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Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

Who the heck is going through giving negatives to perfectly relevant, good posts? KNOCK IT OFF! Have the gonads to post something instead of just going through and neg-tagging everyone else! Wendy CO EMT-B

If you are an RN, there are 7 Rs = the documentation as added and Right Orders

There's the rule of "The 5 R's": Right Patient Right Medication Right Dosage Right Date (expiration date) Right Route To that add: Right Documentation

It was heparin - one of the top offenders for in-hospital medication errors. Changes have been made to packaging/labeling since. It was actually before the problem with the celebrity twins that the "hep" locks were replaced with saline locks, although the nomenclature still remains, especially in the more regressive areas.

Ummmm....hello! I have to agree - reading labels is IMPERATIVE! Who gave them an insulin bottle anyway - seems like it's not just the nurse who couldn't read....

Yes Not illogical at all. But as morals and ethics are something that for many of us are complex and confusing concepts, in those unusual moments when decisions have to be made using their application I'll not have time to explore those of my patient. I must use those that I've developed for myself and try to apply them in the best interest of my patient. I believe that in this instance that I've then covered my ass, but haven't advocated for my patient. In my opinion my moral and ethical obligation here is to make him better. I'm willing to bet that had I given the patient in my example this answer I would have caused his bullshit detector to redline. He knew his condition was serious, he knew he was in big trouble, and knowing how big exactly was going to effect his physiological response to treatment in some regards I believe. I could have given a more politically correct answer perhaps, but being politically correct was not my intention, getting him to the hospital alive was. I don't advocate lying as a general medical tool, but more so was attempting to debunk the idea of 'always' and 'never' as intelligent, useful language when discussing many things EMS related. Here again I'm not saying that this is a wrong answer in general, just wrong for me in the given situation. I could never ignore such a question and expect my patient to continue to trust me. Also, I believed these to likely be that last moments of his life...I didn't want them to be any more horrifying than they already were. The standard party line says I should have found a way to be honest. The human being in me felt that it was more important to be kind and productive. That was my moral/ethical intent when I lied to him. See? Perhaps this is off in the ditch, I'm not sure, that's why I love these debates. And your thoughts are always worth hearing and considering...thanks for sharing them Matty. Dwayne

