Does anyone have a US Coast Guard Medical Person in Charge Cert?

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PNWMedic

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Just Curious if anyone else has a USCG MPIC Cert. (US Coast Guard Medical Person in Charge Certification). Its a pretty cool civilian certification with a large scope of practice, but only for commercial vessels.
 
The head of our SAR unit had one, he is a former USCG rescue swimmer. But since he retired, probably not something that lasts beyond your association with the USCG.
 
I've actually been thinking about joining the CG to help pay for school. Would you mind explaining what this is?
 
It's actually a civillian cert, I was just wondering if there was anyone out there that works as an USCG MPIC Medical Officer on Commercial Vessels, I just got my cert, and I am thinking about possibly working on commercial vessels as a med officer.
 
I've heard of some people obtaining it, but most of your larger companies involved in maritime commerce, especially the oil and gas industry, are going to require significantly more education and experience than an 80 hour course. Many require a Paramedic certification in addition to significant experience and a strong safety background. Keep in mind that these positions pay extremely well, some into the 6 digit range, and can command the necessary experience. Good luck..............
 
WildEMT said:
Its a pretty cool civilian certification with a large scope of practice, but only for commercial vessels.
Click to expand...

What's in their scope of practice that is outside of the 80 basic curriculum?
 
I was in the Coast Guard on active duty. I was a corpsman and I have never heard of that cert? It sounds pretty cool. I would recomend contacting the Coast Guard headquartes in DC to find out how you would go about applying for the cert and the class you need:

Coast Guard Headquarters
Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard,
2100 Second Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20593
 
US Coast Guard Medical Person in Charge Certification

The USCG MPIC (Medical Person in Charge) Certification is a civilian course, and you don’t have to be affiliated with the Coast Guard in order to get it. (It’s a medical course and certification in compliance with the US Coast Guard STCW 95 Tables A-VI/4-2 Requirements for Maritime Medicine) I’m not sure if there is a requirement for prior medical experience or an EMT certification, as the course covers ALS skills and techniques; but it is an 80+ hours course, and covers BLS and ALS skills, and allows you to be the primary medical officer on any commercial vessel.

The certification allows for you to use BLS techniques as well as many ALS techniques that you normally wouldn’t be able to use onshore in the urban setting without a Paramedic or higher level of education. Some of the ALS skills in addition to normal urban EMT-B skills and techniques taught are long term care & basic nursing skills, basic medical diagnosis, IV administration, casting, suturing/stapling and removal of sutures and staples, medications and pain medication administration, management of acute abdominal injuries, minor surgery, minor dental care, casualty procedures, along with several other skills and techniques.

Anyways long story short it is a cool certification to get and have, and you don’t have to join the Coast Guard to get it. Personally I got my USCG MPIC cert along with my Wilderness EMT, Urban NR/EMT-B, and AHA BLS for Healthcare providers from a Seattle based company called Remote Medical International (http://www.remotemedical.com), and I enjoyed the course; it was a month long course (while living on site) and encompassed all of the certifications into one curriculum. There are also a few other companies and organizations that offer the USCG MPIC course (I don’t believe the USCG actually offers the course; at least for civilians; just regulates organizations and companies offering it), personally from what I have heard about the other courses though, Remote Medical’s is the best.

So to finally sum it up, it’s a cool course, cool thing to have, and from what I have heard almost guarantees you a job as a commercial vessel maritime medical officer; although I have yet to actually use my MPIC Cert so far, but I am looking forward to putting it to use. As far as other places that offer it, google "USCG MEDICAL PERSON IN CHARGE"
 
WildEMT said:
The certification allows for you to use BLS techniques as well as many ALS techniques that you normally wouldn’t be able to use onshore in the urban setting without a Paramedic or higher level of education. Some of the ALS skills in addition to normal urban EMT-B skills and techniques taught are long term care & basic nursing skills, basic medical diagnosis, IV administration, casting, suturing/stapling and removal of sutures and staples, medications and pain medication administration, management of acute abdominal injuries, minor surgery, minor dental care, casualty procedures, along with several other skills and techniques.
Click to expand...

You may wish to re-examine that thought process. Having this certification does not enable you to perform any skills, it only says you have completed a class covering those topics. If you are working in the US, you will still be required to have a medical director. Good luck finding one that will allow you, as an EMT-B, to perform most of those skills. Oversea's depends on local laws and the ships registry.


WildEMT said:
So to finally sum it up, it’s a cool course, cool thing to have, and from what I have heard almost guarantees you a job as a commercial vessel maritime medical officer; although I have yet to actually use my MPIC Cert so far, but I am looking forward to putting it to use. As far as other places that offer it, google "USCG MEDICAL PERSON IN CHARGE"
Click to expand...

