I see you…right now I see something like 60 anonymous users…join us! You get so much more when you actually participate. We want to know you!
Pick a screen name and JOIN US!
I’m here, I’m just really enjoying learning from everyone else’s posts right now. 
Hello!
Only learned about OPM just days before the conference. Luckily I live within commuting distance of the hotel via the DC Metro.
Had a great time and learned alot, and just want to say “thank you” to everyone who took some of their valuable time to speak with me.
Don’t know that I have a whole lot to post about right now, but when I do, you’ll certainly hear from me, lol 
Darn, you found me. I thought I had a good hiding place! My story is very similar to many of yours. I am 30 with a wife and 4 year old boy. I wanted to pursue medicine in college but quickly backed out as I switched my major to partying with a concentration in drinking. Ended that 4 year run with a 2.6 and a lot of F’s and W’s.
The frustrating thing is that I had a 3.25 on my first 30 hours and a 3.6? on my last 60 hours. It only took one year of goofing off to completely tank my GPA. Anyways, I jumped around the job scene for years trying different jobs from teaching to sales and being completely miserable. Then I hit a breaking point and my wife told be to forget about the money and go be happy.
This is when I joined the Fire Department working in EMS. I found my life’s passion in medicine as a Paramedic. I was able to graduate #1 in my class for both EMT-I and Paramedic school (Of course those grades are non-transferable and don’t count on GPA). I have spent the past 4 years with the rekindled dream of going to medical school. My wife, although nervous, has been very supportive.
So as it stands right now I am trying to find a different position that will allow me to go back to school. I can’t really pull it off on my current 24/48 shift schedule. In addition, my wife would like me to attend relatively close by since she is an owner of a large company and cannot move. Living in Atlanta this definitely makes it more challenging.
I have enjoyed these boards for awhile now. Thank you for creating a supportive forum for us “nontraditional” students.
So glad that you can join us! And maybe one of those 52 (uh huh!, I see you, too), will as well. It’s okay to be an anonymous visitor for the first couple of times you visit OPM…but do you really want to be anonymous when you start the application process…NO…you want to say, I am (state your name) and I am here to learn to be a doctor…
It doesn’t mean that you have to respond to each and every post, but if you join, it takes but a few minutes and then when you come to a post that really resonates with you, you can take part. To me, the numbers I am seeing means that there are a lot of nontrads pursuing this goal…we need to stand and be counted or all of those little rugrats will sweep us under the carpet!
- jjcnbg Said:
Darn, you found me. I thought I had a good hiding place! My story is very similar to many of yours. I am 30 with a wife and 4 year old boy. I wanted to pursue medicine in college but quickly backed out as I switched my major to partying with a concentration in drinking. Ended that 4 year run with a 2.6 and a lot of F's and W's.
I would definitely retake those F's. Osteopathic schools will replace your grades and that should help you pick up your GPA. PCOM-Georgia is I believe located right near Atlanta. In order for you to go for an allopathic schools, you might need to go for a second bachelors degree with a lot of classes. The 2.6 is really going to be a challenge, and it will take a lot of classes to bring that GPA up.
The frustrating thing is that I had a 3.25 on my first 30 hours and a 3.6? on my last 60 hours. It only took one year of goofing off to completely tank my GPA. Anyways, I jumped around the job scene for years trying different jobs from teaching to sales and being completely miserable. Then I hit a breaking point and my wife told be to forget about the money and go be happy.
This is when I joined the Fire Department working in EMS. I found my life's passion in medicine as a Paramedic. I was able to graduate #1 in my class for both EMT-I and Paramedic school (Of course those grades are non-transferable and don't count on GPA). I have spent the past 4 years with the rekindled dream of going to medical school. My wife, although nervous, has been very supportive.
So as it stands right now I am trying to find a different position that will allow me to go back to school. I can't really pull it off on my current 24/48 shift schedule. In addition, my wife would like me to attend relatively close by since she is an owner of a large company and cannot move. Living in Atlanta this definitely makes it more challenging.
