EM work before medschool?

[brats800]

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after graduating from undergrad this year i'll be taking a year off before starting medschool. i'm looking to get some type of job in the EM field. what's available to someone with only an undergrad? also, how would i find a job? should i just contact people in the departments around where i am? (i live right by university of wisconsin medical school.)

 

[DrQuinn]

You may be able to work as an Orderly, or a Patient Care Technician. I was an orderly in an ED during undergrad.

You may consider taking an EMT course as well.

Taking a year off gives you a LOTTTTT of time off. 40 hours a week is nothing. You could easily be an Orderly as well as taking a basic EMT class.

Good luck.

Q, DO

 

[HoosierDO]

I highly suggest getting a job in a local em. I am finishing up my "off Year" and i currently work as the ER Unit Secretary. I work in a very busy ER, with a very high acuity level...and let me tell you that the experience is priceless. I wanted at first to be a tech, or patient care assit. but i am very thankful now that i chose the secretary job. I sit at the desk right next to the docs, i put all the orders in, and this allows me to really get into each case. I get time to read the triage sheet, read the docs' exam, and then evaluate why they are using the tests that they are, and Iam the first to get the lab results as they are finished...and at the end the docs are very excited to sit and discuss the cases with me when they have a chance. As a secretary you get more time to interact with the docs and ask questions...and you will be amazed at the amount of info that you will learn and understand in one year. I say go for it...its awesome!!!!!

 

[Dr. J?]

Brats800,

I'm originally from Milwaukee and took a couple of years off between UG and med school. While I was doing research in a lab I took the EMT course at MATC. It's two nights/wk for about 2-3 hrs each night -- no problem while working 40 hr/wk. I'm sure that Madison Area Tech College has a course. Once I got my EMT license I worked in the street with a private ambulance service and also spent a year working at Milwaukee's Level One Trauma Ctr. I would suggest you get a job as a ED tech, rather than a secretary. The reason is that you actually get a chance to go into the rooms with the RN's/MD's to actually treat pts . If you work at the UW hosp ED you'll be able to work in the trauma room, the arena, triage and sometimes urgent care. You'll get a chance to see alot more this way and understand more than just how to order lab tests. I got an opportunity to do all this and observe EM physicians at work, as well as, observing consulting physicians do their diagnostic examinations. The diversity of experiences will serve you very well when you get to your clinicals in 3rd/4th yr.

 

[Pegasus]

Hi,
I worked during undergrad as a nurse assistant at a level I trauma center. I took an EASY 6 week course and I loved working there. You get to do a lot and if they know you are interested in EM, then you will get to do more. I would definately look into it. It just lets you do more hands on stuff than secretary.

Good luck
Pegasus

ps..you can take the course in the day or evening at a local community college for just a few hundred bucks, and some hospitals will pay you to take the course

 

[Vince]

I was a paramedic before med school and I would suggest becoming an EMT and working on an ambulance or being an ER tech. The pluses of becoming an EMT include the exposure to the prehospital aspect of Emergency Medicine, that many EM Residents/Physicians don't get the opportunity to witness. EM Residency Programs might require a month of EMS, where the residents go on ride alongs and teach Paramedics and stuff, but its still not that long. Also, by being an EMT you can start taking care of patients by yourself and start develop patient communications skills and physical exam techniques. These are two good reasons for becoming an EMT, and although I am loyal to the EMS community, there are also pluses for becoming an ER tech. If you can get a job in an ER as a tech you will be witness to different medical procedures and sometimes different types of patients. Another thing that is useful, is seeing what it is like to work in an ER. It will give you a glimpse into what it is like to be an ER doc if that is something you think you might be interested in. Some medical schools don't allow EM rotations until your 4th year or late in your 3rd year, so you really don't get many opportunities for EM exposure before its about time to apply to residencies. Just my thoughts, but I would think about these two options....Good Luck.

 

[brats800]

a friend of mine said i should look into becomming a nursing assistant in the E.D. for my year off. thoughts? would this be similar to an ER tech?

 

[Dr. J?]

