Emt?

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Noimus

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So I read about a few stuff on this forum. I am considering to be a EMT during my pre med years in college. I am a high school senior right now working at a hospital for In-Patient care. Where would I get my EMT-B certificate and once I get it, where would I go looking for a job? Same with becoming a Surg Tech. I wanna do something productive during my college years so thats what I plan on. Anyone know anything?

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Shelby Township? As in... Michigan?

Look up EMT certification programs, they're pricey. But I hear they're lots of fun. Good luck.
 
Look for your nearest volunteer ambulance corps. They usually reimburse you for your EMT-B training too.
 
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I'm actually getting my basic cert right now.... I'm getting mine from a nursing school. A lot of times your local community college will also have an emt basic cert course as well. Costs around $1000 for the class and supplies, at least for me anyways. You'll also need your cpr/aed for healthcare providers certification if you don't have that too.
 
As someone who went through this, I say it's a waste of ca$h moneys. Find other clinical volunteering opportunities.

Working at the fire station was fun though.
 
You could probably use a remedial english course, and after that I wouldn't worry about being an EMT in college??? Focus on your school and get some volunteer opportunities lined up and keep with them fresh-senior year. Volunteer at your uni hospital, and get some non-clinical volunteer experience too like community service etc.
 
KLycos what makes you tell him not to be an EMT ? You must have a wealth of experience as a pre-medical student and I would love to hear your advice.




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KLycos what makes you tell him not to be an EMT ? You must have a wealth of experience as a pre-medical student and I would love to hear your advice.

....

I know a lot of EMT's who are just really burdened with their work, as it is very time intensive. EMT related work is a very different side of medicine as well, and I work with a lot of people who occasionally participate with med admissions who say that EMT experience isn't any better than any other kind of experience. Also, OP seems to want to do it for how it looks, which is not why you get into being an EMT. I'm also doing clinical research and have had plenty of EMT's roll patients into my department and ask how they can get into a clinical research job like mine cause they hate their job. If you want to do something productive there are PLENTY of other things you can do that will look good when it comes time to apply. Your sarcasm also gave me a boner so I'm gonna go fap to your sexy avatar.
 
Your sarcasm also gave me a boner so I'm gonna go fap to your sexy avatar.

:laugh:

OP, don't go the EMT route unless you REALLY want to see the pre-hospital side of medicine (largely unrelated to medicine) and work on an ambulance. I, personally, thought it was very cool.
 
To answer your first 2 questions:
- You can usually take the coursework at a community college
- The most common work environments for an EMT-B are a firehouse, ambulance corps, and ED (as a tech)

Here's a lengthy debate that we recently had on the merits of being a field EMT as clinical experience. http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=832641
 
I enjoy my work as an EMT; it's exciting and fits well with my class schedule. I've used the skills I've learned a fair amount of times outside of class, too...

Look a little more into and see if it's for you. Other posters are right; it's not a be-all end-all premed position. At least in my area jobs are hard to come by so that's another thing to look at when you're deciding whether or not to get certified.
 
So I read about a few stuff on this forum. I am considering to be a EMT during my pre med years in college. I am a high school senior right now working at a hospital for In-Patient care. Where would I get my EMT-B certificate and once I get it, where would I go looking for a job? Same with becoming a Surg Tech. I wanna do something productive during my college years so thats what I plan on. Anyone know anything?

EMT-B is approximately 120 hours. I did mine in three months, but they can go anywhere from six months to a few weeks. As other posters in the thread have suggested, they're offered by many community colleges. If volunteer agencies run 911 calls in your area, you may want to consider affiliating with a volunteer agency; they will almost certainly pay for your training if you do. Don't bet on making bank doing it. If you can find a paying position, it'll probably be minimum wage or close to.

The surgical tech I know went through an 18-month vocational training-type program. I have no idea if this is required or not, as I don't know much about it beyond that, but I believe the training is much more extensive.
 
EMT-B is approximately 120 hours. I did mine in three months, but they can go anywhere from six months to a few weeks. As other posters in the thread have suggested, they're offered by many community colleges. If volunteer agencies run 911 calls in your area, you may want to consider affiliating with a volunteer agency; they will almost certainly pay for your training if you do. Don't bet on making bank doing it. If you can find a paying position, it'll probably be minimum wage or close to.

