Advancing clinical knowledge

nwarren

Forum Crew Member
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Hey y’all!
I have been working as a medic in CA for about a year and a half, and am currently looking at moving out of state to get out of the private EMS hell out here (along with cost of living, etc). I am realizing while attempting to study for tests for some of these places I’ve applied to that I don’t know/feel confident in a lot of stuff that was somewhat glanced over in school. This is also coupled with the fact that I simply don’t end up running a lot of high acuity calls, and when I do, I’m usually not thinking of differntial diagnoses, just “treat what I see”. I paid for the paramedic refresher from IA med, but it seems like most of the classes I have are flight medic based, mostly speaking of ventilators and blood gases which is cool, it’s just not necessarily what I do on the streets. How do y’all keep up to date on things, and keep your education/knowledge growing? I wanna be the best provider I can be, I just feel like I’m “just another AMR medic”.

Thanks!
 

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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You have to do the things that nobody wants to do. Practice the fundamentals. Everybody wants to practice the high acuity, low-frequency stuff, because it's fun. Become a master at the basics. When was the last time you splinted a fracture? Or dealt with heat or cold emergencies? How quickly can you get a 0.3mg IM injection of Epi ready to go? Can you make push dose epi without making a mess? The basics are what make you better.
 
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nwarren

Forum Crew Member
39
7
8
You have to do the things that nobody wants to do. Practice the fundamentals. Everybody wants to practice the high acuity, low-frequency stuff, because it's fun. Become a master at the basics. When was the last time you splinted a fracture? Or dealt with heat or cold emergencies? How quickly can you get a 0.3mg IM injection of Epi ready to go? Can you make push dose epi without making a mess? The basics are what make you better.
This. This is good. Thank you!
 

Aprz

The New Beach Medic
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Hey, I was exactly in your shoes. Blood gas, ventilator, CAMTS, and flight physiology portion of the online class are probably not useful to you if you don't plan to do flight or CCT. It won't hurt to learn those though. The rest of the online class, which there's a lot of material, will cover what you are looking for. Wherever you plan to move, try looking for local protocols and try learning about the drugs they can give or the procedures they can do.
 
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nwarren

Forum Crew Member
39
7
8
Hey, I was exactly in your shoes. Blood gas, ventilator, CAMTS, and flight physiology portion of the online class are probably not useful to you if you don't plan to do flight or CCT. It won't hurt to learn those though. The rest of the online class, which there's a lot of material, will cover what you are looking for. Wherever you plan to move, try looking for local protocols and try learning about the drugs they can give or the procedures they can do.
Thank you! Glad to hear that there’s gonna be more applicable day to day stuff in there, cause at first I was thinking “this is kind of a waste of $400 for me”
 

EpiEMS

Forum Deputy Chief
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How about a community paramedic course? Might be closer to general 911 work but with a bit of a “mobile health” focus.
 

NomadicMedic

I know a guy who knows a guy.
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Community paramedic courses have absolutely nothing to do with regular paramedic practice. Unless you’re planning on working as an MIH/CP provider or an EMS educator that has responsibility with MIH, it’s a waste of time and money. The knowledge is very specific to the role and there is very little cross over to they typical daily 911 paramedic.
 
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