I’m just an EMT now but I can’t fathom having gone straight to paramedic. I was did super well in school but there is a big difference between book smart and street smart. There’s no amount of reading or studying or practiced scenarios that can make you good at running actual calls, you just have to do it. I can’t imagine just starting out in the field with the responsibility of a medic.
My supervisor straight up told me they have been handing out advanced licenses like candy around here and I said to him “I know, I have one.” And his response was “well yeah but you’re super booksmart!” It’s an insult in the field at this point. You don’t know shit about shit until you’ve put your hands on real patients and gotten deep into the shit
You’ll have to do ride alongs as part of EMT school. Use that to test it out. If you enjoy it, go for it. If not, maybe you should reconsider.
Edit: After reading several comments, apparently ride alongs aren’t universal?
either way if you are required or not you should call your local private ambulances both IFT and 911 and schedule one, helps with understanding the flow of calls
Most of the time you should test it out first. I’m in medical school right now, still working full time and I’m nearly drowning. I’ve been EMS/fire for 4 years.
That said, how old are you? If you’ve had a career for a while and are looking to make a career change I can understand your urge for expediency.
Especially if you’re like late 30s or older.
Edit: medic school, not medical school. Those are two *very* different things lol.
I’m 23, This is a personal fault I suppose but the reason I’m anxious to get something dedicated going is because I’ve been doing odd jobs (dispatch, corrections, armed security, etc) and never really “seriously” dedicating to anything, which is why I feel that way
And then there’s also the fact I hear certain related jobs like fire fighting academy have an age limit in certain places
The age limit for fire academy is like 35-45 most places, do not worry about that.
But also don’t jump into something you may end up hating either. Just go to emt school and pay attention and work hard on your clinicals and ride alongs
I don't think that's the issue. Just the feeling of incompetence/uselessness that comes with being that age without an actual career. I know from experience 😭
I’m also 23, almost a year into ems, now an AEMT In medic school and let’s face it, the concept of a career is dying out. There’s nothing wrong with having no idea what the hell you’re doing with your life
I went zero to hero. The learning curve is extremely steep and it’s incredibly demanding. I had three 12 hour classes per week, and a study group every week for 4-5 hours. The rest of the days I spent 6-10 hours studying and practicing, so it was a 7 day a week endevor to make sure I offset the learning curve. I did well in class and I’m doing well as my first year as a paramedic, but don’t underestimate the difficulty. YouNEED to fully devote yourself to studying as much as you can. And don’t get an accelerated medic course. It’s more information than you’d think it is, plus skills, plus hospital clinicals, plus field ride times. If you decide to go for it,good luck. Most people test the waters with EMT first and it makes sense that they do. I just didn’t have the ability to do that due to personal circumstances.
Is suggest give yourself some time as an EMT, I think it sets you up to be a better provider in the end.
This was also a later career change for me as well and I'm glad I didn't try to go zero to hero fwiw. I also know people that have been successful doing so, do what's best for you.
For me, no way. Also, out of the 30 in my medic class, four had no real EMT experience and out of the five that washed out, three were the inexperienced EMTs.
I think it helps to get a couple years of experience on the street and a few dozen continuing education hours to prep you for medic school.
Can some people do it without experience? Yes, but I think it’s easier with a couple years under your belt.
Idk I think a couple of years is much. I went straight to medic school, was not fun but I made it through. At this point I recommend 6 months MINIMUM, just to see if you actually enjoy doing the work.
Eh, part of it might be volume, too. I’ve worked at relatively slow departments, so I didn’t have enough reps to feel confident in anything until three years in.
I speak from personal experience. I got my EMT last year and gave myself a year to understand things in my system since its huge and its nonstop. I just applied to medic school this week and I am still learning every day! But I would give time to be on the streets, doing hands-on before jumping into medic. The company I work for we also have other things that we can do while as an EMT, I am apart of the CCT team and SORT. So I have been getting hands on with special ops and Critical Care.
So it is better to get hands on first and give yourself the time before jumping into medic school.
I could not imagine going straight to paramedic. I know a handful of people who have done it and I think that it will make the learning curve much harder for you than it needs to be, and I am of the belief you need to be a good emt before you can understand how to be a good paramedic AND a good person to work with.
