What opportunities do med students/docs have to participate in Pre-hospital care

[Habeed]

I did Army medic training, and used my resulting EMT-B to work for AMR one summer. I liked some aspects of the job, although I wish I got to do less transport and more housecalls.

I also wished I could do something for the patients rather than just transport them, and I wanted to know more about these medical problems they had. So I quit AMR and focused on pre-med, and just got a spot in medical school (hooray!)

Looking at my schedule for the future : I've got to finish my masters, learn spanish this summer (med school is in Texas), and after that med school appears packed to the gills. There is literally not more than a single week when I don't already have something planned. To max out my brownie points, I'll have to do away electives even during periods when other students might take a vacation. And, intern year begins immediatly after.

Will I ever have a chance to ride an ambulance again, or a helicopter?

Ok, thinking about it further, this question is stupid. I could ask "I'm a lawyer now, but I used to be a pilot, when will I ever get to fly again?" Being a doc is very different than being an EMT. Even though there is skill overlap, there's a bunch of training I'd have to do to hop back on an ambulance again. It would take me just as long as anyone else for me to get EMT-P. And just like 'weekend pilots', even if I could it doesn't mean I should. Even if I were a boarded E.R. physician working as a paramedic on occasional weekends, I would probably not be able to do certain things that paramedics can accomplish easily. (aka, I might be a total expert at the medical stuff, but not be able to extract a patient with C-spine injury as well as a more dedicated paramedic)

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[leviathan]

I don't know what the climate is like in Texas for EMS/medical school relationships, but I'm sure almost every EMS service is happy to let medical students, especially past EMTs, do ride-alongs. Some schools even have mandatory ride-alongs where emergency medicine is part of your core rotations. Try to find a contact in the area of your school who can hook you up with some EMTs, and maybe you can make a few friends who will be happy to let you ride third whenever you have an itch. Congratulations on your acceptance, and good luck!

 

[COMedic2Doc]

Here's an answer of sorts. A very good friend of mine is a PA, has been a Chief of EMS for a major metropolitan Fire Department, an Ortho Surg PA, and is now a Worker's Comp PA/Army Reserve PA. In addition to all this, he has mantained his National Registry Paramedic and we were getting ready to start with a volunteer EMS agency together (until I got work orders to go to Iraq that are 90% confirmed at this point). He chooses to work as a Paramedic in the field instead of a PA, so that he doesn't get into uncomfortable positions with field medicine. I'm not entirely sure if this applies to Physicians as well or not, but have often wondered the same thing. Hope this helps.

 

[fiznat]

Maybe this is a modification of the original topic, I'm not sure, but I'd be interested to hear from med students or grads if they had time to work every once in a while when they were in school. I don't plan on ever giving up my medic license, and I have this idea that I might be able to pick up a few shifts a month over the weekends while I'm in school just for the experience and a few bucks for my pocket.

Anyone manage to pull that off? ...Or is it simply too busy...

 

[nlax30]

I would say for the majority of students that working DURING med school is just not realistic.....and probably not the smartest decision.

That said, depending on your school's schedule you may have a decent summer break between your 1st and 2nd year. I ended up doing some medical missions work but others did research, some traveled, and some worked over the summer for a little extra cash. So I'd say it's more realistic over long breaks like those.

We did have an older student a year ahead of me spent quite a bit of time working as an anatomy instructor at some local schools DURING the school year so it is entirely possible. I couldn't trust myself to do that but with the right time management skills and curriculum (we're in "class" only ~2hrs a day) then it may work.

 

[pseudoknot]

I ride with a volunteer agency every sixth night from 1800-0600. Currently an M2. I plan to continue although I probably will have to cut back during some of the inpatient rotations during third year.

In a lot of areas it is tough to find paid 911 gigs that are part time, but sometimes they exist. That's probably easier if you're a paramedic and have more negotiating power (I'm not, but I might try to challenge for it after third year, which you can do in VA).

 

[EMmedic]

I think its possible to do an occasional shift, but I wouldn't really get your heart set on working through school. I thought I would work here and there for some extra cash but soon realized that whenever I have free time, I just want to chill out. Med school is draining and you need the little bit of time off you get to relax. I would say wait until a few months into school to decide if its something you want to take on.

 

[psychbender]

I ran with my volunteer agency about 150 hour/month throughout first year, and each year its gone down by about 25 hrs/month pretty reliably. I also worked 40-60hrs/month at my paid job through first year, and partway through second year. I have a lot of flexibility in scheduling, though.

That having been said, I wouldn't recommend spending that many hours on EMS, unless that's where your friends are, and its one of your methods of relaxing.

 

[jonb12997]

That having been said, I wouldn't recommend spending that many hours on EMS, unless that's where your friends are, and its one of your methods of relaxing.

That is probably the best comment I've heard on this topic... You have to have SOMETHING to do during medical school to relax, and if this includes EMS, then do it! If this doesn't, don't stress out. Personally, I want something totally unrelated to medicine to relax when I come home, but that's me. I do know one guy who was a medic and PA before med school, he worked weekends on a fly car doing backup for a bunch of the local BLS agencies in the area. He was able to study during a lot of it. Another friend taught in a medic program. You can find time if you're interested.

 

[leviathan]

If you're in a volunteer service, I'm guessing it's a small community with low call volume. That means it's a great way to get some studying done at the station in between whatever few number of calls you get.

 

[psychbender]

If you're in a volunteer service, I'm guessing it's a small community with low call volume. That means it's a great way to get some studying done at the station in between whatever few number of calls you get.

Yeah, college town, of ~50k people, with only ~2600 calls a year. And yes, it was a great way to study between calls...and watch movies on the big screen TV when studying got too boring.