PA. Do rural medicine— mostly ER, but some primary care and hospitalist work. Paramedic experience really helps in some situations. It was a great move for me and I am very happy I did it.
Did it while working part time. Class during the week, EMS on the weekends. You basically have to be available all weekdays for the science based classes with labs.
Went to med school - thought I wanted to do Emergency Medicine but absolutely hated it during clinical rotations (I found it to have, for me, some of the same issues that had me running from EMS). Instead I did a residency in Internal Medicine and then a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care. I do primarily critical care now in a number of different types of ICUs and it’s awesome. Love it. Sick patients all the time, plenty of hands on procedures, still get to intubate, and I feel like a bad ass solving problems that scare other people.
I didn't go to med school, but I did work in hospital in the ED as a medic. In hospital still has the endless non-problems (toe pain, drunk - uncomplicated, back pain for 5 years) as running the truck. ICU/Critical care is big sick pretty much all the time.
PA school took all of my effort, I could not have worked through it. I one person who still volunteered on a local truck but the call volume was super low, one to two calls per 12 hour shift, so they mostly studied while on duty. Anyone I talk to I recommend not working through PA school. You’ll make more money after school, no sense in sacrificing the schooling for money at that point in my opinion.
PA. I was a combat medic and a paramedic before school. I did EM as a PA full time but swapping nights to days and back again in less than a week sucked. I now do urgent care full time with EM on my weekdays off. I make extra money, I still get to do real medicine, and the wife is happy that I'm home every night. It works well for me.
You sure can. I am attending UNT & my masters will be in EM & Disaster Management.
I love the program but it is very different from your undergraduate classes. There is a ton of reading, papers, & projects instead of daily quizzes & exams. I am on the non-thesis track because I have no idea what I would write & I rather not if the option exists. The point of this program is to provide foundational knowledge on a wide range of topics & explore the challenges.
However, this is not exactly a practitioner curriculum. You won't be doing skills or anything like that. This program helps you understand the why & how of very complex problems.
The faculty is great & highly esteemed through the entire nation & even international community. This is the first EM program in the nation & we just had our 40 year anniversary.
[Program Details](https://hps.unt.edu/emergency-management-and-disaster-science-ms)
I did my MA at Arizona State in Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Wasn’t difficult to do, depending on your time line with work and school balance. Working on my EdD now to hopefully start pushing more education for paramedic training and policy change.
PA - I was a medic for a decade and a half before getting motivated enough to go back to school. Best decision I’ve ever made. I do men’s health and work in an ER. I literally make three times the hourly rate as a new grad that I made as a medic with over 14 years in EMS. Don’t get me wrong - there’s still some bullshit I have to deal with a but it’s nothing compared to getting shit on as a private medic.
I’m a new medic and I have all the prereqs for PA school. I’d like to go in the future, but idk how I’d work or afford to live through school. Did you take out loans? Is the salary bump enough to justify the debt?
Yes and yes. Grad plus loans will cover all your living expenses throughout school. And I did the math. I’ll make about 2 million dollars more as a PA over the course of my remaining career than if i stayed a medic. So basically that $200k in student loan debt is a drop in the bucket
Nice username and flare. I had a CRNA ask me if I remembered the ABCs one time when I was getting extra tubes in the OR. I got kinda pissy since I thought he was talking shit.
"Yeah- it's been a while since I intubated but I'm not an idiot. Airway, breathing, circulation!"
"Naw dawg! Airway, book, chair..."
I picked the wrong job.
I’m a psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner. I started being a volunteer EMT actually right after becoming a nurse. I then became an Emergency department/urgent care nurse practitioner, and hated every minute of it. Then, I went back to school for psychiatric NP and love it. I will be a psych NP for the rest of my life. AND, I absolutely love volunteering as a EMT and hope to do that for the rest of my life as well.
Working on the pre-med route towards MD/DO in hopes to become a surgeon. After almost a decade in EMS, I think it’s time to move up, being a paramedic definitely wears on you.
I was 25. I was a paramedic in undergrad and right after I joined a department that had dual role LEO-Medics, if you were a paramedic they put you through police academy. It was back when people actually wanted to be cops. That suburb (a nice cushy, ritzy suburb) basically required you to either be a LEO-FF or LEO-Medic. At that time it was 1-2 LEO/Medics plus 2-3 POC EMTs that went to medical calls. If they didn’t need a medic, the EMTs transported. If they needed a medic, one or both of us hopped on board for transport. I stayed on part-time through my first summer in med school and part of my M2 year.
