Want Other Pre-Hospital Provider Opinions

[medforthefuture]

I have been presented with the opportunity to either work as an EMT with a local EMS service, or to work as an EMT in the Emergency Department at a local hospital. I have been an EMT on a volunteer basis with several clinic and disaster response organizations in the past few years, and really love the field (Although I know that I still want to go further with med school). As of right now, I have completed 2.5 years of undergrad.

My internal debate is this:
Working with the EMS service (ambulance) provides an opportunity to attend their paramedic academy at no cost, and with no strings other than a 2 year commitment post-graduation. I am toying with this idea as it would show commitment to a job (something I am lacking) on applications, and would provide me with a good salary with which to finish up school and have some in my pocket for amcas applications, moving costs, etc.

However, the hospital job pays better, and as it would seem, is not one of those "ED Tech" jobs- they actually hire you as an EMT. Job description sounds like they give you a lot of cool training; albeit the description also sounds like they want a low-paid nurse. Of course, I realize the benefits of being able to associate with the Docs and Nurses, as well as the association with the hospital.

See, what makes this difficult is my situation- I recently moved rather far from home and my old school to care for an ailing family member. I ended up meeting my future wife, and to top it all off, I left school with a drowning G.P.A. due to circumstances truly beyond my control.
So, due to the fallen grades, I am having difficulty getting back into school where I am at. I see these jobs not only as an opportunity to save money, but also as an aid to my transfer application to return to school. I know that schools these days are really big on the non-traditional student thing, and if I took the EMS job for a few years and postponed finishing college, I think I would certainly qualify.

So, my final question is this:
Which job would A) best serve the needs of my eventual med school application? B) Help me out with getting back into school?

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated, and again, thank you all for your time.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted6669]

I vote the emt to paramedic route. anything to advance your education is a good thing.
unfortunately med school admissions really don't know the difference between emt basic and paramedic but you will notice the difference in your knowledge base and paycheck.
just my 2 cents having done both.
(best option would probably be full time ems with part time or per diem er tech just to get both kinds of exposure.)

also if you ever decide to pursue another option such as pa school medic looks much better than tech.

 

[Samidoc]

I became an EMT-B to see if I wanted a career in medicine. I also did it to make sure I could hack the blood, death, etc, etc, etc. I worked out in the field, and later at an emergency room. During that time, I had the choice to go to paramedic school. I could afford the tuition however, I didn't have enough money saved to cover my living expenses (since you can't work during school). The city I live in has insane rents.

You will learn 1,000,000 X more in the hospital-hands down. However, you could always work as an EMT-P at a hospital while finishing your undergraduate degree.

Either route will help you with applications, and getting back into school.

Becoming an EMT-P will put you in a MUCH better position than an EMT-B.You will have a better quality of life which, we all like to say it doesn't matter but it does when you are going to school for ten+ years.

If you decide you don't want to go to med school for whatever reason, you will still have a lot of other opportunities as an EMT-P IE: you could take the paramedic to RN bridge course, then you could go the route of a nurse practitioner, or CRNA, etc.
I have a good friend that is a paramedic and now he is in PA school in Oregon. It’s a certification program; he doesn't even have his bachelors. Most PA school requires a bachelor's degree but there are a few still around that don't.
If you stay an EMT-B, your options are going to be limited.

I vote for Paramedic school.

OK, sorry it’s so lengthy!

I’m sure you will choose wisely!! Good luck and please let us know when you decide!!

Sammi

 

[deleted6669]

I have a good friend that is a paramedic and now he is in PA school in Oregon. It’s a certification program; he doesn't even have his bachelors. Most PA school requires a bachelor's degree but there are a few still around that don't.

Sammi

both ohsu and pacific u. in oregon are masters programs.
pacific had a bs completion option that gave a bs midway to the ms for folks who took extra courses but they are phasing that out this yr in favor of all ms.
U.wa still has a cert. option however.

 

[Altruist]

Just to add my two cents... medic is probably a better option for making more money between now and whenever you move on to the next thing, be it RN/CRNA/PA or MD/DO. Given that you're saying it'll be a few years before you go on to something else, I think the above posters have given some good advice.

A bit of history... I finished paramedic school in 2004. Of my 6 best friends from school & the 5 years I worked, only 1 is still working as a paramedic. I'm in med school (DO), 4 are PAs or in PA school, and another friend works as an RN. I know of one other old coworker who's an MD; a couple others who did the RN-to-CRNA thing, or PA.

I list that to say that very few medics I know ended up going to medical school. It's definitely not the case that my old friends & co-workers couldn't have hacked med school. I'd bet money at least one of them would have ranked higher in my class than me. But the bigger issue for them was, after working while also finishing their bachelors, they didn't want to go through 4 years of med school plus however many years of residency after that.

I just finished my last exam for 2nd year. Had I gone to PA school, I'd pretty much be done. That's a hard option to turn down, especially once you're married and if/when you have a family as well. PAs don't make as much as docs, but it's more than enough (for most people).

I'm happy that I chose medical school. PA school never really tempted me because it just wasn't what I wanted to do. But, for the next 5 years or so, my PA buddies will probably be happier than me. After that, things will even out and--maybe--start to swing in my favor.

So back to the first issue. If you're 100% sure you want to go to medical school, whatever else you do matters a lot less than doing well in your classes for the rest of your bachelor's degree. Seriously. Most of my professors don't know the difference between a medic and an EMT-Basic, so my experience wasn't terribly impressive to them on an application. And whatever people tell you about schools taking non-trads, it's ALWAYS going to be an uphill climb, especially if you've had to dig yourself out of a hole as far as your undergrad performance. Med schools will look at you and figure (rightly or wrongly) that they'd be taking a chance accepting you, versus their average student coming straight from college with good grades, since those folks are much more of a known quantity for schools.

Sorry to add another overly long answer. I don't mean to discourage you from going to med school. I did it, others have done it, and I'm sure you can do it, too. I just want you to have a good idea of the challenge you're looking at.

 

[deleted6669]

PAs don't make as much as docs, but it's more than enough (for most people).

for the next 5 years or so, my PA buddies will probably be happier than me. After that, things will even out and--maybe--start to swing in my favor.

agree with the money part. apply yourself as a pa and be willing to leave a job when you have maxed out its educational/scope of practice benefits and the $ will come along as a nice afterthought. it really isn't difficult to make 100k as a pa. 125 is very doable in many of the specialties.
on your second point, things will DEFINITELY swing in your favor. a pa career is definitely rewarding but many aspects of it are more challenging than those faced by our md/do colleagues; mostly in terms of respect and scope of practice. physicians are assumed to know what they are doing, pa's always have to prove themselves. physicians get automatic credentialing for a lot of things(even things they can't do) while pa's have to prove they can.