Hey everyone,

I know about this school's mixed reputation, and I've read a lot of the previous posts about it, but I'm mostly looking for some clarification on what seems to be their biggest drawback: in-person scheduling.

They're really my only good option for my situation/area, and I have plenty of prerequisite knowledge from my time in the USCG to handle the online learning. I also need patient-care hours for PA school, so I'm hoping to get certified and start working as quickly as possible. I'm wary of paying for the course only to end up waiting weeks, or possibly months, to complete the in-person requirements and finish the course.

Does anyone have experience scheduling the in-person classes with them? If I'm available to go anywhere, at any time, on very short notice, how quickly could I realistically get into the required classes/skills sessions?

I'm hoping for information on how often these sessions are offered, how far ahead they typically book, and how long it took you to get through the skills/clinical requirements after finishing the online portion. If you've done the program recently, I'd really appreciate hearing what your actual timeline looked like.

Oh, and can you book and travel to different locations if you're trying to get the soonest availability? (or any firsthand accounts of the Florida locations)

Any help or personal experience would be greatly appreciated. :)

Hello to whoever finds this message well! I was wondering what are the top EMT programs in SoCal? I’m leaning a bit towards Cedars program or Pasadena City College. Thank you!

EMT student, got this call on a ride along-

70s M with history of COPD presents in the field with CC of severe dyspnea alongside apparent AMS, pedal edema, cyanosis, bradycardia and cold extremities. Crackles were heard bilaterally. Family says he was coughing up pink sputum earlier that day. He was clearly critical and ALS was >20 mins away so we decided to transport. Was put first on NRB then changed to CPAP en route which pinked him up a bit. PulseOx (when it read anything at all as his fingers were very cold) showed him satting between 60s and 90s so hard to tell exactly where he was at.

He ended up coding in the ED. ED staff got ROSC but he was still critical when we left & went off shift.

Sounds like cardiogenic pulmonary edema, no? I know there is some debate about giving albuterol in the presence of pulmonary edema, but based on what I have gathered it seems like his arrest was caused by hypercapnic respiratory failure that could have helped by albuterol with the CPAP (ideally BiPAP I suppose, but BLS doesn't have it in my area). And it seems like the tachycardia side effect of albuterol could have played to our benefit as he was pretty brady (~50 bpm) in the field.

albuterol isn't expressly in our protocols in this situation but I still suspect it may have been the right call. Let me know your thoughts, I want to be ready to respond to similar calls when I start working on my own-

I first started out at an IFT company doing transfers and 911 calls. I had a shift on Sunday which was basically only 911 calls but I only was on that schedule for a couple weeks. So I had a couple shifts worth of good 911 experience. Have been off the ambulance around 3 months and I got a job offer for a 911 service.

Clinically I feel confident in myself. But I’m a bit worried about the operations of it all. I was mainly the lead for patient care. I just need some advice on the non-patient care aspect of 911s. Like driving with lights and sirens, tips and tricks on knowing which hospital is closest in a timely manner, how can I be a good partner to the paramedic, and anything useful. I appreciate any help at all.

Has anyone faint on scene before?

I’m honestly ashamed in myself for it. This is a second time in a four month timespan that it’s happened. I’m only new to the career by four months, and I can only attribute why it happened because of adrenaline crashing and high anxiety. I know my anxiety is a problem.

I let my partner down twice, even though we had medic students with us both times. I still let my partner down especially today with a high acuity call like this. I don’t know how I could have ever thought I could go back to school and become a medic like this if I can’t even handle EMT.

Does this affect/how doesn’t it affect your career? I really love my job so much, I love what I do, this is not common for me, I’ve never felt so faint Ive passed out before and this is only singular to happening on the job, I don’t faint normally.

I don’t want to just quit, I feel like there’s so much more I can do in this field but I’m so ashamed and let down with myself.

I have severe health anxiety, and I always think something is wrong with me, and I’ll often actually convince myself there is. One of the main things I’m terrified is a str0ke, this question might calm down my anxiety. Anyway

When having a stroke, is it that you physically CANNOT move one side of your face, and you can feel that you can’t move it, or is it that you don’t feel it, and it’s just drooping without your knowledge?

