How easy is to to get a job as an EMT?

[BigRedPremed]

I have a decent GPA and MCAT score but really lack clinical experience. I've volunteered in the OR/ER at two different hospitals but they really don't let you do much so I am considering obtaining EMT certification and working as an EMT. But w/o prior experience, how easy would it be to obtain a job (either as a volunteer or paid position)? I will be out of school by the time I get certified so I won't be able to work w/ my school's EMS service.

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[ShyRem]

An EMT is the entry-level position at an ambulance company. However, not every area has openings. Contact your local ambulance companies - also talk to your local ERs to see if they hire EMTs as ER techs. Or phlebotomists.

 

[relentless11]

Its pretty hard (if not impossible) to get a decent ambulance job as an EMT here in CA (or at least northern Cal) through AMR. I once looked it up, and found 2 openings for part time positions, and the closest one was like 100 miles away..lol.

I'm not sure how impacted the ER tech jobs are though. However the techs that I encountered appear to work at more than one hospital, which would indicate that they need more hours than what they are getting at one hospital.

EMT certification is cool to have, but over the years, I have found it to have limited ability to yield a job between undergrad and med school, as well as have limited impact on ones med school application. Its definately NOT a bad thing to have, but it sure won't make up for a bad GPA or MCAT score. On the plus side, at our med school, having an EMT-1 certification allows you to do a fly along with LifeFlight. That might be cool to do.

 

[BigRedPremed]

That's what I was afraid of. So what are some better ways of getting clinical exposure?

 

[willow18]

Shadowing is the best thing, IMHO. As an EMT you're not going to do that much clinical work anyway, aside from oxygen, bandaging etc. And if you're not going to devote 1+ years to it, it def. is not worth for the resume. When schools say they want clinical experience, they don't mean suturing. They just want you to be familiar with the career and see the life of a doctor/clinician. How you feel being with sick people all day, etc.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

That's what I was afraid of. So what are some better ways of getting clinical exposure?

I wouldn't recommend the EMT thing unless you want to do it. Definitely don't do it just for the application....not because it won't help, but because you'll hate the job. I love being an EMT but can't speak for how it will influence my application process as I have yet to apply. The cert itself is not all that impressive, but I think working full time would be. Don't be dissuaded by what you hear here, everyone will tell you that EMT's are a "dime a dozen" but everyone I know in the real world is pretty impressed.

Oh..about the question...like the others said it depends on where you live. Here in LA it depends on the company but it is pretty easy in general, especially if you could do it full time.

 

[sanford_w/o_son]

I wouldn't recommend the EMT thing unless you want to do it. Definitely don't do it just for the application....not because it won't help, but because you'll hate the job. I love being an EMT but can't speak for how it will influence my application process as I have yet to apply. The cert itself is not all that impressive, but I think working full time would be. Don't be dissuaded by what you hear here, everyone will tell you that EMT's are a "dime a dozen" but everyone I know in the real world is pretty impressed.

Oh..about the question...like the others said it depends on where you live. Here in LA it depends on the company but it is pretty easy in general, especially if you could do it full time.

completely depends on where you live, both in terms of getting a job and the type of job you get. where i'm at, you pretty much gotta do paid inter-facility transports, as the fd has a monopoly on emergency dispatch and it's tough to get on the fd. where my parents live, they're begging for emts to staff their ambulances for rural emergency calls with up to about 40 minute transport times.

despite federal attempts since the late 60s, ems systems never became standardized across the country. if you want specific advice, tell us where you live.

 

[Karl_Hungus]

Please don't do any EC simply because it might look good on application. Not fair to yourself, and certainly your (potential) patients you may care for as an EMT deserve better than that.
If you pursue ECs to expand your horizons, they interest you or you think you can contribute to the field, I'd bet you'll find that the good-looking application will take care of itself.
I must disagree with Willow18. For being an entry-level position available to pre-meds, you get plenty of direct patient care experience. Sorry, but following a doctor around, pipetting and alloquoting samples in a lab or passing dinner trays in a nursing home can't compare to what you can see and do in an emergency department or on an ambulance.
Also, EMTs are employed in many capacities other than ambulances. Others have mentioned ERs, but also large public venues, jails, private corporations and many others hire EMTs. It also opens the door for volunteering with first responder agencies.
For many, the EMT is a starting place. You could go on to obtain paramedic certification (and really expand your knowledge, skills, responsibility and autonomy) or other allied health positions.
Forgive the cheesy metaphor, but medical school is a city you can reach by taking one of many different roads. This is one that has worked for others, and the only way you'll know is if you explore it.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

