spenac

If I understand correctly if you are current NR all you have to do is send the ap with money and NR card and should be good to go. http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/emstraumasystems/sreciplp.shtm A person currently certified by the National registry or certified or licensed as a paramedic in another state, who meets academic requirements may apply for licensure. If you do not meet academic requirements, you may be eligible for paramedic certification by reciprocity. The procedure for paramedic certification by reciprocity is significantly different from paramedic licensure reciprocity, read EMS Reciprocity Certification. Academic Requirements for Paramedic Licensure Reciprocity A certified paramedic can apply for initial Paramedic Licensure if you meet one of the following: 1. an associate degree in EMS; 2. a baccalaureate degree; or 3. a post graduate degree The degree must be from a school that is accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as an approved accrediting authority. Application Procedure Be at least 18 years old Complete Paramedic Licensure Reciprocity Fee Copy of current EMS ID card College transcript or a copy of diploma Mail COMPLETE package to: Texas Department of State Health Services, Attn: ZZ100-160 EMS, Austin, TX 78756-3199. After verification of your certification/license, your Texas license and ID card will be issued for a 4 year period. A certification verification web page is available for certification status and expiration date verification. The URL address is: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/emstraumasystems/NewCert.shtm Expect application processing to be completed within 4-6weeks of mail date. If your application is incomplete or does not include all the required attachments, your application processing will be delayed..

70 seconds is way to long w/o oxygen. If you are not in in less than 30 seconds you need to back out and bag again. Then reattempt. I would not have passed my intermediate class had it taken me 70 seconds on a manikin or on my real patients. If at anytime we went past 30 seconds w/o bagging we failed. The hospital only allowed 20 seconds. I did more than the required number of intubations. The rule I was taught as a basic was to hold my breath when I took a breath I better be back to bagging the patient.

MoneyThanks Ruff for putting it so well in another topic.

I thought I was right once but then my wife corrected me.

xray ( I know I took the easy way out )

Ruff you hit it on the head. Love of money is the root of all evil ( 1 Timothy 6 ). The current EMS system in the USA is a disgrace and it goes back to the dollar. Education systems are trying to get as many dollars as they can as fast as they can. Companys want the cheapest workforce they can get thus encouraging volunteers and hiring basics. Who suffers? Everybody. Those of us trying to support our familys suffer with low pay. The public suffers because of bad care. In the current state of affairs of EMS why should anyone, other than for pride, spend any more money or time to get certification? Really no reason because you'll get the same crappy pay so again goes back to money. We have been battling the basics, vollys, and education since I joined this forum. Now the truth has come out the real problem with EMS is money.

yohimbine

I do not think anyone is better than someone else. I do think all need better education, our patients deserve that. It would be great to see a day when entry level is paramedic so at least some actual medical care can be given to patients. It is not the fault of the EMT-B,I, or P that the laws and education system has failed them and more importantly failed the ones we are supposed to help. I have been in EMS many years and am only now in Paramedic school and I would fully agree with a Paramedic saying they would rather have another Paramedic helping them. It would be stupid not to want someone of equal education and skill to help on the bad calls. Sorry I took passion for an attacking attitude. Trust me if you read some of my posts that I am passionate about I to get overly blunt about them.

Welcome to the city. Yes this topic and the others you proposed have been fought. Since you brought up in part what I said on the High School I just want you to know that I do have respect for EMT-B's and I's. I just found no value from my waiting to go to paramedic school. Everything I learned in many years working as a basic could have been learned as a paramedic or even working as a basic while in paramedic school. Enjoy the site. Please learn from my mistakes and not make aggressive posts. I started off on the wrong foot with a big time attitude. It really hurts your respect level from others when they feel attacked.

Many hospitals fear getting sued. Even though many schools and students carry insurance they still refuse. I actually got my intubations by making friends with the respiratory people while doing ER rotations. They would just call down to ER and let me go up and intubate. In theUSA many hospitals look down on EMS so leave us out.

Yes sir I fully agree that we need to get hands on more often. Sadly many hospitals are not allowing non-hospital people to touch patients even making it harder to get practice.

