Dustdevil

That's weird! The album doesn't even have the title track on it! :? Anyhow, the song itself is on News Of The World . Best Queen album ever. I got to see them perform live at the Cow Palace in San Francisco on that tour. Good times!

I agree, Jake. Experience during school is a great teacher if you can get it. Makes it a LOT better if you get the opportunities to apply what you are learning. But experience before school is definitely of negligible benefit.

LMAO! Thanks for that link! That's great! We don't need no stinkin' badgers!

Exactly. The program is popular because so many people are under the mistaken impression that it is easier than nursing school. HA!! Much harder. There is also the weird belief that it is shorter than nursing school. Ha again! Takes most people significantly longer to complete Excelsior than traditional nursing school. About the only thing easier (or faster) about Excelsior is getting in. Any idiot can get into Excelsior without having to compete with other people's GPA's. Problem is, those people can't finish Excelsior anyhow, so they waste their time and money. Big props to anybody who graduates from Excelsior. It's hard as hell. But the truth is the percentage of people who finish the program after starting it is dismal. In fact, it's right on par with the number of number of medics who say they are going to go to medical school that never make it. :lol My advice to anybody with either of those goals is to shut up about it so you don't look like a bigger tool when you fail.

Sheer Heart Attack was indeed a song. Twas on the "News Of The World" CD, if I recall correctly. I wore that sucker out in the late 70's!

I just want to clarify that my last comment was not aimed at you. After reading it again, it looks like I was referring to you. Sorry for any misunderstanding. Canan, I don't know exactly what I said that you took exception to. But if your friend finished the Excelsior program, then he is the rare exception and a LOT smarter and more motivated than the average EMT in this country. That means his chances of becoming a great nurse are excellent. But I stand by my statement that he would have become a better nurse faster through traditional education. There is absolutely no two ways about that. Rid is entirely correct. There are not enough similarities between the two professions to put even an experienced paramedic significantly ahead of the game in nursing education. And let's face it; an EMT doesn't know dick that is going to help him in nursing school. Excelsior is a great program. And in my experience, anybody who actually finishes it is a sharp cookie with a lot of maturity and motivation. But the fact remains that you miss out on a tonne of clinical experience, and it becomes VERY obvious when you start working as a nurse.

I wish I could remember. I think it was on the news. I didn't commit the source to memory. I just found the statistic itself interesting enough to remember. Sorry.

Thanks, but I'll pass on that offer.

I'd love to have one of the original NREMT-A patches. I only had a couple, and both are long since lost. If anybody has one to sell or trade, let me know. I've still got one of the original, light blue Texas EMT patches from the early 1970's. Much better than the current ones. Texas patches suck. WAY too big. That photo Nate posted is actual size. Meh... I don't even wear patches when I can get away with it. Patches are for wankers.

There is a Canadian edition. It is still basically Dr. Bledsoe's book that has been edited to reflect differences in protocol and drug names, by a bigwig at Calgary EMS. Some of the photos have been changed to Canadian pics too. I haven't seen it, but it comes highly recommended.

To answer your question, no, it is not more than you can handle. In fact, if it turns out to be too difficult for you, I urge you to quit EMS immediately, because EMS is more than you can handle. Taking a science course by correspondence would be the very LAST choice. It's an interactive subject. Just like paramedic school, just reading a book isn't going to make you competent. Most colleges in the US wouldn't even accept an A&P class that didn't include laboratory time. But I also know that some people simply live and work in such a place that traditional education is difficult. So, the answer is that you will definitely not get nearly as much out of a home-study A&P course that you would from an on-campus course. But yeah, it will definitely be a notable benefit to your understanding of medicine and should be pursued any way you can.

I blame the lawmakers for the ridiculous law that makes it illegal to sell a baby. If women thought they could get crack money for their baby, they'd sell them instead of putting them in a dumpster.

I'm afraid I don't get the Wall Street Journal. And the article does not come up in an online search of their website.

I'd like them to pass a law requiring you to learn English before you can call for or receive medical treatment in the US. If they'd just do that, I could overlook the underwear!

LMAO! That's funny right there, I don't care who you are! Anything by Van Halen (or Van Hagar).

