Is it supposed to be scary?

[Schwaa]

Im starting paramedic school in early april at St. Petersburg College(small community college in florida) and to be honest im somewhat freaking out. I really have no idea what to expect. I've searched the net and talked to friends who recently went through paramedic school to get an idea of what its like. Pretty much all the answers I've come across have been that its going to be hard, Im not going to have a social life for a year, and its going to take a lot of studying.

The program is 3 semesters long- Summer(which starts 6 weeks early and over laps the previous spring semester)--->Fall--->Spring. Pre req/co reqs for the program are EMT-B, AP 1, AP 2, and Pharmacology.

So what is it really like?

Am I going to have any time off?

How hard is the curriculum?(compare it to AP?).

How many people in your class passed/ how many have dropped out so far?

What helped you through it?

Any advice in general?

Help me :oops:

[mrmeaner]

It doesn't sound like you're being lead astray. You are far better off for having the prereqs that you do. Do not take them as something you have to do. They will definately be an advantage. I didn't have those classes and had to study harder to get concepts others were familiar with.

The classes will be tough, but not impossible with effort. You will not resort to hobbit status, but it may feel like it at times.

Be proactive with your clinicals when you get to them. Help others when you can, you'll probably need it later. Become an expert at time management. Come back to this website with questions, it can be a very good resource. But they're not going to do the work for you.

Good Luck.

[AZCEP]

The program is 3 semesters long- Summer(which starts 6 weeks early and over laps the previous spring semester)--->Fall--->Spring. Pre req/co reqs for the program are EMT-B, AP 1, AP 2, and Pharmacology.

What other education do you have already? If you've taken an EMT class, and think that the paramedic will be anything like it you are sorely mistaken. Unfortunately, an EMT class is often the only program that many paramedic candidates have to compare things to. If I follow the timeline you propose here, it looks like this is a college based program, right? This is a good thing, if it is, not so much if it's not.

So what is it really like?

It will be more intense than any EMT class you've ever taken. It will be slightly less so than most other college level classes. Since you already have A&P I/II in hand, you should be well ahead of the curve.

Am I going to have any time off?

That all depends on the scheduling of the program. If you have Mon/Wed classes, you will probably get a few of the Mondays off for observed holidays and such. There is probably a Christmas break/spring break built into the schedule as well. You may not be sitting in class, but you will probably need to be doing clinical rotations during these "breaks".

How hard is the curriculum?(compare it to AP?).

See above. The DOT requires 1000 clock hours for a reason. You can't get the education you need by cutting corners. You will have to work at this, and your patients deserve no less.

How many people in your class passed?

It is not uncommon to have 18-20 out of 24 maximum pass the class. This number doesn't tell you anything about how many are actually good paramedics when they get done however. I'd say that of the 72 students I've had, roughly 50 completed the program and 40 passed NREMT testing. Of the 40, I'd allow 15 of them to work on my family. This is not to say the others aren't capable, just that some of the character issues that I noticed during class would receive a swift boot out my front door if they ever appeared in my house.

What helped you through it?

You have to have the full support of whomever is in your life prior to starting the program. Unlike some things in life, once you begin class the amount of work will quickly multiply to the point you will have little time/energy for anything else. DO NOT get married prior to class. DO NOT find a new girlfriend/boyfriend either. They will not understand why you can't spend time with them. Easily, 40% of my students have had some kind of life crisis during their time in my program. Several divorces, breakups, and even a few suicide attempts. Some just aren't cut out to do this type of work.

Any advice in general?

Since you've completed the prerequisites, take the time to back over your anatomy and physiology. Know this information frontwards/backwards/inside out/upside down. When others in your class are having trouble understanding a concept, you will be able to fall back to this foundation.

Good luck to you.

[JPINFV]

Any advice in general?

Pick up and read House of God. A bunch of the "Laws of the House of God" have made their way into EMS, and while tongue in cheek for the most part, are actually good advice [e.g. "The patient is the one with the disease."]. It's about medical residency circa 1974, but I think a lot of the themes ("relationship on rocks" [RoR]) can apply to any program that is rigorous relative to the participant's ability/commitment at the time of the undertaking.

[Dustdevil]

So what is it really like?

Depends on the school, which vary GREATLY in quality and difficulty across the country. Some you can sleep through and pass. Others kick your arse unmercifully if you aren't MENSA. But yeah, fear of the unknown is completely normal. The weird thing about medic school is, it doesn't ever get any less scary. In fact, it gets scarier the further you get into it, because the responsibilities increase exponentially as your brain capacity decreases inversely. Four things will lessen the stress and anxiety:

• 1. Knowing with absolute, one-hundred ten percent certainty that this is what you want to do as a career for the rest of your life. If you are going into this thinking it just looks fun, and you want to give it a try -- or if you think it is just a stepping stone to nursing school or the fire service -- then this increases the pressure, and your anxiety is never going to decrease.

