Basic questions about EMS field

[akflightmedic]

Yeah, I meant after CNA/LVN.

I've never seen a nursing school that required Gen Bio as a prereq to A&P. I'd explore your options if I were you.

Sorry Dust, every college I have looked into in various states all require biology as a pre requisite to AnP I and II. You also have to pass Bio with a C or better to get into AnP, very common practice.

[Dustdevil]

I dunno, Bro. I just looked at the websites for four universities and four community college nursing schools across Floridia, and I didn't find a single one with such a prerequisite.

[Floridastudent]

Yeah, I meant after CNA/LVN.

I've never seen a nursing school that required Gen Bio as a prereq to A&P. I'd explore your options if I were you.

It's my Community College, where I am taking basic algebra & medical terminology this semester. I was a little surprised to see that they required biology before taking A&P I; I could check other community colleges in the area to see if they all require it. The RN schools around here all want you to have finished your prerequisites BEFORE you apply to them; they don't generally offer the pre-req's, unless they are expensive diploma mills like Kaiser - and then the pre-req's that Kaiser teaches are not accepted by any other schools so I would have to RETAKE them all at some point.

I figure the pre-req's are going to take me a while to finish up; I'm going to take as many as I can each semester while working.

Now, starting in January, I COULD take the 15 week EMT course - or I could get more pre-req's out of the way. Tough call. The LPN school that is part-time doesn't start until August anyway, so I need to figure out what to do next semester. Argument FOR taking EMT course - I get to do clinicals and the instructors are all EMS professionals who work in the field, so I would meet people and find out about local job opportunities, maybe even get hired at a hospital. And being an EMT couldn't hurt when I'm applying for any kind of health care job, right? My understanding is, the more healthcare certifications and education, the better.

Argument AGAINST - I am getting the impression that EMT certificate on its own won't get me hired many places these days. Really only useful if I want to progress to being a paramedic.

[Dustdevil]

Not sure where you are, but I checked Palm Beach (where I stay), Miami Dade, Broward, and Brevard (where I grew up) Community Colleges, and none of them required Gen Bio.

Nothing wrong with getting the EMT done. It can't hurt. Might even get you an ER Tech job somewhere, although I don't know what the market for them is or what the hospitals around there require. But I wouldn't do anything that takes you away from quickly finishing prerequisites. If you can get them done in a year, you can be in BSN school, which is your ticket to a good job that will probably pay your tuition. LVN school would take you the same amount of time, get you a job that pays about the same, and get you no closer to RN school.

[Floridastudent]

Not sure where you are, but I checked Palm Beach (where I stay), Miami Dade, Broward, and Brevard (where I grew up) Community Colleges, and none of them required Gen Bio.

Nothing wrong with getting the EMT done. It can't hurt. Might even get you an ER Tech job somewhere, although I don't know what the market for them is or what the hospitals around there require. But I wouldn't do anything that takes you away from quickly finishing prerequisites. If you can get them done in a year, you can be in BSN school, which is your ticket to a good job that will probably pay your tuition. LVN school would take you the same amount of time, get you a job that pays about the same, and get you no closer to RN school.

I am in Orlando. Taking classes at Seminole CC. Here are UCF's pre-req requirements for accelerated 2nd bachelor's degree - I have general psych, I have sociology, don't have anything else. And since I am in basic algebra this semester, I think to take statistics, I need at least one more algebra class first. So my concern there - that's a good year and a half of pre-req's, maybe two. Then I would need to apply to a super competitive second BSN program - way more people applying then there are seats. If I did get into a one year BSN program, I guess I could just borrow money - assuming I qualify - for student loans for living expenses, and then graduate with a lot of debt (but a valuable degree).

But it's an option! I will definitely consider it as I check out various programs. Again - the appeal of the LPN program I want is that it's first-come first serve, so I could definitely get in, and it's part time so I could work while I was in there. I will go talk to the program directors at the Accelerated 2nd BSN program, just to see what my chances are and my financial aid options are.

General Chemistry with lab

Microbiology with lab

Human Anatomy*

Human Physiology*

General Psychology** Group B C (2.0) 3hrs

General Sociology

STA 2014 or STA 2023 Principles of Statistics**

DEP 2004 Developmental Psychology

HUN 3011 Human Nutrition

[Dustdevil]

Coincidence! UCF is one of the universities I checked, as I have a couple of friends who are currently [non-nursing] students there.