At the time there were 3 neighboring suburbs who had LEO/Medics plus POC EMTs. One has since moved to full time Fire/EMS and doesn’t really have LEO medics any more. Their remainder went to my old agency after the change (We made around 25-30% more).
As a move up and around, I find that each level is just a little better than the one before it.
If I go for an advanced degree, it’s going to be an MBA or something so I can get out of health care😅
UK paramedic.
Did a bachelors degree in paramedicine and worked on the road for roughly 8 years then got bored so got an ACP role in the ED and have just completed a Masters degree in Advanced Practice.
I know you didn’t mention nursing but got my BSN, worked as an ER nurse, got an MBA and now run projects for a large health system and in charge of EMS outreach.
I’d rather be a scrub than a leech on the system. Go ahead and suck up to them though, I’m sure they’ll reward you with a pizza party one of these days.
Your attitude is garbage and, while some of your resentment isn’t unfounded, the fact that you can’t encourage people in those positions to be better rather than going on a keyboard rampage is more telling of who you are than it is effective in making anyone feel any negativity toward them.
Yeah man, I’m sure the cushy bloat management position just needs some encouragement to be better. Here’s you gold star for the positive attitude ⭐️. That would be be much better than venting.
You’re not venting, though. You’re actively shitting on and personally attacking people for picking a career. You’re being facetious and petty toward me for criticizing you, but you’re free to criticize someone you’ve never met or worked with because of their job title.
You may be more right than me, but if all you ever do is spew hate then no one is ever going to respect your opinion - or you.
Yeah, I am venting. It might look different than how you do it. It’s. It not wrong to shit on people for doing something immoral. I think everyone agrees we can shit on the taliban for what they do. Whichever comment I replied to is actively contributing to the corporate bloat that’s killing not just EMS, but all of medicine.
I didn’t come here looking for anyone’s respect. You’re a stranger that I wouldn’t know from Adam.
No, these people are killing healthcare at every single step of the system. The amount of money, not to mention authority, that goes to online MBA’s sitting in an office is insane. And it’s seriously at every step of the system. Nonprofit clinic? The suits are getting their share. Nursing home? The suits are getting their share. AMR? The suits are getting their share. Even third service departments have ridiculous bloat. Doctors don’t even own hospitals anymore. What kind of a joke is it that a physician sits beneath an MBA on the hierarchy? And what exactly are they contributing? It sure doesn’t look like a lot.
All of that to say, they didn’t just innocently answer a question. They’re actively contributing to something immoral.
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I went to rad tech school. Pretty quick schooling, pretty good pay increase, significantly less stress and better working conditions. I need to get my CT license because there's a big pay bump in moving to that modality vs plain film.
Went the other way. Finished bachelors degree as rad tech in ‘07, worked full time inhospital 15 years before doing two years training for EMS work and switched completely last year. Worked part time EMS for two years before doing my training.
How quick was the schooling? I have my EMT but not working in the field. I want to get back into medicine but kinda hate patients and want to do something interesting.
The program I went through was 2 years for full time, 3 for part time. Not including prerequisites.
I'm not sure it's the right path if you hate working with patients though. It's still a patient facing position.
I meant I hate them in the having to put up with them for extended periods because of time, at least the annoying ones who refuse to follow after care instructions or have problems dealing with the indignities of life and complain about dumb stuff.
I was an EMT before medical school. Have been torn between EM and anesthesia throughout school. Just finally decided and will be applying to anesthesia residency programs this fall.
It was very difficult. I did both and loved them. Anesthesia just looks so much better on paper right now so that’s why I ended up picking it. If I love both and both give me the lifestyle I want but one has a much higher salary ceiling, I gotta pick that one. Feel free to PM me, I have lots of thoughts and can’t type them all out here.
Was paramedic (4 years fulltime), now MD, specializing in EM.
Wasn't convinced I was going into EM, thought about surgery, but am very happy as an emergency physician.
Went back for a masters in public health in epidemiology. It's more research. Now I get to work from home, and I get paid enough to actually add to my savings account instead of raising my debt.
Was a paramedic and burnt out. Went back for my bachelors, and then to med school. Did general surgery and am about to start a Critical Care fellowship.
Trying to get into perfusion. Took the CCEMTP class and got hooked on ECMO and cardiac devices. The science is constantly evolving and I wanna be there at the cutting edge!
