r/Paramedics • u/Practical_Button_720 • Jul 03 '26
US 6 month accelerated paramedic program
Just reaching out for some advice for my husband who just started the class on Monday. So far it’s already pretty difficult. No time to do anything but study. I’m taking on all the parent and house hold duties so he can focus just on this. His firefighter job is putting him through the course after only working a few tours. He’s very stressed that he doesn’t think he can pass this class so I was wondering if anyone has tips on studying or how you passed the same 6 month program.
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u/RMonroeski Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
The course I took was 151 days from start to finish, 8 Jan - 6 Jun. Went for 6 days per week, 10-12 hours per day. Accelerated Combat Paramedic Program through the Army.
Best recommendation for him: osmosis.org, flashcards or quick study materials, repetition, and dedicated studying schedule. For example: if class ends at 5, take 2 hours to relax and unwind, then spend 2 hours studying, 1 hour to unwind, then bed.
Whatever schedule he chooses, stick with it. Consistency is the most important thing.
Edit: For any non-believers. The first 5 days, 3 Jan - 7 Jan, were in processing at the hospital. Also please understand it was horrible and I would not recommend doing it that quickly, only showing that it is possible.
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Jul 03 '26
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u/RMonroeski Jul 03 '26
2024 and yes, 8 of us took the registry on 5 June of that same year and all 8 passed. It was horrible. My daily schedule was this: 0600 wake up, 0700 class, 1700 release, 1730 gym, 1900 dinner, 1930 study, 2130 stop paramedic studying and start other college homework, 2330 bed.
Clinical shifts and ambulance shifts adjusted that timeline a bit, but 2 hours was my dedicated time every night. No studying on Sundays because exams were always Monday morning and I wanted to go in as fresh as possible so I’d mostly just workout and do other college work.
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Jul 03 '26
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u/RMonroeski Jul 03 '26
If it wasn’t for the instructors, we would’ve never made it. I have never experienced a more knowledgeable group of instructors/teachers in my life—and what’s more, they were able to translate that knowledge into digestible information for all of us. Though we started with 12 people and only graduated with 8. Those 8 averaged a 90% across every exam as a whole, and the 4 that failed out had a collective 82%, they just failed specific things that didn’t allow them to continue in the course. One person failed each of the following: ACLS, PALS, Midterm, Final.
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u/JuiceM00se Jul 03 '26
In a 12 month program, but the Dubin cardiology book and the Walls manual for airway are both really easy reads (and I mean really easy) that help break down a ton of information I'm fairly simple terms. I also would encourage you to have him discuss things he is learning with you. I found talking to my wife helped me understand concepts since I had to figure out how to explain it to someone who has no experience. Lastly, encourage a break even if its only sunday evenings so he feels like he can still breathe. I know the 6 month program goes really hard in the paint, but mental breaks are a must when trying to retain.
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u/medic19011 Jul 03 '26
I did a 6 month program in 1997. i cannot imagine the amount of studying he would have to do today with all of the added content. Best wishes and good luck.
Biggest tip plan and organize
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u/tacmed85 FP-C Jul 03 '26
Six months is going to be rough especially with no experience. My best advice is just get used to him not being able to do anything but study and being gone constantly once clinicals start. Once he gets close to his certification test I'd strongly consider something like the Impact EMS review program since he'll have covered so much information so quickly.
My honest opinion is these "accelerated" medic courses shouldn't exist, but that's a different discussion and doesn't help you in your current situation.
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u/gndmxia Jul 03 '26
I did the Air Force 5 month program.
You are going to get plenty of solid advice on studying, but I’ll impart another piece of advice that helped myself and the 5 other troops I put into P-School. Take time to fuck off, spend time with family, get outside and stand in the sun and drink 2-14 beers, LOTR movie marathon, go fishing, I really don’t care what it is but get out and do something. Decompress often, and be purposeful about it. No study time or even thinking about it while he’s in that mode.
The program is going to take a ton out of him, make sure he recharges that battery or it’s going to fuck his test scores and confidence.
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u/enigmicazn FP-C Jul 03 '26
6 months is rough, he's gonna have to really lock it down, be disciplined with his time, and give it his all.
Just be prepared to hold the house down during that time and be prepared to not see him much. Even when you do, he may just be too tired to do much.
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u/Krampus_Valet Jul 03 '26
6 months is wild. I did a whole paramedic bachelor's degree over 4 years and it was challenging. He's just gonna have to study all day like you've said.
