How long to wait to become a Medic

[DwayneEMTP]

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.

Going through preceptorship as we speak, I can say it's divided me on this issue.

I now wish that I'd had previous basic experience for a few reasons.

First, not having it leaves me at the mercy of my preceptors opinions of my knowledge and skill level. Is what they are teaching the 'right' way, or simply their way? Many times the examples used to show me how 'stupid' I am, seem to be simply different ways of doing the same thing. The way I was taught, and the way they have always done it.

Second, and it's not really supposed to work this way, it is difficult to work as a medic while trying to perfect my basic skills. Even things a simple as taping the collar to the board properly while trying to evaluate the patient at the same time...not impossible, it would just be easier if my hands would do the basic tasks while allowing my brain to focus on the medic tasks.

But then, what are the options? Wait years for a basic position to open? In the Denver, Springs,Pueblo area AMR is king. My instructor told me that they have somewhere between 10-30 basic positions open yearly, yet the schools in these areas produce between 500-800 basics/yr. Not a realistic waiting list for a pre-req for medic school in my book.

Volunteer, with all that entails? I can't see any benefit here really.

If a basic position had been realistically available, I believe I would have taken it. But this is the real world, and we must make do with what we have.

Can I get there from here? Yeah, I think so, if I can manage to expose myself to some preceptors that want to help me understand the things I've missed (as best they can).

Would I mind it being easier than it is. No. Do I believe that this is a good road to take for the feint of heart, with the preceptor that I've started with? Absolutely not. Everything I've been exposed to so far has been designed to teach me that I'm a failure. If I was less certain (as I might have been 15-20 years ago) with who I am and what I'm capable of, this might have been crushing.

Keep in mind here though, that those much smarter than I, with tons of years in this business tell me this is not necessarily the norm, so take my comments with a grain of salt and listen to those that have seen much more than my tiny slice of this issue.

Good luck with your studies!

[katbemeEMT-B]

That said, you absolutely should not start paramedic classes before you have completed the necessary prerequisite support classes. Even if your school doesn't require them. Three years of working as an ambulance driver will add nothing to your success as a paramedic, but a year of Anatomy & Physiology, Psychology, Sociology, Algebra, Microbiology, English Composition and Communications are essential to your ability to maximise your paramedic school experience. If you want to work as an ambulance driver for a year while you get those classes done -- and can actually do both without flunking out -- then go for it, but those classes should be your number one priority above all else.

Dust hit it right on the head. As a current medic student and practicing EMT-B, I agree whole-heartedly with Dust. The only advantage of my being on a service at this point, I am able to skip the BLS internship. This has allowed me to take on extra course work. I do like that advantage. Other than that, no reason to work before starting medic school. If you read any of my other posts on this subject, you will see my opinion has changed. I used to preach work, work, work. Not anymore.

[AnthonyM83]

I had a conversation with a medic about this yesterday, and he said it helped him by giving more meaning to all the topics discussed in medic school. He wouldn't be able to appreciate it (or even have context hooks) for all the new info and signs/symptoms/situations if he had never seen most of them and was just using his imagination.

Since most schools don't have concurrent classroom and field training, having some experience as a basic seems the closest you can get to that.

[Dustdevil]

There is a reasonable sounding point in that, Anthony. But when you break it down, it loses any validity that it may have sounded like it had.

In fact, it sounds exactly like the old, "Well, if it weren't for us volunteers, we wouldn't have EMS!" argument.

[AnthonyM83]

Ah, but the volunteers have an alternative. If they quit, government would be forced to provide professional EMS service.

The medic schools aren't going to do anything different if you haven't been an EMT in the field. You end up missing out on a richer experience and the medic school still collects it's money and statistics for you passing your cert exam. But the people who really miss out are your future patients.

[racing-emt03]

to answer any questions or doubts...

I served as a ff for two years, I wanted to move on to a larger dept where EMT-B is required prior to employment, shortly after completing my emt-b I was injured in a collapse during a fire and was forced out for quite a while, I am currently working as a dispatcher and am shifting my focus more towards EMS. My question comes from the fact that the local EMS provider that I have been interested in working for has been working towards switching to a 100% Medic service. They are hiring EMT-B's and then shipping them to medic school within a couple weeks. I have little patient contact expierience and I want to find out if people would go for it or get some time under my belt in a BLS or BLS/ALS service before taking the leap. But since the posting of this I have been called to test for two EMS services and will hopefully be back in the field soon, I do not mean to sound defensive there were several good points made but it began to look like an "EMT's suck and Paramedics are the king shit" argument. All levels of emergency services play a vital role, dispatch all the way to the chief of the largest dept, lets just not forget that.

Be Safe

[Don1977]

I've been EMT 6 years now and Im still not ready to take Paramedic, I want to take it when im well and ready, i dont want tio be one that takes it 10 times before tehy pass it...

[reaper]

Might be time to change careers. if you don't "feel ready" after 6 years on the street, you will never feel ready.

How do you know your not ready, until you take it?

[Just Plain Ruff]

I was going to say the same thing. There's not much more you can learn about being an EMT after 6 years. Sort of defeats your desire to go get your medic.

[AnthonyM83]

There's definitely a point where your learning curve starts flattening out...as soon as that happens, it's time to move on. You're ALWAYS going to be learning something, so I wouldn't keep the fact that you're still learning/improving make you think you need more time as a basic.