http://www.reuters.com/article/health-SP-A...549047220080116 Emergency waits get dangerously long in US -study Tue Jan 15, 2008 WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Patients seeking urgent care in U.S. emergency rooms are waiting longer than in the 1990s, especially people with heart attacks, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. They found a quarter of heart attack victims waited 50 minutes or more before seeing a doctor in 2004. Waits for all types of emergency department visits became 36 percent longer between 1997 and 2004, the team at Harvard Medical School reported. Especially unsettling, people who had seen a triage nurse and been designated as needing immediate attention waited 40 percent longer -- from an average of 10 minutes in 1997 to an average 14 minutes in 2004, the researchers report in the journal Health Affairs. Heart attack patients waited eight minutes in 1997 but 20 minutes in 2004, Dr. Andrew Wilper and colleagues found. "If a loved one has a heart attack, it doesn't matter whether he is well insured. He still has a one-in-four chance of waiting over 50 minutes, because of ED (emergency department) overcrowding, and this wait will only increase," Dr. Robert Lowe, an emergency medicine expert at Oregon Health and Science University who did not work on the study, said in a statement. Wilper's team used U.S. Census survey and National Center for Health Statistics data for their study, which covered more than 92,000 emergency department visits. They used other surveys to calculate that the number of emergency room visits rose from 93.4 million in 1994 to 110.2 million in 2004. During the same time, 12 percent fewer hospitals operated emergency rooms, according to the American Hospital Association. "EDs close because, in our current payment system, emergency patients are money-losers for hospitals," Wilper said in a statement. Harvard's Dr. David Himmelstein, who worked on the study, also lobbies for some kind of national health care system. "One contributor to ED crowding is Americans' poor access to primary and preventive care, which could address medical issues before they become emergencies," Himmelstein said in a statement. The American College of Emergency Physicians said the findings were not surprising. "Emergency physicians have said for years that crowding and long wait times are hurting our patients -- insured and uninsured equally," ACEP president Dr. Linda Lawrence said in a statement. "Ever-lengthening waits are a frightening trend because any delays in care can make the difference between life and death for some patients. The number of emergency patients is increasing while the number of hospital beds continues to drop. It is a recipe for disaster." The study is available online at content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.27.2.w84 (Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Will Dunham and Philip Barbara)

I find this the best way. There are certain posters that I learned shortly after joining that if they disagree just want to fight and so I have made a point of completely ignoring their posts, I do not even read them as I review a topic. I also go as far as not even opening some topics to see what others have added so I do not allow myself to get back involved in a fight. It is tough though as some even take the fights to the PM's. It is sad at times a place for professional help and a place to blow off steam makes more stress than the job itself.

normal

glucagon

[web:b6f9ad73cb]http://www.emsresponder.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=6840[/web:b6f9ad73cb] Texas 911 Operators Could Have a Criminal Histories Jan. 13--The 12-year-old was out of control, fighting and wrecking the house. Worried that someone would be injured, her mom called 911. The Watauga operator's response, in an incident three years ago, drew criticism nationwide. "OK," the operator told the mother, "do you want us to come over to shoot her?" In North Richland Hills last year, a 911 operator answered a call from a man who announced, "I just shot my wife in the stomach with a .38." As police and medics raced to his home, operator Laura Hines kept the man on the line with quick questions: Is she still there? Where is the gun? Is there anyone else in the house? She also asked, "Why did you do this?" His taped answer, authorities later said, was an ironclad admission of guilt. For her cool professionalism, Hines was recognized as a Texas Telecommunicator of the Year. As the first line of response in many public safety emergencies, 911 operators are expected to exercise good judgment in tough situations. Even a split-second lapse can lead to severe consequences. That's why the public expects that law enforcement agencies carefully select and train operators and that they be people who have shown good judgment and personal character. An obscure note in a little-noticed state report recently called that into question. A spot check by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education found that about two dozen police, fire and sheriff's departments across Texas may employ 911 operators convicted of Class B misdemeanors -- including crimes such as theft and driving while intoxicated -- or higher offenses. These 911 operators "have significant criminal histories that either go undiscovered or are left up to the local background investigation," states the report by TCLEOSE, which maintains law enforcement standards. The state doesn't require criminal background checks for 911 operators and doesn't license them. Rather, the state accredits operators who attend 40 hours of training. Some public safety agencies may confuse certification with licensure and not realize that the state hasn't done criminal background checks, the report states. It also notes that departments with fewer than 20 employees are exempt from certification requirements. The report was delivered to the Texas Legislature's Sunset Commission, and the brief notation was included as part of suggestions about how state lawmakers can beef up law enforcement standards, TCLEOSE Executive Director Timothy A. Braaten told me. "We think it's time to look and see if they should do more," Braaten said. "If not more, then make sure that the people who are the rulemakers in the Legislature understand that there is no background check required." State law requires background checks for police officers and jailers before they are licensed. But Willis Carter, president of the Associated Public-Safety Communications Officers, a national group representing 911 operators, told me that criminal background checks should also be a requirement for his profession. "It weeds out potential bad apples," he said. "It's critically important that their integrity is as high as anyone else's." A law professor who studies preventive policing -- a way to stop problems before they happen -- agrees. David A. Harris of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law said 911 operators should "meet similar standards of trust, good conduct and honesty that we expect from law enforcement officers. If there's any doubt about that, the public safety may suffer. And it's too important a job to take a chance on that." The professor said an operator shouldn't be automatically disqualified because of a conviction. "But in the very least, you should know what you're dealing with in every person you're hiring," Harris said. "Anybody that does a vital job in public safety, we need to know what their background is and what character flaws they may have." The Star-Telegram filed an open-records request with TCLEOSE for the names of the police, fire and sheriff's departments that may employ 911 operators with criminal records. (The list is above.) The Watchdog contacted two departments on the list -- Dallas and McKinney -- and learned that they do their own background checks of 911 operators. Dallas 911 operators are also rechecked every three years, said Kenneth Moore, the city's 911 administrative manager. "We hold our employees to a higher standard than most cities," he said. "We meet the same requirements that police officers do." McKinney police spokesman Randy Roland said that city's 911 operators are screened, too. "We do a background investigation on all of our employees, not just police officers." A criminal record does not necessarily disqualify someone, though, he said. "It just depends on what the disqualifiers are for each job, I would say, as to whether or not they get hired." Changing the requirements for 911 operators could be expensive. Much of TCLEOSE's $3 million budget goes toward licensing and training Texas' 82,000 peace officers and jailers. Each year, about 550 lose their licenses, many because of convictions. "It's not a cheap endeavor," Braaten said. "It's a major decision if you want to put another mandate on a local agency. It's a legislative decision as to whether they want to increase the mandates on local governments." But Harris, the law professor, says that the requirement would improve public safety: "To get ahead of the curve, you want to prevent problems before they get worse." Agencies In random checks of the state's criminal history database, the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officers Standards and Education identified some public safety agencies that may employ 911 operators convicted of Class B misdemeanors or higher offenses as of June 2006. The search was done using telecommunicators' names and birth dates. State officials say the list is 90 percent to 95 percent accurate, meaning that some departments listed may not employ 911 operators with convictions. State officials did not check the criminal histories of employees at every agency.

