Change

[cointosser13]

For my Paramedic class I have to do a research project, I have to write a paper on finding a program or concept I feel that should be changed or implemented.

Examples include:

• Establishment of a new system component (ALS Engine, All ALS transport, etc)
• Recruitment and retention
• Transition to Third-Service
• Q/A delivery

Does anybody have any ideas? What are some things that you think should be changed or implemented? I was thinking about training in MCI drills because I feel like we don't train enough in that field. Anyway if any of you guys have new concepts please fill me in. Thanks

 

[SandpitMedic]

I think you should do your homework yourself.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Well, this is a research paper that's based on your opinion of systematic elements that should be changed. I'm assuming you've been working in EMS for a while, what would you do differently?

We could throw out ideas all day, but since we don't know anything about your department or system, they would be simply our opinions. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

 

[Ewok Jerky]

I don't like change. Neither do most in medicine. How do we get medical professionals to change their practice? How does your system implement continuing education and keeping protocols up to date with evidence based medicine?

 

[Whitney Cadena]

I agree with more MCI training drills. I would hope that more companies will implement of growth of their employees by paying for us to continue to further our education in the field. Meaning pay for us to go back to college to advance our degrees in the medical field. I would also love to see in the wake of a traumatic event that any EMT or Medic shall come across have counsel's before returning to work in the field. I know too many EMT's who can't get that one call out of their mind and it has me worried about the possibility of Drug & Alcohol abuse at worst suicide. I hope I contributed something.

 

[Trauma Queen]

I agree with more MCI training drills. I would hope that more companies will implement of growth of their employees by paying for us to continue to further our education in the field. Meaning pay for us to go back to college to advance our degrees in the medical field. I would also love to see in the wake of a traumatic event that any EMT or Medic shall come across have counsel's before returning to work in the field. I know too many EMT's who can't get that one call out of their mind and it has me worried about the possibility of Drug & Alcohol abuse at worst suicide. I hope I contributed something.

1) Why would a company pay for you to advance in the medical field? If you want to advance in the emergency medical side of the field, sure, I can see them providing some assistance. But if you want to get new certifications that won't help the company at all, why pay for it? Either you're an EMT, AEMT, or a medic. Why would they be responsible for you taking classes to go to the next level? If you want to make that change, you need to make the commitment.

Second off, any company that is worth it's weight will provide counseling and support after a traumatic call. If your company doesn't provide that, you should start looking for a new job. CISD is a pretty available and expected practice.

 

[Trauma Queen]

For my Paramedic class I have to do a research project, I have to write a paper on finding a program or concept I feel that should be changed or implemented.

Examples include:
Establishment of a new system component (ALS Engine, All ALS transport, etc)
Recruitment and retention
Transition to Third-Service
Q/A delivery
Does anybody have any ideas? What are some things that you think should be changed or implemented? I was thinking about training in MCI drills because I feel like we don't train enough in that field. Anyway if any of you guys have new concepts please fill me in. Thanks

I think your best bet is to spend some time at work listening to the people around you, and hear what they're complaining about. Maybe there's a universal theme. That should give you a good idea.

Lack of MCI training should lead you to look at a bigger picture, and maybe a little less specific. Does your area (state, county, etc) have an issue with training? Perhaps is a lack of working with outside agencies (FD, PD, mutual aid) that leads to lack of large scale training.

Also, elaborating on the above list, QI/QA is wildly important, not only in a legal aspect, but with the growth of is individual as providers. Some places have great QA, others not so much. I think there's a lot to go off of.
Good luck! Definitely find a subject that is important and interesting to you. If you pick something you don't care about, its going to turn into a miserable and boring experience.

 

[Whitney Cadena]

1) Why would a company pay for you to advance in the medical field? If you want to advance in the emergency medical side of the field, sure, I can see them providing some assistance. But if you want to get new certifications that won't help the company at all, why pay for it? Either you're an EMT, AEMT, or a medic. Why would they be responsible for you taking classes to go to the next level? If you want to make that change, you need to make the commitment.

Second off, any company that is worth it's weight will provide counseling and support after a traumatic call. If your company doesn't provide that, you should start looking for a new job. CISD is a pretty available and expected practice.

I have noticed CISD is not implemented at ALL companies. I would hope there will come a time when all companies around the nation will have a CISD unit. Yeah sure you can talk to management, but how much can they really help you?

