EMS difficulty?

[CourtkneeBee]

Hi All!

I'm currently a Mechanical Engineering major considering switching to either EMS or Mathematics for admission into P.A. school.

I don't want to jump from the frying pan into the flames with this switch, so I'm wondering how difficult is the material for EMS, as in: Is it a memorization, hours of calculations, word-problems, etc.?

Thanks!

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[Dwindlin]

Hi All!

I'm currently a Mechanical Engineering major considering switching to either EMS or Mathematics for admission into P.A. school.

I don't want to jump from the frying pan into the flames with this switch, so I'm wondering how difficult is the material for EMS, as in: Is it a memorization, hours of calculations, word-problems, etc.?

Thanks!

lol. If you are at all successful with your engineering courses then EMS related material should be a joke for you. Having said that I saw many a geniuses fail out of my medic program because of terrible hands-on/social interaction ability.

I took the EMT-Basic course as a high schooler, then got my registry/state cert. as soon as I turned 18. The class was extremely easy. I then took medics after my first year of undergrad (I was a music major at the time) having only basic chemistry, and a introductory bio course and the class was also very easy.

As I said above the most difficult part in my opinion (especially if you are going straight through with no previous experience) is the hands-on/clinical portions.

 

[deleted6669]

agree with above.
I also did emt in high school then worked as an er tech through college(medical anthro) then went right into paramedic school. graduated top of my class in medic school while working ridiculous hrs on the side.
worked as a medic for 5 yrs before becoming a pa.
see www.physicianassistantforum.com for all things pa related.

 

[docB]

Agree with above.

If you have been successful with college level engineering courses then you shouldn't have any problems academically with EMS all the way through paramedic. It will still present challenges such as sequential thinking, functioning under high stress, high stakes situations and so on.

 

[SLC]

The only difficult thing about EMS (in my opinion of course) is the paramedic program's time requirement. The material is all very simple, and a lot of it will give you a heads up in PA school (physical exams, cardiac meds etc).

The paramedic course is not that difficult, sure the clinical skills give some trouble, but you're going to need them as a PA as well. And the schedule will give you insight into whether or not you might be able to handle the PA curriculum. You'll be almost as busy in Paramedic school.

 

[CourtkneeBee]

Alright cool, thanks you guys! I was worried because my university's EMS program has a semester plan where you have to take 16 credits in a semester, and from my experience, there's no way in hell I would do that (with engineering).

One more question: I've been watching YouTube videos on EMS school, and it seems like a lot of students practice insertion of tubes, and practicing needle sticks/drawing blood on each other - is this typically how we would get practice, or are their other means?

 

[Dwindlin]

Alright cool, thanks you guys! I was worried because my university's EMS program has a semester plan where you have to take 16 credits in a semester, and from my experience, there's no way in hell I would do that (with engineering).

One more question: I've been watching YouTube videos on EMS school, and it seems like a lot of students practice insertion of tubes, and practicing needle sticks/drawing blood on each other - is this typically how we would get practice, or are their other means?

My class started IVs on each other but it was voluntary if you wanted to get stuck. No school is going to have to you do anything more invasive than an IV (and even that is usually small gauge).