EMT-b or CNA

[MrJosh9788]

I'm pre-med and need to start making some money. Would CNA or EMT-B be the better way to go?

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[paramediclizard]

I'm pre-med and need to start making some money. Would CNA or EMT-B be the better way to go?

Would you like to work in a hospital or on an ambulance?

 

[MrJosh9788]

hospital....what is the length of a cna program?

 

[Farmer Jane]

hospital....what is the length of a cna program?

Check your local tech school. Mine was eight weeks part time, but that was 10 years ago.

 

[paramediclizard]

hospital....what is the length of a cna program?

I'm not sure...I would check with local programs to see, but I can't imagine that it would be longer than two months or so.

How far are you from applying to school?

 

[MrJosh9788]

just a freshman, but i've started taking the pre-req's already.

 

[paramediclizard]

just a freshman, but i've started taking the pre-req's already.

Wow! Good for you to be so on the ball.

Good luck with you endevours.

 

[zird00]

It is not as easy as where you want to work. What is the job market like where you live? I recieved my EMT-B and CNA and found getting employment MUCH easier as a CNA. In my area CNAs were also paid better and in higher demand (so much so that a local hospital paid for my training). I was later able to use the EMT and CNA training to secure a job in the ER at a local hospital. The important part as a pre-med is clinical exposure!

 

[Snake Doctor]

It also depends if you have an itch for being out in the field or not.
Since you're pre-med, obviously you like clinical without a doubt.
I didn't like some of the job descriptions of a CNA when I was looking into it.
CNA seems to be a great route do if you don't mind doing some works like changing soiled linens.... but then again, EMTs have to deal with those and people omitting on you.

 

[emttim]

It also depends if you have an itch for being out in the field or not.
Since you're pre-med, obviously you like clinical without a doubt.
I didn't like some of the job descriptions of a CNA when I was looking into it.
CNA seems to be a great route do if you don't mind doing some works like changing soiled linens.... but then again, EMTs have to deal with those and people omitting on you.

EMTs don't change soiled linens...that's not in our scope of practice. yes, you have to worry about any possible bodily fluid someone may eject out of their body somehow splashing on you or something to that effect, but more often than not, it doesn't make up that much of your job.

EMT vs. CNA basically boils down to whether you want to do basic medicine or basic nursing. If you want to be a doctor and not a nurse, EMT will probably give you better experience IF you get on with a 911 provider or somehow find a job as an ER tech, depending on how much the hospital lets the ER tech do. If you get a transport job as an EMT, if they do SNF-to-ER calls then you'll still get ok experience. If you get a transport job as an EMT that does strictly interfacility transports, then it will be as worthless as a CNA job for anything beyond being able to check off the clinical experience box on your AMCAS.

My two cents.

 

[Snake Doctor]

I meant when patient defecate

If you're not into trauma, then EMT won't be for you.... but I assuming you are since you're considering it. Being a CNA does give you first hand exposure of the hospital environment as an employee as oppose to a volunteer whereas EMT is confined to to the field and ER. I'm considering being an ER physician someday, which is why I am in the process of being an EMT (don't get me wrong, many former EMTs have become physicians in other areas). I think it you're into Internal Med for example, CNA might be a better alternative. Just my take. Feel free to disagree with it. Someone also pointed out that there's more of a need for CNAs. let me put it this way, CNA is your ticket to being in a hospital environment if that's what you really want (and still get paid!)
Good luck in your decision making!

 

[jlittlej]

An EMT course is without a doubt more interesting than a CNA one. But check employment prospects in your area first. Call EDs and ask what certs their techs have - I think an ER tech position would be the best exposure an EMT-B cert can offer a pre-med, but some hospitals prefer CNAs for this position, some seem to prefer no previous course so they can train you without instilling bad habits, some want ambulance and/or paramedic experience. Is there a local EMS service that lets EMT-Bs work on a 911 ambulance?

Patient care tech jobs in hospitals in my area are plentiful and easily obtained with a CNA. Personally, I'd rather work as a patient care tech in a hospital than do inter-facility ambulance transfers all day, which is the most common EMT-B job.