Anyhow, don't get me wrong. You're in the best position to choose what is best for you. I'm not trying to push you in any particular direction. Just tossing out thoughts to help give you the most possible information on which to base your decisions. I hope you'll stick around the forum and let us know how things progress.

[Floridastudent]

Coincidence! UCF is one of the universities I checked, as I have a couple of friends who are currently [non-nursing] students there.

Anyhow, don't get me wrong. You're in the best position to choose what is best for you. I'm not trying to push you in any particular direction. Just tossing out thoughts to help give you the most possible information on which to base your decisions. I hope you'll stick around the forum and let us know how things progress.

All of your advice is great. My best option at this point is to explore a LOT of options and also to see what happens once I get hired as a CNA and take EMT class. That will get me in the door at hospitals/nursing homes/LTC facilities, and I can see if any of them help with tuition too.

[akflightmedic]

Not sure where you are, but I checked Palm Beach (where I stay), Miami Dade, Broward, and Brevard (where I grew up) Community Colleges, and none of them required Gen Bio.

Nothing wrong with getting the EMT done. It can't hurt. Might even get you an ER Tech job somewhere, although I don't know what the market for them is or what the hospitals around there require. But I wouldn't do anything that takes you away from quickly finishing prerequisites. If you can get them done in a year, you can be in BSN school, which is your ticket to a good job that will probably pay your tuition. LVN school would take you the same amount of time, get you a job that pays about the same, and get you no closer to RN school.

As a currently enrolled student at Brevard Comm College, I can assure you Biology is required; same for Seminole and Lake Sumter Community College.

Be sure to read the college information clearly, for example, while the nursing program may only list AnP I and II and Micro as pre reqs, the college itself will have biology as pre reqs for those courses....thereby making Bio a requirement for nursing.

Since you already hold a bachelors, look at this option...

http://www.mdc.edu/MEDICAL/Nursing/rn_accelerated.asp

[chbare]

In my anecdotal experience, either biology or chemistry is required for entry into A&P. The problem being, you need to have at least a rudimentary understanding of basic biological and chemical processes going into A&P. As A&P is not a chemistry class, you need to understand the concepts of atomic structure, ion formation and electron loss versus gain, ionic versus covalent bonds, and important concepts such as hydrogen bonding. Likewise, basic biological concepts such the particulars of eukaryotic cells and classification of organisms such as viruses and bacteria need to be fairly well cemented prior to entering A&P.

With that, I suspect people who do well in high school chemistry and biology need not take a general biology class in order to gain entry into a college level A&P course. However, the face of education has changed so drastically in this country, many high school graduates are in fact barely literate when it comes to rudimentary understanding of the sciences, let alone calculating how many protons and electrons an atom has by looking at the atomic number. ( An incredibly simple concept by most standards.)

Therefore, I find many people in fact spend a couple of semesters in college filling in gaps that should have been sorted during high school. Furthermore, Dust I would agree with your assessment in the years past; however, the sad reality of modern life in the United States, is that current high school graduates are entering college woefully underprepared for academic adventures beyond tenth grade.

Take care,

chbare.

[Miss Sasha]

Would you say that community colleges generally have good programs?

Valencia has the BEST Paramedic program in the area. The program surpasses hourly requirements, requires a&p prior to taking any paramedic class and hold their students to strict attendance and grade standards. SCC is a good school too, but if you talk to the graduates from either you can tell the students from valencia more often have a better grasp of the course material. That's just my personal observation. Sadly I didn't go to Valencia.

Your golden ticket to nursing would be getting a job at Florida Hospital, they have tuition assitance after you've worked for them for a year and if you make the dedication to work for them for so many years after you finish. However, I think you have to maintain a certain GPA. Florida Hospital does have their IFT ambulance service, but it's really hard to get on to. But they hire EMTs for tech positions, etc.

Outside of FHEMS, you have Health Central EMS, Rural Metro EMS, American Ambulance, EVAC, and Lake/Sumter. Rural Metro is supposbly losing their only 911 contract this year, and will probably fold after that, I suggest crossing that off of your places to apply after school list. Health Central is extremely hard to get on to. American Ambulance is an easy hire but I've heard the company blows and the best part about it is the ability to relocate to their Miami branch, I've heard good things about EVAC and I know two people who just got hired at Lake/Sumter EMS.

Sorry if any of this information is a repeat, I really just scanned the thread.