terrible one
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thats all you need huh? a couple weeks in the hospital and you've seen it all? hope you dont work where i live
Medic School Without Experience?
- Thread starter Noctis Lucis Caelum
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thats all you need huh? a couple weeks in the hospital and you've seen it all? hope you dont work where i live
How true! The clinicals for EMT-B are only 10 - 20 hours in most programs. Often, the patient contact is so little it barely can be called as such. Many spend their time watching TV with the others or hanging in background at the ED because they do not have enough knowledge on how to participate. If they entered these clinicals, and the profession, with a little more education, it might actually mean something.
No. The Paramedic program should be structured in a two year degree as other healthcare professions with no less than 1000 - 1500 hours of clinicals.
Unfortunately, places like CA and FL have allowed the medic mills to do 2 week ALS engine sleepover clinicals to get a Paramedic patch.
terrible one
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as i said in post #20, i think it should be a two year program. and my class was 1500 hours for paramedic, not including emt and A&P pre reqs.
but I do agree there are wayyyyy to many medic mills in cali
I agree. This was taken from emtcity.com, from someone on the job at FDNY EMS, and is exactly how I feel: I've seen too many what I like to call as Harvard Medics, there book smart but common scents,street smarts is out the window. To me doctors , nurses all work in controlled enviroments. Plus does't a doctor have to do some yrs residence work and get signed off by another established doctor. The pt's are coming to you. You decide if you see them now or they wait. If there a problem security handles it.
In the street your now in the pt's turf. Talking down to them could cause a dangerous situation. It's just you and your partner. Your a psyc doctor, trauma doctor, medical doctor and labor and delivery in one. You deal with whatever is thrown at you. You can"t pass it on to another tech.
I also see alot of 20 yr old medic who think that emt's are all stupid. Yet they have less then 6 months as a EMT and fell there season profesionnals because there medics now. Yeah maybe 3 years is along time but look at this, Was it 3 years in a high volume system or a 2 to 3 call a day system.
My first time stepping into an ambulace was working 911. I never volley'd, never did transport. First call of my career was a shooting to the face in the south bronx. See what I mean
I'm talking about 1500 hours of just clinicals....not the whole program. Other healthcare professions do 1000 - 1500 hours of clinicals in addition to the prerequisites and core classes.
I am almost speechless at how little sense (not scents) this post makes from many angles.
This is probably one of the best examples as to why the education level of the Paramedic needs to be raised. They truly need to be more educated and get more controlled clinical time with actual patient contact. By the time they finish school they might be a little older and wiser. They might also have the ability to think beyond the glamor of the street and figure out how to deal with such situations as well as that silly little thing called patient care which so many seem to forget about.
If it takes 3 years for someone to master the few skills of EMT-B, then maybe EMS or medicine is not for them.
reaper
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It wasn't my grammar. In a perfect world, the new medic would be required to complete a field internship with a qualified FTO. Since that is not a reality at this time, the prospective medic student needs time on the street as an EMT. If your BLS is weak to begin with, how can you be a proficient ALS provider? Busy urban systems will allow the student to treat high acuity patients, as well as cultivate strong BLS skills. This is fine. In other systems, the student may be subject to significantly less pt contacts, resulting in less learning opportunities. In NYC, the call volume is typically high, with medics being dispatched for high priority jobs only. When I worked in Charleston, the students typically saw mostly low priority BLS, with true ALS calls few and far between. In many areas the new medic will be thrown to the wolves, as a single ALS provider, with only a basic to rely on. Fairfax Conunty currently requires medic pre-hires to complete a 16 week ALS field internship with weekly classroom sessions prior to starting the fire academy. It's a good start. Medic mills with 6-9 month programs scare me. Some give a condensed and watered down A&P section in house, which is an extremely important foundation for the entire program. A sad reality is that the typical medic student already works FT or PT, and struggles to stay awake in class, let alone absorb the material, especially with a condensed program. With the average program being indequate as it is, the prospective student needs to be a solid BLS provider by the end of the medic program, be it by prior experience, or through the program.
