ParamedicStudent
Forum Crew Member
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I'm in the process of becoming a paramedic, and for me personally, I feel like it's two different philosophies even though it's the same line of work.
From experience, being an EMT you do things by higher certifications (EMT-P, RN, LVN, etc.) order or protocol. And what I was learning in school was the mindset of "when you see these types of things, you treat it this way" In other words, you do things just because; you're not there to think for yourselves. Maybe I'm just a bad EMT but thats from my opinion, formed from my personal experiences.
On the opposite hand, going though a paramedic school, everything we've been taught as EMTs go more in depth, and we need to know why we do things. Yes, there's orders, there's protocols, etc. But we are also required to think for ourselves and to try to get a deeper understanding of the situation. In our program, when we get a scenario of a pt in cardiac arrest, we're required to do (or delegate) CPR, as well as push meds, interpret rhythms, physical exam, etc and try to figure out what is wrong with the pt.
I guess I wasnt used to being able to think for myself. I'm used to working with someone higher, and it's its just be and another EMT partner, I'll do things based on protocol, and I'll make the best clinical judgement that I possibly can. I tend to think of it like this: When there's a code, as an EMT, you'll be doing CPR. As a medic, you'll be helping with the code, pushing meds, interpreting rhythms, and determining WHY the pt had coded, and I believe the "determining" part is the biggest difference between an EMT and a medic. For me personally, I haven't developed the higher understanding skills of disease differential and such, so if I come across a pt with these set of symptoms, I'll be in the mindset of trying to treat the symptoms rather than the whole picture.
All this was from failing multiple scenarios during the last week. But from past experiences, what was the greatest challenge?
From experience, being an EMT you do things by higher certifications (EMT-P, RN, LVN, etc.) order or protocol. And what I was learning in school was the mindset of "when you see these types of things, you treat it this way" In other words, you do things just because; you're not there to think for yourselves. Maybe I'm just a bad EMT but thats from my opinion, formed from my personal experiences.
On the opposite hand, going though a paramedic school, everything we've been taught as EMTs go more in depth, and we need to know why we do things. Yes, there's orders, there's protocols, etc. But we are also required to think for ourselves and to try to get a deeper understanding of the situation. In our program, when we get a scenario of a pt in cardiac arrest, we're required to do (or delegate) CPR, as well as push meds, interpret rhythms, physical exam, etc and try to figure out what is wrong with the pt.
I guess I wasnt used to being able to think for myself. I'm used to working with someone higher, and it's its just be and another EMT partner, I'll do things based on protocol, and I'll make the best clinical judgement that I possibly can. I tend to think of it like this: When there's a code, as an EMT, you'll be doing CPR. As a medic, you'll be helping with the code, pushing meds, interpreting rhythms, and determining WHY the pt had coded, and I believe the "determining" part is the biggest difference between an EMT and a medic. For me personally, I haven't developed the higher understanding skills of disease differential and such, so if I come across a pt with these set of symptoms, I'll be in the mindset of trying to treat the symptoms rather than the whole picture.
All this was from failing multiple scenarios during the last week. But from past experiences, what was the greatest challenge?
