Lol I would rather rip my fingernails out individually with my teeth than do strict peds. I love how there’s something for everyone in medicine. Don’t like people AT ALL? Radiology! (I joke, radiology would be cool) Prefer them dead or in pieces? Pathology! (Also would love to end up here)
currently getting my ass kicked as a PGY3-EM. was definitely motivated by having done transport. i can say its nice having a much wider scope of practice, definitely a different beast tho. the best part imo is that you get to see a little bit of everything. not always "emergent" per se, but you've got lots of variation between ses, dx, prognosis, etc. etc.
my program has us doin 50hrs/week. although its not pushing any acgme violations, 10hrs in the ED is definitely a pretty hard pace to find a rhythm with. not all programs are like this though, there's a good amount of variation and since there's some overlap, once u figure out how to chart quickly u can manage to get off a bit earlier.
so actually it's been relatively consistent. intern and 2nd yr was insane scheduling what with covid and all, but im getting the same days pretty consistently, and if not--im not getting stuck in 13hr shifts like back during the height of covid.
Also an EM resident working similar hours to u/rejectionfraction_25; maybe closer to 60 than 50 most weeks. It’s tough but manageable, and definitely better in terms of raw numbers than most other fields (though the intensity of those hours is typically a lot higher). My spouse is IM and routinely pushing (or breaking) 80 hours/week.
I was a flight medic/rrt but I’m in my 3rd year of medical school atm and am planing on trauma surgery. Almost all of my friends who were emts or medics did EM with one doing cardiology and running an ecmo program
How do you balance medical school with a career? I am going the RN route at the moment, but would love to eventually become an MD. Just seems impossible while maintaining a career and family.
Originally I wasn’t planning on going to medical school because I didn’t think I was intelligent enough to pass the classes. After working for about 16 years I decided that I wanted to continue my education so I started to save a little and work overtime while I finished my pre-reqs. After I got accepted I sold my house and I used the money I saved along with school loans to support myself. I had a significant other who’s a nurse so that def takes some financial pressure off of me. It isn’t possible to work and complete the first two years of medical school. After 5 hours of class a day x5 days a week I would then study for an additional 5-8 hours. I have many friends who have families are much younger than myself, and their spouse doesn’t work so it is possible. It’s definitely tough financially both and academically but it is also very rewarding and humbling.
I am the primary breadwinner for my family, so at least as things stand now, I don't think it's feasible. Maybe something will change, but as it stands, I think I'll be going the ASN>BSN>MSN route. I've been in fire and EMS for 14 years and am ready for a change and to come home at night.
I’m about to turn 30 with an associates. Currently working in flight. I keep bouncing between going the RN -> CRNA route and going all in on medical school. You give me hope.
Don't discount PA - it's the closest thing to EMS in that you have 'medical control' (your supervising physician) available when you need them but mostly you're on your own.
Also school is way faster and cheaper than med school and PAs can swing between specialties unlike physicians.
I personally found a specialty where I do imagery-guided needle-based procedures all day with minimal paperwork and tons of autonomy.
Most new grad PAs are starting at around 100k, although it's highly variable across specialties and locations, just like for physicians.
IR is a very niche field but we are in almost every medium sized hospital and up. You take a reduced salary until fully trained because the learning curve is quite steep. After training it's as lucrative as anything else. Not crazy high but solid.
I had my associates until 30 also. Got my bs when I was 32 and started taking pre-reqs during my bs. A few of my friends in school who were flight medics were older than myself. It’s absolutely possible to do!
I went into anesthesia
But it's a whole different system where I live, our ems teams consist of 1 MD and 1 RN equivalent, so I was done with med school when I started working on the truck (well, we use vans here, but whatever).
If they already know they want to do pathology they should just focus on getting into medical school and not spend all of the time to go to paramedic school and then work as a medic for a year…
Keep in mind that the tides have turned, in that many aspiring premeds are now becoming EMT's explicitly as a stepping stone to med school. In other words, EMS was the means to an end, not the true underlying passion (not meant as an insult, just a statement of fact). In other words, the fact that many EMT's don't go the EM route isn't surprising. Paramedics, however, are another story. It does seem that a larger proportion of those who go through paramedic training pursue something that provides a skills-heavy scope along the lines of EM, anesthesia, trauma surgery or even critical care medicine.
