EMS before Med School?
Started by ChadC
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This has been discussed ad nauseum. Basically, if you're interested in EMS, do it for yourself. Don't do it for your application. You can find other ways to get patient experience without the training required to become an EMT.
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ChadC said:
1. Yes I volunteered for EMS. They paid my way through paramedic school.
2. Yes, it is a great idea, and is the best possible way to get medical experience prior to entering medical school.
3. It is better than just shadowing doctors and doing non-medical volunteer work, and you can even get a recommendation letter from the medical director of your EMS service.
ChadC said:
I did it out of interest, and it convinced me that I should attend medical school. It was a blast. If you're looking at beefing up your resume, do something that you may enjoy that it is medically related.
Wook
Gotta just find something to build confidence and assertiveness. Also gotta be sure your heart's in medicine. Many avenues can get you there, just gotta experiment.
I am going to say yes because I believe that it gave me the edge over others with similar grades. I needed to work during school and it provided a paycheck too(I worked fulltime nights). You have rough shifts sometimes, but where I'm at in SC many evenings are spent getting paid to study and/or Earning Money Sleeping. I also found that I loved patient care and it cemented my resolve to become a doctor. I would recommend it over any other allied health job that I can think of because it gives you relative autonomy in patient care and decision making (nurse-types can really hate us too,cause they have to ask for orders to wipe a patients butt!) Plus, to take a EMT-B course takes like 3 mos. and the class is cake. My 2 younger brothers took their courses for credit at a tech college and 7 credits of A didn't hurt the old science GPA either. I also rubbed shoulders with docs who gave advice/wrote letters of recommendation, etc. which was very cool. Just something to consider.
Dr. EMS
NSU-COM
Dr. EMS
NSU-COM
I just got accepted into med school and I have been volunteering with an ambulance service for >6 years. Don't do it for your resume, do it if it interests you. I absolutely LOVE it - hence why I've done >1000 hours for free! LOL. I don't start med school until August but I already feel very comfortable with patients. I've learned SO much from the *actual* paramedics and nurses that also volunteer with this organization. Patient approach, care, treatment - if you can start learning before med school, I say why not? This was also where I learned what it means to be a patient advocate. I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything!