Total bull$hit. You can't "challenge" the NCLEX. States don't even control that. It is a national exam with national standards. You can challenge several facets of nursing education for equivalency, allowing an abbreviated nursing education time. However, damn few medics have the education or experience necessary to do so. And those that do are not nearly as good a nurse as they would be with traditional education. Not to mention, you still have to have all the other college courses to go with that education to make up a nursing degree. No nursing degree = no NCLEX. Period. Just one more example of how medics know just enough to look stupid. :roll:

I halfway agree with you, mako. Experience is the ultimate factor on whether or not you ever become a good medic. But there is nothing gained by getting that experience right after basic school, when you have only half of the picture, as opposed to getting it after you have completed your formal education. No benefit. None. But plenty of potential negatives. Yep... medics need a tonne of experience to become proficient. But ideally, you should become a medic first before you start corrupting the educational process with experience.

Any attention from you is good!

That is what I have always been told. I suppose it may well dependent upon the sponsoring facility to set it up as such. I got a CE cert for NR when I tested for medic.

Thanks. That's great info, but none of it really covered the question I asked, which is: If I take a blood pressure with an amplified scope, will it be any different from the reading I would have gotten with an acoustic scope? And if so, how much different? The way to check this would be for two people to check multiple BP's using a teaching scope, to establish that both people are consistently getting the same reading. Once that is established, then those same two people would need to check multiple BP's simultaneously while one wears an acoustic and the other an electronic, then see if their range of consistency remains the same. There's a nice little project for anybody whose medic school is making them do research.

No, absolutely not. What I am saying is that this "solution" is not addressing the problem, and therefore should not be viewed as a cure. And that we should never underestimate the stupidity induced by estrogen.

The absolute very best medics I have ever worked with in my entire career have all -- to the very last one -- been medics who went straight through from zero to hero with absolutely no field experience in between. That's too many medics and too many years to be coincidence. It is simply how the educational process works optimally in just about any field. Breaking up the process into disassociated segments fragments the continuity of your education. No education professional will tell you that is a good idea. There is no other medical profession that structures their educational process like that. LVN's don't have to be nurses aides first. RN's don't have to be LVN's first. PA's don't have to be nurses first. Physicans don't have to be PA's first. Pilots don't have to be riverboat captains first. Lawyers don't have to be cops first. Now, out of all of those professions, which one sucks the worst? That's right. EMS sucks! It isn't a profession at all. It's just a disjointed association of different training levels that nobody respects as a profession, gets dumped on by all, and not paid worth a crap. Hmmm... could that be because we still haven't figured out how to even get our basic educational structure right yet? And if breaking education up in to bite sized morsels was such a great idea, don't you think all of the real professions out there would be doing it too? And tell me, how often do you hear a competent guidance counselor say that going and playing around for a few years between high school and college is a good idea? Uhhh... make that NEVER! Financial concerns notwithstanding, they will all tell you that the best thing you can possibly do is to go straight from high school to college while your head is still in the educational game. That is proven fact. And the same thing applies to EMS. Once you get into the educational process, you need to -- if at all possible -- stay with it. Rid is right. Just like going back to college as an adult is extremely hard, so is going back to medic school after a few years. Listen to all the basics out there whining about how they can't go to school because of their work schedule. Well duh! And then when they do get back to medic school, the school has to spend a good third of their time re-teaching them all the stuff they forgot from EMT school. Not to mention all the time spent breaking bad habits they picked up from their lazy assed partners over the last few years. Never encountered a straight-through medic with those problems. No bad habits to break. No attitudes about all the "experience" they supposedly have. And I have the confidence in them that is earned by setting your sights on a goal, sticking with it, and getting it done without getting distracted by immaturity. Make up your mind here and now. If you want to be a paramedic, dial that destination into your autopilot and lock it in. Don't stop until you get there. But if you just want to be an ambulance driver and play with the siren, well fly on out to California and they'll give you a basic patch in fourteen days.

Sarge beat me to it. A degree is simply one of the qualifications for officer training, just like. It is not a determining factor. In fact, I was selected for OTS five years before I completed my degree. So, you don't have to be an officer simply because you have a degree. And you don't absolutely have to have a degree to be an officer. Air Force Pararescue is the only military medical job for officers who are not doctors or nurses. So, if you want to be an officer, then that is pretty much your only choice. However, the odds of any one person getting into Pararescue as an officer are phenomenally low. And just being a tough guy isn't enough. Anyhow, medically speaking, PJ's go to the same school that 18D's go to now. Deciding whether or not you want to be an officer or enlisted is like deciding if you want to be a field paramedic or the manager of an ambulance company. There is no comparison. Either you want to actually work on patients, or you want to do paperwork and yell at people. Sounds to me like you are looking to actually work for a living, so enlisted would be the way to go. But if you think you're just going to do it for one to three years, you're delusional. Four years is the commitment. If you get out in less, people will look at you like there is something wrong with you for the rest of your life. And if you are going to do something, put everything you have in it. I wouldn't want you doing EMS for a year or two just for the fun of it anymore than I would want you wasting my tax dollars by playing soldier for only a year or two. Get serious. Make a career choice and go with it. Neither EMS nor the military need tourists. If you go enlisted, then it is generally accepted that the Navy turns out the best entry level medics (corpsmen). Even the Army and AF guys know that. If you look at making it a career, the Army probably has the best long term options for medics. Unlike the Air Force, the Army's flight medics actually fly. And the Army will take non-Special Forces senior NCO medics and send them to 18D school, if they're lucky. But yeah, Robert is right. These are unstable times. No longer can you just join up for a couple years of free training and expect to not have to earn your money the hard way. There is a reason they are training you to care for trauma. Think about it.