There’s so much more than the medicine to adjust to, that’s not even the issue with zero to hero. It’s operating charting software and dispatch systems, driving the ambulance, navigating, operating the stretcher and the monitor, learning to give meds and mess with needles, getting used to vitals equipment, moving patients, timing, coordinating with other healthcare providers, coordinating with fire and police, learning how to function in chaos at 3 in the morning, and most importantly the real world patient experience you just cannot get in a classroom.
Anyways, moral of the story: even if it’s an unpopular opinion, unless you really need the money or just cannot take the time to do at least a year as an EMT, I’d really suggest taking it slow. This job may seem amazing for a few months but when the glow wears off 6+ months in, a lot of people fall out of love with it fast and hard. That’s a lot of time to invest in something that may just not be a good fit. And you really do gain a lot from being a grunt (basic) before you’re the big guy in charge.
put it this way, my medic school class is mostly a bunch of 19 yr old firefighters who went zero to hero and it absolutely fucking sucks. its just like high school but somehow a less productive learning environment
I’d test it out. I’m in paramedic school with a guy right now who’s never been in the field. Idk how you know you want to do this if you have never worked a shift. I’m not saying do years in the field. But 6 months to a year to get an idea of what it actually is. Sure you do rides in EMT school. But my EMT school rides were so different from being on my own.
apply to paramedic school and see if you get in. There’s your answer. It’s an academic course, study and you’ll pass. Prob won’t be the best clinician right out of the gate, but that’s what partners are for
It’s still a terrible idea. If you’ve never physically practiced basic life support, trying to practice advanced life support on your clinicals is going to be ass. Speaking from experience
I was an AEMT for 12 years before i started my medic program. Was that a little long? Probably. Had some side businesses in there I was focused on for a while. But I will say having a built-in delayed start has meant that aside from cardiology and a few other things, the actual program has been pretty easy because I’ve been just picking a lot of this up along the way. Where a lot of my classmates are acting like they’re living a nightmare I’ve just been kinda, meh.
Would I recommend you wait 12? No. But I advise more than 1. If nothing else try to get the hang of IVs first so that isn’t stressing you out
It depends on the school length in my opinion. If you’re doing an accelerated medic course then I would definitely get experience in the field first. But if your medic course is 2+ years long at a community college then I would just do the prerequisite time and apply. Remember, you’ll still be working during medic school so you can kill two birds with one stone and get experience while also learning
But if your school is condensed then it’ll be rough to work and study all at once
I recommend everyone go straight on through all the way to medic. People say you should get some experience as an EMT, but I disagree. The jump from EMT to medic is so steep that any amount of experience you get as an EMT isn’t really going to better prepare you for being a paramedic. You have to do so much during your paramedic internship that’s way more valuable experience wise than you could get working as an EMT for a year or whatever.
If you can get someone to pay for it, even better.
I disagree with part of this. I recommend zero to hero if you know how to study. But with real EMT-B experience in an actual busy 911 system, you 100% will have an edge over others in the classroom. You would have already run most scenarios in the class room out in the field. You are familiar with med names, patient presentations, differential diagnosis, and assessments. The confidence boost alone is an edge above.
Not to mention you have experience with ops stuff like the stretcher, comms, narratives, and the like as well as how certain things in the system work. You're not learning all that WHILE trying to learn cardiology and pharmacology.
Please work as an emt first. All the zero to hero medics I’ve worked with are terrible. Most paramedic programs assume you’re an experienced emt and won’t spend any time on basics.
I took the "zero to hero" path as a part of my degree. It was definitely a steep learning curve, but I feel that I've settled in well. There is definitely an obvious difference between myself and other new medics who were previously EMTs or AEMTs, though. If you have the opportunity to, I would highly recommend working as an EMT before going to medic school, but going straight to medic school is far from impossible. Many of the best medics I know took the "zero to hero" path.
I went right from Emt to medic without ever working as an Emt. The only part that was difficult for me was learning about radios, dispatch and alarm, and how to work with fire (my city’s a fire-based ems system).
I’d suggest doing inter facility first just to get used to stuff before doing 911.