2. Be honest with yourself about your educational potential and aptitude. If you struggled with A&P or high school science and math, but think this is somehow different and going to be easier, then you're fooling yourself. Medic school is hard enough for good students. If you were a C student in high school, the extra pressure on you to succeed here is going to significantly increase your anxiety.

3. Evaluate your commitment and ability to focus on the class. Do you have work and family responsibilities that are going to seriously distract you from committing 110 percent to getting the most out of this class that you can? Are you going to have several real, uninterrupted hours a day to devote to studying, or are you planning to just work it in on the job, or in-between raising three kids? Sure, people pass paramedic school everyday without devoting much study or effort to it. Some people are just really, really smart and good students. But the fact remains that they do not come out as good a medic as they would have if they had devoted proper study time to it. Being a medic isn't about the patch. It's not about being as good as the next guy. It's about being the very best that you can possibly be. If you don't have the ability to devote 110 percent to it, then you FAIL at that commitment, and your stress and anxiety level will reflect that.

4. Be as educationally prepared as possible. That means having A&P (the real, two-semester, eight-hour, science major A&P, not just that cheesy, superficial, one-semester, non-science major A&P that SPC lets you get away with), Pharmacology, Microbiology, Psychology, Sociology, Algebra, and English Composition done BEFORE you enroll. Not only does not having these prior to class significantly decrease your ability to fully and competently assimilate the curriculum of medic school, but it also significantly decreases the chances that you will ever go back and take them. SPC sucks for even allowing that, but that's what happens in a state where EMS is controlled by the fire chiefs.

See #3 above. That depends on your other commitments. If you're working 40 to 65 hours a week as an ambulance driver, and trying to keep a family together, as well as playing at a volunteer firemonkey hobby in your off hours, then no, you are not going to have any time off. Something is going to suffer. In way too many cases, it is school that suffers, because it is less important to you than your job or your family. It's time to come to Jesus and decide what your priorities are. If being a paramedic is not your priority, move on.

How hard is the curriculum?(compare it to AP?).

Again, depends on both the school and the A&P you took. If you took the one-semester, dummy A&P at SPC, you're probably in for a shock. Medic school will probably be a good bit harder. The dummy A&P courses are frequently nothing more than a lot of wrote memorisation, whereas the science-major A&P courses involve a lot more complex concepts that have to be understood, not just memorised. And that more closely approximates the curriculum of paramedic school. Despite popular misconception, paramedic school is not at all about memorising protocols and performing monkey skills. It is about fully understanding complex biochemical, microbiological, and pathophysiological concepts, and being able to then apply those concepts to the process of assessing the condition and needs of an ill or injured person. If you have never had that kind of challenge before paramedic classes, then it is going to kick your arse.

How many people in your class passed/ how many have dropped out so far?

First time, we lost about two thirds of the class. They had to rehire them all a couple of years later after the courts ruled that it was racial to fire people just because they lacked the intellectual capacity to pass the minimum requirements for the job, especially when they were specifically hired based upon their racial status, but I digress. :roll:

Second time, we only lost about a quarter of the class. That's the difference between a class full of people who really want to be paramedics, and a class full of people who are just there because the fire department requires it. Funny how much less likely you are to flunk a class when you are the one paying $3 thousand dollars for it instead of the city paying for it.

What helped you through it?

Having a considerable education in biology and the basic sciences already behind me, and being absolutely committed a primary desire to be a paramedic. If being a paramedic is not your primary desire -- if it is just a stepping stone to the fire service or something to look good on your med school application -- then your commitment suffers, and the class is harder.

Any advice in general?

I've pretty much covered it. But I would reiterate the need for a sound, solid, and comprehensive pre-educational foundation before tackling paramedic school. That means putting off medic school for another semester or two while you get all of the requirements for the degree, as well as other helpful science courses, including Chemistry, Physics, and Microbiology. Of course, I don't think there is the slightest chance in hell you will take that advice -- even though you have already expressed your apprehension and anxiety -- but hey... you asked.

Good luck!

[Scaramedic]

[align=center:114915ee06]Let me say it this way.

This is me before Paramedic school.

This is me after Paramedic school.[/align:114915ee06]

[spoil:114915ee06]

[align=center:114915ee06]May God have mercy on your soul!

:twisted: :twisted: [/spoil:114915ee06] [/align:114915ee06]

[sub:114915ee06]Just kidding, you'll be fine.[/sub:114915ee06]

[Dustdevil]

This is me after Paramedic school.

Are you sure that wasn't after Vet Tech school?

You look like you got mauled by a tiger!

[JPINFV]

This is me before Paramedic school.

[spoil:00c4754d20]Faces of Meth website?[/spoil:00c4754d20]

[Scaramedic]

[spoil:26d1688446]Of course. I love that website.[/spoil:26d1688446]

[firedoc5]

RELAX. I don't think there is a course out there that doesn't have some kind of stigma to it. You may encounter some of those things but not all of them. Take things as they come. Don't be intimidated by what you here, especially when they say something is hard or whatever. Who knows, it might come easy to you.

And actually, my best advice, have fun.