 

[emttim]

An EMT course is without a doubt more interesting than a CNA one. But check employment prospects in your area first. Call EDs and ask what certs their techs have - I think an ER tech position would be the best exposure an EMT-B cert can offer a pre-med, but some hospitals prefer CNAs for this position, some seem to prefer no previous course so they can train you without instilling bad habits, some want ambulance and/or paramedic experience. Is there a local EMS service that lets EMT-Bs work on a 911 ambulance?

Patient care tech jobs in hospitals in my area are plentiful and easily obtained with a CNA. Personally, I'd rather work as a patient care tech in a hospital than do inter-facility ambulance transfers all day, which is the most common EMT-B job.

I would think it depends on what the hospital allows you to do as a patient care tech. I know someone who's a PCT in Arizona and she says basically all she does is help patients go to the bathroom and take vitals periodically....that doesn't exactly sound like a good job nor good experience to me.

 

[youngtraumadoc]

EMT much better than CNA if you are truly premed. CNA is basically assiting patients with ADLs (washing them, feeding them, turning them...). With you EMT B, not only can you work in some hospitals (this is a state specific thing) but you can also work in the pre-hospital setting. In either case, you get more patient-hands-on and a better look into what goes into caring for a patient.

 

[howelljolly]

I meant when patient defecate

If you're not into trauma, then EMT won't be for you.... but I assuming you are since you're considering it. Being a CNA does give you first hand exposure of the hospital environment as an employee as oppose to a volunteer whereas EMT is confined to to the field and ER. I'm considering being an ER physician someday, which is why I am in the process of being an EMT (don't get me wrong, many former EMTs have become physicians in other areas). I think it you're into Internal Med for example, CNA might be a better alternative. Just my take. Feel free to disagree with it. Someone also pointed out that there's more of a need for CNAs. let me put it this way, CNA is your ticket to being in a hospital environment if that's what you really want (and still get paid!)
Good luck in your decision making!

Yeah, no, not even close.

Either experience is what you make of it. I've said before, that the most important skill that an EMT can take to med school is being able to do a good History and Physical. You can get similar experience as a CNA, but it may be more up to you, because CNAs dont generally do H&P. But, they do get to talk to patients for extended periods of time. I know quite a few med students who were CNAs. They are all pretty good at talking to patients, which generally does take some getting used to.

 

[BostonEMT]

Agree with what howelljolly said but would add (as someone who's never worked as a CNA before) that being an EMT, especially EMT-P, who works responses does give one the unique opportunity to be the first to assess a critical patient and thus to begin to deduce what happened or is happening. This is the most rewarding aspect of the job for those interested in continuing their medical education. Indeed all EMTs really do, in essence, is provide comfort measures and attempt to give the ER staff an indication of what might be going on -- this, I can imagine, will only help you in your journey to become a doctor one day (which is why I'm doing it). Obviously the ER nurses and physicians are far more qualified to diagnose and intervene in an emergency -- you're mostly just transport, as frustrating as that can seem -- but you're in a position to distinguish between psuedo-emergencies and real emergencies. If you're dispatched for "altered mental status" and you discover a giant hematoma on the occipitus you'll be thanked for telling triage that your patient is s/p fall rather than saying "I dunno. Maybe they didn't get their insulin?" and watching them do a full work-up.

I know very little about CNA work except that it's usually much more routine than working on the ambulance. Obviously anyone who chooses to work EMS is at least a little attracted to the idea of driving lights-and-sirens (safely!) over a median strip in busy traffic on a priority.

Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

 

[greytmedic]

If you're dispatched for "altered mental status" and you discover a giant hematoma on the occipitus you'll be thanked for telling triage that your patient is s/p fall rather than saying "I dunno. Maybe they didn't get their insulin?" and watching them do a full work-up.

How do you know that the pt not getting their insulin didn't cause them to become hyperglycemic, then become acidotic and dehydrated which made them weak and dizzy and they fell, thus hitting their head???

 

[jjesusfreak01]

How do you know that the pt not getting their insulin didn't cause them to become hyperglycemic, then become acidotic and dehydrated which made them weak and dizzy and they fell, thus hitting their head???

Altered mental get bgl checked, always, simply as a ruling out mechanism.

 

[DitchDoc73]

EMTs don't change soiled linens...that's not in our scope of practice.

Really? So you don't change the linens on your stretcher ever?

 

[Siggy]

Really? So you don't change the linens on your stretcher ever?