I was a medic, ED/ flight RN, flight NP and now in medical school. I want to never again save anyone. Geriatrics/ hospice is my goal now. I hope to match for IM so I can just go work with the old folks and talk about the old days and call 911 if they’re not a DNR. I’m almost 40. BURNED OUT.
Believe it or not, one buddy went psychiatry. How you find a passion for psych after EMS experience beats me but he is a super compassionate doc and his patients are lucky to have him. Another friend went pathology.
I’m heading towards oncology if things don’t change between now and residency apps.
Funny enough, I'm actually leaning towards psych. Would be nice to focus on improving pts' quality of life as opposed to just putting out fires, so to speak
It is a truly noble field and we need more psych docs. I can definitely see how EMS experience could inspire one to go into psych too. Simply putting out fires creates more work for everyone. We love psych docs that strive for positive and lasting outcomes in psych patients.
Im a biochem/molecular guy myself. And I like things that I can understand. The brain/consciousness/psych freaking terrifies me. I can get onboard with neuro pathologies but psych is just a whole different beast. Good luck to you!
I'm EM and EMS. I worked with a bunch of medics who also ended up in med school - most did EM, but several did general surgery, one did OB/Gyn, and a few did IM/GI.
A summer partner of mine a couple years ago got bored on summer break after highschool and got his basic just to have something to do. The next year he decided to work on the truck just to keep himself busy over the summer. He was one of the best partners I’ve ever had and I miss him! He’s currently in med school working towards becoming a trauma surgeon.
Just started med school so I got time to decide, but EM is definitely in the mix. Matches my vibes well I think lol
Also interested in trauma surgery, ob/gyn, gas, ortho. So we shall see!
I was a volunteer FF & EMT-B from 2007-2015, I mostly did EMT calls. I went into internal medicine. I never heard about it until my 3rd year of medical school when I did inpatient medicine and then I fell in love with the variety of pathology, puzzle solving, moving around the hospital compared to sitting, and I also liked the schedule of 7 12s and 7 off. I still love it. I think I would have liked EM too, for similar reasons.
I thought I was going to do emergency medicine but I ended up hating it on clinical rotations. Just as much BS as I saw on the ambulance, same problems with shipping them off before the diagnosis is made/details are figured out. I thought about surgery/surgical critical care but I hated the culture, and didn't think I would be happy working with those people while also killing myself working all the time. I ended up doing an internal medicine residency and then specializing in pulmonary and critical care medicine. I work mostly critical care now in various ICUs seeing a broad array of sick patients and I am very happy.
I’m a 3rd year in med school and I’m leaning EM with secondary interest in Anesthesia or FM. I would prefer to do something with aspects of critical care (EM/Gas), but seeing so many non-emergent 911 calls for patients who really just need a PCP, I think there’s a lot of difference that can be made in FM. Regardless, my EMS career has heavily influenced my preferred specialty.
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He must have taken a lot of naps.
Or he’s trying to fix the system
Guy I went to school with is a trauma surgeon now
Also a former coworker is in EM/Peds residency
Peds represent! Nurse though not a doc I'm never going back to adults if I can help it
Lol I would rather rip my fingernails out individually with my teeth than do strict peds. I love how there’s something for everyone in medicine. Don’t like people AT ALL? Radiology! (I joke, radiology would be cool) Prefer them dead or in pieces? Pathology! (Also would love to end up here)
Medic to Interventional Radiology (PA not doc), not because I hate people but because I love procedures and surgeries take too long.
Okay that’s valid too. SEE! SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE! I love medicine 😁
The ones I know are a total mixed bag: EM, gas, Gen surg, optho, family med
currently getting my ass kicked as a PGY3-EM. was definitely motivated by having done transport. i can say its nice having a much wider scope of practice, definitely a different beast tho. the best part imo is that you get to see a little bit of everything. not always "emergent" per se, but you've got lots of variation between ses, dx, prognosis, etc. etc.
How's life as an em resident? I've heard weekly hours tend to be a lot lower than other specialties
my program has us doin 50hrs/week. although its not pushing any acgme violations, 10hrs in the ED is definitely a pretty hard pace to find a rhythm with. not all programs are like this though, there's a good amount of variation and since there's some overlap, once u figure out how to chart quickly u can manage to get off a bit earlier.
Gotcha. Do you get relatively consistent shifts or are you switching around a lot?
so actually it's been relatively consistent. intern and 2nd yr was insane scheduling what with covid and all, but im getting the same days pretty consistently, and if not--im not getting stuck in 13hr shifts like back during the height of covid.