Have you looked to work in an ER? Many ERs hire paramedic/EMTs to work as ER techs. You could probably get by with working 2-3 12 hour shifts. If you can work during the weekends, you'll have the week to go to school. Just be careful that you can do both, because that will be a very full schedule and you want to make sure that you excel at your classes at this point.
I have enjoyed these boards for awhile now. Thank you for creating a supportive forum for us "nontraditional" students.
I would definitely retake those F's. Osteopathic schools will replace your grades and that should help you pick up your GPA. PCOM-Georgia is I believe located right near Atlanta. In order for you to go for an allopathic schools, you might need to go for a second bachelors degree with a lot of classes. The 2.6 is really going to be a challenge, and it will take a lot of classes to bring that GPA up.
The frustrating thing is that I had a 3.25 on my first 30 hours and a 3.6? on my last 60 hours. It only took one year of goofing off to completely tank my GPA. Anyways, I jumped around the job scene for years trying different jobs from teaching to sales and being completely miserable. Then I hit a breaking point and my wife told be to forget about the money and go be happy.
This is when I joined the Fire Department working in EMS. I found my life's passion in medicine as a Paramedic. I was able to graduate #1 in my class for both EMT-I and Paramedic school (Of course those grades are non-transferable and don't count on GPA). I have spent the past 4 years with the rekindled dream of going to medical school. My wife, although nervous, has been very supportive.
So as it stands right now I am trying to find a different position that will allow me to go back to school. I can't really pull it off on my current 24/48 shift schedule. In addition, my wife would like me to attend relatively close by since she is an owner of a large company and cannot move. Living in Atlanta this definitely makes it more challenging.
Have you looked to work in an ER? Many ERs hire paramedic/EMTs to work as ER techs. You could probably get by with working 2-3 12 hour shifts. If you can work during the weekends, you'll have the week to go to school. Just be careful that you can do both, because that will be a very full schedule and you want to make sure that you excel at your classes at this point.
I have enjoyed these boards for awhile now. Thank you for creating a supportive forum for us "nontraditional" students.
It's not impossible, but it won't be easy and it will take a lot of work!
Welcome to OPM!
Thanks Kriss for making me crack a smile on this horrendous day…and hello former anonymous lurkers…welcome to the board!
- Krisss17 Said:
It's okay to be an anonymous visitor for the first couple of times you visit OPM...but do you really want to be anonymous when you start the application process...NO...you want to say, I am (state your name) and I am here to learn to be a doctor...
I agree!
For the most part, I love ALL the stories on OPM, but the most frustrating for me are the ones that go like this: " I recently joined OPM after lurking for 5 years and I'm happy to announce that I was recently accepted to med school after 12 cycles of rejections and 5 MCAT's".
I wanna say, join while you're in the process trying to turn those no's into a single yes!!! Mnay of us could learn a thing or two from your experiences!
Thanks for the responses! I had thought about retaking those F’s but they are in courses I just can’t imagine taking again like constitutional law, macro-economics, etc… On the plus side I really don’t have many sciences courses on the record and the ones that I took I received A’s and B’s in.
I am definitely not adversed to the osteopathic route. In fact one of my top choices for schools would be PCOM-GA. It’s a great school that is relatively close to my house.
I will actually be interviewing for an overnight Cardiac Monitor Tech position on Friday. It is not ideal in that I will not have as much patient contact but it will get me in the hospital and allow me to take a full course load during the day. The hardest part will be cutting my pay in half but I guess I better get used to living on less:)
- jjcnbg Said:
Thanks for the responses! I had thought about retaking those F's but they are in courses I just can't imagine taking again like constitutional law, macro-economics, etc... On the plus side I really don't have many sciences courses on the record and the ones that I took I received A's and B's in.
I am definitely not adversed to the osteopathic route. In fact one of my top choices for schools would be PCOM-GA. It's a great school that is relatively close to my house.
I will actually be interviewing for an overnight Cardiac Monitor Tech position on Friday. It is not ideal in that I will not have as much patient contact but it will get me in the hospital and allow me to take a full course load during the day. The hardest part will be cutting my pay in half but I guess I better get used to living on less:)
I am definitely not adversed to the osteopathic route. In fact one of my top choices for schools would be PCOM-GA. It's a great school that is relatively close to my house.
