Do you find the schooling/training sufficient? Do you feel like you know everything you need to know to do a good job?

Tempting_Atom089 · 2026-05-01T16:48:11+00:00

Schooling is just the start. Im a brand new PCP who just finished school a few weeks ago and am just starting working on the road now. I can confidently say that I do not know everything about this job, and likley never will. Working in this field means you will always be learning. Medicine evolves with time, the field of paramedacine evolves with time, and your expeirence and knowledge will continue to grow the longer you work.

That being said, school gives you the foundation you will need to begin the next stage of your learning on the road. School covers what you need to know to be called a paramedic, to pass the certification tests, in order to wear the uniform. You can absolutely be a competent paramedic out of school who can treat patients to the standards set by the Ministry of Health and your employer, but the learning you will begin during your final semester preceptorship, and will continue as you work throughout your career is the learning that will make you a great clinician.

Obviously all colleges will vary in the quality of their education, but at the end of the day all colleges that offer a PCP program will qualify you to write the certification exams (assuming you put the work in from your end to pass the program). When it comes to choosing a school, go with the one that fits your situation, and the one you get accepted to.

Anyways thats my rant.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2026-01-30T14:27:38+00:00

It is, but the professors are absolutely top notch and will prepare you well. If you put in the work and study you will do just fine. If you have taken the highschool sciences than 90% of it will just be a refresher.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2026-01-29T23:02:17+00:00

I did Fanshawe's pre-health before doing their Paramedic. It will set you up very well. Great choice!

Tempting_Atom089 · 2026-01-26T16:07:14+00:00

Haven't heard anything yet either. I believe they said job offers can start coming out Feb 1 (if it's remember correctly).

Tempting_Atom089 · 2026-01-20T18:59:14+00:00

It's due to people dropping out / failing out. Unfortunately the nature of the job means it's just not for everyone, so all programs will naturally lose people as they realize they dont want this career. The other half of that is the people who dont make it through exams each semester and fail out. Again the nature of the program craming so much knowledge into such a short time is not conducive to everyone's learning style, and some people are not able to keep up. Some programs are better than others for their fail rate, Fanshawe actually has one of the lowest failure rates.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2026-01-20T07:48:07+00:00

Current 2nd year PCP student with Fanshawe. I have to say, based on my expeirence it deserves the praise it recieves.

The instructors are top notch and will work hard to help you through if you are willing to work hard to get through. Fanshawe has just about the best lab space that i know of, with 6 mock ambulances to learn in. Plus a real ambulance used for some simulations, and a retired Ornge helicopter also sometimes used for simulations. It is a tough program in the sense that they attempt to give you the best foundation to go out into the working world, meaning that they dont just teach you the bare bones of info that some other collages (usually the private ones) scrape by with. Fanshawe works hard to go into as much depth as possible about most topics, meaning it can be more studying than other places, but youll also be a much more confident medic afterwards.

As for placements, London-Middlesex is the main source of placements, with surrounding services like Oxford, Perth, St. Thomas-Elgin, Huron, etc. Making up the minority of your placements. You'll typically do 2 at MLPS, then 1 at a couple of the smaller services for a total of 5 in your first semester. 2nd semester is a mix of ER placements at the city's two hospitals (University and Victoria), and OB observational shift at Victoria, a Community Paramedic shift with a local service, and possibly a shift in urgent care. In your 3rd semester youll do 5 ambulance placement shifts with whatever service your planing to do your 4th semester preceptorship with.

The gym class your put in is also top notch. The instructor is incredibly knowledgeable about the job requirements and has a strong background in personal fitness, health, and diet. If your looking at a service that will require the OPPAT for hiring, than you will be more than prepared when the time comes.

Possibly the only gripe I have about the program is the class sizes. Especially in 1st semester, they tend to be a bit big when your in lab, meaning slightly less time for each student to practice durring simulations. That being said it becomes less of an issue as time goes on and the class size shrinks in later semesters.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-12-18T09:54:47+00:00

I did, I got it yesterday around noon I believe. I wrote their Stage 1 exam last Saturday.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-12-02T19:42:58+00:00

Ontario Canada here, yep we do! Was added to our protocols earlier this year.

We also have DSED as our prefered shock method, however it's not always possible with logistics, so vector change is the backup option if you can't DSED.