completely depends on where you live, both in terms of getting a job and the type of job you get. where i'm at, you pretty much gotta do paid inter-facility transports, as the fd has a monopoly on emergency dispatch and it's tough to get on the fd. where my parents live, they're begging for emts to staff their ambulances for rural emergency calls with up to about 40 minute transport times.

despite federal attempts since the late 60s, ems systems never became standardized across the country. if you want specific advice, tell us where you live.

Yeah come to think of it, it is about 10 times easier to find paid IFT work than 911 calls....basically for the same reasons; fire has a monopoly here too. AMR does employ quite a few EMTs that do mostly 911 though. It is, however, difficult/impossible to work for AMR part time unless you have already worked for them full time for an extensive period of time. Basically, expect to do a bunch of IFT's.

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

Please don't do any EC simply because it might look good on application. Not fair to yourself, and certainly your (potential) patients you may care for as an EMT deserve better than that.
If you pursue ECs to expand your horizons, they interest you or you think you can contribute to the field, I'd bet you'll find that the good-looking application will take care of itself.
I must disagree with Willow18. For being an entry-level position available to pre-meds, you get plenty of direct patient care experience. Sorry, but following a doctor around, pipetting and alloquoting samples in a lab or passing dinner trays in a nursing home can't compare to what you can see and do in an emergency department or on an ambulance.
Also, EMTs are employed in many capacities other than ambulances. Others have mentioned ERs, but also large public venues, jails, private corporations and many others hire EMTs. It also opens the door for volunteering with first responder agencies.
For many, the EMT is a starting place. You could go on to obtain paramedic certification (and really expand your knowledge, skills, responsibility and autonomy) or other allied health positions.
Forgive the cheesy metaphor, but medical school is a city you can reach by taking one of many different roads. This is one that has worked for others, and the only way you'll know is if you explore it.

First of all, great name! "I am here to fix dein cable...I am expert"

Second, I totally agree that the EMT route is about 1000 times better for getting true clinical exposure than any shadowing/hospital volunteering possible. Anyone who argues with that has spent too much time in cyber-premed world.

However, part of the reason ad coms want clinical exposure is so you can say confidently that you know what being a doctor is going to be like, and EMS is a very, very limited view of the whole system in this respect. I think it's also a bit unrealistic to say EMT is a starting place for being a paramedic too. You would have to drop out of school to do that, at least here in Cali. Sure EMT is a "road" to med school that has worked for many. But if all you want to do is get to medical school, being an EMT could be one of the most painful ways...if you're only doing it to put it on your app. (I would say the same thing to someone who said, for example, that they were majoring in BME just to get into med school. Do it if you like it, but there are other less painful alternatives if you don't)

 

[Dr. Giggles]

if you want specific advice, tell us where you live.

I live in North Carolina. Do you have an idea of the prospects of getting work here? I would need to take a class starting in May, and it would probably be a good full-time job when I'm in the process of applying and interviewing.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Around here (MO) it takes about 6 months after you're licensed to get on as an EMT.

EMT is a great way to get clinical experiences, but there are plenty of others that require less training (so you could start racking up clinical hours instead of classroom hours). Remember, the adcom is just interested to learn that you have seen what a physician does all day and that you have some personal exposure to dealing with people in a clinical setting.

 

[BigRedPremed]

What's inter-facility transport? Doesn't sound like there is a great deal of clinical work involved. The main reason I want to work as an EMT is because my volunteering experience has been so disappointing. Obviously, I don't want to have a repeat experience with EMT.

 

[wook]

I have a decent GPA and MCAT score but really lack clinical experience. I've volunteered in the OR/ER at two different hospitals but they really don't let you do much so I am considering obtaining EMT certification and working as an EMT. But w/o prior experience, how easy would it be to obtain a job (either as a volunteer or paid position)? I will be out of school by the time I get certified so I won't be able to work w/ my school's EMS service.

