Hello everybody, my name is nash Wertz and I’m 14 years old and looking to go into the medical field, specifically emergency medicine. I was wondering if you guys could help give me some ideas for studying and some things I could start studying now to prepare for the future. Thanks
Have you considered becoming an EMT? I became an EMT after a discussion with some peers in my CPR-certification class for lifeguarding. I didn’t know that paramedics existed until I became an EMT, then I didn’t know that there is a field called emergency medicine until I became a paramedic, then I realized there is low Earth orbit space medicine (lol I’m joking about the last one but it’s a real concept.) As a medic (if you ever go that route) you will be exposed to multiple facets of EM. Every condition and injury you see on this app, you will see it in real life and slowly become accustomed to look past the gross trauma and go into EM mode. You will see more of humanity in a month than most people do in a lifetime. You will realize that EM is like every specialty rolled up into one. I mean you’ll know Cardiology, OB, radiology, trauma...you name it. The variety is incredible. You will realize that every pt over the age of 50 is on Metoprolol, ASA, and Simvastatin 😂. For studying: begin with basics. Biology/Anatomy. Read up on cases. Read research papers (start simple). Learn the prefixes and suffixes of medical words and you would probably understand 80% of medical lexicon. Subscribe to NEJM, StatPearls, JAMA, read up about it online, subscribe to YouTube channels on EM. Maybe find a mentor. Organize your studying. Get Dubin’s EKG book (it’s orange) and learn how to read EKGs. Then read it again. If you want I can send you EKGs or cases to interpret. Get “A Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking” by Barbara Bates. Learn pharmacology as you will be administering all types of medications. But don’t do this all at once lol - structure this out and enjoy being 14. Get good grades, do well on your SAT, go to undergrad (community is much cheaper than private and all that matters is your GPA but that’s a personal choice). Major in whatever you want (BIO would help for med school). Get into your first choice med school and kick ass. It’s the greatest profession ever and if you truly love it, you get paid for doing what you love. Question: What is the best test to image a pulmonary arteriovenous malformation? Good luck man!
Yeah I want to become an Emergency Room Physician and another friend of mine recommended becoming an EMT to kind of be exposed to those kinds of situations and cases. And also I was planning on majoring in biology and I can get a good start at the local community college a couple minutes from my house. Thank you for your help and I will definitely look more into the things you recommended. I know it’s still early and I have many years but it doesn’t hurt to get a start and besides, I just enjoy learning these things for fun too.
Well, if you like emergency medicine, I’d suggest to look up the DRS.ABCDE protocol. It is an protocol used to help people before they are transfered to a hospital (for example: after a car accident). However, I’d suggest not to help people when such a situation may occur to you when medical trained people are near. But if You are the only one with the ‘knowledge’ than you should help. Good luck man!
You’d be suprised how many people survived because of proper use of this protocol.
Have you learn Anatomy of Human Body? I think it’s the important basics for medicine. And learn how to read ECG if you want some challenge. Good luck!