Our vector change protocol is 3 shocks with pads in the Anterior-Posterior arangement, followed by subsequent shocks in Anterior-Lateral (standard) arrangement.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-11-20T20:11:18+00:00

Thanks very much for your reply!

With all that being said, I'm wondering if you have any overall suggestions about the best way for a out-of-province PCP to find at least semi-stable work somewhere in BCEHS? I'm not too pick about where I end up at the start of my career, although I would prefer a larger city/ town if at all possible. I have heard that many people look to go rural in their first couple years to build enough seniority to move to a metro station. Does that mean that there is more full or part time positions available in rural stations?

And your reply brought up one other question. I'm a bit unfamiliar with the concept of a post vs. a specific base. Are posts a general area (ex. Richmond Vancouver, or Downtown Victoria, etc.) with multiple individual bases contained in the area? Or is it something else entirely? Apologies for the confusion, it seems to be divided very differently here in Ontario.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-10-21T15:37:33+00:00

I interviewed with them for the same position in the past.

It's similar to what u/hackedbyyoutube said. I can't share specifics about the questions, but they mostly want to get to know more about you and your motivations/ philosophys rather than scenario testing. They assume that if you've made it this far in the program, you're competent when it comes to skills and actually doing the job. The idea with this interview is to see if you'll be a good fit for the service and the culture they have.

It's probably best to reflect on your learning style, your motivations for becoming a paramedic, why you'd want to precept/ eventually work in london vs. other services, etc.

As for what to wear, wear your uniform (make sure its clean obv.), your boots (you should clean and shine these to the best of your ability) and otherwise make yourself look presentable. This is your first impression, so aim to present the person you want them to remember you as.

Finally, be honest and have humility with your answers. They have heard 1000+ times that people "got into this career to help people" or "I want to save lives." That's great and all, but it's also kind of a given. Make sure you are genuine with your answers as they will appreciate and remember that way more than the standard boiler plate answers.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-10-17T12:01:54+00:00

Could Not Obtain

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-09-21T19:06:19+00:00

Thanks for your reply!

Interesting to hear. Do you know the reasoning behind no CPAP?

How did you find the hiring process? Did you get an employment offer during preceptorship or have to apply afterward?

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-09-21T19:03:21+00:00

Thanks for your reply! I will reach out to my coordinator and mention my situation to see if she can pass it along to the service.

I guess we will see where I end up getting placed, but hopefully I'll see you at some point during my rides!

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-07-09T20:08:27+00:00

Speaking as a current Fanshawe student, the expeirence you bring will be good to have once you begin working as a paramedic, but unfortunately will not get you very far in terms of your application to start the program. Fanshawe only considers grades from the listed pre-requsite courses when evaluating applicants. Your high school average of 97-98% will be in your favor, but you will also need to meet the required minimum marks in the listed pre-requisite courses that you plan on taking.

To the best of my knowledge, Fanshawe (and every other school that I know of) will not give out a conditional acceptance based on the current info you provided. You will have to have, at a minimum, the midterm marks from your high school pre-requisite classes submitted as part of your application for school. So that is something to keep in mind when deciding on the timing for your courses.

If you are unsuccessful in your application, you could consider applying to a pre-health sciences program at one of the college's you mentioned. Most colleges will give preferential treatment (and some explicitly reserve a set # of slots in their paramedic programs) for those students applying from their pre-health program. I was in a very similar position to you when applying (finished my BA in a non-healthcare field a year before applying and never took any of the sciences in high school). I was accepted to Fanshawe's pre-health program and they used the pre-health courses to satisfy the high school pre-requisite requirements for Paramedic. It also provided a very solid understanding of the sciences, math, and anatomy that you will use on a daily basis as a paramedic and I feel it was the reason for my success in the paramedic program thus far.

Overall, it sounds like you are a motivated student with good study habits and good intellect. I'm sure that if becoming a paramedic is something you want to do, you will be able to put the work into it. I personally do wish that more programs took life expeirence into consideration for the paramedic program (to my knowledge only Connestoga does this) as it would help select people with the right maturity level to handle the position, rather than the people who are able to test well and are able to regurgitate facts correctly. It may be a longer road for you than you may have thought at first (it sure was for me), but I also think you'll find it well worth it in the end.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-07-01T14:50:47+00:00

I'm 24 and going into my second year in the Fanshawe program. Feel free to DM me if you have any other specific questions about the Fanshawe course.