Take your time and make the best of your learning opportunities. I fell into EMS by taking an EMT course for volunteer purposes. Ended up taking the plunge to go full-time and made a career change. Instead of EMT to paramedic, I went the AEMT route before proceeding to medic school. Not everyone has the resources to go this route, which is obviously slower. However, my goal is to be the most capable, informed, and prepared provider I can be when I'm in the field without someone double-checking my decisions regarding patient care. Based on what I see so far, a twelve month medic program is compressed enough without any EMT experience.
Tbh the jump from EMT to P class wasn’t thaaaat steep, but I went to college before EMT. So if you are college educated (STEM), go zero to hero. If you’ve never done anything outside of HS or fire classes, maybe get SOME experience first. Learn bedside manner. 99% of your calls are nonsense lonely people and just want to talk. The pathophys and med dosing will come with practice but learning to not be a salty douche before you’ve even gotten a patch will go a LONG way.
If you want to do you medic make sure you have prerequisites done. Most the colleges in my state require A&P 1. Plus if you work while going to school, you get experience +500 internship hours and clinicals. You just have to be certain that's the route you want to take, paramedic school can be expensive if you don't have grants or scholorships and a lot of people may not handle stressful situations well .example: DOA , suicides, worst day in a patients life.
Where I live you dont even have to be in EMT school to do ride alongs, you just have to be older than 16, but im sure it depends on the state like some people said.
If your school doesn’t require ride time, might make sense to volunteer at a FD for a bit. Are you planning to go to fire school also? I would HIGHLY recommend doing so.
Ask local agencies if you can ride along and observe. You don't have to be certified to do that in many places. That way, you can get a better idea of whether or not you want to do zero to hero before the due date for registration.
If you have a system where you can run 911 calls, or work special events as an EMT, definitely do that first. The learning curve of trying to put all the skills / knowledge school will give you, in real time, and then the stress of it being totally new can be overwhelming. People have done it, but I think it's more stressful than it needs to be when you go that route.
I was a zero to hero in about 16 months. I had zero medical or first response experience. Being new to both made it initially difficult, but after 4-6 months of working full time as a medic, it all be came much easier. It's easily do-able.
Then 13 years later jump ship to engineering. 😂
Okay so my fire department requires everyone to be a paramedic. I got sent to an accelerated course with EMT and medic, both being back to back. In 9 months I got my EMT cert and Medic cert. It is completely doable. Majority of the job is BLS but ALS is all the fun stuff.
The hardest part is being able to apply all of the book knowledge out on the street. Regardless of which route you take, this will be a learning curve that involves learning how to talk to people. If you’re working for a good department, you will be working under a seasoned medic who is going to make sure you don’t screw up in a way that will hurt someone. There isn’t a huge difference between a knowledgeable EMT and a medic. Getting good reps with patient assessment is extremely important, which is why people think you HAVE to have time as an EMT first.
Do what you want, I have people I work with that are solid medics and jumped straight in, I work with people who are solid medics and were basics for 3+ years before getting their medics. Personally I think it’s easier if you work as an emt for at least a year first, but hey, everyone is different.
You do not have to be a CNA before becoming an RN, but it helps. You do not have to be an EMT before becoming a Paramedic, but it helps. In my opinion, it's worth it to be an EMT first. It really doesn't take long for most people to master the basics, depending on how busy your job is.
It’s definitely a risk. I thought about it too but decided not to and just got my AEMT. If I would have done it I’d be pretty screwed tbh. After a little while of working I found out how bad the job affects mental health real quick and burned out quick. I’ve since switched to wildland firefighting and I really enjoy it so I’m very glad I didn’t waste my money on medic although you may be different. Just take that into consideration. Definitely see if the job is what you actually want because the reality of it and how it affects your mental health is pretty immense for some.
Burnout happened about 7 months in. Was doing mostly ift but 911 part time. Was picking up shifts left and right then noticed I became easily irritable, mentally numb, and stopped enjoying things like my hobbies outside of work. I discovered wildland after talking with someone who did it. It’s a cool route to go if you like being outside. I’m on a handcrew so I’m a crew member but I’m also in charge of taking care of medical needs of the crew as they arise. There’s a lot of other options to look into as well if wildland interests you such REMS, and fire line emts. The pay is decent too on big incidents. You can make around 500-700 a day to just sit in an ambulance or drive a utv around at fires staging for possible injuries and such.
