How to become an EMT B in CA

[icebrat001]

Hi All,

I'm a current college student doing the whole premed thing.

I'm interested in doing an EMT B program in Northern California (San Francisco Bay area, not San Jose and not Sacramento).

How long does it take?
How much does it cost?
Is it easy to find a job?


General information would be great!

Thanks


ps. Hard for a female to find a job as an EMT B?

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[Daedalus]

All right, well unfortunately, I can't speak for Nor-cal, but I'll let you know my experiences here in Orange County.

My class was an accelerated 3 week class (8am-5pm everyday), but any class you're going to take will be the same 120 hours, and it might be any number of different schedules. The class cost me about $600 (although the price has since gone up to $800 at the place where I took it - UCLA center for pre-hospital care). Los Angeles County has various random guidelines, and when I took the class, LA county had its own certification exam. They just switched over to the National Registry this month, which is what you'll be taking.

As for finding a job, thats a whole 'nother thing...
I'm sure SF is just like LA, where there are so many paramedics it isn't even funny, and you are never more than a few minutes away from the nearest receiving facility. So you will either be an EMT paired with a paramedic (which doesn't happen in LA - for it to be considered ALS, there has to be two paramedics on a rig), or you'll be on a solely BLS rig, and ALS will always have a shorter ETA than transport to the hospital. But its still a great job. I was fortunate enough to be hired by my college's student run 9-1-1 ambulance, which is ridiculously competitive. A friend of mine on the other hand, is having a rather difficult time finding a part-time job with an ambulance service.
Obviously, the other option you have is trying to get a job as an ER tech, which tends to pay more than an ambulance job, but are even more difficult to find (at least here at UCLA).

I don't know if that answers your questions adequately - let me know if you have anything else. Good luck!

 

[Siggy]

Going off of EMS systems, another popular one (especially in Orange County) is having the cities contract out transport to private companies (i.e. Care, Medic, Doctor Ambulance company, etc) and providing paramedics through the fire department who ride along in the ambulance (basically making the EMTs a glorified taxi driver since most of the time the paramedics show up first and run the call).

 

[Jambi]

I can only comment on EMS and EMT programs in SoCal, as that is where I work and teach.

Down here most community colleges have EMT programs. This route will be the cheapest. Generaly you can expect to pay for:
1. 5-6 units,
2. Textbook and workbook,
3. possibly a shirt that must be worn during clinicals and field time,
4. Stethescope,
5. Pocket mask,
6. Trauma Shears/EMT scissors (optional but fun to have)
7. B/P cuff to practice (optional but nice to have)
6. DMV Physical,
7. TB Test,
8. Livescan [(fingerprints) dependent on the county]
~$200-$300 after tution, books, and supplies.

at a college you can count on a one semester class thats ~4hours twice a week, typically in the evening, one day is lecture and the other skills practice. At the program I teach at we also offer two all day (eight hours) classes on Friday and Saturday. Might be an option if your busy during the week, but it makes for a long day.

As for getting a job it's pretty much like everbody else said above. It can be very hit and miss and the fact that EMTs are a Dime-a-Dozen doesn't help any. The turnover rate can be incredibly high, so persistince and patience can pay off. Another option to consider is casinos, though most will also make you perform as a security guard.

No it's not hard to find a job as a female EMT.

 

[deleted6669]

california has( or at least used to have) something called the regional occupational program at high schools to teach students how to be emt's, car mechanics, security guards, etc
the classes are free for high school students but can be taken by members of the community as well for a small fee. I did my emt 1-a this way back in the day as a senior in high school.we had lots of older folks in the class from the real world.it met 3 night a week for 3 hrs each night for a semester and we had er and ambulance time also plus a few skills weekends.

 

[tic112]

Just wanted to add my SoCal experience as an emt.
I did not find it difficult to find a job with a private ambulance company once I had my emt-b license. There are many private ambulance companies and they are always hiring. I would guess that there are many private ambulance companies in the bay area as well.