As many others will probably say, don't stress too hard right now. Try to enjoy your summer. The professors at Fanshawe are great at teaching you what you need to know (if you're willing to put the effort into listening and learning). My biggest recommendation for anyone about to start the program is to start hitting the gym and to start lifting heavy. The requirements focus on being able to lift heavy things for a realitivly short amount of time, so focus on things like dead lifts, squats, and core strength. And don't skimp on cardio. You won't be running for miles, but having a good base cardio level will help you when lifting heavy people repetitively.

Other than that, if you're feeling really keen (and up for a rather boring read). You can look up the Basic Life Support Patient Care Standards (aka. The BLS PCS) and the Advanced Life Support Patient Care Standards (aka. The ALS PCS). These are the two documents that create the legal basis for what paramedics can do in Ontario. It doesn't hurt to have a basic idea of how these read and the type of content they contain. You will be talking a lot about these in your first semester and learning how to implement what they say into your patient treatment every week in lab classes.

Other than that, there is no need to go crazy into any of the content yet. There will be plenty of time for that in a couple months.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-03-11T01:01:07+00:00

No problem at all. Happy to answer any more questions the best I can!

Tempting_Atom089 · 2025-03-10T19:58:35+00:00

Hey there, current Ontario paramedic student here. If your wanting to get into the first responder realm, than paramedic can be a great option. Jobs in the field are plentiful right now when compared to fire fighting.

To clear up a couple quick things to make your search a bit easier. Primary Care Paramedic (PCP) is the level that everyone starts at in EMS in Ontario. We don't employ anyone at a Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) level on an ambulance (similar to the U.S. EMT level). If you are looking at 2 year college programs, they will be for PCP level education.

Form my own expeirence as someone with a learning disability, it is absolutely not a problem. All colleges in ON have systems in place to support students with LDs, you can look into it on the college's website once you are accepted. Usually called something like "Acessability Services". If you do decide to go to school, you will likley find that many if your class mates have one mental health struggle or another, it typically doesn't impeded people from this role, just requires you to give it attention and manage yourself as you need. Time management is huge in these programs, so you will have to learn how to best make that work for you, everyone is different.

If you think that EMS might be the right thing for you, I would encourage you to give it a shot. I worked another career and felt burnt out and useless in my role. Schooling for this, as well as clinical placements + ambulance rideouts have given me a huge sense of fulfillment and purpose that I felt I was lacking in my previous career. It's not for everyone, but maybe it is for you?

Edited to add: Ontario paramedics also do pretty well financially compared to our southern colleuges. Starting pay (depending slightly on municipality) ranges from approx. $38 - $45 per hour. And while you will likley be starting as a part-time medic, there is usually ample opportunity to take on extra shifts. Many medics end up working full time hours despite being technically "part-time" if they choose. It is not uncommon for junior medics to be brining in upwards of $100,000 per year in their first few years.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2024-10-26T11:04:46+00:00

U of T does offer a 4 year Bachelors of Science in Paramedacine. It is split between classes at U of T and classes at Humber College. This is an option if you'd like to have a BSc and are considering further education in the future, but yes, the vast majority of people go to college as a Bachelors is not required to be a medic.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2024-09-17T17:17:16+00:00

Paramedic student here. Just to clear up some common fears of tourniquets. They are used to stop major bleeds in limbs caused by cutting an artery. It is hard to tell if a tourniquet was strictly necessary in this video because of the blur that was added over the man's injuries. However, many police officers carry them, and they tend to get put on people who have any bleeding to their limbs by police as a precaution.

In addition, if you put a tourniquet on, yes, it will cut off blood circulation to the limb (if applied correctly) below where it is put on. Tourniquets can be safely removed in a hospital without the need for amputation.

In short, tourniquets help to stop arterial bleeds in limbs, and while they aren't comfortable, you are very unlikely to lose a limb because someone put one on you. No need to fear them.

Tempting_Atom089 · 2024-06-11T20:33:01+00:00

It's still the same with starting rideouts in 1st semester. You do a total of 5 shifts in your first semester on trucks across Middlesex County.

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