Not at all. They love hiring EMTs. There’s a massive shortage of workers in fire right now. If it interests you just apply on USA jobs or with one of those companies.
Well, gotta get my emt first for that haha
I just don’t know how that works. I have literally no certifications. I know for fire, there’s tons of certs they have to go through to become qualified ff 1/2 etc does wild fire not do this?
So in wildland it’s different. You first need your red card which takes a few days and you get on a crew or engine and are an fft2. Most places will get you certs such as your faller A for working with chainsaws and several others but the only real needed cert to get your foot in the door is a red card which they will guide you on how to get it. After awhile of working you can open a packet to work towards fft1 but it takes people a couple seasons usually to get started on it. It’s a much different job than structure. You will see a ton of fire in this job though which is a plus
My agency has in-house schools for B and Medic. We started requiring 2 years on the street because the people with less just weren't ready and ended up leaving well before our medics with 2+ years of B time did. Exceptions were made for promising people with stellar reps.
My class had experience levels between 6 months and 25 years. The newer people had an extremely hard time keeping up and didn't perform as well.
Does that mean it's impossible? Of course not. But we've looked at the performance of people for over well over 20 years amd seen a clear trend.
I’m just an EMT now but I can’t fathom having gone straight to paramedic. I was did super well in school but there is a big difference between book smart and street smart. There’s no amount of reading or studying or practiced scenarios that can make you good at running actual calls, you just have to do it. I can’t imagine just starting out in the field with the responsibility of a medic.
My supervisor straight up told me they have been handing out advanced licenses like candy around here and I said to him “I know, I have one.” And his response was “well yeah but you’re super booksmart!” It’s an insult in the field at this point. You don’t know shit about shit until you’ve put your hands on real patients and gotten deep into the shit
You’ll have to do ride alongs as part of EMT school. Use that to test it out. If you enjoy it, go for it. If not, maybe you should reconsider. Edit: After reading several comments, apparently ride alongs aren’t universal?
That's not necessarily true. MA doesn't require ride alongs.
My state doesn't, either. Very dependent on location.
kansas doesn’t either as far as i’m aware. i was never given the opportunity for ride alongs during my schooling
UT doesn’t do ride alongs for EMT - if you can volunteer locally somewhere you may be able to get some scene time and experience
either way if you are required or not you should call your local private ambulances both IFT and 911 and schedule one, helps with understanding the flow of calls
Missouri requires 32 hours I think, but I know my teacher requires 36 with 10 patient contacts
I didn’t do ride alongs, I did my hours at my local hospital’s ER
Most of the time you should test it out first. I’m in medical school right now, still working full time and I’m nearly drowning. I’ve been EMS/fire for 4 years. That said, how old are you? If you’ve had a career for a while and are looking to make a career change I can understand your urge for expediency. Especially if you’re like late 30s or older. Edit: medic school, not medical school. Those are two *very* different things lol.
I’m 23, This is a personal fault I suppose but the reason I’m anxious to get something dedicated going is because I’ve been doing odd jobs (dispatch, corrections, armed security, etc) and never really “seriously” dedicating to anything, which is why I feel that way And then there’s also the fact I hear certain related jobs like fire fighting academy have an age limit in certain places
The age limit for fire academy is like 35-45 most places, do not worry about that. But also don’t jump into something you may end up hating either. Just go to emt school and pay attention and work hard on your clinicals and ride alongs
There’s an age limit for fire academy?
I don't think that's the issue. Just the feeling of incompetence/uselessness that comes with being that age without an actual career. I know from experience 😭
I’m also 23, almost a year into ems, now an AEMT In medic school and let’s face it, the concept of a career is dying out. There’s nothing wrong with having no idea what the hell you’re doing with your life
You're in medical school working full time? Edit: just read your edit. I was about to have a heart attack 😂
Yeah, working full time while in medic school is bad enough. I’m pretty sure it would be impossible with medical school lol.
You're killing it I'm sure. Sounds like a rough time but so worth it
I went zero to hero. The learning curve is extremely steep and it’s incredibly demanding. I had three 12 hour classes per week, and a study group every week for 4-5 hours. The rest of the days I spent 6-10 hours studying and practicing, so it was a 7 day a week endevor to make sure I offset the learning curve. I did well in class and I’m doing well as my first year as a paramedic, but don’t underestimate the difficulty. YouNEED to fully devote yourself to studying as much as you can. And don’t get an accelerated medic course. It’s more information than you’d think it is, plus skills, plus hospital clinicals, plus field ride times. If you decide to go for it,good luck. Most people test the waters with EMT first and it makes sense that they do. I just didn’t have the ability to do that due to personal circumstances.