As someone who relishes your posts, I'm truly confused by your inability, or unwillingness to address the replies given to you in this thread as they stand as opposed to attempting to give them a political/moral twist to the negative. I've just not seen this approach by you before. I've not claimed that they are less intelligent, and in fact attempted to make the point that just the oposite is likely true. Disabled, yes, in their inability to communicate in the majority of their chosen country in a profession where communication is a fundamental skill. Also, and perhaps you're just skimming posts and not reading them entirely, I mentioned their retarded communication ability. The term was not presented as a medical diagnosis for all of those without competent English skills. Fair enough. It would seem that what you're saying here is that if a program is not housed within an accredited college system that there should then be no standards for it? You could be right...Intuitively that doesn't feel right, but I'll have to give it some thought. I see that, but again am unable to grasp its relevance. IFTs sometimes transport very sick pts so the communication requirements stand. Of course not. But I'm also not going to put them with a provider, and again here we're speaking of the majority of the country, that can't get them the care that they need, should they need it. Is this a problem in China Town if the dominant population, the transfer service and the hospitals all speak a Chinese language? Of course not. But that situation does not describe the majority of the country. I don't completely understand this statement, but if it's asking if I'd do those things to show my superiority, then I'm not sure how I've earned it. In this thread, as in the vast majority of those I've posted before I believe you'll have difficulty finding anywhere where I've implied that I'm superior to anyone. I would in fact apply at an SF Chinese hospital for the amazing medical/cultural educational opportunity it would almost certainly provide, though I wouldn't expect to be hired based on my bilingual language deficit. In the U.S., which is where we now reside, bilingual education is not the norm in most places. Kudos to the businesses that cater to the non English speaking populations. I had no idea that the non English speaking populations had a legal right to medical care in their own language, though as we actively pursue and welcome those from other countries I would hope that the medical services would consider this a moral obligation at least. Unfortunately though I do believe that bilingual skills have incredible value in these populations, other than where described, I believe adding care providers with one language that only supports a finite need is much less so. I'd rarely agree to any statement that uses the terms always or never. And I believe that I'd tried to make it clear in my post that certifications to fulfill certain needs and specific populations should be exempt. Do I believe that a non English speaking Haitian should be able to force the powers that be to allow him to test for EMT in whatever his/her dominant language is in Minn? (Assuming there is not a huge Haitian population in Minn) I don't. Do I believe that a Chinese speaking EMT should be denied the ability to test for EMT in SF in Chinese if his/her primary function will be to service the Chinese population in a system supported by a medical community that speaks primarily that language? I don't. Though it's likely my ignorance is monumental in this instance, this makes sense to me. I can see that this is an issue very near and dear to your heart, and as always I love your passion for all things medical/patient based. But you seem hell bent on making this about 'us v them' with 'us' being the superior English speaking population and 'them' being the lowly non English speaking population. I've not see anyone here putting forth that attitude though you seem to feel the need to attempt to force all arguments into that pigeon hole. For me this is as simple as not using pliers to loosen a tight bolt. Pliers are not an inferior tool, they are simply not the best tool for the majority of these applications, but for those applications where they are useful, they're superior to nearly all others. Medical practice at all levels has communication as it's foundation, from communicating with patients, other care providers, to documentation. If you're unable to communicate well when interacting with the majority of the people you come in contact with it in no way makes you an inferior human being, but does in fact, despite your possibly superior medical ability, make you an inferior provider. As always, I'm grateful for your thoughts. Dwayne

It seems about 1o days to long to me. All they really need is a good EVOC coarse.

This subject has come up before.. and the replies seem to all go the same direction. Anyone who took the Community College version of the EMT program thinks it cannot possibly be taught effectively in the 14 days. My local CC teaches it in 3 months for a total of 110 hours- plus the required 8 hours of ride time (clinical). On the other hand, anyone who took their EMT training thru their local FD says it can easily be taught in less than 14 days since they work much longer days. Unitek gives 160 hours of instruction, 12 hours of ride time and tons of simulations. Knowledge is tested daily and students can and do flunk out of the program. Speaking from experience: I took the Unitek 14 day Bootcamp back in 2006 and i did a 12 hour ride along with King American in San Francisco. At the end of my 14 days of training-(each day in a classroom from 7am till 8pm and with 4 hours of hands on and 1 hour of testing each day) I then took the National Registry exams. Guess what? I pass with scores in the high 90's. After returning to my home state, I applied for reciprocity and took my state practicals and written exam- guess what? I passed with a 98%. Since then I have taken the SOLO Wilderness EMT program and over 300 hours of other continuing education. Bottom line- No one is fully prepared for every possible situation they could encounter with only 14 days (160 hours) of education in a field completely new to them. So, did 14 days prepare me for a career as an EMT?- it gave me the baseline of needed information and it made me feel confident enough to work with a partner who had more field time. But just as a side note- my first ambulance company job (I worked for a different company FT for 1.5 years) paired me with 2 partners (different shifts)- 1 who had his CC trained state license for 12 months and knew nothing- no even how to palpate vitals. And the 2nd who has just completed her medic license 3 days before leaving the military and did not have our state license yet- She also knew no where near enough to pass our state exam. But hey, neither of them did their training in 14 days! How well you know information and can take it and use it in the field has more to do with the person and how they learn/retain information than it does how many days it was given. And since know one has noticed yet.. The former Director of Education for Unitek is the same man who started the Paramedic Bootcamp program in Iowa. He taught the EMT Bootcamp for 2 years before leaving to start his own company. But i am sure this debate will continue....

ahahahahahahahaha