"My instructor was the best."

[thegreypilgrim]

Oh god vegemite is awful black muck, now Marmite FTW

I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I visit Australia (and yes I know you're from NZ and conflating the two is BLASPHEMY) this coming December.

Is LLU known all that well in your part of the world?

 

[jmc519]

My instructors were some of the best. We had our main instructor, who has been in EMS for over 20 years, and still going. Right at the beginning, they all came in and explained who they were, where they had worked, where they currently work, gave phone numbers (including the administrators) so that if ever anyone had any questions, we'd be able to get ahold of someone who could answer them (sometimes you just can't answer a phone when you're in the back of an ambulance). Our second instructor was also really cool, though we didn't get to see him as much. They shared from personal experience, as well as the book, and made classtime fun, even the lectures. Employees of the Ambulance Service which put on the class came down to help us out when the radio was quiet, and proctored our practice runs for practicals.

It helps to have an instructor that jokes around with you, gets to know you on a personal level, so that they almost feel more like a peer than a superior. Our class was small, we started with 11, and only ended up with 6, but not for lack of the instructor's enthusiasm and skill.

Fortunately for me, I get to start working soon with one of the agencies my head instructor works for. I was promised a contingency slot to start out with while still in the class, and as soon as my paperwork comes in from the state (maybe today... I need to go check the mail), I'll be picking up shifts as a third rider, to get real time training.

Couldn't be happier with my educational experience.

 

[Seaglass]

I had three for my EMT class:

Instructor #1 could make any subject dull. He spoke in a monotone, his delivery was listless, and he generally made it clear he was punching the clock.

Instructor #2 was middle of the road. He was good, but nothing about him was really great. I liked him, though, because he was a really nice guy who was perfectly willing to put up with me if I stayed late to ask questions.

Instructor #3 was awesome. Really engaged with the class, and was really good at presenting the same material in a new way if someone wasn't getting it. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see as much of him as we did the other two, due to some family issues that came up during the class.

Since finishing, I've also had refresher courses and the like, and helped out with a number of classes in a few systems. The quality of instructors there has also covered a very wide range, from the scary burned-out guy who gets just a little too personal with students, to the 20-year veteran who could teach A&P to a rock and have it understand. I've also noticed no real difference among the ones that are third service and fire-based--a lot of good and bad apples in both.

 

[EMT Dan]

I thought my EMT-B instructor was pretty good. He was still a practicing medic, and he was one of the supervisors and quality control guys in the hospital and ambulance system where he worked at (of a pretty decent size).

He was always friendly, engaging, and personable. I thought he did a pretty good job of making things interesting and getting us involved. He stayed in touch with us via email, and even now - a year out - he'll reach out to us to inform us of CE opportunities going on.

Also (and this isn't the most important thing to many), his success rate for the NREMT was pretty significantly above the average. While teaching to the NREMT seems to not make you a better clinician (and he definitely went beyond just NREMT), there IS something to be said about actually getting certified...

The one thing I wish he would have done better (and this is probably partly from being several years out of college and in the military) was reigning in a few of the other students. In the 46-student class of mainly college students, they didn't give much of a :censored::censored::censored::censored: about being late, not understanding the concept of 10 minutes, and consistently complaining about certain requirements, exams, and other things they had no justification to whine about.

But I think I was pretty fortunate to have him as an instructor.

 

[rmabrey]

My Main EMT-B instructor was great both in teaching the material, and preparing us for what life in EMS is like. Although it was not hard to pass the class, with all of our homework online and open book, so far the pass rate for NREMT is about 75% for the class first time through(only four have tested).

Our secondary instructor is an EMT-P, flight medic, and an RN. HE pretty much drilled skills into our heads. We did have one complete failure, but I think it was more the student than him. Everyone else either passed first time through, or only had one station to retest.

 

[DrParasite]

Maybe it's just me, but I love war stories.... well, maybe not war stories per se, but experienced instructors, who knew the material, and could apply it to situations they have experienced personally on their career.

One of the worst instructors I ever had was in anatomy and physiology... She was an MD, who graduated medical school, but never actually practiced as a doctor, so she had no residency or internship.... not only that, but some of the stuff she told us (insulin raises the blood glucose level in the body) was wrong. Plus she was dull, and had no real world experience to back up what she said.

Most of the better EMT instructors I had were either seasoned EMTs or seasoned paramedics. a couple doctors/nurses who were specialists in the topics they taught, but doing stuff in a hospital is different than doing it in the field (much fewer tools available in the field).

Teaching someone something, and showing them that it was been useful in the past (with an actual time you used it or needed to know it), has always made me remember something better than just someone lecturing.

 

[nwhitney]

My current Basic instructor is great. He has a great combination of formal education and practical experience. There are many things about him that make him an excellent instructor but one in particular comes to mind. He has no problem saying "I don't know" to a question and then often by the next class meeting he has an answer. One other thing I just thought of. When one of my classmates did her ED rotation she was working peds and one of the peds pt she was helping to treat passed away, nothing she did or didn't do. The nurse she was shadowing was a former student of our instructor and called him. He gave my classmate his personal number, made sure she had a CISD and overall provided an enormous amount of support for her. He still checks in on her from time to time.

 

[Chief Complaint]

My instructors for my Basic were good, not great, but good. Came out of the program well prepared for registry. The best thing about the course was that we spent a TON of time doing scenarios. Hours and hours of scenarios. Complicated scenarios.

My instructors for my Intermediate were all over the place. A few of them were incredible, a few were terrible. Example: spending lab sessions rehashing calls that they worked rather than using the time to teach us. Im there to learn, not stroke your ego. Hows about letting me get my hands on that needle decompression kit instead of telling me about a call you went on 10 years ago?

Most were great though, only a couple of bad eggs in there.

 

[silver]

My instructor for EMT-B was pretty good, she was a EMT-P/RRT. Good at explaining things, personable, and knowledgable.

When compared to professors I have/had, though it makes me wonder what a masters of doctorally trained educator for my class would have been like. Seems like the curriculum today could be taught by anyone.