I will actually be interviewing for an overnight Cardiac Monitor Tech position on Friday. It is not ideal in that I will not have as much patient contact but it will get me in the hospital and allow me to take a full course load during the day. The hardest part will be cutting my pay in half but I guess I better get used to living on less:)
I was a cardiac monitor tech for about 18 months, also nights. The pluses was learning how to read the different strips and learning about the heart, specifically arrhythmias...but I was missing the human contact (many times I worked in the remote tele room which pretty much consisted of just myself, a nurse who would pretty much be more mobile and be able to leave that little room and 3 monitors), so that is why I transferred over to the NICU...although there are times that I wish I still had the peace of that little room (LOL!). All I can say is thank God for the radio...I needed the music to keep me awake at times.
I'm actually going to be working until Fall semester starts and then it is back to being a poor student. I'll be living off of savings, scholarships and hopefully some tutoring gigs in Chemistry and biology.
Great Thread Kriss…
I do have to admit though, that everytime I cycle through I see the title and I think about Spongebob’s Song that goes: " Hey All you Goofy Goobers…" don’t know why but it makes me smile everytime!!
GM
Many moons ago I was also a cardiac monitor technician - from 1986~1989. Our station had 10 people who monitored up to 120 patients on telemetry [2 techs per deck of 24 pts]. I worked in a very large medical center that, at the time, was a CABG factory! They cut 20+ hearts per day! There was 3x 40 bed stepdown units for cardiac patients…hence the 120 channel monitoring capacity.
I learned a ton & it was fun for a while. The people…most of them…that I worked with were a blast. Several of us partied together quite a bit. But, a fella can only watch those damned monitors for so long before you start to loose your marbles!
- OldManDave Said:
Many moons ago I was also a cardiac monitor technician - from 1986~1989. Our station had 10 people who monitored up to 120 patients on telemetry [2 techs per deck of 24 pts]. I worked in a very large medical center that, at the time, was a CABG factory! They cut 20+ hearts per day! There was 3x 40 bed stepdown units for cardiac patients...hence the 120 channel monitoring capacity.
I learned a ton & it was fun for a while. The people...most of them...that I worked with were a blast. Several of us partied together quite a bit. But, a fella can only watch those damned monitors for so long before you start to loose your marbles!
I learned a ton & it was fun for a while. The people...most of them...that I worked with were a blast. Several of us partied together quite a bit. But, a fella can only watch those damned monitors for so long before you start to loose your marbles!
When I worked as a CMT and a unit secretary simultaneously, the most I've watched was about 30, i.e. two jobs for the price of one. In the remote tele room, I think 44 was the most that I watched. The eeriest thing was watching a pt that was dnr and still on a monitor...just watching that line go flat was weird...it really makes you realize that this monitor belongs to a real breathing (or in this sense, not) person. I think that is why I needed to leave...I didn't want to become so detached.
Now I hear crying babies all the time....and I'm just looking for that pacifier
and try to get them to stop crying.
The thing that will be weird to me is the transition from fixing the problem to doing nothing and calling someone else. As a paramedic if something pops up on the monitor I am quickly pushing lidocaine, amiodarone, adenosine, pacing, cardioverting, etc… It’s going to be a little weird to see it and pass the buck. Although it will be good to get into a hospital environment. I am hoping that maybe I can develop some relationships with doc’s that are not EM.
OldManDave that is a LOT of monitors! This position I think will only be 30-40 which I would do by myself. I believe that the position will have some other duties like transcribing the doctors notes and such but I think those tasks could have some benefit in their own right. Anything to get me more familiar with hospital based medicine instead of prehospital is a good thing.
Now I just have to pass the interview tomorrow. Otherwise, school will have to stay on hold until I can get off this 24/48 merry-go-round.
Good luck on the interview…I’m sure you will do fine!
Just bumping this because I noticed that 1) there are 67 lurkers out there, and 2) we’ve a number of new members join within the week, and I’m sure (I’m hoping) that they are glad that the do.
Come on…we don’t bite!