EMS During Medical School

[aspirantmed]

I'm an incoming first-year medical student who's interested in EM. I've worked part- and full-time as an EMT-I over the last 5 years, and while I plan to explore other specialties during medical school, I could eventually see myself returning back to some combination of EM, EMS medical direction, and prehospital care research as a career.

Given this, is it feasible (and beneficial) to continue involvement in EMS throughout medical school? Essentially, my question is twofold: I'm looking to find how doable this kind of time commitment might be, and whether it would be favorably looked upon or not as much in the EM residency selection process.

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[EM Junkie]

I worked part time as a volunteer EMT in the first and second year of medical school, maybe 1 shift/month max. Third and fourth year - not recommended.

I'm currently and EMS and ED Medical Director, and I don't think this extra EMS time helped in the residency application process.

 

[red10]

I have no personal experience with this but I think your past experience with EMS would look nice on your EM app, but I don't know that continuing to do it would necessarily give you a boost. Med school is pretty time consuming especially 3rd year. My school didn't want us to have any kind of job (they made a few exceptions) so that we could focus on school. That being said you could probably get away with a couple shifts here and there but I wouldn't commit to anything real regular

 

[rwmedic906]

I am a "soon to be" second year that worked as a paramedic for 10 years before starting medical school. Ive continued to work PRN for the local pediatric ER where I've been employed for a few years. It is doable, but remember where your main priority lies. There is nothing worse than carrying around notes all day at work trying to cram between the requirements of the job. I would definitely start with 1 or 2 shifts a month and see how you manage. The up-shot however is getting to apply some of what you are actually learning in medical school and getting to participate in actual clinical medicine after spending 90% of your time sitting in a classroom having someone tell you about medicine.

 

[rwmedic906]

I am a "soon to be" second year that worked as a paramedic for 10 years before starting medical school. Ive continued to work PRN for the local pediatric ER where I've been employed for a few years. It is doable, but remember where your main priority lies. There is nothing worse than carrying around notes all day at work trying to cram between the requirements of the job. I would definitely start with 1 or 2 shifts a month and see how you manage. The up-shot however is getting to apply some of what you are actually learning in medical school and getting to participate in actual clinical medicine after spending 90% of your time sitting in a classroom having someone tell you about medicine.

 

[Handinhand]

It depends on where you are and what your on-shift responsibilities are.

Are you running a lot of calls, working 24s, getting paged at 2am, or have station chores to do when the box is back in the barn? If so I would probably recommend against it; especially 2nd year. I'm at the end of my 2nd year right now and it feels like I've barely had time to wipe my ass let alone take on any responsibility outside of my first aid book...

If the above is not the case though, then I say give it a try. Had I stayed in the same city as my undergrad for med school I would definitely still be running calls, because I could study at the station on down time, and we were only good for 1-3 calls a day. I EMT'd for 5 years during undergrad and a year off, and I miss the hell out of it.

 

[ChEMD]

I don't think it would be worth it at all. There are much much more important things when it comes to residency applications. Your time would be better spent studying, relaxing, or doing some research in EM (trust me, they're always looking for medical students to do research in the emergency department).

 

[dotcb]

I would plan on not doing it for at least the first 3 months of med school. See how the rhythm is and the study demands. Then re-evaluate. The only reason I can think to do it is possibly because you enjoy it or like a few extra bucks. It won't help you in your EM application, although your previous work will give you a slight boost.

What will give you a big boost?
Step 1 score
3rd year grades/evals
EM rotation evals
publishing/posters/leadership

Put your emphasis 98% on these things.

 

[Handinhand]

I would plan on not doing it for at least the first 3 months of med school. See how the rhythm is and the study demands. Then re-evaluate. The only reason I can think to do it is possibly because you enjoy it or like a few extra bucks. It won't help you in your EM application, although your previous work will give you a slight boost.

What will give you a big boost?
Step 1 score
3rd year grades/evals
EM rotation evals
publishing/posters/leadership

Put your emphasis 98% on these things.

What is leadership considered in the sense you give it above? I feel like I have less of an opportunity to lead a project now than I did in undergrad, mostly because there's no time to actually lead a giant project. I started an after school science education program at the local salvation army in undergrad, but there's no WAY I could commit to something like that now, which is why I'm curious. I was the president of my school's wilderness medicine society, but something tells me that wouldn't be seen as a significant leadership position.

 

[red10]

What is leadership considered in the sense you give it above? I feel like I have less of an opportunity to lead a project now than I did in undergrad, mostly because there's no time to actually lead a giant project. I started an after school science education program at the local salvation army in undergrad, but there's no WAY I could commit to something like that now, which is why I'm curious. I was the president of my school's wilderness medicine society, but something tells me that wouldn't be seen as a significant leadership position.

class government (president, VP, etc), interest group president/officer, random club officer, free clinic organizer, habitat for humanity, etc etc etc

 

[link2swim06]

The best thing you can do as a M1 is learn the pre-clinical material well. This will increase your step 1 score.

Step 1>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>ECs

 

[pianoman511]

I worked semi-regularly though all four years of med school. I did it more for the extra income as my son was born early 4th year. Fairly busy agency with lots of long distance transfers (~2 hours was the usual one way distance). May have impacted my studying sometimes but in the end I was able to keep doing what I enjoyed, earned some extra cash, and still got honors/high pass in all my clinical rotations and passed all my classes in preclinical. Plus, I got the residency I wanted with a strong EMS component. Did it help during residency selection ? Probably not so much but it was definitely noticed as everywhere I interviewed commented.

 

[aspirantmed]

Thanks all, this is helpful. I think I'm going to, as people have suggested, hold off on making any time-intensive commitments for the first 2-3 months of school, then evaluate. If I can get away with a few shifts a month (somewhat for extra money and resume but much more so for staying fresh and doing what I love out in the field), seems best to look at that a few months in if time and workload permit that. Appreciate it!

 

[ccfccp]

It's definitely doable (as prn) a few times a month in first or second year (especially as you already have training). I know multiple people who have done similar. Third year would be harder. Fourth year would be doable, but I'd take that time to relax and recover pending residency.

 

[medicsb]

Worked all 4 years. I occasionally did teaching at a paramedic program during the first 2 years, which tapered in the the 3rd year. I picked up shifts for a critical care transport service during vacations. It was great to have some extra cash and to stay in touch with my coworkers. I loved working as a paramedic, so it was an easy decision to keep 2/3 of my jobs (had to leave my 911 job due to monthly hours requirements). BUT, always prioritize medical school over work. I do not think working during medical school was any sort of boost on my application other than showing I can maintain commitments and perform well. Maybe the teaching was a little boost? Not sure. I did get some questions about my EMS experience for whatever that is worth.

 

[shookwell]

I worked EMS through the first 2 years of medical school doing 1 overnight per week plus every other full weekend. I moved to per diem during the last 2 years and worked when it didn't interfere with clerkships. That was working busy 8 hour shifts (50% chance of getting any sleep, and that sleep would be a couple of hours in the bus at most).