First quarter PA student

[cwang]

PA school or chicago fire dept paramedic?

 

what would you choose?

 

waited 5 yrs for the job, applied to PA school in the meantime, both offered at once!

[Guest hubbardtim48]

I would say PA, but I know nothing about fire. Could you enlighten us who never has worked pre-hospital, what would be better about Chicago fire than PA? I have lots of friends that did fire before PA, but couldn't imagine picking fire over PA unless I am missing something?

[FriarMedic]

Tough call-- I was in a similar position as you. My rationale was that you can always stay/get involved in EMS as a PA (in a higher capacity, assistant medical direction, teaching, maybe even come in as a chief of a smaller dept down on the line if you've stayed involved enough in medical direction somewhere). Whereas if you choose the EMS world, you'll lack a higher medical/clinical knowledge and wont practice medicine beyond the scope of a paramedic if you choose that route. There is a thread about PAs in EMS medical direction under the EM subsection.

 

And....You can climb the ladder in CFD and eventually make 6 figures in 20 years OR you can make 6 figures in 2 years. There's a lot of pride in the climbing the ladder of a big dept like that, so it depends on your priorities at the moment. I grappled with the decision for awhile and choose PA, I haven't had regret.

[Guest]

I have been a volunteer EMT at my fire dept for 2 years now and I considered going for career FF/Medic position too. BUT after waking up countless times in the middle of the night for "public service" *ie no one is dying* ALONG with firefighters on engine or truck, I realized that this type of job would be very stressful on your body. It just depends on what you are more interested in I suppose.

 

Like FriarMedic mentioned, you can ALWAYS go for PA position in a fire & rescue department once you graduated. I know our department, which is huge, has two medical directors (MD's) and a PA. This is something I am definitely looking into post PA school. There are also PA's in FRD occupational therapy and their job seems to be pretty easy. They do physicals and stuff for firefighters and EMTs.

[newguy]

Career firefighter/medic and current PA student here:

 

Both are incredible professions, but...

 

#1: lifetime security - PA wins - as a firefighter you are subject to cuts - job, salary, benefits - beyond your control. No one can ever take your knowledge and skill set away as a PA. It is not easy to switch fire departments; although only currently a PA student - I believe it is easier to pick up and start over from a failing clinic/hospital/private practice, than it is going through a hiring process/academy/probation all over again. I am not a PA though.

 

#2: Satisfaction. Individual basis. Do you want to be a PA? If you do, my advice would be : become a PA. Practice medicine,then pick and choose your future with the satisfaction of knowing that if you have fire service in your blood, and your department cuts you due to the economy or whatever, that you can drive on without skipping a beat. Also, reference Mesa Arizona Fire and Medical Department for their trial run of PAs in the field and potential use of PAs with the fire service.

 

The PA profession makes sense. I love the fire service and believe in its importance, but look around you to see the tip of the iceberg on the cuts that could be made. Just because we've always recovered economically does not necessarily mean we always will.