worth doing EMT if I will only have one summer worth of experience of it?

[ronaldo23]

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If i become a emt, i will only have a summer worth of experience before my application. im interested in doing it regardless, my question is whether this will help my med school app or do nothing for it since i will only have a summer of experience`

 

[emttim]

I'm sure any amount of experience in the field would be helpful. Is EMT worth it for one summer? Not only no but hell no. I would never recommend EMT to anyone unless they'll be doing it for atleast close to a year...just too much BS involved with getting certified.

 

[Pegasus1731]

I'm in almost the same situation you're describing. I got my certification last summer/fall, but wasn't able to start working until March.

Yeah you won't get that much time in the field, but I'm learning and seeing a heck of a lot more than I've seen while shadowing/volunteering/any other stuff I've done to make my app look good.

I would do it because it's a lot of fun, you get more comforable talking to and dealing with patients/nurses/docs/families. I've noticed a huge change in my comfort level in the past two months.

In conclusion, yes it's worth it, if you're doing it more for the experience than for the app. However, I'm doing this because I love it, but I can't imagine it has no value on a med school app. 👍

 

[MichiganEMTInt]

NO!

If I was on the adcom I would think you are not interested in EMS at all! ARE you interested in EMS? Or are you doing it for your application? Trust me..EMS is not for people who are making nice attractive applications...its for people with genuine interest. Take time off, work for a private service and GET SOME GOOD EXPERIENCE. Then the adcoms will take you seriously.

 

[Dr. Geoff]

I was also thinking of getting my EMT-B certification. One of the companies near me is offering a course and they'll pay for it aslong as you work for them afterwards. I want to go into Emergency Medicine, so I am considering it, as I think It would be good experience. I plan on applying to school in 09'. So, I think it would give me a considerable amount of time to be an EMT before school starts. However, I probably wouldn't be able to include it on my applications, as I would sumbit them before I even finished the classes. Anyone think this is a good idea? Or should I just get a job as a waiter and volunteer in the E.R.? I need a job of some kind to pay the bills. Let me know...

jeff

 

[emttim]

I think MichiganEMT nailed it. Guys, don't go into EMS just because you want to have something "cool" to put on your application. Not only is it not worth it, there's easier ways to get something "cool" to put on there, but it's disrespectful to our profession...and we already get enough disrespect as it is. 🙄

I don't understand why anyone would want to do this just for their application too. There's parts of this job that I absolutely love, such as patient care and actually doing something useful as opposed to standing around looking stupid (hospital volunteering), however, there's also a lot of things about this job that completely suck and will scare away the faint of heart in an eyeblink. The only reason I went into EMS is because my best friend's been in EMS for about six or seven years now, I knew a decent amount about what the field entailed, and I thought it'd kick *** to work on an ambulance and get paid to sleep. Wanting to look good for adcoms never factored into my decision.

If you want decent clinical experience, go be a Medical Assistant in a doctor's office, half the time they'll train you in house and you won't even need to get any certifications beforehand. The experience you get from that may even be "better" in a way as far as patient contact goes since it'll be closer to how it'll be in the hospital.

 

[Dr. Geoff]

Becoming a medical assistant isn't as easy as it sounds. I have applied all over the place, looking for some "on the job training." Maybe its cuz' I live in NYS, but they want a certified medical assistant because of liability. This EMT company by me will do paid training for 8 weeks and then you have to commit to them for a year. It sounds great, I want to do emergency medicine so I think I'm gonna do it. Give me a perspective on a different aspect of health care. Plus I need a job....

 

[silverhorse84]

To the OP the other thing to consider is your county and how the ambulance services work. The dominant service where I am when you start as an EMT you don't even get a part-time commitment - you're given a pager and they only call you when they need an extra body (someone calls in sick and they need a replacement, that kind of stuff). The more you respond, the closer you get to a part-time...then it takes at least a year (if you're lucky) to get a full-time job. So...if I was doing it just for a summer, it wouldn't be worth it because it's likely that I wouldn't work as an EMT all that much.

 

[pseudoMCAT45]

I think im on the same boat as the OP... well kinda

I live in CA, finished my emt-b course already just havent take the national registry yet. And im apply next may. will thre be enough time to do emt for me?

 

[ronaldo23]

if you read my OP, i was clearly saying that I am interested in doing it regardless, and not as an application booster as so many have insinuated. I was simply asking whether or not it would help my med school application because it is not years of experience and just a few months.

 

[iluvpuppies]

if you read my OP, i was clearly saying that I am interested in doing it regardless, and not as an application booster as so many have insinuated. I was simply asking whether or not it would help my med school application because it is not years of experience and just a few months.

honestly, i think if u really are interested in doing it, u should try to find a way that you can make a committment of more than just a summer. i dont know what an admissions committee would think of it (but i dont imagine it would be any huge perk...a ton of ppl do ems, a ton of ppl do something else. as long as ur doing something, it can be emt or something else)

im saying this more bc as someone who knows the amount of time ull do to get the liscense, and the amount of time it takes to really come into ur own as an emt, and the amount of effort ppl put into training emts, i dont think its long enough. i love being an EMT and have done if for a couple years now. i wouldnt give up the experience for anything. i think u should def do it if ur interested. its great. but, seriously, try to find a place or way that you could really make a difference by being in the field--a couple months isnt long enough to do that unless ur riding 24/7.

 

[littlealex]

I'm working as an EMT and I only plan to do it for about 1 month. I mean, after that, whatever I could learn from this job I've already learned, the rest is just repetition.

 

[Vvandenn]

I'm working as an EMT and I only plan to do it for about 1 month. I mean, after that, whatever I could learn from this job I've already learned, the rest is just repetition.