Paramedic or ER doctor?
I always wanted to participate in the emergency medical field but I don't know whether to become paramedic or ER doctor. I am aware of the salary difference and that doesn't really concern me. But I like the exciting part of the emergency room. But I don't really know what an ER doctor REALLY does. I know that I want something REALLY exciting, not something like the common cold. I was also considering whether to become an ER nurse. If you could, please tell me what each job does. Thank you!!
And just for your information, I'm a girl in high school.
Update:And I forgot to metion that I'm also interested in becoming trauma doctor too! Sorry!!!
Thank you!!!
Comments
Unless you are at a Level I-II Trauma Facility in a violent area, 75-90% of what you will be seeing is "boring". It's baby with a fever, stitches, broken hips, strep, drug seekers, and the flu. During winter, if you live in an area with ice or snow, you see a lot of slip & falls. Emergency Medicine is *not* 'ER', 'House, MD', 'Grey's Anatomy', or even 'Scrubs'. It is not a catastrophe a day or "a very special episode".
You will see heart attacks and strokes fairly regularly, but your job is to stabilize the patient, not to perform brain surgery by grabbing the drill of the maintenance guy who is hanging the holiday decorations.
If you need to be entertained, medicine probably isn't for you. Even if you go into trauma surgery, it's a pretty controlled environment. Adrenaline in a surgeon leads to mistakes. I'm fairly good friends with both a Cardiothoracic Trauma surgeon and a vascular surgeon who does lots of trauma/call - neither talks about how "exciting" it is. They talk more about how exhausting it is. They have regular clinic hours, surgical hours, and take call on top of that. Elective Surgeries are bread and butter stuff. For the CT Surgeon, it's lung lobectomies. For the General/Vascular surgeon, it's gall bladders. Obviously both do much more than that in surgery, but the majority of their surgeries are those types of things, not saving someone who got shot with a nail gun through the heart/stomach. I'm very good friends with a neurosurgeon with stroke training. His days are full of spine surgeries. His call is for strokes and spinal injuries. By the time any of these surgeons get to the hospital (unless they are in-house), the patient is prepped and often already under anesthesia. It's certainly not chaos and excitement.
EMTs spend a good portion of their day driving around. Around here, most of the calls are slip&falls, car accidents, and people who refuse transport. Again, unless you are in a high violence area, it won't be a ton of gunshots, stabbings, and adrenaline situations.
I don't mean to rain on your parade, but there are very very few jobs in the US that are "REALLY exciting" day in, day out. Work is work and gets mundane.
Good Luck
RN's will never make as much money as doctors, but they make a decent wage and the hours are flexible. If you want kids, you can make your schedule fit your life. Become an RN first, and then move into ER if you like that area and can handle the pressure.
start paramedic, get AA in that. Then do it for awhile. If you like it but want more pay, get the BA online in medical stuff. Then take the MCAT, if your GPA and MCAT score is high enough apply to medical school. If not, you can still then apply to DO school and DC, PharmD, etc.
Become an ER nurse because med school is too hard, too expensive, and takes too long. An EMT is physically tough on a woman and is not sustainable.
not only are the $$$ quite different but the prestige is too
one is two yrs , the other is 10-14 yrs of education
and 200,000S$ in debts.