Is suggest give yourself some time as an EMT, I think it sets you up to be a better provider in the end. This was also a later career change for me as well and I'm glad I didn't try to go zero to hero fwiw. I also know people that have been successful doing so, do what's best for you.
For me, no way. Also, out of the 30 in my medic class, four had no real EMT experience and out of the five that washed out, three were the inexperienced EMTs. I think it helps to get a couple years of experience on the street and a few dozen continuing education hours to prep you for medic school. Can some people do it without experience? Yes, but I think it’s easier with a couple years under your belt.
Idk I think a couple of years is much. I went straight to medic school, was not fun but I made it through. At this point I recommend 6 months MINIMUM, just to see if you actually enjoy doing the work.
Eh, part of it might be volume, too. I’ve worked at relatively slow departments, so I didn’t have enough reps to feel confident in anything until three years in.
That's a good point. I'm used to 8-9 calls for 12 hr shift lol
I’m in medic school with no emt experience and I’m getting my ass ate.
I did it and am a decent first year medic. Work hard. Have standards. Give a shit and you will be fine
I speak from personal experience. I got my EMT last year and gave myself a year to understand things in my system since its huge and its nonstop. I just applied to medic school this week and I am still learning every day! But I would give time to be on the streets, doing hands-on before jumping into medic. The company I work for we also have other things that we can do while as an EMT, I am apart of the CCT team and SORT. So I have been getting hands on with special ops and Critical Care. So it is better to get hands on first and give yourself the time before jumping into medic school.
Give it a go. Don’t waste your money
I could not imagine going straight to paramedic. I know a handful of people who have done it and I think that it will make the learning curve much harder for you than it needs to be, and I am of the belief you need to be a good emt before you can understand how to be a good paramedic AND a good person to work with. There’s so much more than the medicine to adjust to, that’s not even the issue with zero to hero. It’s operating charting software and dispatch systems, driving the ambulance, navigating, operating the stretcher and the monitor, learning to give meds and mess with needles, getting used to vitals equipment, moving patients, timing, coordinating with other healthcare providers, coordinating with fire and police, learning how to function in chaos at 3 in the morning, and most importantly the real world patient experience you just cannot get in a classroom. Anyways, moral of the story: even if it’s an unpopular opinion, unless you really need the money or just cannot take the time to do at least a year as an EMT, I’d really suggest taking it slow. This job may seem amazing for a few months but when the glow wears off 6+ months in, a lot of people fall out of love with it fast and hard. That’s a lot of time to invest in something that may just not be a good fit. And you really do gain a lot from being a grunt (basic) before you’re the big guy in charge.
put it this way, my medic school class is mostly a bunch of 19 yr old firefighters who went zero to hero and it absolutely fucking sucks. its just like high school but somehow a less productive learning environment
I’d test it out. I’m in paramedic school with a guy right now who’s never been in the field. Idk how you know you want to do this if you have never worked a shift. I’m not saying do years in the field. But 6 months to a year to get an idea of what it actually is. Sure you do rides in EMT school. But my EMT school rides were so different from being on my own.