[web:6d8bfee4c8]http://www.emsresponder.com/web/online/Top-EMS-News/EMS-Programs-See-Reduced-Federal-Funding-for-2008/1$6852[/web:6d8bfee4c8] EMS Programs See Reduced Federal Funding for 2008 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federally funded EMS-related programs will have to tighten their belts after coming up short in President Bush's budget. A measure to assist states with the development of trauma facilities received no funding at all. Other EMS programs saw a 1.7 percent cut across the board. The House and Senate grappled with the numbers for some time, trying to reach an agreement, said Lisa Meyer, vice president of Cornerstone Government Affairs. "The president was standing his ground. He said he would not sign anything over his budget," she said, adding that legislators knew he was not willing to budge. Although state EMS officials across the nation had hoped to get funds for trauma systems, it didn't happen. In May, they were cautiously optimistic when Bush signed the Trauma Care Systems Planning Development Act of 2007. While it's authorized for $12 million annually for the first two years, a funding mechanism was not included. EMS officials felt the administration had listened to the IOM report that was critical of EMS and trauma care in the United States. They believed breathing new life into the act would make a difference. While the Senate authorized some money, the House did not. In the end, it got zeroed out. "We're very disappointed it was not funded," said Dr. Bob Bass, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS). "There are six or seven states (or territories) without any organized trauma care," Bass said. "It's important to help those states." Of the 44 states with trauma systems, only five or six were deemed to be fully functional. The money would have helped fund various programs to insure that seriously injured patients get the best care. This isn't the first time the federal government has attempted to help trauma systems. In the early '90s, the measure was under the Public Health Service Act. Even though the bill reached its sunset a few years ago, state EMS officials who had developed strong relationships remained committed to working to improve their trauma systems. "Our goal is to have a seamless system from coast to coast," Bass said. "Patients everywhere should have rapid response, transport and a trauma center." Bass said state EMS officials remain steadfast in their effort to educate legislators about trauma system issues.

lasix

reteplase

Go straight to paramedic school. There is nothing that can be gained working as a basic that can not be gained working as a paramedic. Nothing worse than being unable to do much besides watch a person suffer when you as a basic are the highest level of care. I speak from experience. I because of no choice, except moving, was a basic many years. One of the hardest things I am facing as a paramedic student is relearning correct techniques because of bad habits developed as a basic. I tried to stay up to date but in the field you will be told and see so many wrong techniques that sadly you will be affected and develope a few. Listen to someone that has been there and done that, go straight to paramedic.

midazolam

This as asys said goes beyond race it is also a financial status issue. Ruff I agree I get tired of all the celebrity crap on the news. I get up each morning drink coffee and watch news. Sadly instead of anything worth while this morning I learn that OJ is on his way back to court, who cares about that.

To join your soapbox had someone reported a rich persons child, even one that say was big in the NRA and known mercenary, the cops would have contacted that persons lawyer and two or three months later after not gotten to examine the child they would have publicly apologized for even thinking badly of a rich person. I am all for protecting children but way to often things are handled badly. Way to often over reactions such as this cause more harm than benefit. I have reported many cases of suspected abuse.

Nothing required like that nationwide. Some medical directors require ER and OR rotations every so often so that skills can be practiced.

Go to home page http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/portal.php . Scroll down and you'll see it flying there.