Dustdevil

I don't get it. Why do you "respect" that? If all the guy does is bend the truth to make a "point" that he hasn't adequately researched to conclude, as you say is necessary, then how does he earn your respect? I honestly would have thought that you would require more than that before you gave your respect away.

Plus 5 for the quote of the month. :thumbright: It amazes me how people completely lack the ability to think outside of the decrepit box we find ourselves in. Just because we currently have a disjointed system devoid of any foundation or continuity doesn't mean it must always be this way. If your 35 year old mobile home is falling apart, you don't just remodel it. You bulldoze it and build a new home from the foundation up. And the few here who have offered up any defence of Basics have so far failed at making a point. We want to know why they, as basics, are useful. To tell us that, you need to tell us why they are more useful to me than anybody else off the streets. It doesn't take a 120 hour first aid course to be able to follow directions, be a gofer, and drive safely. My little sister can do that. And another paramedic could do it better than any of you. So why wouldn't I want another medic as my partner instead of you? Remember, if you can't do the same share of the work that I can do, then you aren't my partner at all. You're just my helper. So again, the point here is to tell us why this three week class makes you an indisposable element of prehospital care system from an operational and medical standpoint.

It doesn't have to be. It just currently is. That's because the system was thrown together piece-mail without any real plan in the 1970s. Kind of like adding rooms onto your decrepit mobile home every few years instead of just building a nice house from the foundation up in the beginning. We don't have to accept that ghetto approach forever. We can and will change the system. No problems with part-time work. Tis what one must do in order to feed a family these days. My only concern is that they devote full-time to education to stay current. But there are just as many full-timers guilty of not doing that as there are part-timers. You make a good point that perhaps I miss when I tell basics not to waste a lot of time before moving on to paramedic school. I say that because, if you have the drive and aptitude for medicine, then you will do well in paramedic school without basic experience, and even excel. There is no doubt about it. But let's face it, there are a LOT of people coming into EMS who simply do not have the drive or the aptitude for advanced practice. Those people could benefit by taking time as a basic to realise, "Hey... this stuff just ain't coming to me as quickly as it should." and reconsider if they are really cut out for being a paramedic. That's a sound theory on paper, but in practice it doesn't work out for multiple reasons. Some of those reasons include: 1. Some bad basics go in thinking "I don't get it in the field, but paramedic school will teach me to get it!" Obviously, that doesn't work out. 2. Some basics don't even realise they don't get it. 3. Some basics get it, but lack the aptitude to get it at an advanced level. 4. Some basics don't get it in the field because they had crap basic training and crap field training, but excel once they get into a real educational system. So really, your impressions from field time as a basic have only a small chance of accurately predicting your success as a medic. And that chance is dependent upon your ability to honestly assess your own aptitude and potential. Not a lot of that going around. So again, I believe the only real value to spending extended time as a basic before moving on to paramedic school is that it gives you enough time for the thrill to wear off and you to truly understand that it isn't as glamourous as you thought it was so you can decide if this low-paying labour gig is really what you want to do with your life.

Really? The original post in what thread? Phil did not say anything about stress, or even use the word "stress" in his original post. :? Crack kills.

Ah! I understand now, lol. I thought you meant on runs. And you trust the nurses to have thoroughly checked that crash cart?

I dunno. Can you define "truly good basic" for me? A little qualitative and quantitative criteria by which to judge who is "truly good" and who is not? (perhaps start a new thread for this purpose)

LOL! Nope! I am scratching my head too. That post is like it's in the totally wrong discussion or something. :? It reminds me of the infamous "PID O2 15lpm b/14ga wide open and consider narcan" post.

Me neither. But I was talking about first responders. Huh? I don't get it. How does this "policy" get you a parking space within one minute of the bed in building 3, 9th floor, last room on the left? :?

LOL! There is a weekend-long camp out/picnic/concert/chili cook-off at Dr. Bledsoe's farm every year for EMS providers that is a cool deal. Unfortunately, I think they got the rules backwards on it though. They encourage alcohol, but prohibit firearms. :?

When I was a little kid, I was home alone and found a tick on me. I called up the Red Cross to ask them what to do about it.

No need for an apology. It's just a misunderstanding. I've joined forums before and jumped in without reading the rules or testing the waters first and got spanked hard. It happens. And trust me, there are many forums out there who are brutal on n00bs compared to us. :shock: I'm glad to know you will stay around. It is not my desire to run anybody off. I was genuinely interested in replying constructively to your scenario, and just a little frustrated that I couldn't do so. Your reply is a very good sign that you have the potential to do well both here and in EMS!

I'm disappointed in you, Steve. I've never known you to get all caught up in "tools" and "skills." You know that is not what the practice of EMS is about.