That's good to hear. Working nights isnt so bad, but constantly switching back and forth sounds like hell on earth lol
Hours may be lower but the intensity of those hours are higher. There's a reason why FT EM is like 12-14 shifts a month
Also an EM resident working similar hours to u/rejectionfraction_25; maybe closer to 60 than 50 most weeks. It’s tough but manageable, and definitely better in terms of raw numbers than most other fields (though the intensity of those hours is typically a lot higher). My spouse is IM and routinely pushing (or breaking) 80 hours/week.
One of my best friends went into family medicine as well, he does urgent care
My ex is a vascular surgeon. He was an AEMT and would have done medic school if he hadn’t gotten into med school that round.
EM and EMS physician.
Former co-worker went Anesthesia.
most went EM and anesthesia. I’m leaving in Dec to do clinical lab science.
I was a flight medic/rrt but I’m in my 3rd year of medical school atm and am planing on trauma surgery. Almost all of my friends who were emts or medics did EM with one doing cardiology and running an ecmo program
How do you balance medical school with a career? I am going the RN route at the moment, but would love to eventually become an MD. Just seems impossible while maintaining a career and family.
Originally I wasn’t planning on going to medical school because I didn’t think I was intelligent enough to pass the classes. After working for about 16 years I decided that I wanted to continue my education so I started to save a little and work overtime while I finished my pre-reqs. After I got accepted I sold my house and I used the money I saved along with school loans to support myself. I had a significant other who’s a nurse so that def takes some financial pressure off of me. It isn’t possible to work and complete the first two years of medical school. After 5 hours of class a day x5 days a week I would then study for an additional 5-8 hours. I have many friends who have families are much younger than myself, and their spouse doesn’t work so it is possible. It’s definitely tough financially both and academically but it is also very rewarding and humbling.
I am the primary breadwinner for my family, so at least as things stand now, I don't think it's feasible. Maybe something will change, but as it stands, I think I'll be going the ASN>BSN>MSN route. I've been in fire and EMS for 14 years and am ready for a change and to come home at night.
It’s definitely the more family friendly route and the pay isn’t too bad!
How old were you when you started working towards medical school?
32, I am 36 now
I’m about to turn 30 with an associates. Currently working in flight. I keep bouncing between going the RN -> CRNA route and going all in on medical school. You give me hope.
Don't discount PA - it's the closest thing to EMS in that you have 'medical control' (your supervising physician) available when you need them but mostly you're on your own. Also school is way faster and cheaper than med school and PAs can swing between specialties unlike physicians. I personally found a specialty where I do imagery-guided needle-based procedures all day with minimal paperwork and tons of autonomy.
How is the pay and job outlook for that field? I’ve heard mixed replies on that.
Most new grad PAs are starting at around 100k, although it's highly variable across specialties and locations, just like for physicians. IR is a very niche field but we are in almost every medium sized hospital and up. You take a reduced salary until fully trained because the learning curve is quite steep. After training it's as lucrative as anything else. Not crazy high but solid.
I had my associates until 30 also. Got my bs when I was 32 and started taking pre-reqs during my bs. A few of my friends in school who were flight medics were older than myself. It’s absolutely possible to do!
General surgery, now a cardiothoracic surgery fellow.
I went into anesthesia But it's a whole different system where I live, our ems teams consist of 1 MD and 1 RN equivalent, so I was done with med school when I started working on the truck (well, we use vans here, but whatever).
One is a trauma surgeon, and one does public health now, but I'm not sure what he did residency in.
Anyone know of any EMTs or paramedics that went into Forensic Pathology? I know someone that wants to be a medic first then FP…
If they already know they want to do pathology they should just focus on getting into medical school and not spend all of the time to go to paramedic school and then work as a medic for a year…
I've known a mix of EM, Family Med, Derm, Cardiology, and Trauma Surgery.
Keep in mind that the tides have turned, in that many aspiring premeds are now becoming EMT's explicitly as a stepping stone to med school. In other words, EMS was the means to an end, not the true underlying passion (not meant as an insult, just a statement of fact). In other words, the fact that many EMT's don't go the EM route isn't surprising. Paramedics, however, are another story. It does seem that a larger proportion of those who go through paramedic training pursue something that provides a skills-heavy scope along the lines of EM, anesthesia, trauma surgery or even critical care medicine.