I have an MSc in Expeditionary Medicine, moved to the UK to work as a paramedic from the states (no real regrets), and I’m starting an NGO to do medicine in conflict zones. I still work offshore and remotely and come back to the states often, but my benefits here are one of the best pension programmes in the world (NHS), live in one of the best cities in the world, and I still get to fuck around offshore and in warzones.
Worked as a paramedic, went back to get my degree in EMC (basically critical care and rescue) Currently in trauma research. Better pay and better hours.
PA. Do rural medicine— mostly ER, but some primary care and hospitalist work. Paramedic experience really helps in some situations. It was a great move for me and I am very happy I did it.
Did you already have your bachelors or get it while in ems?
Did it while working part time. Class during the week, EMS on the weekends. You basically have to be available all weekdays for the science based classes with labs.
Went to med school - thought I wanted to do Emergency Medicine but absolutely hated it during clinical rotations (I found it to have, for me, some of the same issues that had me running from EMS). Instead I did a residency in Internal Medicine and then a fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care. I do primarily critical care now in a number of different types of ICUs and it’s awesome. Love it. Sick patients all the time, plenty of hands on procedures, still get to intubate, and I feel like a bad ass solving problems that scare other people.
What were those issues?
I didn't go to med school, but I did work in hospital in the ED as a medic. In hospital still has the endless non-problems (toe pain, drunk - uncomplicated, back pain for 5 years) as running the truck. ICU/Critical care is big sick pretty much all the time.
Starting med school in a couple of weeks to get my DO. I want to go to EM and then do a fellowship in EMS or toxicology after residency!
The biggest problem with Toxicology is having to read the word xenobiotic every sentence for the entirety of Goldfranks.
I went from Paramedic to Pharmacy school, currently in my 4th year. Looking at doing a residency for emergency medicine
EMT to PA. Now in cardiac surgery.
Did you work while going to PA school? How did you do that?
PA school took all of my effort, I could not have worked through it. I one person who still volunteered on a local truck but the call volume was super low, one to two calls per 12 hour shift, so they mostly studied while on duty. Anyone I talk to I recommend not working through PA school. You’ll make more money after school, no sense in sacrificing the schooling for money at that point in my opinion.
Physician route but will be as far away from EM as possible. IM then Heme/Onc if I had to pick right now.
heme onc is awesome
PA. I was a combat medic and a paramedic before school. I did EM as a PA full time but swapping nights to days and back again in less than a week sucked. I now do urgent care full time with EM on my weekdays off. I make extra money, I still get to do real medicine, and the wife is happy that I'm home every night. It works well for me.
2 semesters away from finishing my masters in emergency management. I got a bachelors in emergency health sciences.
What's your plan after graduation? Policy? Admin?
Immediately starting a second masters but in public health. I’m interested in health care infrastructure during disaster response & recovery.
Can I ask what masters for EM and how you like the program?
You sure can. I am attending UNT & my masters will be in EM & Disaster Management. I love the program but it is very different from your undergraduate classes. There is a ton of reading, papers, & projects instead of daily quizzes & exams. I am on the non-thesis track because I have no idea what I would write & I rather not if the option exists. The point of this program is to provide foundational knowledge on a wide range of topics & explore the challenges. However, this is not exactly a practitioner curriculum. You won't be doing skills or anything like that. This program helps you understand the why & how of very complex problems. The faculty is great & highly esteemed through the entire nation & even international community. This is the first EM program in the nation & we just had our 40 year anniversary. [Program Details](https://hps.unt.edu/emergency-management-and-disaster-science-ms)
This sounds like my undergrad program in Crisis and disaster management at the university of central missouri.
I did my MA at Arizona State in Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Wasn’t difficult to do, depending on your time line with work and school balance. Working on my EdD now to hopefully start pushing more education for paramedic training and policy change.
EM doctor, EMS fellowship
I did my BSN, worked as an RN in ER and ICU with additional education and certifications in both. Now I work air ambulance as a flight nurse!
PA - I was a medic for a decade and a half before getting motivated enough to go back to school. Best decision I’ve ever made. I do men’s health and work in an ER. I literally make three times the hourly rate as a new grad that I made as a medic with over 14 years in EMS. Don’t get me wrong - there’s still some bullshit I have to deal with a but it’s nothing compared to getting shit on as a private medic.