I know a few companies that are paying for their employees to further their degrees in the medical field ONLY. Example: Paramedic, and even management. It helps with retention of the employees. Where i'm from a lot of people switch from private companies to the FDNY after a year. These companies want to maintain their staff. You can't really run a business with half of your EMT's leaving after a year. I know a girl who went to her supervisor and said, "I would like to advance to a Paramedic after like 3 years at the company". Her supervisor gave her the papers for her to go back to school meaning they paid for her to go back to school to become a paramedic. She currently is studying to be a medic for the company. I strictly meant certifications in the medical field. You can still work for the company and gain a new degree as long as it ties into the company. It shows growth in the company to me. Sorry if I didn't clarify earlier.

 

[Trauma Queen]

I have noticed CISD is not implemented at ALL companies. Yeah sure you can talk to management, but how much can they really help you?

CISD and similar outlets have nothing to do with talking to management. Those sessions are with trained professionals. Most companies, if you have a bad call, if you ask a supervisor, they will set you up with a counselor. The counselor will come in-house and either do a group session or an individual session. And if they don't, once again, look for another company to work for. Otherwise, if this job as a whole is weighing on you and there was no one specific occasion of traumatic stress, then it's up to you to seek out a therapist/doctor/counselor on your own time.

And if your company elects to help pay for further training and classes that's great, good for you, but this research assignment is about changes that are beneficial to EMS as a field. Saying all companies should be required to pay for training is a bit ridiculous.

Also you keep saying certifications in the medical field. You need to be more specific, because the medical field covers a little more than just EMS. As an EMT, an anatomy and physiology class could help me greatly in understanding the body and pathophysiology, therefore bettering me as a provider, but that doesn't mean the company should pay for me to go take an A&P class.

 

[Whitney Cadena]

1) I know the difference of CISD and management. Obviously CISD is trained mental health staff. I don't know how much you make, but some people don't have the funds for a personal therapist/doctor/counselor or even have time for one. People have bills to pay, kids to feed, or whatever going on in their lives. Not everybody has insurance also.

2) I believe encouragement of furthering education is beneficial to EMS even if it's a free seminar.

3) I did clarify Paramedic is a certification. When we all were in school to become EMT's I hope Anatomy and Physiology was a part of the program. It also was in the Brady textbook with pathophysiology. They have an excellent break down. If you have not heard of Coursera.com it's basically a free online college classes with accredited universities such as Penn state, Princeton, and etc. I believe they offer an Anatomy & Pathophysiology class. It also works with anyone's schedule. In the end you gain a certification which is usually eligible at a lot of places. I just wish companies would tell their employees about stuff like that.

What I am saying since this is a research assignment is that furthering education should be optional. I would love for management to put up fliers of free seminars or to encourage me to move up the ladder. Some people need that push. EMS is a spectrum of a whole lot of opportunities and I would love to see individuals move up the ladder. We all could own these companies but corporate won't tell us that we could. I just hate hearing people tell me they feel stuck. They love their jobs, but don't know how to advance. They don't have the resources too. I agree maybe it is a little ridiculous to mandate companies pay for us to go back to school, but if they could help us.

 

[Trauma Queen]

1) I know the difference of CISD and management. Obviously CISD is trained mental health staff. I don't know how much you make, but some people don't have the funds for a personal therapist/doctor/counselor or even have time for one. People have bills to pay, kids to feed, or whatever going on in their lives. Not everybody has insurance also.

2) I believe encouragement of furthering education is beneficial to EMS even if it's a free seminar.

3) I did clarify Paramedic is a certification. When we all were in school to become EMT's I hope Anatomy and Physiology was a part of the program. It also was in the Brady textbook with pathophysiology. They have an excellent break down. If you have not heard of Coursera.com it's basically a free online college classes with accredited universities such as Penn state, Princeton, and etc. I believe they offer an Anatomy & Pathophysiology class. It also works with anyone's schedule. In the end you gain a certification which is usually eligible at a lot of places. I just wish companies would tell their employees about stuff like that.

What I am saying since this is a research assignment is that furthering education should be optional. I would love for management to put up fliers of free seminars or to encourage me to move up the ladder. Some people need that push. EMS is a spectrum of a whole lot of opportunities and I would love to see individuals move up the ladder. We all could own these companies but corporate won't tell us that we could. I just hate hearing people tell me they feel stuck. They love their jobs, but don't know how to advance. They don't have the resources too. I agree maybe it is a little ridiculous to mandate companies pay for us to go back to school, but if they could help us.

