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If it's 14 or 15, I don't break it down. Anything less than that, I do so that it is meaningful.

I don't argue with the fact that additional medical courses and EMS classes are essential. I agree, if you don't know A&P, Medical Terminology, etc... Then you should'nt be responding. What I was trying to get at, was that with this world becoming more violent, EMS providers are now, more than ever, are walking into potential violent situations, with and/or without LEO's (in some rural areas, like in my area, that's a definite possibility) and having that extra awareness training, like I said I'm not talking about hand to hand combat, or fighting, but simply having the extra awareness training that Defensive Tactics and Martial Arts provide, could only benefit you. As I said above Scene Safety is #1. But a scene, even a 'safe' scene, can become an 'unsafe' scene just as fast... Learning Defensive Tactics and/or Martial Arts and making a program that would solely benefit EMS provders (there are several out there) which usually include evasiveness, avoidance, and escape, not fighting. (www.dt4ems.com) Gentlemen who runs that program has sough to the same thing I'm posing a question about. In regards to the one-time defense class, I wasn't talking about that. A Defensive Tactics 8-12 hour class, usually teaches just fundamentals of avoidance, escape, control, awareness, strikes, and use of force. Now I'll say that a "one-time defense class" would be usless, however if it were an 8-12 hour class, and renewed annually (like many CPR, PALS, ACLS, PHTLS, BLS, and ALS trainings) are, then that would only improve the EMS providers awareness and expand there perception of any situation. Initial education as I said above should be in the classroom, A & P, Medical Terminology, Writing, Etc.... I'm talking about having this as a CEU or OTEP, ongoing training. As I said before, the reason why I posted this question was 1) I have seen a declared 'safe scene' go from safe to 'unsafe' and awareness training came in handy, 2) the benefits, I believe of having more awareness training, (either in Defensive Tactics and/or Martial Arts) would only fit to benefit the EMS providers safety!!