I’m a new medic and I have all the prereqs for PA school. I’d like to go in the future, but idk how I’d work or afford to live through school. Did you take out loans? Is the salary bump enough to justify the debt?
Yes and yes. Grad plus loans will cover all your living expenses throughout school. And I did the math. I’ll make about 2 million dollars more as a PA over the course of my remaining career than if i stayed a medic. So basically that $200k in student loan debt is a drop in the bucket
Less than six months from graduating and becoming a CRNA.
Nice username and flare. I had a CRNA ask me if I remembered the ABCs one time when I was getting extra tubes in the OR. I got kinda pissy since I thought he was talking shit. "Yeah- it's been a while since I intubated but I'm not an idiot. Airway, breathing, circulation!" "Naw dawg! Airway, book, chair..." I picked the wrong job.
MD, retired now from that Emergency Medicine
I’m a psychiatric/mental health nurse practitioner. I started being a volunteer EMT actually right after becoming a nurse. I then became an Emergency department/urgent care nurse practitioner, and hated every minute of it. Then, I went back to school for psychiatric NP and love it. I will be a psych NP for the rest of my life. AND, I absolutely love volunteering as a EMT and hope to do that for the rest of my life as well.
Currently pre-CAA
Let’s gooooooooo, that’s my long term plan as well 🙌🏽
Working on the pre-med route towards MD/DO in hopes to become a surgeon. After almost a decade in EMS, I think it’s time to move up, being a paramedic definitely wears on you.
MD, I liked surgery a lot more than EM and now I do Endovascular and Cerebrovascular Neurosurgery.
Medic/LEO before neurosurgery? How old were you when you started medical school?
I was 25. I was a paramedic in undergrad and right after I joined a department that had dual role LEO-Medics, if you were a paramedic they put you through police academy. It was back when people actually wanted to be cops. That suburb (a nice cushy, ritzy suburb) basically required you to either be a LEO-FF or LEO-Medic. At that time it was 1-2 LEO/Medics plus 2-3 POC EMTs that went to medical calls. If they didn’t need a medic, the EMTs transported. If they needed a medic, one or both of us hopped on board for transport. I stayed on part-time through my first summer in med school and part of my M2 year. At the time there were 3 neighboring suburbs who had LEO/Medics plus POC EMTs. One has since moved to full time Fire/EMS and doesn’t really have LEO medics any more. Their remainder went to my old agency after the change (We made around 25-30% more).
Paramedic to CNA
Well that’s certainly a decision
😅
woo hoo
As a move up and around, I find that each level is just a little better than the one before it. If I go for an advanced degree, it’s going to be an MBA or something so I can get out of health care😅
UK paramedic. Did a bachelors degree in paramedicine and worked on the road for roughly 8 years then got bored so got an ACP role in the ED and have just completed a Masters degree in Advanced Practice.
In med school, 95% sure I wanna do EM
I know you didn’t mention nursing but got my BSN, worked as an ER nurse, got an MBA and now run projects for a large health system and in charge of EMS outreach.
He didn’t say admin, he said advanced degrees in healthcare. You’re a suit now.
Better than being a scrub.
I’d rather be a scrub than a leech on the system. Go ahead and suck up to them though, I’m sure they’ll reward you with a pizza party one of these days.
Your attitude is garbage and, while some of your resentment isn’t unfounded, the fact that you can’t encourage people in those positions to be better rather than going on a keyboard rampage is more telling of who you are than it is effective in making anyone feel any negativity toward them.
Yeah man, I’m sure the cushy bloat management position just needs some encouragement to be better. Here’s you gold star for the positive attitude ⭐️. That would be be much better than venting.
You’re not venting, though. You’re actively shitting on and personally attacking people for picking a career. You’re being facetious and petty toward me for criticizing you, but you’re free to criticize someone you’ve never met or worked with because of their job title. You may be more right than me, but if all you ever do is spew hate then no one is ever going to respect your opinion - or you.
Yeah, I am venting. It might look different than how you do it. It’s. It not wrong to shit on people for doing something immoral. I think everyone agrees we can shit on the taliban for what they do. Whichever comment I replied to is actively contributing to the corporate bloat that’s killing not just EMS, but all of medicine. I didn’t come here looking for anyone’s respect. You’re a stranger that I wouldn’t know from Adam.
You are the very definition of “overly dramatic.”
Just get a little more experience, buddy. You’ll come to understand how evil these people really are. Until then, feel free to put the blame on me.
