To jrm818... Besides the obvious ami/cva/asthma pts you mentioned, look at ARDS net and surviving sepsis campaign. These are two that recognize the benefits of early interventions and suggested their role in prehospital care. When it comes to trauma, I don't fully agree with Bledsoe's recent stance on "the golden hour" which arrived from the controversial article dismissing the role of aeromedical services,it seems a little extreme but one of the underlying ideas was that a good portion of stabilization can occur on scene. Too often medics are falling back on the old standard of throwing the pt "in the back" and do all the interventions en route. This is an opinion held by many Pro-ems EM docs.
Addressing the commonly held belief by the international paramedics that pay attention; ems education in the us needs to be improved but it is heading in the right direction. At least in Texas, we now have the pathophys/a&p/bio etc... requirements. I went to a relatively well respected school that takes their science majors a little too seriously and did decently. To be honest, I don't think the years with test tubes, behind microscopes and buried in text books were overly helpful with being a medic. I know for sure my world lit hasn't done a damn thing. I work with medics that went to community college who are amazing! I can give u an exhaustive explanation on the multiple modulators of dopamine but the best medics know how to work on their feet. As hard as this may hurt. Our job isn't all the theoretically difficult. Common sense in a significant amount of situations will trump "extensive" knowledge of disease processes.
Addressing the commonly held belief by the international paramedics that pay attention; ems education in the us needs to be improved but it is heading in the right direction. At least in Texas, we now have the pathophys/a&p/bio etc... requirements. I went to a relatively well respected school that takes their science majors a little too seriously and did decently. To be honest, I don't think the years with test tubes, behind microscopes and buried in text books were overly helpful with being a medic. I know for sure my world lit hasn't done a damn thing. I work with medics that went to community college who are amazing! I can give u an exhaustive explanation on the multiple modulators of dopamine but the best medics know how to work on their feet. As hard as this may hurt. Our job isn't all the theoretically difficult. Common sense in a significant amount of situations will trump "extensive" knowledge of disease processes.