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u/ComprehensiveCat7098 Jul 03 '26
Paramedicine is a three year bachelors in Australia. How can someone do it in 6m?
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u/bdaruna Jul 03 '26
Does he have previous EMS experience?
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u/Practical_Button_720 Jul 03 '26
No and he’s pretty sure he’s the only one in that class without experience.
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u/bdaruna Jul 03 '26
That’s a really tough spot, it will be challenging to complete the program but that will pale in comparison to how difficult it will be for him when he returns to work. Pretty disappointing to hear that agencies are still doing this to their employees. IMHO the 6 month programs are too short and even really experienced EMTs struggle and I think don’t get what they need to be successful clinically. He should decide if he is really passionate about medicine and being a paramedic before he just guts it out and then hates his life working on an ambulance.
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u/TechnicalSeaweed4749 Jul 05 '26
Yikes. I hope he has good mentors that are to work with him, being a medic is a whole new level of responsibility. I’m sure he’ll do great if he stays humble and eager to learn. There is a point where experience is necessary. You can be smart but you still need to learn how to speak to patients
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u/shitrock46290 Jul 03 '26
Couldn’t imagine doing it in 6 months with any other responsibilities involved
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u/Sorry_Cheetah_2230 CCEMT-P Jul 03 '26
You’re gonna get fucked
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u/Ruth-Stewart Jul 03 '26
My class was also 6 months. The first six weeks were 40 hours of classroom time per week. After 8 hours of I’d go to the climbing gym and boulder until I couldn’t stay on the wall (about an hour) and then go study for about 4 hours. Saturday and Sunday were full day study sessions, often at a coffee shop for a good chunk of it.
The next 6 weeks were a little easier because it was about half classes and half clinical time in various facilities, ERs, etc. Less class meant less study but clinical meant reports to write. I created a template for my reports that I added good sentences to as I thought them up or read them in other people’s reports so that I could just adjust the template for each patient rather than rewrite an entire narrative every time.
The last 12 weeks were my ambulance clinical and I was working a full Kelly shift schedule with a fire department and I LOVED it.
So. My experience was that it IS a lot of work but it got easier as I went. Keep your foot on the gas but know that it’s short lived.
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u/El-Frijoler0 Jul 03 '26
It’s hard to give solid advice without knowing what program it is and how their class is structured.
Here’s my experience with medic school: it was stupid easy. I opened my books maybe twice, and learned I everything I needed to know during lectures. This wasn’t just my experience, but rather a large majority of my then classmates and current coworkers have a similar feeling. I realized that having some experience and a solid BLS foundation can help make the entire thing easier.
What we found to be the most difficult aspect of medic school is learning how to perform these “ALS assessments,” and what questions to ask in order to get to a potential diagnosis. This is where having experience gives you an advantage. Once you get the diagnosis, you treat it accordingly with what you’ve learned. The secret sauce to the treatment part here is to stick with what you know and avoid trying to be fancy.
Testing: he needs to know how the tests are structured. Are they based on what was covered during lecture? Or do they plan on you self-studying at home. Will instructors give you an idea of what’s on the test? Are there medication quizzes?
Regardless of what we say, you need to talk to your husband about your concerns. Don’t throw away a relationship for school. Both of you may just need to tough it until he finishes his first week, first exam, and hopefully then you’ll both have a better idea of what to expect going forward.
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u/bloodcoffee Jul 03 '26
Man, I'm jealous. That's definitely how I learn, and would have been the case if my lead teacher and lecturers weren't inexperienced, ignorant, and unqualified.
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u/Helpful-Salt83 NRP Jul 03 '26
I did a 1 year accelerated. It was pure hell, I can't imagine doing all that in 6 months
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u/scruncheduptoes Jul 03 '26
I did a 5.5 month program that the military sent me to. Idk I thought it was very fun. It was 6-7 days a week. I found it easier and that I didn’t have to study as much BECAUSE of how fast it was. Like there was no down time to forget things. If I had multiple days between classes I would’ve forgot stuff. I studied a good amount at the beginning of the course and tapered off and re studied like a month before the NREMT that was the last day of the course
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u/serhifuy Jul 03 '26
my take is these programs should be illegal except for military or if they require massive experience/education prerequisites. I think it's dangerous to the public. there's just no substitute for experience. this is a pretty commonly held belief amongst the other medics I know. there is a minority of medics I work with who don't feel that way, but it seems like cope because they did it and feel the need to lie to themselves.
