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>suggested that I look into RN during college

Being an RN is a degree in and of itself. After your general education, it's another two years of nursing school. If you are on track to finish your bio degree in four years, you'd be adding another two years onto that and by then you'd be applying to medical school, so it wouldn't be worth it. If I were in your shoes, I would do nursing only IF I didn't get into medical school.

What you can do, and I've seen others do it, is either be an EMT-B, emergency room technician (you need your EMT-B to do this and it will give you good exposure to the ER), or become a medical assistant (I believe the program is only six months, but others may correct me if I'm wrong).

>Last question, as an advanced healthcare provider, do you ever go on ride-alongs or help out on the ambulances at all?

I am an ER nurse and I have gone on one ride along when the patient needed to be transferred with CCT to another facility and there wasn't a CCT-RN available. At my shop, none of the doctors ride along, but that may be different at other places. CCT is usually within the scope of practice of a registered nurse.

> If so, what is your scope of practice?

During the transport I did, my job was to monitor the patient post-TPA. I can only speak as an RN, but the scope of practice while doing a transport is the same as in the hospital - assess, monitor, and give meds. The ER MD will usually give the CCT-RN a list of standing orders for different scenarios.

>If there's one book which you would suggest me reading (either textbook, educational, non-fiction, etc) to prepare me for medschool, what would it be?

It won't prepare you for medical school, and it's written by a nurse but Trauma Junkie was one I enjoyed a lot. Other than that, focus on your studies and enjoy your time before college and medical school. Read what you want to read for pleasure, not necessarily what will prepare you. During my two years of nursing school I had no time to read what I wanted because I was focused on studying. It will be much "worse" for you.

-nice shears clipped to belt with carabiner which is also nice for holding keys

-Stethoscope with belt holder

-clicky top pens

-I also like parker pens if you can get them in bulk

-smartphone with pepid - expensive but has drugs and quickie reads on even rare conditions, has a few holes, but pretty good

-personalized stamp with DEA, LIC, NPI

-spectralink phone provided by hospital with outside dial able number

-cherokee personalized scrub top, landau poplin personalized coat (feels nice, fits well, inexpensive), carhartt cargos (hard to find), comfy shoes

Made complete list so I can come back and reorder stuff, hehe

1st off; Don't waste your money on items you will NEVER use or that wont have a practical application. While a BP can be nice to have, it will get taken by responding medics and will have no bearing on the care you provide in the meantime. Forget the cuff. Forget the BVM. If a patient has coded, you're not going to alternate compressions and one man bagging. If a bystander wants to help and doesn't feel comfortable with a face mask, quickly instruct them on compressions and you do the breaths while monitoring their rate/quality. Consider EPI auto-injector depending on state laws if you think you'll ever come up on an ANA. CVS has (had?) a generic for $10. Forget other meds. To much liability with no benefit pre-EMS.

Coming from an urban center without the need for driving, I use a MOLLE kit attached to my day pack. Stocked it with several sets of gloves, penlight, decompression needle, shears, lots of 4x4s, face mask, chest seal, CELOX, and CAT. Stethoscope is always in my primary bag. Goes everywhere and I still have plenty of storage for laptop, street clothes, and whatever else I might need.

Most of what I've come across are ODs, but I won't even think about carrying Narcan. Dispatch will alert LE as well and they have it on them. Just monitor their airway. Even out of the city, 99% of what you'd ever come across needing immediate assistance that won't have the risk of a combative person (i.e. OD given Narcan) is bleeding and airway. The rest can wait for a rig.

Notepad and pen might be helpful as well for quick vitals. In lieu of a BP, just note weather their pulse is strong or not.

Location, season, and space dependent, a foil-type survival blanket might be in order too.

Link to a MOLLE pouch(No affiliation and not recommending; for reference only):
(https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074NR18JS/ref=twister_B074P215D3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)

Link to a MOLLE day bag(Again, no affiliation, just reference):
(https://www.amazon.com/Military-Tactical-Backpack-Backpacks-Rucksack/dp/B01KJMXLOK/ref=sr_1_1?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1510261070&sr=1-1&keywords=molle+backpack)

Hope this helps!

• Definitely a good light! This is the one I use. Attaches to my badge and has a clip to attach to my scrub pocket. Really great light and I use it ever hour of every day.
  
• A cheap(ish) digital watch. I wear a rubber Timex Ironman which is great (and easy to clean if needed). A must have...and I previously hated wearing watches.
  
• phone with lots of apps: I regularly use Micromedex, EMRA apps, UpToDate, MedCalX, Journal Club, Evernote
  
• a box of pens that you like
  
• trauma shears, cheap ones.
  
• My program bought me custom cargo scrubs. VERY helpful.
  