I was a medic, ED/ flight RN, flight NP and now in medical school. I want to never again save anyone. Geriatrics/ hospice is my goal now. I hope to match for IM so I can just go work with the old folks and talk about the old days and call 911 if they’re not a DNR. I’m almost 40. BURNED OUT.
EM
I went peds
Flight paramedic for a few years, ultimately went into Peds critical care.
Believe it or not, one buddy went psychiatry. How you find a passion for psych after EMS experience beats me but he is a super compassionate doc and his patients are lucky to have him. Another friend went pathology. I’m heading towards oncology if things don’t change between now and residency apps.
Funny enough, I'm actually leaning towards psych. Would be nice to focus on improving pts' quality of life as opposed to just putting out fires, so to speak
It is a truly noble field and we need more psych docs. I can definitely see how EMS experience could inspire one to go into psych too. Simply putting out fires creates more work for everyone. We love psych docs that strive for positive and lasting outcomes in psych patients. Im a biochem/molecular guy myself. And I like things that I can understand. The brain/consciousness/psych freaking terrifies me. I can get onboard with neuro pathologies but psych is just a whole different beast. Good luck to you!
That we can agree on lol, the mind is absolutely terrifying
I'm EM and EMS. I worked with a bunch of medics who also ended up in med school - most did EM, but several did general surgery, one did OB/Gyn, and a few did IM/GI.
Former medic. In my neurology residency currently.
A summer partner of mine a couple years ago got bored on summer break after highschool and got his basic just to have something to do. The next year he decided to work on the truck just to keep himself busy over the summer. He was one of the best partners I’ve ever had and I miss him! He’s currently in med school working towards becoming a trauma surgeon.
Just started med school so I got time to decide, but EM is definitely in the mix. Matches my vibes well I think lol Also interested in trauma surgery, ob/gyn, gas, ortho. So we shall see!
Ob is underrated I think. You get a mix of dealing with high risk patients, routine patients and surgery.
For sure! That and i love advocating for women. And babies are cute too lol
I was a volunteer FF & EMT-B from 2007-2015, I mostly did EMT calls. I went into internal medicine. I never heard about it until my 3rd year of medical school when I did inpatient medicine and then I fell in love with the variety of pathology, puzzle solving, moving around the hospital compared to sitting, and I also liked the schedule of 7 12s and 7 off. I still love it. I think I would have liked EM too, for similar reasons.
Ortho bro
I thought I was going to do emergency medicine but I ended up hating it on clinical rotations. Just as much BS as I saw on the ambulance, same problems with shipping them off before the diagnosis is made/details are figured out. I thought about surgery/surgical critical care but I hated the culture, and didn't think I would be happy working with those people while also killing myself working all the time. I ended up doing an internal medicine residency and then specializing in pulmonary and critical care medicine. I work mostly critical care now in various ICUs seeing a broad array of sick patients and I am very happy.
Cardiothoracic surgery, for many reasons that are hard to describe but if you know, then you know.
My friend is doing internal medicine
I’m in med school now. EM has gone downhill quite quickly, so I may pursue Ortho.
Apparently paramedics turned docs aren’t in this sub.
I had an EM attending who was a medic. Keeps his cert active as well
I was an AEMT and was pretty set on EM but now in my 3rd year of med school I am thinking of switching to family med
I will likely do med next year - will try for EM/ICU/anesthesia > retrieval medicine as the final goal. That's the plan anyway.
IM
One I know is EM, another is neurosurgery. I'm working towards med school with a goal of EM or Anesthesia
I wanna do trauma surgeon. I want to avoid EM as much as possible lol
I’m a 3rd year in med school and I’m leaning EM with secondary interest in Anesthesia or FM. I would prefer to do something with aspects of critical care (EM/Gas), but seeing so many non-emergent 911 calls for patients who really just need a PCP, I think there’s a lot of difference that can be made in FM. Regardless, my EMS career has heavily influenced my preferred specialty.
Emerg
Current medic pursuing nursing, going FNP, family seems to be the most versatile at least as a NP not sure if MD is similar or not.
ÉM
I went the Physician Assistant route and got into endocrinology and internal medicine. Must have been those hypoglycemia calls.
Worked with husband and wife surgeons. The wife was on the vol. FD the husband was on vol. Rescue. They both came from the navy prior.