerequisites for paramedic school, and that it should be at the least an associates level degree, not just a certification. I think this works in two ways: because we will attract the right kinds of people (people who understand why all this education is necessary), and weed out the people we don't want (braggarts and respect-seekers wanting a patch on their shoulder).

[medicv83]

I think, personally, and I kinda am a rookie to all of this, that one, if you can absorb and retain, truely retain the information to apply it. That one could go directly from basic to medic school. I myself went from basic, to intermediate, and will be in "P" school starting January. I have never worked on an ambulance or anything, except for my Intermediate and Basic clinical hours

[Dustdevil]

I have never worked on an ambulance or anything, except for my Intermediate and Basic clinical hours

I'm curious as to why. Are there just no opportunities for EMTs in your area, or are you putting it off for a specific reason?

[fiznat]

I have never worked on an ambulance or anything, except for my Intermediate and Basic clinical hours

I don't think thats a good idea. Just because you are able to retain basic information from your classroom work does not mean that you will be a competent provider. In fact I can almost certainly say that you will not be. You need EXPERIENCE to do this well, and jumping up to the highest, most difficult and responsibility-laden level is not the way to get your feet wet. I know other people disagree with me here, but I don't think this should even be tolerated by your school. You may pass the tests, but I can tell you: you will nave NO idea what it means to be a paramedic.