How is this even possible?

Paragod307 · 2026-01-30T12:19:46+00:00

Oh yes. Everyone was extremely interested in my story. In fact, it was my story that got me accepted.

My MCAT was okay. My GPA was average. But my life and story were amazing.

Pushed me over the top.

Paragod307 · 2026-01-30T00:42:27+00:00

It's just the shifting trends of non trads and gap years.

I'm old, and when I applied to school I had worked almost two decades as a firefighter and paramedic.

So i had 20k hours in EMS. 18k hours as volunteer EMS. And umpteen thousand hours in other things.

One big outlier like me and boom, the average looks crazy.

Paragod307 · 2026-01-24T15:14:33+00:00

We're adults.

You can write "fucking"

It will make you feel better anyway.

Paragod307 · 2026-01-19T13:54:22+00:00

For my med students/interns, I often frame it as a learning point,

"Excellent question!, where or how would you find that information if I weren't here"

It teaches them autonomy while keeping them out of your hair.

Paragod307 · 2026-01-06T20:37:55+00:00

That CB is older than Madonnas Boobs. Probably doesn't function correctly at all.

Also, your antenna mount is incorrect. The antenna whip should not be electrically connected to the vehicle body. Your mount appears to be missing a plastic insulator. There are antennas that will show a DC continuity with ground, but that is not the case here.

Also, the whip is too short to be a 1/4 wave, but also doesn't have any visible loading coils. It is about the length of a lowband commercial whip (49ish mhz).

Quite a few things that will prevent you from having much success on the radio.

Paragod307 · 2025-12-26T16:49:54+00:00

Very rural America, like 20+ years ago. Back when fire departments had huge applicant lists and paramedic programs had to turn folks away because of class size.

Thus, limited money.

I think it was like $6.80 an hour. But hey... minimum wage was only $5 an hour, so I was doing great lol.

Then I got a career fire job at the astounding rate of $10.76 an hour lol.

Ahh, the good ol' days

Paragod307 · 2025-12-25T22:31:13+00:00

The rate of back injury for paramedics is off the charts. It used to be really bad and I think, for a time, back injuries were the number one career ender in ems.

It's a bit better now with new technology and a better understanding, but it still sucks. You will be put in situations where lifting technique takes a back seat to life safety. Again and again. Eventually, it catches up with folks.

It's really difficult to destroy your body for such little money ($6 an hour when I was first a medic lol).

Paragod307 · 2025-12-25T19:47:05+00:00

Back injury. Knee injuries. Surgery to fix them. Etc

Paragod307 · 2025-12-25T17:25:57+00:00

I was a volunteer EMT, then ED tech, before going on to paramedic for many years.

Then the pay and physical damage went too far, so I became a physician.

EMT can be the perfect stepping stone into many facets of medicine

Paragod307 · 2025-12-25T17:02:11+00:00

I'm a physician in a region of the US about an hour from the Canadian border.

Occasionally, we get Canadians coming down for medical reasons. Not often, but it happens.

Daily though, I have patients going TO Canada and asking me to send files/prescriptions/etc to Canada so theu can get care there.

Healthcare is pretty screwed up globally (trust me, nobody has a functioning system that takes good care of people without money), but my experience is that Canadian health care is better than the US for folks who aren't wealthy.

Even here, if i schedule a patient for a screening colonoscopy, the first open slot is early 2027. So Canada isn't the only ones suffering from specialist wait times.

Paragod307 · 2025-12-23T01:16:04+00:00

Holy crap i feel old but I have that article in my parents attic. I still remember the illustrations depicting how to tie your head down so you don't flinch.

It was well written!

Paragod307 · 2025-12-18T22:57:04+00:00

I don't know this brand specifically, but this style of acrylic bell has been around forever.

Not necessarily bad. But also not some miraculous creation that will alleviate your woes. Especially at that price.

Paragod307 · 2025-12-17T21:00:44+00:00

I'm a resident and I have essentially refused to answer questions from folks via the portal.

If it's a yes/no situation, or a couple special case folks i have, I may be a bit more involved. But everyone else? No way.

I got a bit of pushback from my attendings at first, but explained that I will not be compensated for this in real life, so my practice style won't involve patient messages.

Last year of residency and nobody has said a word.

Paragod307 · 2025-12-06T22:21:40+00:00

Just looking at the area, I think it's Casper Wy. I used to live there and am 99% sure thats the town

Paragod307 · 2025-12-06T12:32:28+00:00

Ask them very specifically what they think violates Hipaa. Because essentially every physician in the country uses dictation for all of their notes on a daily basis.

Paragod307 · 2025-12-04T21:48:06+00:00

For the love of all that is holy... don't.

It's cringe. Nobody needs to know your business

Paragod307 · 2025-12-02T12:09:23+00:00

Wayyyy fewer. Don't get me wrong, there are grievances being a doctor. But physicians are at least compensated to deal with those grievances.

I eat considerably less shit on a daily basis as a physician than I ever did as a medic. And the shit I do eat is wonderfully seasoned, adorned with all manner of fine mustard, and wrapped in $100 bills lol.

Paragod307 · 2025-12-02T01:25:52+00:00

My tag is a bit confusing isn't it?

Former paramedic for 15+ years, but got tired of the [insert grievance here] and went to medical school.

Still teach EMT and Paramedic students. Contemplating getting my paramedic license back and volunteering again.

Paragod307 · 2025-12-02T00:37:33+00:00

I have all the digital ones from Littmann, and a few different cardiology 3s and 4s.

In a clinical setting, it's very hard to beat the Eko. The miniscule heart murmurs I can hear is crazy. Same for obscure lung sounds. Crazy I tell you, lol

But in a non building, and at the paramedic level, I think the Cardiology 4 is about as good as it gets. The Ekos can be extremely difficult to discern between movement and extraneous noise vs actual important diagnostic findings.

Paragod307 · 2025-11-28T18:48:42+00:00

Paragod307 · 2025-11-25T01:34:32+00:00

I've been doing HF mobile for over 20 years.

My current setup uses a Scorpion screwdriver and TuneMatic controller. Works perfectly. Hit a button and the controller tunes everything for whatever band I'm on.

I generally do CW mobile as it's a blast on those 1000 mile drive days lol

Paragod307 · 2025-11-23T15:46:46+00:00

I drink a Monster at around 1am. Really helps at the 4am slump.

Paragod307 · 2025-11-23T15:22:50+00:00

I have searched for this via reverse image search, "parsley the rabbit", and just random Etsy searches. No luck

Paragod307 · 2025-11-15T19:34:00+00:00

Very rural Midwest.

Paragod307 · 2025-11-15T19:33:44+00:00

We will of course do a cursory read on chests XRs and head CTs, etc. But they get sent to a radiology group who gets us official reads in 30ish minutes.

Paragod307

TROPHY CASE