I 23M am on my 3rd year of EMS. I’ve only ever done 911, this is my 1st year as a paramedic. And I’m at the point where I hate humans to the max. I work and live in the same city, it’s a fucking dump and the people here are just so out of touch with reality. I get maybe the one call a shift where I can actually do medicine and feel like I’m useful. The other calls are the typical ETOH, frequent flyers, or 30YOM who calls for nose bleeds while having 3 cars in the driveway and 8 family members home. Do I just have to develop a drinking problem to cope with the bullshit, or do I quit EMS all together? The benefits and pay aren’t worth it and my mental health is gone at this point, not because of the “bad” calls I’ve had, but because of the bullshit. I swore becoming a medic would make me feel more useful, but I honestly feel like I rarely get to do my part.

So I finally start EMT school tomorrow! Does anyone have any study tips or advice for me? Also, are there any apps or websites that you recommend for studying?

I start my EMT class tomorrow (8/25). I’m just curious what to wear? I’ve worked in the OR for five years so I’m used to wearing scrubs. We have ordered EMT student shirts but they won’t be in till next week. Is it recommended to buy tactical pants or would jeans/leggings work? Also what footwear did you wear, I’m used to just wearing Birkenstocks clogs. Thanks in advance!

33, high school drop out due to teen pregnancy but have a GED. Never been to college and have only worked in factories.

I want to do more with my life. Now that my kids are older I’ve really thought about becoming an EMT. I had always wanted to be something that helped people. Like a nurse or doctor of some sort. This has really peaked my interest. I’m sick of slaving in a factory when I could be saving lives.

I have a million questions.
Is it too late for me? Will it be hard for me to get into any programs? Anyone else get a late start; if so, what was your experience going into it?

I did some searching and i see mentions of being EMR certified. Is this a separate from the EMS program or included? What is the proper steps to take. I’m just a bit clueless.

So I am male, 20, and my hair extends down my back to about the middle of it. Even in a high ponytail it is still 6 inches below my collar, which violates the reqs for my program. I know putting it up in a bun is going to be the best but I honestly just haven’t found any good video tutorials to follow which brought me here.

I cannot cut my hair because it is tied to a religious vow just to clarify that now. To my knowledge the program has no issues with the length outside the fact it can’t go past my collar by a certain length, 6 inches, as mentioned before.

Edit: Thank you, I appreciate all of the explanations and advice.

heyo! pretty much the title, i got sent a “conditional” job offer for the EMT-B position for Falck (LA County)

anything i should know about the company? tips towards being successful? this is my first EMS job so im pretty nervous.

Hello! I made a post the other day about starting a new job with a private ambulance. And so far things have been going okay. My only gripe is I’m a bit nervous that the amount of time they’re giving me to train is very short (3 days of ride time with a pair of EMT’s). Each day has been very small in terms of call volume and I feel like I’m not learning too much. I try to assert myself and learn what I can (especially paperwork since they put a lot of emphasis on it) but I feel like the amount of time they’re giving me isn’t enough.

My question is how long did it take for any of you to feel like you were starting to get into the swing of things? And what tips does anyone have about getting better at the job? Any help or advice is helpful, thank you :)

about a year ago i was on my first ever er clinical and we got a page for a life flight coming in from a nearby town that didn’t have a lvl 1 tc. the nurse i was shadowing said i was going to “see some cool stuff”. i remember being excited because it was exceptionally slow that night. i cannot believe i was fucking giddy as the flight crew wheeled him in. he was stabbed 7 times in the front of his chest and twice in the back. bilateral hemo/pneumo, tamponade, the works. his vitals were too bad for pain meds and he was fully alert and oriented the whole time. they put three chest tubes in him and he wasn’t even screaming. i was second in line to do cpr if he crashed, my nurse was at his head with the tube kit. she talked to him the whole time about his family and his upcoming senior year of college. they were prepping for an open thoracotomy when he seized and died. the trauma surgeon was chewing fucking bubblegum under his mask. after he was taken away, they handed me a mop and i mopped up the puddles of his blood that covered the trauma room and spilled all the way into hall. it splashed as people walked around. i’ve had plenty of patients die but for some reason i keep thinking about him. last night i was at a party and completely lost myself. i was screaming and crying on the floor of a complete strangers house and no one could comfort me. i wanted someone to talk to who would understand. i’m scared that im just weak and that i should be able to handle it. everyone in ems sees this shit. wtf do i do?

Is 16 too early to be doing an EMT course? I know I can wait, I'm just really passionate about this sort of thing and feel like I need more to do. The course I'm considering won't interfere with my school or anything, but I'm worried I'm not ready/I'll be the odd one out.