With an EMT license (or paramedic license in some ED's) you are an ER tech. You do blood draws, EKG's, wound preps, triage pts, assist with procedures, etc. W/o an EMT license, you're called a nurse's assistant (CNA if you take a short course). Ck with the local ED and see what they use. I would definitely suggest taking the EMT course. You can work out in the field for an EMS service (private or volunteer) or work in the ED. Call the local tech school or if you live in a small town go down to the local fire dept. Most of the time the local fire dept will pay for you EMT class if you run with them. Being an EMT gets you into a great variety of medical situations (emergent and non-emergent). You begin to pick up basic terminology and basic H&P exam skills. You also learn how medicine is practiced today. These things seem small, but become huge legs up when you get into school. If you need any more info just do a search for EMT on SDN. Good luck.

 

[mlcrawford]

Brats800,

I would second and third many of the others that have supported you on becoming an EMT or ER tech before med school. I did just that out of undergrad. I currently work in Iowa's busiest ER, a level II trauma center. It has been the most valuable experience in my pursuit of becoming a physician. As many have mentioned you get a lot of hands on experience. I preform phlebotomy, EKGs, urinary catherization, assist with many procedures and with in the last year have been cross trained as a orthopedic tech or cast tech. Being a ortho tech I get to asst Ortho Drs in OR and ER with reductions and of course splinting and casting. ( I've had no choice but to learn the skeletal system and types of fractures) Beyond the actual hands on experience you learn a lot about the "politics" of medicine (i.e. JACHO, HIPPA etc.) as well.

Another important asset is the relationships you build with the RNs and Drs, both Er and private and the ancilliary staffing. I know that I will feel comfortable in my 3rd and 4th years having worked in a clinical environment.

Best of luck ~ MC

 

[Captain Solo]

Trauma centers in Iowa, What next, an Internationally Known Engineering School on the western edge of a small midwestern town?😉

 

[Apollyon]

Originally posted by Captain Solo
Trauma centers in Iowa...

All I can say is, "He went through the reaper"...chilling, to say the least.

 

[tonem]

Don't forget grain silo explosions...

 

[brats800]

hmm...maybe i should move to iowa....sounds like a really dangerous place...good for E.M. work 😉

 

[brats800]

anyway...if i get a Emergency Response Certificate from the Red Cross, is that different than getting EMT certified?

(still trying to find an EMT course i can take...)

 

[Vince]

Check out www.emsadvocate.com and see if they have any listings of courses in your area. If not, e-mail them and see if they can point you in the right direction. Good luck.

 

[Febrifuge]

Originally posted by brats800
anyway...if i get a Emergency Response Certificate from the Red Cross, is that different than getting EMT certified?

(still trying to find an EMT course i can take...)

Actually, what the Red Cross does is train volunteers to be part of disaster response. An EMT is someone who is certified by the National Registry ( http://www.nremt.org ) and their state authority (in Illinois that would be the EMS division of your state Dept of Public Health at http://www.ilems.com). The training is outlined in specific guidelines set down by law back in the 1970s, when the EHS profession sort of came together as we know it today.

Your state will have some kind of agency or board, and then there's the national Registry. You'll need to be certified by both before you are a real honest-to-god EMT. The training you need before you can sit for those exams takes about 110 hours all in all, with classroom and practical components.

Beyond EMT-Basic is EMT-Intermediate, and then EMT-Paramedic. Paramedic takes about a year and a half to two years, where I live.

 

[DrQuinn]

I took the Introduction to Disaster Response, for volunteers, as part of a medical school requirement (either that or cut toenails at a podiatry clinic). Pretty much as a Red Cross volunteer, in a disaster, you would be responsible for writing down the patient's medication, making sure they had their glasses, and giving them orange juice.

Q, DO

 

[Captain Solo]

The Red Cross courses are not standard courses that you can use to work. Even their CPR course is not the standard anymore with AHA HCP being the most recognized course around. Most local community colleges have an EMT course, or contact a local EMS department and find out about training centers for EMT-B.