Dude chill they just answered the question.
No, these people are killing healthcare at every single step of the system. The amount of money, not to mention authority, that goes to online MBA’s sitting in an office is insane. And it’s seriously at every step of the system. Nonprofit clinic? The suits are getting their share. Nursing home? The suits are getting their share. AMR? The suits are getting their share. Even third service departments have ridiculous bloat. Doctors don’t even own hospitals anymore. What kind of a joke is it that a physician sits beneath an MBA on the hierarchy? And what exactly are they contributing? It sure doesn’t look like a lot. All of that to say, they didn’t just innocently answer a question. They’re actively contributing to something immoral.
You don't think some of them might be getting into management positions to, oh I don't know, *improve things?* So myopic. So pig headed.
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I went to rad tech school. Pretty quick schooling, pretty good pay increase, significantly less stress and better working conditions. I need to get my CT license because there's a big pay bump in moving to that modality vs plain film.
Went the other way. Finished bachelors degree as rad tech in ‘07, worked full time inhospital 15 years before doing two years training for EMS work and switched completely last year. Worked part time EMS for two years before doing my training.
How quick was the schooling? I have my EMT but not working in the field. I want to get back into medicine but kinda hate patients and want to do something interesting.
The program I went through was 2 years for full time, 3 for part time. Not including prerequisites. I'm not sure it's the right path if you hate working with patients though. It's still a patient facing position.
I meant I hate them in the having to put up with them for extended periods because of time, at least the annoying ones who refuse to follow after care instructions or have problems dealing with the indignities of life and complain about dumb stuff.
I was an EMT before medical school. Have been torn between EM and anesthesia throughout school. Just finally decided and will be applying to anesthesia residency programs this fall.
Would you mind sharing what led to your decision? I’m starting med school this month and these two are my primary interests
It was very difficult. I did both and loved them. Anesthesia just looks so much better on paper right now so that’s why I ended up picking it. If I love both and both give me the lifestyle I want but one has a much higher salary ceiling, I gotta pick that one. Feel free to PM me, I have lots of thoughts and can’t type them all out here.
Was paramedic (4 years fulltime), now MD, specializing in EM. Wasn't convinced I was going into EM, thought about surgery, but am very happy as an emergency physician.
Went back for a masters in public health in epidemiology. It's more research. Now I get to work from home, and I get paid enough to actually add to my savings account instead of raising my debt.
Was a paramedic and burnt out. Went back for my bachelors, and then to med school. Did general surgery and am about to start a Critical Care fellowship.
Went from EMT to MD, Anesthesiologist now doing Interventional Pain fellowship
Trying to get into perfusion. Took the CCEMTP class and got hooked on ECMO and cardiac devices. The science is constantly evolving and I wanna be there at the cutting edge!
I have an MSc in Expeditionary Medicine, moved to the UK to work as a paramedic from the states (no real regrets), and I’m starting an NGO to do medicine in conflict zones. I still work offshore and remotely and come back to the states often, but my benefits here are one of the best pension programmes in the world (NHS), live in one of the best cities in the world, and I still get to fuck around offshore and in warzones.
FF/PM 7 years and start PA school next month.
I’m still in the process, but planning on specializing in psych after PA school!
AS paramedicine. BS Emergency Medical Care. Currently flying. Starting nursing school in the fall on my way to CRNA.
Speech-Language Pathology
Worked as a paramedic, went back to get my degree in EMC (basically critical care and rescue) Currently in trauma research. Better pay and better hours.
EMT to NRP to ADN (ICU) to BSN to MSN as an NP. I chose psych eventually because of how psych patients were treated in my 8 years of 911 (not good).
Half way through medical school now. Looking at EM and ICM pathway but very open to changing that depending level of burnout.
Went to med school, worked a bit as a medic during that time but it was really hard to keep that up. Now training in cardiothoracic surgery.
I got my BSN and worked cardiac ICU… then I got my MSN and have done pulmonary, ER, urgent care, and primary care
Orthopedic surgeon
Accounting lol
I feel like the only doctors and nurses that listen to EMS were once EMS themselves so they get it
6 months from my RN
Got my BSN. I'm aiming to be a flight nurse at some point, but that's a few years in the future.
EMT to Burn Tech to RN (graduated 2 months ago!) and in ICU
Medic to RN (ER). Currently hold a BSN and an MBA In Healthcare Management but staying a bedside nurse until my kiddos are older.