The surgical tech I know went through an 18-month vocational training-type program. I have no idea if this is required or not, as I don't know much about it beyond that, but I believe the training is much more extensive.

Then again, minimum wage multiplied by 12 or 24 can add up pretty fast ;) Not a bad side gig to have if you're in high school or college.
 
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I agree. I went through EMT-B training and even got my national registry, but I have found that other clinical opportunities provide equal or superior value....this of course is my opinion. The clinical experience in the ER for the class was very fun though.

As someone who went through this, I say it's a waste of ca$h moneys. Find other clinical volunteering opportunities.

Working at the fire station was fun though.
 
The main reason I did the EMT-B was because I wanted to work at the fire station and ride the firetruck. 100% srs.

If your only objective is to get clinical experience for a successful medical school application, don't do EMT-B. There are cheaper, less time-consuming alternatives.
 
I think the best way to put it is.. it's extremely fun, and it's an exciting experience that you can get a lot out of, but if you're only looking to get a cert as a means to an end then you are probably in the wrong place.
 
I really enjoyed my EMT-b class, and doing college EMS is a lot of fun (most of the time). The class exposed me more to medicine than volunteering at a hospital ever did! Volunteering at a hospital was really boring for me, but doing EMS I feel like I'm actually doing something that is hands on patient care. Don't do EMT-b just for medical school though. Honestly, a lot of the kids in my EMT class that were there just to pad their resume did not do too well. But if you have a genuine interest in pre-hospital medicine and getting some hands on patient care, I would recommend being an EMT. You will never touch a patient or deal with blood while volunteering at a hospital. The job is interesting and you never know what's going to happen on a call.
 
EMT checking in. I'd highly recommend it if you're interested in becoming an emergency physician. The triage of a trauma patient is universal in the ED, but of course, the scope of practice is not. It is very useful information as well. You can take it a step further and get EMT-P certification, learn some cool stuff like intubate ppl, IVs, some pharmacology, learn how to recognize life threatening conditions, etc. Take the cheapest program available, usually at a community college. Get ambulance driving cert. from DMV and apply to transport companies. There is heavy competition for EMT jobs, another thing to consider. AND, the people you will be working around is also something to consider. I've bumped heads with a couple of "live life on the edge, ex-marine/army ranger EMTs".

Since you do not have a heavy work load right now, I would personally go the surgery tech route. Depends on your interest. GL!
 
If you go to the prehospital section, there are many good posts about the value of EMT-B for med school admissions and here's my summary:
1) just getting the certification isn't enough and may look bad on an app if and only if there isnt experience in the field
2) time consuming and a med student said himself that you're better off studying hard for the mcat and getting good grades with "just" volunteer time if your interest is getting in medical school (good grades and mcat scores with volunteer hours outweighs lower numbers and some hours of EMT experience with certification)

Edit: this is the value of emt experience for getting into medical school only, with no gauge for your personal interest
 
Since some premed kids I met were EMT, I thought I was missing something. Looks like something more for personal enjoyment than for med school. Thanks for the clarifying posts.
 
get ur emt cert, work as a tech in the ER
 
Since some premed kids I met were EMT, I thought I was missing something. Looks like something more for personal enjoyment than for med school. Thanks for the clarifying posts.

Don't get me wrong. I've been told by many EMTs/paramedics turned docs that it helps a lot in medical school. Even though your scope of practice is completely different, skills like bedside conduct and quick decision-making under pressure can translate over to medical practice very effectively. That being said, it's a lot of work (and $$) so if you're not really interested in EMS/working as an EMT in itself and if you're just interested in it as a "good EC" for medical school--there are easier ways. If that makes sense.
 
You probably won't be able to get employment as an EMT-basic. You might if you upgrade to an EMT-I, but you should have other priorities.

Find a volunteer ambulance corps that'll train you for free. Saves a ton of cash.
 
The best clinical experience to have is the activity that you are personally most interested in. Your enthusiasm will be obvious to both the people who are working with, and the admissions committee come interview time; plus you are likely to learn more. If being an EMT sounds appealing, sign up and be thankful of the fact that your time will double as clinical / volunteering experience.
 
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