Surviving Everyday Life in Paramedic School

1. Introduction

So you want to learn how to go to school as a medic student, or even EMT school? Well look no further, I'll explain everything I do to survive the madness.

Hey there, my name is Jarvis, and I work full time as an EMT in rural America. I go to school two days a week as a paramedic student. I have been an EMT now for about two years now, and i can honestly say I do not work at a job, I work at my passion!

Being able to take care of people has been one of the biggest blessings of my life.

But enough about me, you didn't come here to learn my job. You came here to learn how to manage your time, and what to expect in EMT/Medic school!

Whether you are thinking about starting, or have just started your program, there are many benefits to schedule your important parts of your life NOW. Here in a few paragraphs, I will post the recommended DO's and DON'T's of preparing for school.

Before I get to that, here is a small table of contents

1. Introduction
2. What to Do and Not Do
3. My Morning Routine
4. Study Time!
5. Ending

2. What to do and Not Do

Going through medic school is no small ordeal. It takes alot of dedication and time to do so. Hard work that will be stressful and keep you up all night as well. That being said, follow these do's and do not's and that will decrease many stress levels!

Do Not's

• Do not make any life-changing events right before or during medic school. These events are getting married, moving, changing jobs, or making big purchases. It will only stress you out more. Don't do it.
• Do not, for those of you already working as an EMT, have a "Field version" of how to do things. Everything you learned as a basic, throw out the door. Learn the book way
• Do not think this will be near as easy as EMT school. It won't. Trust me.
• Do not freak out. You got this

Do's

• Do Try to get financial aid if you are going to a college. I can't stress that enough!
• Do get your books as early as you can before school so you can look over them
• Do set up a routine NOW and stick with it
• Do schedule your time well

3. My Morning Routine

So a routine in my mind is pretty important. If you stick with it you can be prepared and have less to focus on. I heard a professor say once -

The more you know now the less you gotta know later

This is so true. If you know what to expect you can focus on your studies more. So here is my morning routine on a school day:

• 0500 HOURS- Wake Up
• 0510 HOURS- Drink a quick cup of coffee
• 0515 HOURS- Take a cold shower
• 0520 HOURS- Get another cup of coffee and quickly skim over the day's lesson
• 0530 HOURS- Get changed for class
• 0545 HOURS- Kiss my wife goodbye and sit outside with another cup of coffee
• 0600 HOURS- Drive to class
• 0740 HOURS- Arrive at school/read through the day's chapter
• 0800 HOURS- Class start
• 1200 HOURS- Break for lunch
• 1230 HOURS- Converse with classmates
• 1300 HOURS- Class starts back up
• 1700 HOURS- Class ends
• 1900 HOURS- Should be back home by now to spend time with my wife
• 2100 HOURS- Study and compress my notes
• 2230 HOURS- Create outlines from book
• 2400 HOURS- Study
• 0100 HOURS- set my timer on the pot of coffee and go to bed

Wow... After looking at that on my computer makes me wonder how I have not rolled over dead yet!

This list is not to discourage you from going, but to encourage you to manage your time. As you can see, my school days I do not have much time to myself. it is either spent doing school-related tasks or hanging out with my wife.

But, here comes the good part. That routine is only on my school days. The days I go to school are Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 0800-1700 hours. When I am not at school I am either at work or I am doing clinical.

It also does not help that I live an hour and a half away from school!

4. Study Time!

I cannot stress this enough. Always study. If you have a bunch of free time, then something is wrong. You should be in your books for a good bit of your day if you are not in class.

How I study will be different from other people, but it may help to learn different ways to do it, so below i will post my study habits.

First, i read the chapter. And i will read each heading over and over again until I can talk about it without looking at the book. And I do that over and over again and again. My instructor includes a video lecture as well as bullet points in our online application, so I go over those as well to reinforce the knowledge.

I also write outlines. but for me the outlines do not benefit me. I do not learn from them that well. The only reason i do them is that my instructor has us do them for our grades.

I prefer to study using the above method. Again, people are different, and will learn differently.

5. Ending

So to summarise everything: You WILL succeed in medic school.

This post today is to show you what to expect during your school, not the whole experience. I will be posting what school looks like for me on a different page.

I hope that for now that this has encouraged you. and i am always free to answer any questions that anyone has!

Here is an ending quote from a friend of mine that is the reason for me even being in EMS. He was my Cheif, mentor, groomsman, and best friend.

If it's supposed to be an easy test it will have harder material from a past chapter on it. Read every day. Always be early to clinicals, you'll get the better staff to teach you. Sleep is your friend and begin preparing for the registry now. I used test prep question simulators and listened to podcasts on my way to and from school