Well, computers had not yet been invented back when I tested, so I'm afraid I don't have any first hand knowledge of this CBT thing to offer you. Failing NR once is no big deal. There are multiple reasons why this might happen. First time failure frequently says your school has problems. But second time failure usually says you have problems. Luckily, many of those problems are overcome without a lot of problem if you are serious about success. And, by success I mean knowing your stuff, not just passing the test by a point or two. I wish you had come here before your last attempt, as there is a lot of excellent advice to be found through the forum search. Trust me, we get asked by a lot of people how to study for NR, so it's all been said here before. Let us know how you do. I wish you the best, but if you do end up needing more help, we're here. And regardless of how you do on this test, this place will be of amazing benefit to your professional development if you stick around.

Paint Your Wagon Best. Movie. Ever. :thumbright:

Don't misquote me, bro. I didn't say there was no posible benefit. I said that if there is any benefit, it is negligible in the long run. You get that same benefit from basic practice during or after medic school as you do by getting it before enrolling. After all, you should have about two years during medic school to get plenty of experience, should you so desire. Conversely, the negatives you get from spending time as a basic before enrolling in medic school are almost universally applicable. At the very least, you end up wishing you had gone to medic school a lot sooner once you do it. Again, in my observations I have seen that most new medics without basic experience tend to be better than their experienced peers.

http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...ght=accelerated http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...ght=accelerated http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.ph...ght=accelerated There are others, but those three cover it most completely.

LMAO! Point taken! Plus 5 for a great analogy.

No, I was talking about a CPR mask. Never heard of anybody carrying an N95 mask routinely. You trying to be the ultimate whacker, or what? :wink:

Shayne, are you losing it? Are you melting down right in front of our eyes? :shock: What are you talking about? You're ranting incoherently, bouncing from irrelevant point to irrelevant point and not even addressing the issue at hand anymore. What have "definitions of ambulance on the Web" got to do with anything? Did somebody here attempt to define it as an ambulance? Did anybody here deny that it was an ambulance? I know my eyes and my memory aren't what they used to be, so I read back to the beginning of this topic again and nobody here was talking semantics until you started with that last post, so who are you even arguing with? :? It's amazing how you have posted so much on this matter -- told us the educational credentials of some fire chief, his ISO rating, and the definition of an ambulance -- but have not yet even attempted to tell us what makes this thing so great. Then you tell us that you "doubt" this thing transports many people. Well wait, Shayne... if you are just guessing at all of this, then what the heck makes you so passionately convinced that it is the best thing since Nomex? And what makes your opionion any better than ours? I'm still thinking you must have stock in that apparatus manufacturer or something. You're defending this thing with as much zeal -- and as little logic -- as the CISD idiots defend their cash cow long after it has been proven to be a lot of bull (nice pun, eh? ). Otherwise, I can't imagine any reason why an otherwise reasonable man would get as weird as you are getting over this topic. Are you okay, bro?

Google ATLS (Adavanced Trauma Life Support) and you'll find the info you are looking for scattered about the net. Back in 05, when I started refreshing and prepping for deployment, I found this site which is a helpful overview of ATLS principles in outline format: http://www.jwolfe.clara.net/WebPages/Atls.htm It will give you a good overview of the process. If you take that info and use it as an outline for self-guided research and study, you'll get pretty comfortable with what is going on in the ER. And you will very definitely understand and anticipate what is going on in the trauma bays.

Once you work in just about any other state, you'll realise how much you did not love Mass EMS.

Whit, your statistics and observations are absolutely valid. I don't have a problem with those at all. It is the conclusions you draw from them that are shaky. Skills-wise, yes, a basic is more than adequate for the vast majority of runs out there. But the problem you then run into has been covered here over and over and over. I'm not sure how you have managed to miss the point. It is about the ability to render a sophisticated medical evaluation that can determine what is probably wrong with this patient, as well as what his medical needs are. I don't care if your EMT-B school was five-hundred hours long. It simply is not enough education to provide you with the knowledge to do a medical evaluation of a patient. In fact, it wasn't ever designed to. It was designed to give you enough first aid knowledge to give the basic ABC's to critical patients on the way to the hospital. Is that enough to get most patients there okay? Absolutely. But any Basic (with no other medical education) who thinks he is sophisticated enough to determine who needs ALS and who doesn't is a dangerous person who I don't want working in my system. And any system that puts Basics in that position in the first place just plain sucks.

There aren't that many true "professionals" in EMS, so their numbers aren't significant enough to hold clout. The vast majority of those in EMS are just labourers with a little technical training. That being the case, most are earning about what they are worth, if not more. Once the majority of EMS professionals are actually professionally educated, and not easily replaced by the next three-week long training course grads, they will actually command fair pay.

I didn't see the option I would choose. Let her stay until her husband's status is determined. The day that happens, deportation proceedings resume. And because of her illegal entry, she should be forever ineligible for citizenship.