There's a certain excitement about working as a paramedic. "You never know when the next call is going to come in and where it's going to be," explains Brian Nord, operations manager for Allina Medical Transportation in Wright County (www.allina.com/ahs/transport.nsf/).

Many paramedics like to work independently and must be able to make decisions on their own, Nord says. Students who want to become paramedics must first be certified as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). Although they don't have to work for any period of time as EMTs to win acceptance to a paramedic education program, it helps, according to David Waltz, director of the Emergency Health Services program at Inver Hills Community College (www.inverhills.edu).

Classroom And Clinical Training

Paramedics have more advanced life-support training than EMTs, and are trained in medical emergencies, rescue operations, crisis response, shock and trauma, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and pharmacology. At Inver Hills, they start their clinical experiences two weeks after beginning paramedic courses, and are assigned a mentor at one of the participating ambulance services. They also participate in hospital-based clinical internships to ensure they're getting a broad swath of experience, says Waltz.

Ambulance services usually require an orientation and probationary period for new paramedics. Nord says at Allina, new paramedics receive five weeks of orientation training and serve a six month to one year probation period working with an experienced paramedic. After that, they have more freedom to choose their schedules and may work with one partner or several. The number of emergency calls they will respond to during a day depends on the length of the shift and the location of their base of operations, he adds.

Paramedics can expect to earn $18 to $30 an hour, according to Nord. He finds the job market pretty competitive, but Waltz says some ambulance services really need new paramedics.

Popular course of study

Inver Hills had twice as many applicants for its paramedic program last year as it was able to accommodate, and Waltz predicts the same for the upcoming academic year.

"We give preference to those students who have completed a college degree or have completed the first year of their Associate of Science degree here," Waltz says. "We also are looking for people who are being discharged from the military and have some of that emergency care experience in their military experience."

Waltz particularly wants to encourage applicants of color, women and those who are the first in their families to attend college. "They're very much needed in the profession," he says.