Consider the rest of that post going for the glory job. My experience with So. Cal. EMS is that, on average, the interfacility patients are sicker (always chronically and very often acutely) and that 911 EMT-Bs are most often stretcher fetchers for the fire department (this is to the extent that, until relatively recently, one LA Co city forbid the private company from making patient contact before the fire department). Of course if all the IFT EMTs are doing is gurney, paperwork, transport (instead of doing even a cursory exam and, you know, talking to the patient), then it would be about as useful as 911 EMT experience in most of California.

 

[COMedic2Doc]

Consider the rest of that post going for the glory job. My experience with So. Cal. EMS is that, on average, the interfacility patients are sicker (always chronically and very often acutely) and that 911 EMT-Bs are most often stretcher fetchers for the fire department (this is to the extent that, until relatively recently, one LA Co city forbid the private company from making patient contact before the fire department). Of course if all the IFT EMTs are doing is gurney, paperwork, transport (instead of doing even a cursory exam and, you know, talking to the patient), then it would be about as useful as 911 EMT experience in most of California.

Inter-facility transfers are great learning tools, and I definitely appreciate that you pointed that out. Acute patients will generally be handled at the Paramedic level at minimum, if not the CCEMT-P or RN level for the more challenging cases (multiple drips, etc)

Beyond the idea of the Fire Department banning EMTs from making patient contact first, hmmm interesting politics there and sounds like they have really opened themselves up for law suits. Any Fire Department in most cities are going to have primary scene control, at least from my experience. However, the critical point here is for the private 9-1-1 response Paramedics and EMTs to show professionalism and that they believe more in team work instead of who's ego is more important. When I've either been the new primary response Medic or have new Medics that I'm working with on my primary engines and trucks, I make the conscious effort to go meet them at their station house and get to know each other as early as possible. I've found that professionally speaking, my Fire Medics are always happier and rarely make me feel like a "stretcher fetcher", but then again maybe it's differences between Colorado and California.

The point that I'm trying to make of all this, professionalism and customer service counts even when the patient is a critical patient (and it doesn't matter if you're a Medic, EMT, CNA, RN, MD/DO, PA, or any other provider). If you're professional and know what the heck you're talking about and can represent yourself professionally you will have far more team players than opposing players. As far as the question of EMT vs. CNA, EMT curriculum has been and will continue to be more medicine based vs. CNA is nursing based. Thus, all of us that are Paramedics and EMTs many times find integration into being a PA, MD, DO, etc easier to many people, including clinicians.

 

[DSStudent]

All I can speak for is my limited personal experience but in the ER I work in our manager prefers EMT-B's to CNA's to work as techs. But it does give a very different perspective as oppose to working in the field. In fact the majority of us agree that the knowledge we learn in one area benefits us in the other. Best of luck to you in whichever you choose and I hope this helps.

 

[EmpathMan]

This thread is really old, so hopefully someone still sees this. If a hospital is hiring Critical Care Techs for the ER, is that the same as being an ER tech? And if they require you to have a CNA cert or EQUIVALENT, would an EMT-B certification be equivalent?

Thanks!

 

[DitchDoc73]

This thread is really old, so hopefully someone still sees this. If a hospital is hiring Critical Care Techs for the ER, is that the same as being an ER tech? And if they require you to have a CNA cert or EQUIVALENT, would an EMT-B certification be equivalent?

Thanks!

Usually they are considered equivalent in this situtation, but it is specific to the hospital. This would be something you would need to ask the hospital recruiter.

 

[COMedic2Doc]

This thread is really old, so hopefully someone still sees this. If a hospital is hiring Critical Care Techs for the ER, is that the same as being an ER tech? And if they require you to have a CNA cert or EQUIVALENT, would an EMT-B certification be equivalent?

Thanks!

From what I've experienced, Critical Care Tech positions accept both EMTs and CNAs and tend to prefer EMTs or Paramedics for the ER and ICU (especially Trauma Centers). EMTs and Paramedics are able to handle skills that CNAs just simply aren't trained in. As an example, when I worked in the ER 5+ years ago I was a Multi-Skilled Tech and we only had one CNA out of about 15 Techs. Also, as a recommendation if you're applying to Medical School, get to know your Medical Director or Physician Advisor (most ERs have one and it's not the Department Director, who's generally an RN). Hope that helps.