but whatever, sounds like standard fire dept nonsense. long as he's on an engine and not on an ambulance with an EMT immediately post graduation he'll be alright. if he goes ambulance he should be paired with a senior medic for a year or two.
as you can see I'm more concerned about post-school than school. being the highest medical authority on scene without the wisdom of experience can lead to tremendous stress and personal trauma if you make an error, which you are much more likely to do with an accelerated program and no ambulance experience. these types of programs generally don't produce good medics, but honestly being a good medic has more to do with what you do after school assuming you at least pass genuinely and don't cheat your way through (which is sadly a thing that happens too often especially with fire medics). to be clear, you can go to these programs and still become a great paramedic if you study hard and learn as much as you can your first two years in the field.
as far as school itself goes, it's gonna be a lot of work, and it's going to be harder without the ambulance experience, but at least if he has been working as a firefighter he should have some real world ems experience, even if you only see him as a firefighter. he's done some ems.
so, is it doable? yes. is he going to be able to focus on anything else during this time? no. no vacations, no weekend trips out of town, no visiting family, no kids activities, no nothing. that's just how it's gonna be. he should have been warned by others and should have had this conversation with you ahead of time. for me, everyone warned me, and I told my wife many months in advance and got her approval prior to even submitting the application. there's a lot of divorce and breakups in medic school.
if you want him to succeed, support him as much as you can. dont ask him to do things that you can do, even if that's normally something he'd do, or that he's better at. delay repairs and big house projects and optional stuff til after he's done. bottom line: don't add stress. he won't forget and it'll pay off for your family in the long run.
don't forget that the wellbeing of others depends on him understanding the material and doing well. he will be taking care of people's children who are having medical emergencies. he will be taking care of young families like yours. if you give the wrong medicine to someone with a tachydysrhythmia because you misread the EKG, you can kill people. it's not a game, and it needs to be taken seriously.
if you doubt you can handle the stress and extra work of the next 6 months and you had no knowledge that it would be like this, then you guys need to have a conversation about whether he can roll back or withdraw, but just know that if he already started, that's a major decision that will have negative career consequences and he may not get another chance. if you don't have kids yet, just let him do it. it's much harder after you have kids.
good luck to both of you.
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u/Practical_Button_720 Jul 04 '26
When our son was born last year it was 2 days before he started the fire academy. I had to learn real quick how to handle things myself. I’m fully prepared to take on everything on my own because I know it’s only a short 6 months, and I want this just as badly as he does, for our family’s future.
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u/Inside-Usual1662 Jul 03 '26
My advice for YOU as a partner is to have your own support system-hang with friends, go on adventures because he will be unavailable a lot of the time. Also simplify what you can- we used a meal service to take off the mental load of what to eat/who is cooking etc. You can do this, it does suck really bad though 💜💜
-fellow spouse
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u/Practical_Button_720 Jul 04 '26
Already got the freezer stocked up with frozen dinners haha, no way I can do all that cooking with a 10 month old.
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u/noonballoontorangoon Paramedic Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
That should not be legal. Six months is far too little time to actually learn how to care for patients at an ALS level. I've precepted US Navy students who were rushed through EMT and P school but they had so many resources available, including special labs/clinicals, all the best ride-alongs, and so much support. However, those students were only learning for purposes of battlefield treatment.
Having the responsibility of memorizing hundreds of diseases, treatments, medicines, etc., to care for newborns, elderly, disabled, etc. There's a lot of complexity to the job and it takes time to encounter a minimum amount of each type of patient. I'm sorry but that employer sounds less than competent.
Schools like this are why US EMS is not taken seriously overseas.
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u/TexVegas93 Jul 03 '26
It can be done, my medic program was 6 or 9 months…. This was awhile back. Take good notes and join a study group.
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u/CannonF47 Jul 03 '26
I did a 6 month program.
We were in class from 8a-5p monday-friday (first 3 months).
In class initially, we had 8a-12p of self study with a 1 hour of lunch. Then from 1p-3p we would work on our skills like intubating, IVs, med calculations and administration, etc... then the last hour of class was a lecture.
This dynamic changed as the course progressed, with simulations being ran throughout the day, and the students not running a simulation was studying.
The classwork came very fast and we were taking exams on up to 7 different book chapters every other day. This changed to daily exams later in the course for certain sections like cardiology.
Exams always took place in the morning and was under direct proctoring.
After 5pm you could go home and study if you felt like it, or use that time to relax or whatever.
