AnthonyM83

Cut your flower stems diagonally so they absorb water better and stay fresh longer.

Right now goal is to gain size, so low reps, high weights, each body area only once a week, 2-3 min rest per set, no fatiguing muscle, only overloading it. Limited intense cardio sessions. http://www.ast-ss.com/max-ot/max-ot_intro.asp Later I'm looking into Crossfit (what the guys from 300 used) I'm the type that needs a very specific program to follow in order to keep with it.

Ooohhhh, maaaaan, hahaha. Ooooh, I'm gonna sit back for this one. BTW, welcome. Don't let our humor or (*insert good adjective here*) opinions on EMS scare you ff.

You know what . . . I think everyone here just likes drama. Gosh all our relationships must be chaotic Oh, and 1 to add the biochemical academic perspective, 1 to seriously step in and say how serious a procedure light bulb changing is (and thus shouldn't be a basic skill), 1 random post by a newcomer trying to get posts to enter chatroom, 1 very educational post on the respiratory system of light bulbs, and one or two asking if the light bulb is hot (not temp wise).

We teach KED for stable patients. Though she had chest pain, the rest of her vital signs checked out and she seemed to be perfusing okay, right? No ABC compromise. KED only takes an additional 2-3 minutes to do it right.

Do the EMTB thing, then hurry up and become a medic. You're accepting that position as a necessary evil to go higher up the chain. It's hard to change things from the outside.

I think the key (unless you can make classes smaller, hire more staff, or make course lengths longer and thus fewer per year, and still survive financially) is to ingrain the flowsheet/outline in their heads the first week. Absolutely memorized. Absolutely able to do a linear non-thinking assessment. THEN, go heavy on the drills where you teach them to interact with patient and findings and critical thinking. Best idea I can come up with. Because without the flow chart, it's almost impossible to teach every individual in the class how to do even a semi thorough assessment...you wind up all over the place and so many things get skipped. You need experience to skip around in your assessment...classroom-only experience is sufficient! just almost impossible to fit enough of it in before the end of the course.

Well, for those posting from L.A., each thread requires a fire captain, 3-4 fire fighters, 2 firefighter paramedics, two private EMTs, an ambulance, an engine, possibly a truck, and a paramedic squad, plus occasional paramedic intern, EMT trainee, and student ride-along (at same time).

But it's a specialized 4 year degree specifically for EMS, like med school. You add that on to four years of regular college and it's 8. (Keeping in mind not everyone's going to go right into it after high school....and even those who are interested in EMS might not want to give up a traditional BA in case they want to work outside of EMS at some point)

I'm talking EMT school.

Good points. Though, I see more room for advancement and variety at a PD...detectives and narcotics get you doing something totally different...K9, motors, DT Instructor, SWAT get different equipment and lots to learn about. Then sergeant, LT, etc... I don't know...it's just that 8 years of school to do EMS seems a bit much.

There would have to be an incentive for people to spend four years training. A bridge over program to nursing or PA etc would have to built in. I wouldn't want to go to college for four years to get undergrad, then four years to train in EMS, then after 8 years in the field realize I don't want to retire out loading gurneys into the ambulance, still paying back my student loans . . .

Well, I don't actually think the cert needs to be abolished, just raise the minimum cert level for EMS. Technicians are still needed for ERs and ambulance transfers from con-homes to ERs (recognizing medical emergencies and upgrading to L&S en-route or calling 911 when they arrive at the con-home, etc is needed). Many areas can still use them as first-in responders while ALS arrives, even.

The problem is that paramedic programs aren't making the appropriate steps to accommodate those who haven't spent time in the field. They're thrown into internship with a limited number of shifts in which to be proficient at a multitude of objectives, not realizing they're not only teaching their "child" how to write cursive, but also teaching them how to craw, walk, speak, and write in print in the first place (following the child rearing metaphor). This is information I've gotten from local paramedic instructors AND successful (and failed) students. If the paramedic schools accounted for teaching everything from the start, I'd much rather prefer that program...but I haven't really found those around here.

Good ideas there, guys. The problem ends up being having enough time to teach this stuff. You need sound pathophysiology, then a lot of time for group work (which ALWAYS ends up taking longer, especially if we make sure everyone is included in discussions). It's hard enough getting enough practice time for manual skills like traction splint, KED, rapid trauma assessments, and proper assessment of ABCs.

Actually, this is one of the reasons I'd support maybe six months as a basic before paramedic school (not in perfect world, just realistically). Your learning curve is initially stunted by trying to figure out WTF's going on on-scene, getting used to scene presence, scene awareness, patient interaction, dynamic environment, flow of calls, nature of job. That has given me SO much more context for all the EMS related classes I've taken since being in the field. BUT I'm sidetracking the argument. If we got rid of basics as primary responders, then medic schools would account for their students not having experience and either extend clinicals and/or have them do clinicals from the beginning of the class to get them settled in.

WTF, how does that help your argument? I've "saved" nurses, paramedics, EMTs, and cops times...so what? Does that mean I'm more qualified than another nurse to save a nurse? Like you said, everyone fails sometimes, but everyone saves others from failing sometimes too. That doesn't magically qualify them to be as good as a partner of the same medical level. Does that make sense?

Hope you had a good one AK

Uh...not sure what that has to do with it . . . But yeah, remember assessment is a SKILL. It's not book knowledge. So you can have smart students, smart instructors who can tell them and demonstrate everything they'll need for a good assessment, but when you put them in front of a real patient, they're still going to be all over the place. They're going to forget to ask stuff. They're going to get freaked out about one finding and forget another important one. The flow chart keeps you grounded. Practice of the skill is what makes you good as actual assessments.

Well, actually my problem guys is that it seems almost impossible to teach good assessments without having them memorize a flow chart, step by step. It gives them a framework (or perhaps railroad track) to go back to when they start getting lost to keep them on track. They need to know what they're deviating from before actually deviating from it. Then you start teaching them how to interview, how to pick the tools they need from the flow chart, and how to respond to information they find during their assessment.

That was actually probably a very honest answer. Stuff carries over. We get maybe a 1 to 2 hours of code 3 driving within the city per busy 24hr shift...after a 72hr shift you might have to remind yourself not to start crossing over and opposing traffic But yeah, way to ruin our rep with Redondo Beach PD now...

Yup, you definitely keep going back to the "American thing". So, what if it is...from our perspective we're just trying to justify causing pain. Legalities is a good backup, but even before considering legalities I'm considering if I really want to flush someone's nose with alcohol because it feels horrible and I can't justify doing that to a patient, personally (and neither can medical journals).

LOL this has got to be a joke profile

Where the heck did that little speech come from? Don't be so dramatic. We're not slamming a country, we're slamming your practice of putting alcohol up their noses. You could have any flag next to your picture...I bet most people who read your post didn't even notice you were from a different country. Chill out with that stuff. (And no, I never divert from the book that badly. People here divert by using a shoulder pressure when protocol said use finger pressure to check responsiveness....not freaking pouring alcohol up their noses. Those who diverge more are the exceptions, the deviants, just like you have...wonder what they do? Light hair on fire and wait for response?)