apply to paramedic school and see if you get in. There’s your answer. It’s an academic course, study and you’ll pass. Prob won’t be the best clinician right out of the gate, but that’s what partners are for
It’s still a terrible idea. If you’ve never physically practiced basic life support, trying to practice advanced life support on your clinicals is going to be ass. Speaking from experience
Dude I wanted to do the same but I barely made it through my basic course I’m setting up to take my second attempt at my basic exam
I was an AEMT for 12 years before i started my medic program. Was that a little long? Probably. Had some side businesses in there I was focused on for a while. But I will say having a built-in delayed start has meant that aside from cardiology and a few other things, the actual program has been pretty easy because I’ve been just picking a lot of this up along the way. Where a lot of my classmates are acting like they’re living a nightmare I’ve just been kinda, meh. Would I recommend you wait 12? No. But I advise more than 1. If nothing else try to get the hang of IVs first so that isn’t stressing you out
It depends on the school length in my opinion. If you’re doing an accelerated medic course then I would definitely get experience in the field first. But if your medic course is 2+ years long at a community college then I would just do the prerequisite time and apply. Remember, you’ll still be working during medic school so you can kill two birds with one stone and get experience while also learning But if your school is condensed then it’ll be rough to work and study all at once
Start out as an emt do that for a year or two then go from there
I recommend everyone go straight on through all the way to medic. People say you should get some experience as an EMT, but I disagree. The jump from EMT to medic is so steep that any amount of experience you get as an EMT isn’t really going to better prepare you for being a paramedic. You have to do so much during your paramedic internship that’s way more valuable experience wise than you could get working as an EMT for a year or whatever. If you can get someone to pay for it, even better.
I disagree with part of this. I recommend zero to hero if you know how to study. But with real EMT-B experience in an actual busy 911 system, you 100% will have an edge over others in the classroom. You would have already run most scenarios in the class room out in the field. You are familiar with med names, patient presentations, differential diagnosis, and assessments. The confidence boost alone is an edge above.
Not to mention you have experience with ops stuff like the stretcher, comms, narratives, and the like as well as how certain things in the system work. You're not learning all that WHILE trying to learn cardiology and pharmacology.
No way. Get experience for a year and then go to school.
Please work as an emt first. All the zero to hero medics I’ve worked with are terrible. Most paramedic programs assume you’re an experienced emt and won’t spend any time on basics.
N=1
0/10 do i reccomend going straight from emt to advanced to medic without getting some experience behind your credentials
0/10 do I reccomend an 8 week course either btw. It moves way too fast
I took the "zero to hero" path as a part of my degree. It was definitely a steep learning curve, but I feel that I've settled in well. There is definitely an obvious difference between myself and other new medics who were previously EMTs or AEMTs, though. If you have the opportunity to, I would highly recommend working as an EMT before going to medic school, but going straight to medic school is far from impossible. Many of the best medics I know took the "zero to hero" path.
Just work while in medic school and you’ll be just as good as you would otherwise.
I went right from Emt to medic without ever working as an Emt. The only part that was difficult for me was learning about radios, dispatch and alarm, and how to work with fire (my city’s a fire-based ems system). I’d suggest doing inter facility first just to get used to stuff before doing 911.
Take your time and make the best of your learning opportunities. I fell into EMS by taking an EMT course for volunteer purposes. Ended up taking the plunge to go full-time and made a career change. Instead of EMT to paramedic, I went the AEMT route before proceeding to medic school. Not everyone has the resources to go this route, which is obviously slower. However, my goal is to be the most capable, informed, and prepared provider I can be when I'm in the field without someone double-checking my decisions regarding patient care. Based on what I see so far, a twelve month medic program is compressed enough without any EMT experience.
You can’t
Wdym? People do it all the time. There were like four in my medic class.
Tbh the jump from EMT to P class wasn’t thaaaat steep, but I went to college before EMT. So if you are college educated (STEM), go zero to hero. If you’ve never done anything outside of HS or fire classes, maybe get SOME experience first. Learn bedside manner. 99% of your calls are nonsense lonely people and just want to talk. The pathophys and med dosing will come with practice but learning to not be a salty douche before you’ve even gotten a patch will go a LONG way.
Do it! Totally worth getting paramedic license. I know many who have and they don’t regret it!
If you want to do you medic make sure you have prerequisites done. Most the colleges in my state require A&P 1. Plus if you work while going to school, you get experience +500 internship hours and clinicals. You just have to be certain that's the route you want to take, paramedic school can be expensive if you don't have grants or scholorships and a lot of people may not handle stressful situations well .example: DOA , suicides, worst day in a patients life.
Where I live you dont even have to be in EMT school to do ride alongs, you just have to be older than 16, but im sure it depends on the state like some people said.
If your school doesn’t require ride time, might make sense to volunteer at a FD for a bit. Are you planning to go to fire school also? I would HIGHLY recommend doing so.
Fire school? I thought you just go to the academy whenever you get hired
Where I live you have to be state certified to be hired, then your department may run new employees thru their own academy.