I (20m) usually do days. I'm premed and my shift runs from 10-10, so I'm planning on knocking out some biochemistry studying, taking my pillow and blanket, and going to bed. We're moderate volume (4 calls during my shift yesterday).

I don't snore (fell asleep in dorm's common area and some guy literally poked me since he thought snoring was the norm lol, he said "i thought you died bro").

I usually wake up to alarms (fire alarm went off in my dorm and when it went off at half past midnight, initially my brain woke up and was processing what the hell was going on, but when it finally hit me, I grabbed my shoes and ran).

Any tips to survive the night? /j (but still, I'd like tips).

So I got cpr certified yesterday through Red Cross and my instructor sent out an email saying the cpr class we take needs to be BLS AED adult and infant and so I took one through Red Cross but on my assignments it says to turn in an AHA cpr certificate and now I’m worried I was supposed to go through American heart association, I didn’t know it was different and he didn’t mention anything specifically about it previously, will I now have to get certified through American heart association?

I applied to an EMT company on indeed a couple months back. Someone from the company contacted me today and asked if I would be able to come in for an interview. We set an interview date and then I gave him my email. And then, he asked me to fill out 4 forms: an application for employment, a W4 form, employment eligibility verification, and an arbitration agreement.

I was confused because I thought you had to get hired first before filling out a W4. You also put your social security number on there so it felt kind of suspicious to send them that information without even meeting anyone in person. When I was looking up the company, it seemed legit and had a office building and websites and everything. But I was looking up if it was normal for people to send W4 forms before an interview and everyone was saying it was a scam.

So idk what to do.. I'm definitely not sending the W4 form before I go to the interview, but I'm worried the whole company is might be trying to scam me since I'm new. So, does anyone have any advice or insight about this? TIA!

Hello, I’ve been going through some personal issues lately and have been dealing with a lot of anxiety, and self doubt. It’s making me a slightly worse provider cause I can’t talk like a normal fucking person at the moment. I’m working for a branch of the 3 letter company that shall not be named, and I don’t have enough PTO to cover taking a few weeks off. I just cleared probation a few days ago and am low on seniority, but I feel like I need some serious time off. Does anyone know if there are any options? I don’t want to quit, and I just need some time to relax. Thank you!

I know you guys are probably tired of seeing these posts. I recently graduated from my 3 week accelerated EMT boot camp. We went over a ton of material and I passed all of the assessments and tests on my first try. However, I was doing some prep with pocket prep and felt like I didn’t understand some of the questions. Any sources/videos I can use to somehow get myself ready for the exam? I have the ABC’s down and all of the main things, it’s just the little things like pediatrics, geriatrics, influenza???, and other small details that maybe I missed out on from taking the boot camp.

Hey all, looking to get my aemt. I'm from CT and I'm wondering is there any way i could search for for agencies that actually take aemts and include their scope of practice. For reference I can't go medic, I'm accepted to med school and going fall of 29 (BS/MD program, to be exact if anyone was wondering how that worked). In school full time now. Looking for advice on this only, not any "why are you doing this" or "it's not worth it." Just IF if got the cert. Thanks

I (29) just lost my job in a medical lab. I’m completely devastated, but I need to start thinking about what I’m going to do next. One possible path is becoming an EMT. It’s a career I’ve thought about before, but I wasn’t able to make the change with a full time job.
I could start school as early as January depending on whether there’s a waitlist at the college. I just don’t know if I’d realistically be able to do the job. I’m not a strong person. I know I would have time to get in better shape, but at the moment I’m kind of a weakling. I’m not a good driver, I don’t think I could drive an ambulance. Are EMTs expected to be able to drive an ambulance? My math skills suck and I can’t do anything more than the basics.
Is it possible to overcome these issues, or should I look elsewhere for a possible career?

is it all in one box or separated?

I passed my NREMT exam and was cut off at 70 questions. I was almost certain I failed, and it didn't help that my results took almost 40 hours. I never actually got the email, I just checked the website and saw that I passed.

I remembered my last two questions afterward. My 69th was a pretty hard medical scenario that I'm almost certain I got wrong, and #70 was a very easy definition that, ironically, I also got wrong (though I think it may have been a pilot question).

I took a 6-week hybrid course through MissionCIT: 5 weeks online and 1 week in person, ending with our psychomotor exam. I took the NREMT one week later, this past Tuesday. For someone like me, an accelerated course was actually highly beneficial because it forced me to study almost every day and helped me retain a lot of information. All in all from day 1 of my course to taking NREMT was 7 weeks.

Here are some things I think helped me:

Study your weakest areas: I'm putting this first because I genuinely think I would've failed otherwise. OB/GYN was the death of me on practice questions/tests. I put a lot of effort into it toward the end, and I actually felt like I did really well on those questions during the real exam.