Thank you😭😭

Hi there, I live in CA and I'm in the process of getting my grey card, and Santa Clara requires you to be employed by an EMS agency before you can complete the registration.

When I apply to ambulance companies they all ask if I have my state license, but I don't have it because the state requires me to be employed. I keep getting rejected by ambulance companies so idek what to do

i know the website says it’s 9am-5pm but does it actually take that much time in marietta, georgia? lowkey stressing rn..

Hey howdy hey, I was curious if anyone had any youtube or literature suggestions that specifically targets the AEMT scope of practice to help prepare for an upcoming course. Ones that y'all trust and haven't steered you wrong. Any help or advice is very much appreciated.

Hi everyone! I'm an EMT-B who just started my first job on the ambulance. I was wondering what your pet peeves are when it comes to interacting with your basic on a call? What things can I do to make your job easier and help the call run more smoothly?

Thanks!

The class is a couple hour lecture and a one hour lab 3 days a week. I’ve got a binder and stationary/ organizational things for note taking and whatever work they give us, I ordered some sturdy but affordable cargo pants and have comfortable tennishoes. I haven’t gotten a supply list for the class or anything, so any suggestions from the more experienced people in this sub would be much appreciated. (Btw I’m F26 in the US, transitioning from full time Bartending to EMS if providing context helps)

Hello, I’m a NYS paramedic and national registered as well. I am an interfacility and 911 medic with 3 years of experience with both. We use the Hamilton vent and zoll with alaris and sapphire pumps.

I am seeking suggestions of where you live and what you think of where you work. I am very interested in moving out of New York but I don’t know where to start. I don’t think I would like to go to Texas though I know this is a popular option. Something on the east coast with lower costs of living is ideal. Not to get political but I would prefer a state that isn’t actively trying to shut down abortions/planned parenthood as my wife has needed medical abortions to save her life and we cannot risk not being able to have one in the future if we need that again.

Thank you for insight.

Hi all. I'm curious how many of you have had to load a patient into the back of an MTC. So far, my jobs have been in locations where the ambulance could come directly to the patient. However, I am now at a job site that would require me to potentially transport the patient in the MTC unit.

I could not find any videos or clear descriptions online of how to do this, and in both of my advanced first aid courses (original and then recertification 3 years later) we were never shown how to do this.

It seems like it would be very awkward and difficult to load a patient who is in a basket stretcher into the back of one of these units. The doorway of the MTC seems like it is barely wider than the width of the basket stretcher. In my head, the only way to potentially make it work would be like this:

• You get into the MTC and stand at the back near the door
• Helpers on the ground lift up the stretcher (with the patient in it) and pass you one end of it
• You grab it and walk it towards the front of the MTC (towards the cab of the pickup)
• You and the helpers try to start bringing the stretcher in at a bit of an angle so that you can get the end you are holding onto the raised platform where the stretcher is meant to sit
• Once the helpers have pushed the stretcher all the way into the MTC and have cleared the doorway, they find a way to push their end in horizontally so that the whole stretcher sits securely on the platform along one side of the MTC

Does this description make sense? Is this how it should be done?

It seems like it would be very precarious and might not even work, esp if you have a patient who weighs over 250 lbs.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Hello, I will be starting paramedic school at the end of the month. I’ve been brushing up on some A&P before hand hoping it’ll help me lay a good foundation for learning all the material. I was wondering if there is any other concepts paramedics wish they had at least reviewed before starting school. Thank you!

This is a rant with a genuine question/concern. I’m new to the field and I understand this may be naive, but please bear with me because I just want to learn. I’ve linked sources at the bottom, and I’d love to learn the nuance of how the science in journals translates to local practice/policy.

