Kinda dragging this topic up again, but it has only been a week..
Anyways, just wanted to mention that in a lot of hospitals EMT's also work tech shifts in the Emergency Department, so there are options to pick up extra hours outside of ambulance work.
While I have never been an EMT, I have done a number of ride-alongs as a med student and I always enjoyed it, and EMT's are a vital part of patient care, without them we will not have nearly as good emergency care as we do today. As far as the training goes, the paramedics I have ridden with have said that there are substantial differences the training, levels of accreditation and scope of care that EMT's or Paramedics can provide depending on the state and even the medical director of the system you are working in, so it is probably best to check that out on a case by case basis.
And with the legal stuff... you will learn to
LOVE HIPPA and EMTALA... and there is just a
tiny bit of sarcasm there...
And off topic, I hope you enjoyed your first ED shift... always a fun place to work (then again I am biased) and overnights always have the best nurses/secretaries/techs/etc, and some of the more... interesting... patients...