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I think that it's a friggin' awesome idea!! But the humility thing is nonsense. For most becoming a paramedic is humiliating enough. See one, do one, teach one is certainly a sound educational theory. As well, I heard once that you never completely understand something until you teach it to someone else. I heard this a long time ago and have paid attention since and find that it appears to very often be true. When teaching you are forced to turn your subject inside out, to try and understand it very thoroughly so as to be able to explain it well as well as answer questions concerning it. I'm not sure why it has to be a basic class, though I don't see why not either. Why not teach during your medic class? Task each student with teaching one subject per week to their classmates. I also believe that it would offer many of the benefits that posting at the City offers. To teach people to formulate their thoughts and phrasing prior to loosing them on the world. Very few people are able to say what they mean, exactly what they mean, in a reasonable amount of time simply because they have either never been taught or have forgotten that there is a benefit to thinking BEFORE you speak, not while doing so. Will all of these students be good teachers? Of course not, the vast majority of teachers that I've been exposed to at all levels suck, but this isn't about making them good teachers, it's about making them better more efficient thinkers and communicators and I don't see anywhere else in the education process that that is happening for paramedics. Let them assist where they can, but forcing them to stand, think and deliver under pressure? I don't really see a down side here. Dwayne

Had a "near save" the other day. 12 year old boy with muscular dystrophy and autism, bedridden. Met at the door by frantic parents and family members- kid was upstairs, back bedroom, in a hospital bed. Walked in the room and saw the kid w/ agonal resps and cyanotic. The family said they were trying to suction mucous from the kid with a (tonsillar cathether) but it was not working. The boy was gagging, biting, and would not tolerate the suctioning. As the kid became more hypoxic, he was fighting them. Not any more-now he was just about ready to code. Put the kid on 02, bagged him a few times, and the kid's color improved almost immediately. He started looking around, acting more normal. Whew. Vitals OK now, sats at 100%, but still tachy at 160 or so. The cousin asked if she made things worse by giving him mouth to mouth before we got there. I said no- she did the right thing. The family had a CPAP machine for his use at night, in addition to the suction. I instructed them if he got that bad again and they could not get rid of the mucous plug, call us and then put him on the CPAP machine- it may dislodge the plug- or at least push it down into a bronchus, which although is not good, it's still preferable to apnea. The kid was lucky- we were literally a couple blocks away, picking up from another call, so we were on scene in about a minute-and he literally didn't have any more time than that. Enroute to the ER, I asked the kid a few questions, and he simply repeated what I had said, looking around. Family stated that was normal mentation for him and clearly relieved. One for our side... I am constantly amazed at the lengths people will go to in order to care for a special needs patient at home. His room looked like an ICU, except it was covered in homemade pictures and artwork from his siblings and other family members- very touching. He was impeccably clean, no bed sores, clean gown, clean diaper, hair combed, clean linen- clearly top notch care, and obviously an abundance of love. I told the parents they- and their whole family- were doing a helluva job taking care of their son. They really seemed to appreciate that.

I tho tis wuz a blog... Didn't kno I had 2 use proper grammar. Sorry... Instructor not a professor.... But ur rite.... Betta? U hav 2 reelax..... Plus otha than tha gr8t; your point not taken.... I'm talkin bout becoming an BCLS, ACLS, PALS Instructor not a Teacher or Professor... Plus bein Asian, maff is mi forte... Lol.