Paramedic Degree: The Benefits of Hands-on Learning
Deciding to become a paramedic is a declaration that you value a career in serving the community and helping people, and you want to make a difference.
Training to become a paramedic can be challenging and stressful, but a proper and comprehensive educational path is all part of the journey toward this rewarding and fulfilling career.
However, not all training is created equal. The best preparation for working as a paramedic is to work in the field while earning your degree, and that’s where a hands-on learning structure comes in useful. Here’s why you should maximize your opportunities for hands-on learning in your paramedic degree program.
The fast-paced environment you’ll work in is hard to assess or understand from a lecture hall.
As a paramedic, you’ll be constantly on your feet and making decisions in the moment. Sure, there will be time spent waiting for the calls to come in—which luckily means people are out of harm’s way, but can also be dull for on-call paramedics. Once the calls do come though, you must be prepared to take important action immediately, and often the decisions you’ll make in those split-seconds of deliberation time will significantly impact others’ lives. Understanding what this kind of high-stress does to your brain and ability to reason and logically locate the best course of action cannot necessarily be done from a classroom, where the environment is structured positively for reasonable thinking. The earlier you prepare for this type of environment, the better able you’ll be to work effectively within it.
No two calls are alike, so experience PLUS logic are your best teachers.
While you may notice a trend in the types of calls you receive if you work in the same place long enough, no two circumstances are ever the same. In your career, you’ll need to think back on past experiences, your education, and everything you know about treating patients. The more sample experiences and outcomes you have to draw on, the more you have to support your patient care decisions. You’ll train under experienced paramedics who can also provide their insight from years on the job to help you make better decisions in your career.
