Like most people, when I went to college I really had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I had the general idea that I wanted to be in the “medical field.” Whatever my 18 year old self thought that meant, I am still not sure.
In the fall of 2014, I began my journey at Purdue University in Health and Human Sciences with a focus on Pre-Med. As I struggled through courses my freshman year, I thought to myself “is this really what I want to do.” Going into Sophomore year, I thought “let’s see what it would take to switch into nursing.” As I fathomed the idea, I never really went through with it because of the pressure from my family “to stick to my plan.” As junior year rolled around, I finally started speaking to my advisor about my options. At that time, I decided I would switch my focus to Pre-Physician’s Assistant. I definitely enjoyed this a little more, as I didn’t like the idea of going to medical school for 8+ years but I felt like I could handle a Physician’s Assistant (PA) program. Still, at this point I was really sure if I was studying the right thing. I continued into my senior year, which eventually extended into an extra semester and what I called super senior year. Why did I end up taking extra time in college? This was all due to the fact that when it came time to apply to my potential PA programs, I found that I was missing so many requirements. Nobody told me that I needed shadow experience. I had somewhat heard I needed “hands-on experience” but not 300-500 hours of it? How would that even be possible?
I started looking at what I was going to do to get this experience. I got myself a job working as a Medical Scribe. If you don’t know what this is, it basically is where you work one on one with a doctor and you document the entire visit the doctor has with a patient. This was great! I loved my job. I regularly got to work with doctors and was able to get my shadow hours. At this point, my college career was coming to an end and I still did not have my “hands-on experience”. How was I to get this? What were my options? I decided I would take some time off after I graduated to gain this experience.
As I continued to research ways to get experience, I also researched more into the idea of PA school versus going into nursing. I spoke to family members who were nurses and I shadowed both Nurse Practitioner’s and Physician’s Assistants. This led me to finally choosing where I wanted to be in the medical field, and what I am working towards today. After much research and opinions from people already in the field, I opted to get my EMT certification. I figured this was the best way for me to work in the field while I work towards my dream career in Nursing, as it provided more opportunity.
You may be wondering, okay but why are you working with Fire Consultant Corporation? Well, I have since found that many students are in the same shoes as I once was. They are unsure about what they should do and how they should do it. I would like to help students figure out the path they should take. This company is focused on guiding students to reach their goals, whether that be fire-science, EMS, or other health careers (as I have chosen).
Are you in a similar position that I was in? If so, I urge you to take the next steps today and check out one of our classes. Let us help you reach your goals!