For my STEP project, I joined an EMS EMT-Basic certification program class at the Ohio Health Grant Medical Center in Columbus Downtown. This was a project that definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone and showed me the medical field in a very unique light. This course, provided by the Ohio Health hospital system, consisted of lecture-style evening classes and in-action clinical experience. My clinical experiences included riding with the Jackson Township Firestations for multiple shifts and hospital shifts at the Ohio Health Grant Medical Center on Town St. Currently. After completing the course certification for my Ohio license, I am working towards gaining my national certification through NREMT testing, which will allow me to be certified in most states and give me a wider window of opportunity in the world of medicine.

I have always been a very introverted person who thrived on the comfort of what I knew best, and learning book has always been very straightforward for me. When it came to street knowledge or application in the real world, I always felt like my hands were tied. Communication didn’t come easy, and the confidence to make firm decisions was only a dream to me. Walking into this project, I already knew this was going to be my biggest challenge yet. Another difficulty was learning to channel the negative energy that developed under pressure and stress the right way. For someone who wants to become a doctor to help people, I knew that the skills that were to be gained in the class were just the ones I needed to thrive as a medical student and later as a doctor. This was it! My real look in the world of medicine.  

The classroom experience during this project was in my control from the start. However, the clinical experience was a completely different story. At first, I was scared to voice the questions I needed to when interacting with patients. I was also nervous about touching my patients in my more physical examinations of their injuries. The one thing that was taught in this class that will resonate with me for the rest of my life is, as cheesy as it sounds, “the willpower to believe in yourself and let the true confidence in your mind and body flow.” This was a concept that was expressed through many different avenues in the class. As my clinical progressed, I became more clear cut with myself and the patients I interacted with, reminding myself of my purpose in this position and the importance of the power of self-confidence. The variety of people that I met, in vastly different situations, gave me way more perspective through their stories. With this, when it came time to make crucial life-altering decisions or for the sake of beating time, I was actually able to make more knowledged and assured decisions. I have to be honest that my social abilities, communication skills, and stress management (especially regarding time) have improved immensely in the 5 months spent in this course. These are things I KNOW that I can use in my day-to-day life.

So many different experiences contributed to fortifying my skills gain during this certification process. And these were experiences both in the classroom and in the field. 

In the classroom, we experienced lectures and labs that allowed us to learn basic-level medical skills in detail. Things such a CPR, airway control, oxygen tank setup, etc. were taught in a very individualized manner so that we could know everything before we had to pull it all together in our scenario lab testing. Because of the involvement, enthusiasm, and encouragement of my instructors for the class, this learning style proved to be in my favor. I knew that having these skills pat-down would take away a bit of the pressure when it came time to applying them and/or testing. 

In the field, we experienced hospital clinical shifts and fire station ambulance ride shifts which gave us experience in real-time with patients. While we were still under training, and our capabilities were limited, we got to visualize and experience the skills we learned in the classroom on real patients. Hospital shifts consisted of taking rounds, meeting checked in patients, and practicing asking our important patient assessment question that we learned. This helped us with meeting various people and developing a compassion/communication scale to know how to properly communicate with different patients. I got to see how the emergency department took in their patients and the helipad patient deploy on the rooftop! The patience, strength, and effort consistently provided by the hospital staff was definitely the highlight. Ambulance rides allowed us a little bit more to be hands-on with some patients. We could perform skills that we felt confident in: taking blood pressure, pulse, respiration, breath sounds, pulse-ox, setting up nasal cannulas, and other vital signs. Doing this in the classroom and actually on a patient are two entirely different battles. In class, you can keep practicing the skill on repeat while being able to make mistakes. In the field, you only really get one solid chance to take the right step. The ambulance rides definitely taught me resiliency and became a more intimate experience with patients. People are looking at you directly to make a decision on the course of their treatment. That kind of attention can definitely put some pressure, but in those moments, I felt in control know that the things I learned and tested on in class well would now come in handy… and they did. Being physically and emotionally tested can be draining and often times have you questioning if this is the right path for you. However, being present in these moments made me realize my true aptitude and become more confident that this pre-med path was right for me. 

Now, a lot of the experiences I had, I cannot truly share in the detail I would like to, that would make sense, showing the amazing nature of the medical world. This is because of the privacy rule under HIPAA. But I hope reading this gives you the emotional and passionate side of how I have changed. I want to detail one more life-changing, eureka! moment for me that made me realize that this is what I wanted to do. While dropping off a patient during my ambulance shift at the local mount caramel hospital, I got the chance to save someone’s life. I was asked to perform CPR on a patient going into cardiac arrest. When I was scouted amongst the onlookers by the head nurse in that hospital room, for the first time forgot all my fears, anxiety, and hesitation. When the patient regained their pulse, I stepped back with the biggest feeling of satisfaction that I had never felt before. Then I knew that this moment wouldn’t haunt me. Rather, it would resonate with me that I could do the things that I thought were not in my reach before. 