I recommend a semester long remedial grammar course too. Hopefully the State of Tennessee offers that. :wink: Why should you take NR? 1. To challenge yourself. Find out if you know as much as you think you know. 2. A quantitative breakdown of your strengths and weaknesses. The results tell you which areas you will want to concentrate on improving. 3. The personal satisfaction of knowing you arose to the same standard as the majority of other EMT's in the country so people won't be snickering behind your back. 4. Continuing education credits for taking it. It is a learning experience. You're not through learning yet. 5. Really cool patch. 1. Forty bucks is a lot of money to an EMT. 2. Scared. Not confident in your knowledge or the quality of your education. 3. Can't find a test because nobody in your state takes it. That about sums it up.

EMS is a job, not a lifestyle. Do not get caught up in EMS 24/7. Keep it in perspective, just like you would if you were a librarian. Leave all that for the firemonkeys. Don't run out and spend a month's salary on EMT t-shirts, stickers for your car, trauma bags, stethoscopes, and copies of every ambulance movie ever made. Normal people in other professions don't do that. You shouldn't either. If you immerse yourself into this job as if it were a lifestyle, it will eat you up like a cancer. Your only concern with EMS when you are off duty should be education and getting to work on time the next day. How much do EMT-I make in your area?Less than $10/hr. That seems to be almost universal in middle America, except in California and the Northeast, where the cost of living is outrageous. What do you love most about your job?Satisfaction. It's what I do best, so I go home knowing I accomplished something. What do you dislike about your job?The people and the politics. The profession is overpopulated by uneducated, unprofessional idiots who think EMS is a lifestyle and not a job. Maybe one out of a hundred people in this field are people I would choose to work for me. And the political bureaucracy of EMS -- both local and nationwide -- prevent the field from ever progressing into a respectable profession. What was your schooling like?Like Rid, it's almost irrelevant to anybody today since it began before you were born. But EMT school was one month of eight hour days, five days a week in a military hospital. Paramedic school was three months of eight hour days, followed by three months of clinicals and field internship. Yeah, it sucked. Only through the desire and determination to improve myself through further education did I ever become a decent medic. What were you 1st days as an EMT like?Like SC98, I couldn't get enough of it. I was a kid and it was all about the adrenaline and the siren. I didn't want to leave the station at the end of the shift. Luckily, I outgrew that pretty quickly. And anybody who doesn't should be evaluated for psychological issues. The excitement overrode the nervousness. Like most people right out of school, I thought I knew everything. I thought the pretty new patch actually meant I knew something. Truth is, it doesn't. So hopefully you will be nervous as hell. Nervous enough to know that until the day you retire, you should be devoting a couple hours a day to studying. As for the EMT-I thing, it's hard to comment without having any idea whatsoever where you are. (I know people are touchy about personal info online, but sheesh... nobody knows who you are. It wouldn't hurt to tell us what state you are in!) Almost all issues in EMS are very local. Things in one state may be very different from the next state over. And, EMT-I's are a lot more popular in rural areas than urban and suburban areas where paramedics are usually the standard. So, you may indeed be in an area where paramedics are not the standard and the use of EMT-I's is prevalent. I would be relatively confident that your instructor knows the job market for your area, and would be inclined to trust his judgment in that respect. Another issue that is local is certification levels. Your state may or may not subscribe to the National Registry (NR) system, and that makes a big difference in how your schools are structured. In most states, you must be an EMT first. But some states do indeed educate directly to the I level, usually in heavily rural states. And again, I think your instructor is probably familiar enough with your state's bureaucratic structure and job market to know what is needed for entry level success. Regardless, I think the idea of educating people directly to the I level as the entry level is excellent, so long as it is done in a quality fashion, and not just knocked out in a few months like most EMT schools.