EMT or Pharmacy Technician

Pre-Med & Medical School High School Student Topics
1

<p>Hi! I'm having a lot of trouble making the decision between EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) and Pharmacy Technician certification. </p>

<p>I'm a current high school junior who is a part of my school district's Clinicals Program and next year (senior year) the clinicals course is geared towards what you select to seek certification in. I've narrowed down my choices to EMT and Pharm Tech and really need to decide on one by tomorrow. I'm planning to major in some subtext of biology on a premed track in college with the eventual goal of becoming a doctor. Type of Doctor/Specialty? Completely uncertain, I just know I love medicine and can't do wrong in any field of it.</p>

<p>To clarify I'm not directly looking to base my decision completely what another person tells me but am actively seeking other's input, suggestions, past experiences, etc. into my dilemma. To help you understand my problems in deciding between these two I can try to assemble the pro's and con's list that's constantly running through my head right now.</p>

<p>Pharm Tech:</p>

<p>-Pros:
-Offered at a high school thats not my own so it would be enjoyable to be at two high schools throughout the day and meet new people
-Pharmacy Technician jobs are widespread and have easier hours to work with than EMT's on general (this is what I've been led to believe)
-Pharmacology helps you no matter what area of medicine you go into to
-Is considered slightly easier than EMT certification/has higher passing rates or the program (although I certainly don't mind the challenge)</p>

<p>-Cons:
-Being offered at a different school means more gas money and inability to participate in certain things at my home school (I'm student council president next year and sometimes we have things we need to help with where we miss the whole school day such as blood drives, special olympics, field trips, school tours, and other random oddities).
-Depending on what field I go into, EMT could offer much more real world experience and training, as well as plenty of medical knowledge
-The Teacher for this course is widely considered a bad teacher who literally doesn't show up some days and will give you weeks without any work then weeks with ton of work (poor teacher, inconsistent, unreliable, etc.), BUT this should not be a problem for certification because I am fantastic at studying alone
-I will have to get re certified if going to college out of state (I am unaware if EMT is national or state based--my state is TX btw).</p>

<p>EMT:</p>

<p>-Pros:
-At my own school so I know the teacher very well and she is a generally good teacher, less money on gas ,etc.
-EMT has a lot of real world knowledge, networking and shadowing opportunities, rigor, chance to work in hospital (although so can some pharm techs), etc.
-I am more likely to go into a field where EMT will provide me with more knowledge/experience than pharm tech (ca always learn the medicines--for example when I'm in med school --but the real world experience of being an EMT is unparalleled
-I'm unaware whether EMT certification carries through states
-Ladies dig EMTs (joke)</p>

<p>-Cons:
-More rigorous than Pharm Tech (not really going to be an issue)
-And the BIG con: EMT jobs are difficult to find, especially for younger individuals. EMTs also operate out of fire stations on 24hr schedules a lot, something that would be impossible to do while being a full time student. There are private EMT companies that work out of hospitals and such but again finding job would be difficult</p>

<p>This is all I can think of for the moment. I will check this thread periodically if anyone has any questions and please, please, give me any feedback or knowledge that you can. Thank you so much!!!</p>

2

<p>awkward bump</p>

3

<p>Unless you pursue it to the paramedic level, EMT won’t give you tons of medical knowledge (though it is good to have the various skills you’ll learn), but it can certainly give you interesting experiences. Most state EMT certifications don’t carry over to other states–however, if you take the National Registry test (for which I believe you must be 18), you will be good to work in most states. I’m not sure if Texas participates in National Registry or whether you’ll have the opportunity to take the NR test, so do some research on that.</p>

<p>If you’re okay with doing EMT work without making money, you could look for volunteer fire/EMS services after getting an EMT certification.</p>

<p>Although I’ve never been a pharmacy tech, I did work in a pharmacy in high school, and I was also a volunteer EMT-B during high school (and several years after that), and I cannot imagine a pharm tech job coming anywhere close to the experiences I had as an EMT.</p>

4

<p>Dude, my brother said in the boonie town he lived in up in new york his friend was a paramedic, and he came over too his house and hung out because it was in the sticks and he never got calls, the catch is… he got tons according to my brother.</p>

<p>although you should ask yourself what you prefer. i would like Pharmacy but you may like EMT. no one can answer this question for you.</p>

5

<p>I would suggest EMT to see if you like working with people in a medical setting.</p>

<p>But if your eventual goal is to become a doctor, will these programs interfere with your typical academic courses? Those are more important (Bio, Math, Chem, Physics, etc)</p>