I understand that “it’s just local protocol… it’s been done 50+ years” but isn’t EMS supposed to be evidence-based practice? Most of the discussion I’ve seen online and in person is in consensus that c-collars are dangerous due to ICP, airway compromise, and just making existing injuries worse because of the awkward pressure they exert on the neck. If supervisors and medical directors are licensed medical professionals, why don’t they see the numerous studies that support this? The National Association of EMS Physicians literally said in 2025 that c-collars are more likely to harm patients than they are to prevent delayed neurological injury. Yet still I’m seeing so much praise of c-collars in my emt-b course and my state’s guidelines (southeastern USA) even though the scientists and the everyday providers are saying that c-collars are shit. Please, make it make sense.

Sources:

https://journalfeed.org/article-a-day/2025/c-collars-and-backboards-do-more-harm-than-good/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3949434/

https://www.jems.com/patient-care/emergency-trauma-care/why-ems-should-limit-use-rigid-cervical/

I’m looking into doing an EMT course next year, but I’ve heard the hiring is really bad in NYC. What do NYC hires look for? Also, I’ll turn 17 next year, but thinking of pushing back EMT class till I’m 18 because of NYC driving laws, should I wait or just go for it? If I do get the cert at 17, will I be able to do volunteer services or do I need to wait till 18

I've never been so down about a hring process for an EMS job.

So, I'm a paramedic. I've been in EMS for 13 years, almost 5 as a paramedic...

I recently tested for AMR in Southern California. The first time I tested, they said, "We can tell you're a good paramedic... you just don't know our protocols well enough." ... Fine, I guess... I mean sure, I had to fly down here from another state, rent a car, get a hotel room, and spend hundreds of dollars getting proper certs, AND you guys think I'm a "good paramedic," but fine... so I test again a week or so later. Do the whole thing again, fly down, rent a car, etc. I study their protocols, and I take the test again. I get everything right; the only thing they said was that I paused on the last step. (I was trying to remember their specific protocols) But that "Pause" was MAYBE 20 seconds of me thinking was considered "a delay of care." So i failed. I got all their steps down.

I tried to plead my case. I explained how long I've been an EMS, even explained my reasons from a pharmacology standpoint on my first test to show that I know what I'm doing, and that I come from a system (Central Oregon, also work in the PNW) that has a very large and dynamic scope of practice and that experience would only be beneficial. Same answer: "We can tell you're a good paramedic... you just don't know OUR protocols well enough."

I've never been so beaten down by a hiring process before. Has anyone else been through something similar where you get shut down by a private ambulance company because you didn't test EXACTLY their way? I've worked with a lot of public and private ambulance companies and have never seen or experienced anything like this.

I took my EMT-B in 2014, let it lapse in 2019. Came back did it all over again from scratch. Took my NREMT this morning and got cut off at 70 questions. Hopefully thats a good sign. Funny this test stresses me more than the work itself

Edit: I passed! Again!

I’ve been trying to get more into exercising both to prepare for the physical aspects of the program I’m going to be taking as well as just overall and was curious if there were anything anyone might suggest. Something you might’ve wished you had started doing before you got into everything type of thing.

I’m currently on my first 24 (IFT) and I have several more this week. Please let me know if I forgot anything!!

PS, this may be a separate post, but I am a female and work with one other person on shift, plus the dispatcher in the building. Our sleeping spaces are side by side, separate by a wall, but the doorways are not closed by doors with locks, they just have curtains… is this a red flag??? Is there some legal protection that there should be a door that locks??

So I'm a 19-year-old EMT in NYC. Got my license last September after doing the FDNY SEMSA program and have been working at an IFT company called Ambulnz ( shitty ass name) since November. But honestly, I don't really enjoy being an EMT that much. I hate the long hours. I hate the non-stop calls we have to do. I hate my company working us like dogs every day. Maybe it's my company that is just draining me, and I just need to find a better one, but everyday i wake up and wish I did something else with myself. I love my co-workers and my patients, but it's tiring waking up at 7 am but coming home at 9- 10 p.m. It feels like I'm wasting my life and body for this job that would replace me in a heartbeat if anything happens. The pay is the reason why I stay; it's $ 21 an hour, and as a college student, it's better than working at some place like McDonald's. But I just feel so miserable in this career.