You have heard wrong. Again, most companies (i.e Remote Medical, Frontier Medical, ISOS, Acadian, etc.) that supply medics in the remote sector will only utilize Paramedic level or higher personnel. Those who are qualified have spent years in the industry, many practicing as mid-level providers. These slots are highly lucritive and many are highly competitive. I wish you luck, but please do not envision a false reality.......
 
Actually I think it is the other way around, and that you do not know what you are talking about in regard to this manner. Yes companies like Remote Medical do utilize Paramedics with wilderness protocol to work as remote medics, but just for FYI they also have several openings for EMT-B’s with wilderness protocol as remote medics. Although that’s not the point, from the aspect of a maritime medical officer; as for medical direction the company then runs the commercial vessel already has a contract with a physician for medical direction and standing protocols, and yes with this certification; and medical direction, I am able to utilize these skills and techniques within compliance of my certification on a commercial vessel.

Also you seem to think that every commercial vessels only go to companies such as Remote Medical, Frontier Medical etc. but actually in the real world they do not for maritime medics. (and where you got remote medical from I don't know, all I said was that is where I got my education) Many times the medical officers on many vessels only maintains a first responder level medical education; and sometimes an EMT-B level education. For the most part commercial vessel medical officers are the crew member on the vessel with the highest level of medical training. And coming from several people I know, I have been told that if you have an USCG MPIC Certification and apply, it is fairly easy to get a job as a medical officer. So I don’t mean to offend you, but its you that doesn’t really have a good sense of reality when it comes to maritime and remote medical care.
 
heres a thought, is anybody trying to argue this point actually a mariner? if so, what is your rating and where do you work?

i have yet to see this MPIC certification in practice. i have been out with a crew where the "medical officer" had a hearsaver cpr/first aid cert. i have been the "medical officer" as an emt. i have yet to work aboard a vessel that had more then an aed, d tank and drug store first aid kit unless i brought it myself.

also, very and i do mean very rarely will you find a job as just the medical provider. your going to have primary responsibilities in another dept and your medical duties will be ancillary. either way, this argument is sort of pointless. its been established that wildemt is the only mpic here. anything more is just superfluous arguing.

cant we all just get along???
 
I agree KEVD18, I'm not trying to argue and we don't need to be arguing, all I was saying was that you don't have to be a paramedic to be trained in ALS; there are other certifications as well that teach and in cirtain conditions allow trained personell to use ALS techniques. And yes I do know that cirtain techniques and procedures require medical direction. The thing with maritime medicine, that I learned through my MPIC certification is that like Wilderness EMS, you can be on a ship in the middle of nowhere and need to provide emergency BLS or ALS techniques, and that is what the MPIC certification teaches you to do. KEVD18, I agree with what you are saying on many ships the medical officer; whom almost always is a medical officer in addition to his/her crew duties, has little medical training and that is why the demand for trained and certified MPIC's is high.

Persons with USCG MPIC are more so wanted more in the way of long term voyages on commercial vessels, and on longer voyages or where the likelyhood that longer term sustained care can occour before definitive care is avaliable or where serious injuries can occour requiring ALS. On such voyages, depending on the company, the size of the crew and the ship and the voyage, ALS and other supplies are sometimes avaliable for those trained personell. To define commercial vessels I mean vessels that are privatly run by a corporation or organization/agency, and usually do not have passangers or verry few passengers on board; usually just the crew. On ships such as cruise ships, again depending on size and the company, there often is a physician on board for passangers and a crew member thrained in at least EMT-B if not USCG MPIC to attend to the crew if, if the physician is unable, not in their contract or to assist the physician.

Granted I have not yet had an oppertunity to work as an USCG MPIC medical officer, but I would like to, and what I have said is based on what I learned in my training and from what I have learned from friends that are USCG MIPC medical officers on ships.
 
Again I didn't come one here to argue about the scope of practice of a MPIC, I was just curious if anyone else on this website has an USCG MPIC cert, and if so if they know of any cool job openings looking for an USCG MPIC.
 
WildEMT said:
Nope, not professionally yet, although I would like to.
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Volunteer on one? (since you said 'not professionally')

So when you say 'commercial vessels,' what kind of ships are we talking about? Oil rigs? Shipping? Yachts? Cruises?

I don't know too much about maritime stuff
 
so wildemt, i have to ask. if you have no professional experience in the maritime industry, where is all your information coming from? is it all hearsay and conjecture?

mikie: i have worked on single hull and catamaran ferries, tugs, crew boats, and heavy cargo ships. feel free to pm me if you have a question.
 