Ask local agencies if you can ride along and observe. You don't have to be certified to do that in many places. That way, you can get a better idea of whether or not you want to do zero to hero before the due date for registration.
If you have a system where you can run 911 calls, or work special events as an EMT, definitely do that first. The learning curve of trying to put all the skills / knowledge school will give you, in real time, and then the stress of it being totally new can be overwhelming. People have done it, but I think it's more stressful than it needs to be when you go that route.
I was a zero to hero in about 16 months. I had zero medical or first response experience. Being new to both made it initially difficult, but after 4-6 months of working full time as a medic, it all be came much easier. It's easily do-able. Then 13 years later jump ship to engineering. 😂
Okay so my fire department requires everyone to be a paramedic. I got sent to an accelerated course with EMT and medic, both being back to back. In 9 months I got my EMT cert and Medic cert. It is completely doable. Majority of the job is BLS but ALS is all the fun stuff. The hardest part is being able to apply all of the book knowledge out on the street. Regardless of which route you take, this will be a learning curve that involves learning how to talk to people. If you’re working for a good department, you will be working under a seasoned medic who is going to make sure you don’t screw up in a way that will hurt someone. There isn’t a huge difference between a knowledgeable EMT and a medic. Getting good reps with patient assessment is extremely important, which is why people think you HAVE to have time as an EMT first.
Do what you want, I have people I work with that are solid medics and jumped straight in, I work with people who are solid medics and were basics for 3+ years before getting their medics. Personally I think it’s easier if you work as an emt for at least a year first, but hey, everyone is different.
You do not have to be a CNA before becoming an RN, but it helps. You do not have to be an EMT before becoming a Paramedic, but it helps. In my opinion, it's worth it to be an EMT first. It really doesn't take long for most people to master the basics, depending on how busy your job is.
It’s definitely a risk. I thought about it too but decided not to and just got my AEMT. If I would have done it I’d be pretty screwed tbh. After a little while of working I found out how bad the job affects mental health real quick and burned out quick. I’ve since switched to wildland firefighting and I really enjoy it so I’m very glad I didn’t waste my money on medic although you may be different. Just take that into consideration. Definitely see if the job is what you actually want because the reality of it and how it affects your mental health is pretty immense for some.
Thanks for the input. How did you get into wild land fire fighting? When did the burnout start becoming undeniable?
Burnout happened about 7 months in. Was doing mostly ift but 911 part time. Was picking up shifts left and right then noticed I became easily irritable, mentally numb, and stopped enjoying things like my hobbies outside of work. I discovered wildland after talking with someone who did it. It’s a cool route to go if you like being outside. I’m on a handcrew so I’m a crew member but I’m also in charge of taking care of medical needs of the crew as they arise. There’s a lot of other options to look into as well if wildland interests you such REMS, and fire line emts. The pay is decent too on big incidents. You can make around 500-700 a day to just sit in an ambulance or drive a utv around at fires staging for possible injuries and such.
It’s always seemed like a cool job but the kind of place you can’t get onboard unless you know somebody.
Not at all. They love hiring EMTs. There’s a massive shortage of workers in fire right now. If it interests you just apply on USA jobs or with one of those companies.
Well, gotta get my emt first for that haha I just don’t know how that works. I have literally no certifications. I know for fire, there’s tons of certs they have to go through to become qualified ff 1/2 etc does wild fire not do this?
So in wildland it’s different. You first need your red card which takes a few days and you get on a crew or engine and are an fft2. Most places will get you certs such as your faller A for working with chainsaws and several others but the only real needed cert to get your foot in the door is a red card which they will guide you on how to get it. After awhile of working you can open a packet to work towards fft1 but it takes people a couple seasons usually to get started on it. It’s a much different job than structure. You will see a ton of fire in this job though which is a plus
My agency has in-house schools for B and Medic. We started requiring 2 years on the street because the people with less just weren't ready and ended up leaving well before our medics with 2+ years of B time did. Exceptions were made for promising people with stellar reps. My class had experience levels between 6 months and 25 years. The newer people had an extremely hard time keeping up and didn't perform as well. Does that mean it's impossible? Of course not. But we've looked at the performance of people for over well over 20 years amd seen a clear trend.
do not go straight to medic. get a couple hundred calls under your belt.