Overall this project truly was an eye-opening experience that has opened so many things up for me, not only career-wise but as a person too. It has taught me time management, discipline, ethics, control, and most importantly confidence. It assured me that the career path that I wanted to take was one that I could be most successful and passionate about. I took this class so that I could get myself more involved in the medical field while also pushing the boundaries that I was so very used to. And that goal was accomplished. Now I continue to work and learn to obtain my national license with the hope that this could land me work in the Ohio health system with more eye-opening experiences! 

In a world like ours today, where time is shifting, life is ever-changing, where we cannot expect things a certain way, I am forever grateful for the chances/moments like these; moments that teach us to flow with time and to learn every part of ourselves so we can reach our utmost potential. 

During this project, I went through the process of Emergency Medical Technician training of certification. I went to classes where I practiced skills and learned techniques while fitting in riding along time with working EMTs for a total of around 35 hours. I took exams throughout the semester and ended by taking the national registration exams which consisted of both physical and written portions.

While doing this project I was able to meet and interact quite a bit with people involved in the pre-hospital treatment of patients. I had never previously been able to see these people or truly understand their role in the health care system. While learning the curriculum and interacting with these people I was able to understand their role more fully in the workforce that I plan to be involved with even more in my future career. Throughout this project, I was able to learn real medical conditions and was given the knowledge and skills necessary to provide preliminary interventions to patients on their way to the hospital.

The aspect that gave the foundation for my transformation was the curriculum and testing regime. We had a lot of material to cover that was mostly expected to be done by ourselves if we were taking the online version which I was. The amount of material seemed daunting but was necessary to apply the knowledge later to treat theoretical and real patients. We had practice and module exams almost weekly which served to both see if were absorbing the material and able to keep up and also to prepare for the course final exam and eventually the national registry exam.

The next part of the class that helped with my transformation was the physical examinations and skill practices. Each time we learned a new concept or skill we spent the rest of the night practicing the skills and running through theoretical scenarios and working as we would with a real patient. This was helpful and necessary because the physical practicing of real-world skills helped me learn and appreciate how I would need to use the skill while working as an EMT.

Finally, the last main component to my transformation was the clinical hours that were required to do ‘clinical hours’ which entailed going to some EMS service and going on calls with them. There I interacted with real patients that were being treated and transported to the hospital. There I got to witness and experience the treatment of real patients, and arguably more importantly, how to interact and have a conversation with them to treat them most effectively and have them have as good an experience as possible.

During this project, I was able to experience working in the pre-hospital setting. Since I want to eventually enter medicine as a physician, I wanted to be able to see the whole operation, so this was an opportunity to see it. The knowledge that I gained will further prepare me for medical school and possible future pre-hospital setting jobs in the future. By seeing the profession of prehospital treatment and interacting with the people that do that job has helped me further understand this link in a patient’s treatment which will help me with interactions later in my career.

I chose to use my STEP fellowship to get certified as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) at the Basic level. I attended a class at Central Ohio EMS Training in Lexington, Ohio, which taught me the skills and knowledge I needed and prepared me to pass the required practicals and exams to become nationally and state certified.

My EMT certification transformed my understanding of medical care, particularly in a pre-hospital setting. I gained skills like CPR, cervical spine stabilization, and patient assessment. I ultimately plan to go to medical school, so the things I learned and my first-hand experiences fueled my interest and confidence in patient care. Finally, I ended this experience with an EMT certification at the national and state level, so I will be able to work as an EMT and gain further experience in pre-hospital patient care.

The program I attended prepared me for exams and the job in the field through lectures and practicals. First, I was BLS CPR-certified, so I am able to perform CPR on adults, children, and infants. I also learned about different body systems, how they can go awry, and the EMS response to these events. Learning about concepts in class and then applying them with practices on mannequins or each other helped me solidify my knowledge. Now I am able to do things like auscultating lung sounds, taking a blood pressure, or assessing a patient with confidence.

The most interesting part of my experience was completing clinicals. I rode along with the paramedics at Mansfield Fire Department and got to observe many aspects of patient care that I had learned in class actually in practice. The paramedics and firefighters I interacted with shared stories and advised me about my future. I very much enjoyed interacting with them and the patients. The clinicals allowed me to see what a career in EMS looks like firsthand and understand the roles, responsibilities, daily routines, and culture of their job. I feel that this will help me in the future understanding how pre-hospital care works.

Finally, after the course I prepared for and took the National Registry Exam, which nationally certified me as an EMT. Since the State of Ohio uses this as their licensing test, I am also registered with the State of Ohio as an EMT. These two things allow me to work as an EMT-B in Ohio, allowing me to pursue jobs and to get more patient care experience.

This transformation is significant because I felt it solidified my career and academic plans. It allowed me to apply knowledge I had learned from my classes in a practical, real-world setting. It also allowed me to ride along with EMS providers and learn about their jobs. This class and the ability to work as an EMT allows me to gain further experience in patient care and interaction, which makes me more confident in my plans to pursue medicine.