how difficult is it to become an emt??

First off, she has the right idea. Becoming an EMT-Basic first will give her an idea if she can handle the blood, vomit, and other biological nasties. After she finishes her EMT-Basic course, she needs to find a job as an EMT-Basic, or volunteer somewhere. That will give her a very good idea as to whether she should continue on with her paramedic schooling. The good thing is, it's not that difficult or expensive to become an EMT-Basic, so it's a great litmus test as to whether she'll be able to handle this career.

EMT-Paramedic program is very challenging. Every school sets it's own standards as far as how many tests you can fail, required GPA, and so forth. My paramedic school would allow you to fail 5 tests throughout the course. On the 6th fail, you were withdrawn. The local paramedic school has a similar policy, but I think it's more liberal. I think you can fail tests as long as your final GPA is above 3.0. However, if you fail the final exam for that particular class, then you are withdrawn. It really depends on the particular paramedic school, though. What's really challenging is the amount of information they throw at you in a short period of time...it's like a really light version of med school. You are expected to retain quite a bit of information in a short period of time. There's not a lot of room, unfortunately, for those who need to take their time to study and process the information. It doesn't mean that she can't do well at the course, however. Several of my classmates had a lot of difficulty at retaining so much information. They spent every spare minute studying, and as a result, they did quite well. You just have to be willing to sacrifice!

I understand the bit about her panicking easily...that was so me just a few years ago. Believe me, after paramedic school (and the required clinical rotations and internship), she will have learned how to deal with emergencies. They don't expect you to know instinctively how to deal with emergencies; they teach you.

Hope this helps...

Emts and medics will see the worst of the worst, even worse than hospitals because they can pronounce a patient dead at the scene (if someone has been decapitated, horrific car accident etc) and they won't take them to the hospital. EMTs dont need a lot of math, medics will though to measure out medicine to give patients. If you panic easily, this is NOT the job for you. You are NOT trained for everything you will see and have to think on your own what is the best for the patient in the current situation. EMT basic class is fairly easy, EMT-Intermediate is supposed to be the hardest, and then you go on to your paramedic certification. She can always work for a transport service as an EMT/Medic, but I doubt she would be happy doing that. She will see the goriest of the goriest as a medic/EMT, and will have to think on her feet, just let her know that. And good math=patients lives. The wrong dose of medicine can kill.

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RE:

how difficult is it to become an emt??

my daughter in law is intested in becoming an emt and on to a paramedic! im a little concerned as she has a very weak stomach and panics easily!! im not sure that she is cut out for this kind of work but i dont want to discourage her if she thinks she can handle it!! isnt there alot of math...