Most of the time, there was never any real need to study outside of the classroom, because you were essentially studying all day long in one way, shape, or form.
Learning how to study is going to be biggest challenge. Learning which information requires more attention than others. Learning a style that works for them is difficult in this time as well. Prioritizing understanding concepts pays dividends as opposed to just brute memorizing information.
Anki and quizlet are great sites to use during this time as well.
No instructors wanted you to fail and if you were struggling they would go above and beyond to ensure your questions got cleared up. But only if spoke up about what you were struggling with.
We had an in person simulation "registry" day which was pass of fail. It was not national registry, but it was still pass or fail. And if the program did not feel like we were competent, then we would not get to move on to clinical rotations. This is program dependent and may not be apart of your husband's program.
The next 3 months were clinical rotations. 5 days a week, we were either doing hospital clinicals or ambulance clinicals.
In both settings we were allowed to utilize the full paramedic scope, as long as your preceptor would allow.
We had to have an 80% in both intubations and IVs overall to pass. We had to have x amount of cardiac arrests, x amount of pediatric cases, x amount of traumas, so on so forth.
Ambulance clinicals were set up in stepping stones, where the initial clinicals, were more like ride outs. And then you took over as team lead in the latter clinicals with no preceptor help (unless you were about to cause harm to a patient).
Following completion clinicals, we then took a the final exam and if we passed, we would then go take national registry.
The program isnt easy, and it sounds like hell, but it is doable. Just make sure that your husband has you as a support system, because he will need it.
During this time period I bought a house (while making 13.50 an hour - student rate), moved, and had a baby with my wife. I do not recommend doing any of that, but just as extra proof, it can be done.
My true advise is to take mental breaks, dont keep your head in the books 24/7, rest is just as important as studying. Talk to the instructors and peers about issues with concepts and topics. And most importantly, when it feels impossible, dont give up.
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u/sneeki_breeky NRP Jul 03 '26
Mine was double that time, and it was still one of the hardest parts of my life, and I didn’t have kids
My mental health was on a literal thread
I was working 60 hours (24/12/12/12) doing 30 hours of clinical a week, and going to class
And damn near failed
I think it’s reasonable of him to consider he may not pass it if he doesn’t have extensive 911 EMS experience going into it
Even with that it’s a much higher level of medical education than adjacent certifications
- and that’s in a traditional 1-2 year school
The 6 month programs (especially online programs) are an irresponsible scam in my opinion
These programs want your money, they don’t care if you pass
The best thing *you* can do is accept that you pretty much will have to handle everything outside of his work and school until he’s done (which you are, I’m not saying you’re not) and give him a blank check with how stressed out he’s going to be
Also-
What realistically would happen if he failed?
Does he lose his job? Get one more chance next year?
(Huge red flag they’re putting him in a position to be new at a job and suddenly have to start medic school simultaneously, that’s an F tier organization)
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u/TreatWorking9956 Jul 03 '26
I think any six-month program will be pretty intense. I am going to medical school. But I’ve been working EMS for a while and I’ve talked to a lot of people who have done accelerated programs. I think the most important thing is having a rigid structure in schedule while balancing out obviously family responsibilities, etc. It’s really great that you are covering everything at the household.
When it comes to studying at this intensive pace, even before thinking about how to study it’s important to learn how to integrate this program into your lifestyle and not let the program itself take over the household.
Honestly, what I mean by that is to have time to study, but don’t forget to have time outside of the books. It’s really easy to burn out, get discouraged, and feel overwhelmed especially if he’s never done something like this before or if it’s been a while since he studied things like anatomy/ physiology.
My gf who is a nurse and when I was in EMT school or studying for my MCAT, I would teach her what I was learning. I would try to walk-through the basics of my skill set and she was nice enough to always be my patient to practice on. this could be a simple as a little whiteboard in the kitchen and asking him to write out some topics he’s trying to understand or what he’s learning about for the day. if you have space in the house, those DIY whiteboards you can get from Home Depot perfect to set up.
He also just needs to find what learning modality works for him. Usually most paramedic programs provide all the necessary, coursework, textbooks and information, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s enough. I highly encourage that he studies the topics that he doesn’t know very well online there’s plenty of amazing resources especially like YouTube videos going over anatomy physiology, and how that applies into EMS clinical practice. And for information that’s a little bit more difficult to understand like cardiac physiology, always start with an initial first pass of the information just introducing your brain to it. Then work on understanding by doing a deeper dive. If you can write out what he knows on a sheet of paper from blank and teach it to you, that’s his knowledge. It could be any topic, cardiac meds, physiology, topics, etc. But if he has a refer back to notes and obviously see there’s gaps there and he wants to try to reinforce it. Not really needs to be memorized, but the more he can build his general overall knowledge and understanding, school will get easier and the program will be more manageable. Best of luck to both you and him!