1) Alright, because what you said was that not all places offer CISD, and the way you worded it made it sound as if you thought management was a part of it. And yes, not everyone has money for healthcare. I sure as heck don't. But in saying that, you say that if you twist an ankle at home, your company should be responsible for diagnosing, splitting, and providing all care on the injury, including follow ups, despite the fact that there isn't an isolated injury stating the injury was your company's fault, and they aren't trained to the level you need. In this field, PTSD is a real and scary truth. But a counselor that visits the office after a single, isolated, traumatic event isn't trained to a level of diagnosing your problem, providing therapy or medication as needed, or a providing long term visits and appointments in the back office of your workplace. And if your PTSD interrupts your daily work, then you need to go through a whole other set of hoops and jumps for disability.

2) Absolutely, but there is a difference between promoting a free seminar or hosting guest speakers for CME-like lectures, and paying thousands of dollars for multiple EMTs to get their paramedics. Because even if you pay for a program, you then need to either have the employee sign something stating they are required to continue to work for the company for a certain amount of years, or risk an employee receiving a free medic class then applying to and getting hired by another company, and letting those thousands fly out the window.

3) If you believe that the few paragraphs of A&P in an EMT text book covers the entire premise of the human body, then there's a problem. The A&P you find on the EMT level is ridiculously bare-bones and watered down. Even just paramedic A&P covers so much more on the subject, and it's not even generalized studies. The A&P class in my medic program was much more involved than other local programs, and I walked out of the class as a better EMT. The more you know about A&P, the better you understand the mechanics and pathologies of what we see in EMS. And reading an article or taking an online class is fine, but you miss lab time and hands on time. And it still costs money, which should not be the responsibility of the company. And, it's not the company's responsibility to seek out every possible outlet for resources on extended education. Is it nice for them to post about local CMEs? Sure. But that's on the training department. If you want to learn, or take a class, or advance your knowledge, maybe instead of being upset your company didn't do all the work, approach them. Say hey, so and so is offering a class and I think it's interesting, maybe you guys should consider hosting a similar class/training exercise. Take control of the things you want to change on a small level. But don't assume that your company's shortcomings are a common theme.

 

[Whitney Cadena]

I know an EMT text book does not cover every little detail of Anatomy, Cardiology, Pathophysiology, Respiratory emergencies and etc. I found ease in the textbook probably because I was already in the medical field for a while. Some people struggled while some people flew by with flying colors. I understand how important lab time is, but it also is important rereading your notes. I was once told from a professor that there are two types of individuals in this world. You can be book smart or physically know what you are doing. I want to be the person that knows what they are doing all around.
The only thing Coursera charges is 30 bucks for an official copy.

 

[Trauma Queen]

Alright, I think I'm done discussing this because you aren't quite picking up what I'm putting down. Because this has nothing to do with learning styles, or what you know before or after or during, or how your instructor tries to justify weaknesses. Which, I won't get into, because it has nothing to do with the OP.

Ignoring the weird place your off-topic post is bringing this, your argument for an EMS company paying for any class that would better its employees is invalid because they aren't responsible, for example, covering an A&P class. Which is how this whole subject got brought up. They aren't responsible for sending you to school to learn more about cardiology. They aren't responsible for providing you a list of the 700 CMEs, lectures, and classes that are going on in your state this month. They aren't responsible for knowing of all online classes, resources, and articles known to teach you about how to be a better EMT. If you want to better yourself and grow as a provider, buck up and save the money and pay for it yourself. Education is no one's responsibility but your own.

At this point I'm done commenting, because I've contributed to the OP and the original topic, and I don't want to be responsible for the deviation of this thread.

 

[Whitney Cadena]

Jesus Christ. It's my opinion. I understand what you are saying. I am not illiterate. I'm not throwing shade at you or your opinion. I'm tired of explaining myself at this point. Apparently you can't comprehend I am agreeing with you. I've been agreeing with you since your second post. Nobody ****ING said they should or should not be responsible for furthering our education. I took that back after the second post you made. Can you please stop twisting my words. I'm done with this. If I could delete my post I would.

 

[Trauma Queen]

II would hope that more companies will implement of growth of their employees by paying for us to continue to further our education in the field. Meaning pay for us to go back to college to advance our degrees in the medical field.