EMT Basic Certificate

[vanasme]

I'm currently a college freshman finishing up my first year and I'm looking at my summer options. I'm thinking about enrolling in the EMT Basic Certificate program at a college near home and I was just wondering how much this would actually help my med-school application. I obviously know that I need a strong GPA and MCAT score, but is going through the EMT Basic Certificate program going to help much? My pre-med advisor recommended that I do it and I trust his judgement. The only reason that I have a minor objection is because I just landed a 40 hours a week summer job and I would have to give this up and try to find some other type of summer employment if I do the EMT Basic program. My pre-med advisor told me that the certificate would help me land some better volunteer positions that would look better on med school applications, instead of just pushing papers somewhere in a hospital. So I guess my question is: is it worth giving up my great summer job to get my EMT Basic certificate? I'm pretty sure I could find some other type of part time employment, but I could use the cash from a full-time job.

[blooteeth]

The certificate alone is worthless. You have to put it to good use either by working as an EMT or maybe a ED tech at a hospital.

[OlufunshoBY]

Personally, EMT doesn't improve your chance of getting into med school. The EMT certificate will be something personal to you. In other words, you should only be doing it because you want to do it and want to get an exposure to a bit of medicine.

If you are doing it for your own personal gain of experience, then that's fine. You could put it on your resume but it won't really carry any weight on its own. What you do with it, is what matters.

If you plan on using it for volunteering, then you can do the part time option (summer job) just to get the certification.

good luck

[vanasme]

I realize that the certificate alone won't do much, I'm just hoping that it will help me getter better volunteer positions that I can use on my application. I'm already volunteering this summer at my local hospital, but when I come back to school in the fall, I'm hoping that I can land a better volunteer position that will look better than just pushing papers in a hospital. I'm also really interested in it, so I think that I will just try to find a different part time job and get certified. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that it will allow me to get a better volunteer position... we shall see.

[kimsmarkin]

EMT-1 is the first layer of the emergency medical technician training. Technicians at this level are able to provide basic care - such as CPR. EMT-1 is also known as professional first responders, because they have not received the amount or level of education of a paramedic, but their ability to assess the patient's condition and manage a situation of emergency case of a blocked airway or other injuries.