Also, I never agreed with the notion of three years as a basic prior to entry into a medic program, unless you work out in God's country, with maybe one call a day. Six months to a year tops in a busy urban system on a BLS bus should be plenty, or working FT for said system while attending medic school would be adequate.
terrible one
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gotcha. and i agree but also i think 46young made a good point.
too many younger medics get their license and suddenly they are it. and this is coming from a young medic, but i also did 4 years of BLS. granted it was with LAcoFD, but running in places like inglewood, compton, so central, etc... you get a lot more street smarts. which is why i think people need BLS skills. they cant teach you how it is on the streets through a text book
reaper
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Medicine is the same, no matter where you practice it! I would love to get rid of every medic, that thinks they need street smarts. Yes, you do learn to improvise in this job, but it is nothing that can not be learned, while working.
If a person wants more experience, they can work as an EMT, while going through medic school. That is all the experience needed.
Remember, You choose where you work. If you go to work for a system, as a new medic, who throw you to the wolves. You chose to work there. Find a system that fits your needs and has a great preceptor program. Any system that just wants warm bodies on the truck, it a crap system to start with. Do you want to be associated with a system like that? The reputation will follow you for a long time!
If a person wants more experience, they can work as an EMT, while going through medic school. That is all the experience needed.
Remember, You choose where you work. If you go to work for a system, as a new medic, who throw you to the wolves. You chose to work there. Find a system that fits your needs and has a great preceptor program. Any system that just wants warm bodies on the truck, it a crap system to start with. Do you want to be associated with a system like that? The reputation will follow you for a long time!
Some are either unwilling, or unable to relocate to find a system with a great preceptor program. That "crap system" may be the only game in town.
"Medicine is the same, no matter where you practice it! I would love to get rid of every medic, that thinks they need street smarts. Yes, you do learn to improvise in this job, but it is nothing that can not be learned, while working." So, would you be comfortable with a brand new medic with practically no prior BLS experience treating your mother?
reaper
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Then they are stuck with it, by choice!
reaper
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By choice, if their spouse is unwilling to move, or if they have a mortgage to pay?
I will take the new medic over the seasoned EMT, treating my mother.
The new medic has many more tools available to potentially harm your mother. A new medic is much more apt to misdiagnose, or miss something, and treat/fail to treat with dire consequences. Why, exactly, would you want to get rid of every medic that thinks they need street smarts? Why would that be undesireable?
The thing is the medic who only depends on street smarts doesn't have the education behind them to know how much harm they are doing. Also, the street smart medic who doesn't have time for all that book learning will go through a PDQ medic mill just to get on the street and avoid all that education stuff.
The educated Paramedic we are referring to has spent time learning and applying their knowledge in clinicals and not just running amok on the street looking for shortcuts.
So yes, the medic mill products who rely only on street smarts that have little education to back up what they are doing should be eliminated. I also don't even see how an EMT fits into the equation.
SeeNoMore
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Im glad this question was asked. I just finished my EMT-B and had the time of my life in school. I've worked for years in menial jobs since I dropped out of high school and it was great to think I would be able to pursue a career that was important and also a professional job.
I have been trying to decide whether to go straight to Paramedic school or attempt to get 911 experience under my belt. It seems like there are strong arguments for either decision.
I have an oppertunity to volunteer with a 911 squad which seems really interesting but the downside is the call volume is not much more than 1000 a year.
The other problem is that I am almost 25 and this seems very old for EMS which surprised me. If I wait I could be almost 27 before I became a Paramedic! I worry that I will not find work at that age with so many other medics having been working since their early 20s.
I honestly don't know what the right decision is.
I have been trying to decide whether to go straight to Paramedic school or attempt to get 911 experience under my belt. It seems like there are strong arguments for either decision.
I have an oppertunity to volunteer with a 911 squad which seems really interesting but the downside is the call volume is not much more than 1000 a year.
The other problem is that I am almost 25 and this seems very old for EMS which surprised me. If I wait I could be almost 27 before I became a Paramedic! I worry that I will not find work at that age with so many other medics having been working since their early 20s.
I honestly don't know what the right decision is.