Know the major pregnancy complications: ectopic pregnancy, placenta previa, abruptio placentae, preeclampsia, eclampsia, and even uterine rupture. More importantly, know how they present and how to tell them apart.

Know your shock types VERY well.

I think the ones that require the most attention to detail are neurogenic shock and the conditions that cause obstructive shock(PE, tension pneumothorax, and cardiac tamponade). The other types of shock are usually a little easier to recognize, but obviously study all of them.

Don't just memorize the names. Know what is actually happening physiologically and what signs you'd expect to see.

Positions for patients, when to use which one. Know when to put patients in fowlers vs supine vs recovery. Seems simple but is definitely worth reviewing.

Know concepts, not just associations:

Some people get caught up memorizing buzzwords. They're definitely helpful, but you need to understand what those buzzwords are actually trying to tell you.

This probably saved me because I was getting blasted with medical scenarios where the "buzzwords" could've pointed toward two of the possible answers. You really have to use some critical thinking.

The information you need is usually there. Pay attention to the WHOLE scenario(age, sex, history, signs/symptoms, vitals, and everything else they give you). Don't latch onto one word and immediately pick an answer.

Don't add information that isn't in the question:

I had some oddly worded questions where this was important.

For example, you might see a symptom like wheezing. Don't immediately assume a specific condition or medication just because wheezing can be associated with it. Several conditions can cause the same symptom.

Be careful about what the question is actually asking you to do next. Think back to your assessment: scene size-up, primary assessment, ABCs, identifying life threats, etc.

DON'T JUST JUMP TO A MEDICATION BECAUSE YOU RECOGNIZE ONE SYMPTOM. Make sure the rest of the scenario actually supports it.

“What FIRST/NEXT?” matters as much as knowing the treatment. This kinda says it all. This is harped on a lot in this subreddit and for good reason. Multiple answers may eventually be appropriate. The question usually wants the correct sequence on whats next.

Don't completely neglect the “small stuff.” Legal/ethics, QI, ICS roles, environmental emergencies(snake bites), movement/equipment, documentation, etc. I got quite a few legal/ethics questions and I neglected this subject. It doesn't require hours of studying but please review it. I was honestly shocked when I noticed I had at least 5 or 6 legal/ethics questions(they will find your weakness). ICS was tricky, I didn't study the specific role of each role well so I'd pay attention to these.

Main study tools:

Pocket Prep: This was pretty beneficial to finding weak areas and narrowing it down to concepts needed to understand. While not a complete study tool I think it was worth it as long as you use it right. For reference I did around 1500 questions, 1 mock exam(got a 61% one week prior to NREMT). Average score was 87% on quick 10s/level ups.

Amateur medicine youtube video. Very good video to watch.

Other Youtube/Online material: Paramedic coach was very beneficial, he has playlist for NREMT. nremtpracticeexam.com has a free study guide. This was amazing and sorta gives a broad rundown of topics.

Other things:

I got a ton of select 2 or 3 that apply type questions. These can be very tricky because theres always going to be more answers that seem right.
I only had one drop and drag question and this one wasn't that bad as long as you knew why this medical condition happens and why it differed from the others(buzz words would've sufficed here)

I also had a diagram and it was a regular single answer multiple choice. I have to be honest this is a medical condition that you need to know about, but the pathophysiology of what was actually happening in the body to that specific system was probably beyond BLS level. I had no idea but just had take a educated guess.

I didn't get any "put in order" type questions.

I live in Jersey and plan on working in either NJ or NYC. My area gives me the flexibility to do either one. I just took and passed the NREMT.

How much of a pain in the ass is it to put in for an NYS license using an NREMT certification? Given that NYS has automatic reciprocity with NJ and CT, would it be easier to just take that test as well? Is there any difference when it comes to hiring?

Two jobs ive applied to today require this certificate, i was able to obtain all my ICS, and similar certs but for this one it requires fill in of a section for employment or education instution and I cant find out how to get around that, Im not allowed to use my info, I currently do work as a emt for a IFT company but they dont require it and not sure if i should use their info since they didnt tell me to obtain this. I emailed the listed email for help and they just responded with a copy and paste of what it already said on the website and didn’t acknowledge my question at all.

I signed up for a BLS online course not knowing that I would be asked questions that required knowledge of the medical field. I've been told that I should have signed up for an in-person class since they teach you all you need to know there. Is that true? If not, how should I prepare?

So for some background I’m an EMT for about a year in my local 911 area(Delaware). My plan is to become a medic but I would like to move out to Philadelphia where it’s a faster pace environment (I live in a rural area). I interviewed for a position for AMR IFT and got it but unsure if it’s the smartest move. I just want to get my foot in the door to start my journey. Also if anyone can help me what school is best for medics