Why on earth would you want to go to the US for Paramedic education? You do a search of this forum you will find many, many long posts about how inadequate and out of date thier system is.
In Ontario to reach Advanced Care Paramedic (ALS) is around four years
In the UK to reach Paramedic (ALS) is minimum of a three years.
In Australia to reach Intensive Care Paramedic (ALS) is four to five years.
In New Zealand to reach Intensive Care Paramedic (ALS) is four years.
In Israel to reach Intensive Care Paramedic (ALS) if around three years.
In most of Europe you are required to be an RN or a Physician to provide ALS.
In the United States you can become a Paramedic (ALS) in as little as 600 hours (literal clock hours) in Texas using a cirricula that was written 11 years ago and reads at about middle year of high school in complexity.
Well, to a degree you are correct. But I feel you are giving a completely one-sided argument.
You and I both know that NZ rely heavily on the St John Volies. If you happen to live outside the more populated areas of the country (as my sister does) and need an ambulance, you are more than likely going to get an SJA volly first aider. 85% of NZ EMS are SJA according to their webpage. As with the home of the St. John Ambulance, the UK, they are primarily a first aid charity run on a volunteer basis. No degree needed to join or practice.
http://www.stjohn.org.nz/about/
Australia and Canada both have SJA vollies, but seem to have them in more practical proportions with their professional counterparts.
The UK has only just (in the last few years) started to roll out mandatory degrees for paramedics to practice. It is still in its infancy, and Scotland Wales, and NI are still in the process of getting the process off the ground. There is the option for current paramedics to do modules which will lead to a degree (just like as it has been in the US for years) but for the rest of the UK, paramedic courses are still being trained the traditional IHCD way. That can be as little as
12 WEEKS, which equates to about 480 hours including clinicals.
http://www.scottishambulance.com/UserFiles/file/WorkingForUs/Paramedic Training.pdf
http://www.ambulance.wales.nhs.uk/a...-4177-878a-94b8a8460e8a633689104710258750.pdf
As for the reading material being aimed at kids? The UK version of Nancy Caroline has only been out for a few years, and prior to that, the bible of the UK paramedic trainee was the US version - as is still the case with many other texts required.
I am not having a dig at any of those systems (my Brother is a UK Paramedic) but I think it is only fair that things are put into perspective. I could easily make it sound like Wake County NC, or Medic One Seattle are "typical" US systems, but that would not be true. But the fact remains, the degree medic has been around a lot longer in the US, than the UK - the difference is that the US does not make it mandatory in order to practice.
The main problems with US EMS when compared to the rest of the world, evolve around the complete fragmentation in standards of training and education, failure to recognize a common overseeing body, and the completely unnecessary integration with other professions. Education ranges from tech school to batchelors degree, hours of training range from 600 - 3,000 hours, scope of practice ranges from having to call for any form of pain management, to standing order RSI and induction of hypothermia in the periarrest patient.
On the whole, the US has as far from a perfect EMS system as you can possibly get. Can't deny it. But it is also, in certain parts of the country, way ahead of most other systems out there.
To quote Alan Murray, the CEO of the Welsh Ambulance Service -
"If you want to see the best EMS system in the world, go to the US - if you want to see the worst, go to the US"
