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I though some may get something out of this lecture. This was a lecture that I did today as part of a first semester respiratory pharmacology class. Due to a variety of potential legal issues, I can only do audio; however, if you guys wanted some nervous system review and the basic chemistry/physiology behind some of the concepts, they are covered here. Also, I am not big into "death by powerpoint presentations," so many of my lectures like this one have me doing the entire lecture on the black board with student interaction. This is part one of the lecture. Hope you guys find this somewhat helpful: http://youtu.be/z9QSSUMOnEA

You still have a full range of students, from mature and highly motivated to sandbaggers, and everything in between. This will never change and has been consistent throughout the ages. However, what I find to be rather significant are the demographics and abilities of students: The demographics have changed somewhat. Where I teach, the "traditional" student is no longer definitively dominate in the classroom. The older, "nontraditional" represents about half of our student body. This appears to be a function of the economy as people loose jobs or find themselves back in school later in life to either be more competitive or redefine their career altogether. Clearly, the health careers are one of the biggest draws. Even programmes such as respiratory therapy that typically have had fewer students enrolled than say nursing school are now dealing with an excess of candidates. Somewhere around half of the students who apply for acceptance into health programmes are turned away because the pool is so large and often competitive. However, I find (n =1) some of these older students can often be a real asset to have in the class room. Many have relevant life experience and maturity. With that said, there are still all types of students and I am not about to make sweeping generalisations. Additionally, I find the gender gaps in health care programmes that have been traditionally dominated by one sex or another are closing. Nursing programmes typically have several male students in each class and our respiratory programme that has been overwhelmingly female dominated just graduated a class of half men and half women. I find a similar trend in the EMS programme as well with more female students. I'm not exactly sure how this has changed the classroom, but anecdotally, I find classes with a good mix of students tend to work well together. The major issues I find are related to mathematics, physical science and writing. I find that people coming out of high school are often weak in mathematics and are not adept in fundamental mathematics knowledge such as algebra, long division, fractions and the metric system along with unit conversions. Even after taking math, students can struggle in technical programmes that are more math intensive. Many student often struggle in physical science pre-requisites. One of the biggest issues is chemistry. About 1/3rd of people attempting to get through the chemistry sequence will not pass with a C. I personally know one of the chemistry professors and she is a top notch teacher and well qualified (doctorally educated organic chemist). She has taken aggressive steps to try and support the students. She has gone to great lengths to maker herself available, to the point of moving her office out to the student commons. There is also an aggressive physical science tutoring programme and an entire student success centre dedicated to tutoring. Technology has also been a game changer. This is good and bad. Students often have information and resources at their fingertips, but may not be able to identify good resources to reference and may not be able to properly articulate their thoughts in written form. Clearly, this is also a challenge in programmes that require several large, written papers and case studies. Take care, chbare.

I am a medical assistant originally from pa but living in north tx. I been in the medical field for 10 years went from being a cna to being a medical assistant but i ultimately want to be a paramedic. My dad was one years ago so i was always around it. Im not sure where or what to do to start. If anyone can give me a few hints on what i need to do to get into the field that would be awesome. Thanks so much and Im looking forward to meeting some great ppl here.

I sensed a disturbance in the force, and now I know why. You've been talking about me, Dwayne! As for the OP, do what you think is best. Take your time to make the decision, and consider the pros and cons to carrying any sort of first aid/medical equipment with you. There's plenty of both. Personally, my cell phone is the only thing I keep on me when I'm not at work, and that's honestly always been more than enough. I don't even hardly ever use the basic trauma supplies (4x4s, trauma dressings, etc) when I'm AT work, so I doubt they'd ever see use off duty. You may find that your views about carrying equipment off duty change over time, and you've got your whole career to tweak how you do things both on and off duty, so if you just want to experiment--do it! Test the waters both on and off the clock and see what feels right to you. -Bieber

Hey Chik, welcome to the City! The path to medic is pretty much the same as it was for CNA, and maybe medical assistant, though I have no idea what becoming one involves. College. Where you go from here depends a little bit on where 'here' is. Do you have much college? I, and most here would recommend that if you want to be a serious medic that you find an AAS program. I'm thinking that TX has a few. It's possible that you already have many of the prerequ's if you had any biology, anatomy and physiology before. Are you truly sure that you want to run backwards from nursing and go into paramedicine? I love being a medic, but I have to travel all over the friggin' world to make the money that a nurse makes. Don't get me wrong, I love it. But if I had it to do again I'd have gotten my RN, made the same money, and more likely, and be home with my family every night. It's good to have you here! Stay and participate. Jump in, share the knowledge that you have and ask about that that interests you. I'm willing to bet that in your clinical career that you've seen a bunch of interesting things that we haven't....don't be stingy! Share! I look forward to your thoughts.... Dwayne

I currently teach in Alaska as part of a technical prep school.. It is for high school students who have the chance to go to the prep school part time and get real hands on skills and working knowledge of the industry to see if it is the field they want to persue. Being that they are high school kids, I get the typical lazy, unsure and disrespectful students. They have only 1 option in my class that I make very clear the first day; you will see things you can't unsee. You will deal with death and dismemberment ( you must learn very quickly to get over it!) if you act in a way that I feel is a harm to your future patients or a disgrace to the EMS profession, you will not test to be an EMT! Usually I lose a few students that way, but it helps weed out the ones I wouldn't want working on me or my family members anyways.. As an educator for the school district I have a curriculum I must follow along with the EMT guidelines for my state, so there is a lot of information and way beyond the 120hours required to test. My EMT experience was different and I still wish there was more to it! Better clarification on why, not so much what! Anyways.. Sorry for rambling! I just love what I do and want to produce great, confident and professional future EMTs

the guy might also have a sex additction but that doesn't excuse his behaviour. I travel every week for work, I purposely do not put myself in any situation where I could conceivably cheat because it could happen but I make sure I'm not in a situation where it might. Have I been tempted, yes, several times but each time I've always just done one thing, that is took the picture of my wife and two childrens out of my wallet and say to myself "am I willing to lose these three" and I say nope so I extricate myself from whatever situation I'm in and leave. I don't get myself into these types of situations very often. Over 10 years of travelling I would say I've been in a situation like this maybe 2 or three times. I think it's all in your priorities. If you make your family and wife (spouse or spousal unit) your center then you shouldn't be tempted to cheat. I have a number of co-workers who love the travel aspect of the job (they are married) because what happens in Fargo ND, or Vegas or Tampa or dubuque Iowa won't be found out. This guy isn't a husband, he's a cheater and one who should be divorced but I'm sure that being married is part of his game and part of the thrill. I feel sorry for his wife. I wonder what he would do if his wife was doing the same thing to him? I'll bet he'd be pissed. You need better friends and co-workers.