:angry:

You know, I really have no idea as to where all the hostility on this forum is coming from. I post a message asking if anyone has an USCG MPIC certification, and if anyone is working professionally under their certification, and for some reason I am receiving numerous hostile and rude replies, none of which has anything to do with the original topic of this forum.

For your information KEVD18, I am really getting sick of you accusing me of lying and making things up. No my information is not “hearsay and conjecture,” I get my information from my education and certification as an USCG Certified Medical Person in Charge, a Certification which you do not have, and why you think you are more of an authoritative source on the certification then someone that actually holds the certification is beyond me. I get my “information” from the USCG STCW 95 Table A-VI/4-2, my USCG Educators, and my USCG MPIC Course, and the USCG MPIC Medical Manual. Maybe you should go and learn a few things yourself before you start accusing me of “hearsay and conjecture”.

And no I have not used my USCG MPIC certification in a professional capacity yet. Big Deal! That is why I was wondering if anyone had the same certification on here and was using it currently in a professional capacity because I want to put it to use, and I am looking into working aboard a commercial vessel as a crewmember in addition to being the ship’s medical officer! THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS FORUM; NOT TO INSULT ME AND CRITICIZE ME! You don’t have to have prior professional maritime experience in order to obtain an MPIC Certification! Get a life, nobody comes on here to be insulted, so if you are looking to insult everyone you meet in a professional forum, there are plenty of other places on the internet for you to go.
 
Mikie, Sorry about all that, I’m not sure as to where all this hostility from KEVD18 is coming from. Well personally I have not worked professionally on a commercial ship yet; I have been on quite a few smaller ships and boats throughout my life, and I have always thought about working professionally on a commercial vessel, so in conjunction with the Wilderness EMT course I took, I also took an USCG MPIC course, and got my USCG MPIC certification, and now I am considering putting it to use aboard a commercial vessel. I have several friends that have MPIC Certifications as well, that have been spiking my interest in working aboard a commercial vessel.

What I mean by commercial vessel, is the USCG MPIC considers any commercial vessel to be an ship owned and operated by a company, agency or organization; not private ships; so it entitles you to hold the MPIC cert on practically any type of US ship, so long as it is a “commercial” ship. This could be commercial fishing vessels, cruise ships, shipping vessels, oil ships etc. But it all depends on what level of medical training the company wants. Like on many cruise ships, they employ a physician, but on ships such as mid size fishing or research ships etc. a lot of times they have either an EMT, Paramedic or USCG MPIC as the medical officer in addition to their crew duties, sometimes the medical officer may only have a WFR or first responder training, more so on smaller ships like commercial fishing boats. I hope that answer’s your question, let me know if you have any other questions, if you decide you might want to get an USCG MPIC cert, I can suggest some good courses.
 
so your supposed expertise come from what other people have told you(hearsay) and what you have decided is true without any experience or verification(you guessed it, that would be conjecture).

i was with you right up until 8/8 at 1726. thats where flight lp very evenly told you that some of your facts were off. you came back over the top and called him out with more inaccurate facts.

8/8 1915 has you telling me where mpic's serve. this is a little tough to swallow, since you admittedly have no maritime experience whatsoever. plus, i dont really like the "tone" of your post there.

same date, 2202, i ask you where your information comes from. since you had previously stated you havent worked on a vessel on a professional capacity(fishing with uncle buck doesnt count), your information can only come from two places. what somebody has told you, and what you have decided for yourself without actually seeing/doing it. you decided to take this as an insult. it wasnt meant as such. more of an attempt to slow your roll. instead, you decided to write your diatribe on how im antagonizing you. strong work.

when i asked you what your rating was, that was a serious question. you need more that your mpic to get a job. while there very well may be a medical officer and a medical office, there is no medical department on commercial vessels. there is, however, both a deck and an engineering department. the "medical officer" is assigned to one of these(usually deck, but not exclusively) for their normal day to day duties. they are really only the medical officer when there is a medical situation. its not like doing a detail at the county fair where you sit at the FA tent and read comics until your needed. there is no dead weight on a commercial vessel. it is very rare(i say rare only as an out. i have yet to serve on a vessel that had a dedicated medical person) to find a job as just the "medic".

i have no reason to be hostile towards you, thus i havent been. i've never been know as a beacon of friendliness, but after reviewing this thread, i havent been able to locate where i have been overtly hostile. also, ive had my wrist slapped for being very hostile here lately. thusly, im sort of watched closely. if the powers that be havent taken action here, then its pretty much all in your head.

now, continue on this path of righteousness and you just might see hostile.

so wildemt, how about you just let this one go. you've established that your the only person here with a mpic cert. nobody has any info to share with you(at least that your willing to listen to). so i guess we're done here. or you can overreact again. your call.....
 
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