• A small/nice notebook for tracking patient encounters and procedures.
  
• your program should buy you an EMRA/AAEM membership which will provide you with the antibiotic guide (SOOO helpful) and they will/should buy you either Rosens/Tintinalli.
  
• I personally bought a panoptic because we see quite a bit of patients with eye complaints and I get a great view and can actually say I did a fundoscopic exam (helped me diagnose pseudotumor once)...but definitely optional!
  
• a tablet. I love reading on my tablet. I also keep my references on it (because my hospital basically blocks everything that isn't the intranet...even google!!). But optional, not necessary.
  
• Also, not things to buy, but I have quick cards on the back of my badge for common hospital telephone numbers (lab, radiology reading room, etc.) and a quick card with RSI drug dosages. That's very helpful.

Dubin's book may have been the book at one time, but it lags behind better books substantially. It doesn't really delve into more advanced ECG topics that absolutely are accessible at the EM/EMS level.

12-Lead ECG: The Art of Interpretation by Garcia is the best book we've found, after a pretty exhaustive hunt, for our students. Very thorough and works from an primer level up through advanced topics with lots of example ECGs.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0763773514

edit: Added book receommendation.

I love your voice and your video style. You really need to invest in a better audio setup, though. It sounds like youre 15 feet away from the mic.

Near professional quality audio is very simple and essentially plug and play these days. Well under 100 bucks can get you a decent mic, boom stand and pop filter. A good mic example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Microphones-Snowball-iCE-Microphone/dp/B014PYGTUQ/

Congrats on your match!

Skip Dubin.

I think the best ECG book is Garcia's. It's really nicely done and includes sectioned learning points for beginners, intermediate learners, and advanced learners on every apge. My first time through I only read the "Level 1" and "Level 2" learning points. Later I went through again and read the "Level 3" points also. It's a super solid foundation.

I second all the suggestions below, with a caveat. Dr. Smith's blog is excellent. Its strong offerings are really smart pearls you won't learn elsewhere, and great training in pattern recognition. There tends to be less discussion of bread-and-butter features. Almost every ecg offered is tricky. If you find yourself struggling to keep up or surprised at the outcome of every case, your foundation probably isn't strong enough yet - see the first paragraph.

Dr. Smith (often) makes a really great point about practicing ECGs. You need to look at the ECG and have info available about the patient's clinical course. Picking up ECGs you find lying around the department can be good practice in identifying the basic features, but if you don't know how the patient actually did this isn't helping you corrrelate patterns of disease (the ultimate goal).

Yep - personally, I use one of these because it clips on to my badge holder and is still super bright. I tried a nice penlight at first, but stopped carrying it because I like to have as little in my pockets as necessary. This thing is great because it's always with me (as long as I've remembered my badge lol)

Emergency Medicine Secrets or Tintinalli's pocket size edition

I like the former for studying - it's presented in a Q/A fashion in nice concise chapters. Great read for MS4 and intern year. The latter is a good pocket reference for use when you're on your EM rotation.

edit: formatting

The Best Stethescope Holder

http://amzn.com/B0038S8E9U
This is the best. I've used this every shift through all three years of my residency and it held up through all the abuse.

The Best Trauma Shear

http://www.leatherman.com/raptor-51.html
You will lose a handful of trauma shears during your residency, so get a box of cheap ones, make a habit of keeping track of them, then get this really nice (but expensive) one.

A box of industrial strength sharpies

http://amzn.com/B00006IFEO
These are the best markers for skin marking. They don't mark off with Betadine.

Must have mobile apps

1. PressorDex
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/emra-pressordex/id620452629?mt=8
   
   
2. EMRA Abx guide
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/2015-emra-antibiotic-guide/id564957228?mt=8
   
   
3. PediStat
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pedi-stat/id327963391?mt=8
   
   
4. Eye Chart
   https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/eyechart/id293163439?mt=8

A bit late to the party, sorry. I'm doing MCEM.

It's a good exam, reasonably clinically oriented, relevant and up-to-date. The curriculum is pretty clear and there are some decent revision materials out there (but unfortunately nothing compared to what's available for MRCP or Primary FRCA).

I sat Part A twice, mostly because I didn't take it seriously the first time round. I revised from the Oxford Revision Notes Series (Part A & Part B) with practice questions from Get Through.

"ECGs for the Emergency Physician": presents them to you with a one-liner just like you'll get them in the real world. Love the format, and great practice on the things you'll actually see.

https://www.amazon.com/ECGs-Emergency-Physician-Amal-Mattu/dp/0727916548

These guys do a pretty good course in Harrow if you're UK based, book comes with it. I like it a lot, focused and to the point.
Accident & Emergency Radiology: a survival guide

Accident and Emergency Radiology Best for plain films in the ED