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Tips on becoming an EMT


jeevsie

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The kid is graduating in a few months and is taking a gap year before med school.  He says it's a common move to be an EMT in the gap year.  He says there's a 6-month online course for $1500 that he wants to start now so he'll have more time to work.

Does this sound like a good plan?  I'm a little skeptical given the short time to work (assuming he can't be hired until he has the cert).  Is this EMT cert method the normal route?

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A google search tells me there is a 14-day (straight, no weekends off) to earn an EMT certificate in Corpus: https://www.texasemsacademy.com/emt.php I have no idea what you can and can't do with this certificate. 

Can you really get a solid EMT job with this low level of training? And does EMT mean really dealing with emergencies or just transporting old people to the ER when they fall?

 

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A number of points in no particular order:

  • Not all people are disciplined enough (or wired right) to do a longer online class. You know you kid and if he could follow through. 
  • That seems a little high cost wise and is a quite a bit long; but maybe that's the trade off for an online class.
  • I had a son do EMT training and for him, having a live instructor to ask for clarifications and explanation as well as having answers to deeper questions was invaluable. 
  • Whatever ever class he takes, he would still have to pass a (national? state?) certification test.  Make sure he understands that you expect him to take that...that's basically like a final grade to show he actually learned something.  
  • The in person classes also have you do ride-along with ambulances. With the ride along, they usually have a requirement of 'at least X transports to a hospital'. So you don't know exactly how many rides that might take, but you start to see some things.   

 

Here's one highly rated one that's $1100, but there are a lot of good ones:

https://www.schertz.com/421/EMT-Training-Academy

Quote

The Academy is a 16-week course that consists of 176 hours of classroom lectures and skills training.  Classroom training is complemented with an internship including 40 hours of practical experience aboard our ambulances and 24 hours of clinical experience with the Emergency Department at Northeast Methodist Hospital.

Note - of that 16 weeks, probably 4 weeks is set aside for scheduling and doing the ride alongs. the class instruction itself is probably about 3 months of 3 days a week classes. 

I'm not sure who all needs the EMT Cert, but I know All firefighters have to have it in Texas. 

Edited by 0xdeadbeef
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I have a friend who was an EMT. He quit to become a set medic here in Austin on film and TV productions. He's banking. Owns two homes in Austin and one in Asheville, NC.

All for passing out band-aids and Advil.

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  • 4 weeks later...
If he’s looking at a gig that’s somewhere on the medical supply chain he could probably do a gig at a funeral home. Pickups, body prep assistance, haz mat disposal.

Before starting med school, a friend extracted bone marrow when a donor body showed up at the hospital. He had to be on call 24/7 but he was paid like $700 a body for a few hours work.
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1 minute ago, Herbie Hancock said:

Suggesting someone work for a funeral home to gain emt experience is about like telling someone to go work for a septic company to learn how to become a chef. JFC I'm always amazed at the willingness of people here to offer their completely unqualified advice on a matter.

Back before the 1970s, funeral homes tended to run most rural (and some city) EMS systems in Texas.  Look at news footage from the UT Tower shooting in 1966 -- mostly funeral home ambulances.  Talk about perverse incentives!

  • Hook 'Em 1
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5 hours ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Back before the 1970s, funeral homes tended to run most rural (and some city) EMS systems in Texas.  Look at news footage from the UT Tower shooting in 1966 -- mostly funeral home ambulances.  Talk about perverse incentives!

Yep. The funeral home was right beside the hospital in Bridgeport in the 60's.

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  • 1 month later...

I worked as a basic EMT up to Paramedic in college, and while this was a bunch of decades ago and EMT’s now do what only paramedics could do then, getting your basic EMT training should be a piece of cake if your kid is med school bound or even of normal intelligence. As I said many volunteer FD’s provide free training, but $1500 seems a little steep but not crazy high. IIRC my basic NR EMT training was a full semester or close to it. I’d be very leery of some 2-3 week class, but if there’s a service that will hire you after that, what do I know? After the very basics you learn mostly from experience. And yes, in the years I did it I saw shit that there’s no way to ever unsee, it’s not for everyone and incredibly hard on your back!

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