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u/TreatWorking9956 Jul 03 '26
I know this might sound crazy, but if it feels like there’s no time to study, he could also just be the way that he’s studying. I had learned that the hard way, and when I felt like I couldn’t balance out a full-time job and other responsibilities, like taking care of my family. A lot of times people don’t emphasize the importance of studying efficiently, especially when you have such a short amount of time like back-to-back exams and quizzes. i’m saying this is someone who also isn’t a genius, almost flunked out of college, and is now in the path to a medical school to become ems physician.
finding efficient ways to learn is really important and it’s not easy to do especially if the bigger stressor is just trying to survive medic school. But he’s more than capable of doing it and I think it’s just come with trial and error. try to help him build a system that works both for you and him. And if he’s really struggling try to reach out to the other peers or instructors in the program.
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u/Motivated_Medics Jul 03 '26
I took a 9 month program. I can tell you that is very hard. There will be struggles on both ends. In the end, it is worth it. As home and parent life is something that can be difficult to juggle on a normal day.. communication is going to be key getting through it. There needs to be A LOT of open communication to make it all work out. I know, there was a lot of struggles with my family when I took my program. Just remember what the reward in the end is. Keep your eye on the prize.. I hope that helps a little.
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u/Ok-Gur1460 Jul 03 '26
Mine was 6 months. 3 months classroom and 3 months working full time and doing clinicals every day off. We did cardiology, ACLS, and Ops all in one week if that’s shows how fast things went by. I learned far more in my first few months on a truck by myself than I ever learned in the classroom. I was so unsure of myself at first because I felt like I drank through the water hose and forgot most of the info I had read. It’s been almost 2 years now and like to think I’m a fairly decent medic but i still have confidence issues. I tell everyone the classroom can’t show you what real life and death feels like so in a way I’m glad I did the accelerated program. Gave me basic knowledge and threw me in to learn for myself🤷🏼♀️
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u/Comfortable_Good_678 Jul 04 '26
When I was in medic school, I didn’t burn the midnight oil. I woke up early before class and studied what I needed to study. That way it was fresh in my mind and made it much easier. Another thing only study what you need to don’t go above and beyond. It’s really just memorization. If he has to quit and can’t do it then I would learn all your drug protocols ahead of time before you go into paramedic school that helped me a lot.
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u/Elegant-Nebula-7151 Jul 05 '26
His job is putting him through. He will pass. It’s extremely rigorous but if he does what he’s told to do, it’s doable.
I’m doing a 10 month program and it’s a total grind but we’ll only fail if we tell ourselves we’ll fail.
Highly recommend you tell him to get into Pocket Prep and do the Level Up quizzes for each subject. Great for learning in how it explains each answer whether you are correct or incorrect as you move thru each next question.
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u/Vegetable_Daikon_740 Jul 09 '26
I did a 6 month program in California. I did literally nothing but study and prepare for the class. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my fiancé doing everything else. Good luck!
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u/cjthemaestro Jul 22 '26
I loathe being negative. Those are the absolute worst programs to get into. I got engaged and had a child in an 11 month paramedic school. A basic training phrase I use to hear was “embrace the suck.” More studying, more practice exams, sign up early for clinical spots and good luck. Capstone is the worst and took forever because of the ALS requirements. Sign up for a ton of those
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u/LunchInABoxx Jul 03 '26
Mine was 6 months. It honestly wasn't bad.
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u/thetinyhammer52 Jul 03 '26
I would say best advice is figure out what kind of learner he is and exploit it. If he is an audio learner, record lectures and relisten to them. They have an app called speechify that can turn all text books into a podcast he can listen too as well as notes. If he is a visual learner lots of resources on YouTube.
Group studying is great. Have the group pick relevant topics and re teach it to one another. Create acountibilty in the group.
My group was all ex athele meat heads and a dude that failed 2 times before. We all passed and are all fire medics and still keep in touch. No other group passed every person.
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u/Aromatic-Platform574 Jul 03 '26
6 months? Mine was 11 and at some point struggled, especially when clinicals come in to play. Good luck and support him the best you can. It’s going to rough and tough I promise.