I have never had trouble obtaining volunteer or paid experience as an EMT-B. I would second the suggestion of talking with you local EMS provider, especially if it is a volunteer sevice. Every town in which I have lived that utilized volunteer EMTs has been very willing to have newbies. They have not been able to get enough volunteers. I'm still volunteering as an EMT-B, even through medical school (AND still loving it)!

This was in fact why I ended up applying to med school (for my third career), and pointed me to Emergency Medicine as a career.


Wook

 

[Karl_Hungus]

Thanks Zoom-Zoom 🙂

Just another perspective: I did my paramedic training while I was a full-time undergrad student. This was certainly a lot of work and lead to long days/short nights. It also lead to a job that I love and has provided me with experience that I will always carry with me and will hopefully make me a better physician.
It also provided me an easy answer to that question in interviews about "can you hack a rigorous academic program like medical school?" I could answer that I had been a full-time student at two schools at the same time. They seemed surprised to hear that this had been done, and impressed.

(Again, choosing ECs is not about impressing AdComs, but personal growth and exploration)

 

[Karl_Hungus]

Oops BigRed I forgot to answer your question
Not to parrot others, but interfacility transports (or IFT) depends on the service and the relavite acuity. It can range from "granny trannies" (grandmother transports, not what you were thinking, ick!) and calls to and from the nursing home to the transport of very ill patients to diagnostic tests, procedures and higher levels of care.

Even if the town you live in has only professional EMS (no volunteers) there are probably neighboring communities that would love the efforts of a new volunteer EMT who has an interest in higher education.
Some schools have an on-campus medical response team, so that might be a possibilty too.

Back to the ER thing, think about it this way: A busy ambulance might see 10 to 15 people per shift, but a busy ER can see a hundred (or more) people in the same amount of time. Keep that in mind when looking for exposure to patients, different kinds of physicians and aspects of medicine.

 

[sanford_w/o_son]

Oops BigRed I forgot to answer your question
Not to parrot others, but interfacility transports (or IFT) depends on the service and the relavite acuity. It can range from "granny trannies" (grandmother transports, not what you were thinking, ick!) and calls to and from the nursing home to the transport of very ill patients to diagnostic tests, procedures and higher levels of care.

Even if the town you live in has only professional EMS (no volunteers) there are probably neighboring communities that would love the efforts of a new volunteer EMT who has an interest in higher education.
Some schools have an on-campus medical response team, so that might be a possibilty too.

Back to the ER thing, think about it this way: A busy ambulance might see 10 to 15 people per shift, but a busy ER can see a hundred (or more) people in the same amount of time. Keep that in mind when looking for exposure to patients, different kinds of physicians and aspects of medicine.

yeah, ift's are a different beast. they tend to not be as medically hands-on and challenging as emergency transports. at the same time, i believe you can learn more about (especially chronic) disease processes doing them. this is because when you take someone from a hospital to another hospital or home/facility, you scrutinize the medical chart and ask the nurses/doctors questions for your paperwork--err, umm, i mean for patient care. so you can read the doctors' notes, get an idea of how they diagnosed something, and get an idea of what drugs or procedures they used to treat it and why they decided to send them home. and with talking to very sick patients and going into their homes, i'd think you get a better grip on the various aspects of chronic disease processes than i think you would doing emergency calls (apart from acute exacerbations). if your ultimate goals are in internal or family med, this may serve as the better ems learning experience.

that said, emergency transports are by far more medically involved and rewarding for the emt. if your future is in em then i think this is the way to go.

i personally don't know much about north carolina ems. i do know that north carolina is a somewhat rural state, and i wager your best bet for emergency transport jobs will be in the rural areas where they have workforce shortages. a lot of ems is embedded in fire departments, so be sure to check those out--some hire part-time.

 

[Dr. Giggles]

i personally don't know much about north carolina ems. i do know that north carolina is a somewhat rural state, and i wager your best bet for emergency transport jobs will be in the rural areas where they have workforce shortages. a lot of ems is embedded in fire departments, so be sure to check those out--some hire part-time.

Thanks, I will be sure to investigate that further.

 

[45408]

IFTs are boooo-ring. Thankfully, my company does mostly 911 calls, and if I work the overnight shift, I rarely get the IFTs.