AnthonyM83

It was a blast!

This is the kind of thing we really should get a whole EMTCity contingent going on. Then maybe Doczilla will actually man up and have more than one drink!

Bwahaha.

@Dwayne: Only if you wear that sexy blue jumpsuit from your avatar

@Tnuiqs: They were out of rainbow color...but oh if only.

@4c6: Those are probably the safest bet with with me.

But yup, had to represent EMTCity!

Do I get the whacker of the year award?

Had to represent, yo!

It's true, it's true.

I was awarded the super cool titanium trauma shears with the attached belt clip carabeener!

I should have worn an EMTCity shirt to the event now that I think of it. Could have been free advertising.

So, do we have a final head count?

Ruff totally hooked me up to make it possible to be there.

Anyone been able to find a site with cheap flights to there?

I'd be coming in from Los Angeles...

I always understood protected information to be things that would lead to identification of a patient...that's usually how I see it. I see 3 different situatiosn here.

Ex1: Patient tells you an interesting NYTimes article he was reading about. Or a funny interaction he had with a co-worker 10 years ago. That information by itself would be fair to repeat, right?

So, it wouldn't then be confidential MERELY by the fact that it was said during treatment.

Ex2: Patient tells you some really interesting story that involves him. If you tell someone else that information with the fact taht it's HIS story, you'd in effect be violating HIPAA only by identifying your patient. But if you leave out the identifying info...I have never been told that info by itself is confidential.

Ex3:

BUT if patient decides to tell you how he's robbing a banks through some computer glitch at his IT job, making millions each year...is can you tell THAT? (it's not mandated reporting) I THINK I was told crimes are reportable...but it makes sense not to report most of them...

Thoughts?

Signed on specifically to look for info on this.

If you guys can possibly make it, definitely sign up (early) and go. I went two years ago and it was freaking awesome.

It started out funny, but then turned into poor taste when he went off on the patient (rather than the situation). Good first post man...good way to start out your rep

OWNED....

I have also been told that if a patient I am transporting goes downhill and I ave absolutely no idea where I am that I should 911.

Call 911 for location purposes? Can they triangulate your position in that area? (I know some areas all they know if the cell tower used, but not your actual position) Or for directions? Is your area on the rural side? Do you work 911 calls?

Hey Lone Star,

Sorry about the PMs. I just realized my inbox is full. My guess is the stored messages limit went down when my EMTCity Sponsor subscription ran out a few months ago.

The FloridaStudent pretty much beat me to it. When I read the replies, they sounded annoyed (a jab WAS made at both her reading comprehension AND her passion for the job just from a simple newbie question). YET she replied back WITHOUT personal jabs back, instead just re-explaining why she thought what she thought.

As far as the NR test itself. It's tricky in two ways. It's intentionally tricky in that questions are MEANT to steer you toward the wrong answers. BUT remember that's different than difficulty.

THEN, it's also just by nature tricky because they're not always specific in telling you what they want. Many people KNOW the knowledge and in a scenario can apply it. But the test question throw them off if they don't have prep. BUT most students who studied and have good reading comprehension (yes EMS4939 it IS important) will still pass. The test questions to separate the people who know the material from those who don't. But it's more difficult than it should be.

When I took the test I had been used to very difficult test questions for the last 16 years of my life. All kinds of tests. Many that want you to choose the BEST answer. BUT NR really threw me off. It was easy to overthink questions. Not know exactly what they want. So, I missed more than I should and had more anxiety about it. BUT I knew the material, so I still did really well. BUT it was still tricky. But OVERALL not difficult in my opinion.

Hit me up by email. it's my user name followed by @gmail

I certianly agree that procedures like IV cannulation, medication administration and cardioversion are more invasive than say taking a blood pressure and therefore require a higher amount of education and skill.

That does not mean that they should only be "top tier" procedures, or, by that logic, in tje non EMS setting a Consultant Physician would be the only one allowed to cannulate and the Registrars, House Officers and Nurses get lots of practice at keeping thier blood pressure taking up to snuff or something.

Totally agree. With proper education, I definitely think certain ALS procedures can be done by the basic provider. I think Dust would say an auto injector would technically be an ALS procedure. And every provider should be able to assist a patient with that....

Richard, cops do give leeway here, but there's a HUGE concentration of EMT's here with vast majority being IFT only companies. You see ambulances everywhere. And there's a lot of yahoos. I've been told by cops that EMT's seem to run around like cowboys (and that reflects what I've seen). So, the plate MIGHT just add to that image.

Versus the cop coming up and "finding out" that you were an EMT.

AND I actually honestly don't know what the majority of cops would think about it around here. I bet most wouldn't have a problem with it at all. Just saying that's some of the concerns I've heard my coworkers say in regard to the plates...

Directed at people that feel they are tricky after knowing for certain what the questions contain. She did not. She was told they were tricky, she did not know for sure.

You can argue this point with me all you wish, and I will not change my stance nor apologize for being honest with people that feel that is a hard exam once they have taken it. I've taken harder 8th grade algebra exams. Someone with a college education should have NO problem with the test.

Then you have faulty communication. The series of statements like that IN CONTEXT of being a reply to her specific point is communicating an implication below the bar.

And that's a silly reply, since no one wants you to be dishonest. The problem isn't with that. The problem with respect level shown to newcomers in the field.

I do think the back and forth has run its course, though. The point of my post was to show more respect.

-----------------

On the SEPARATE topic of test trickiness in general, I've been told by writers of the test they attempt to make them tricky. The NREMT also has a slightly different style than most academic tests. That doesn't necessarily make it so difficult, but it means you have to watch out for exactly what they're asking since there are implications in the question not specifically said. This does throw a number of students off (usually not enough to fail...they do put a cap on their trickiness). And there is a difference between trickiness and overall difficulty.

I think the communication problem is at my end.

Guess I'm just saying starting an IV will always be ALS, no matter who is allowed to do it or in what part of the world. Even if all EMTB learn that from day one EMT school, it's still ALS to many because of it's invasiveness. So, the move is to recognize that many ALS skills can be moved to the Basic provider level. It's more of a semantics thing...but it really doesn't matter. I think we agree on everything.

I never questioned her reading comprehension. I made a general statement that the questions are not tricky if one has obtained a certain level of reading comprehension.

It amazes me how sensitive people are when faced with a little honesty.

SHE stated she thought the questions were tricky.

YOU replied, "They are not tricky. People that say they are tricky probably have difficulty with reading comprehension. This is exactly why there should be a minimum standard for reading comprehension before these classes are taken."

Your reply was in context of her thinking it was tricky. That's like going up to someone that's wearing a red hat and saying, "People who wear red hats are dumb." Then saying you never called that person dumb, technically.

You were very specific. You countered her point. Then the next sentence stated a generalization about people who supported her point. Then went on a bit more about how we should have minimum comprehension levels to be in the field. It doesn't take a genius to follow the logic. She believes A. You make a general comment about people who believe A are probably B. Then a comment about how there should be course pre-req that cuts out people who are B.

Review my past posts. There are certain things I'm very blunt about. There's a difference between not sugar coating something and implying things about people. It's a respect issue. Now if she was being a screw up, you gotta throw the truth in her face. But she wasn't screwing up.

Good luck.

Feel free to post back and let us know how it's going.

Everything else here including things like 12 lead ECG interpretation, adrenaline, naloxone, GTN, cardioversion, laryngeal masks etc is either a Technician (BLS) or Paramedic (ILS) procedure.

The distinction I was trying to make is that those procedures might be Technician level, but skill itself is an ALS skill just by the nature of its invasiveness. I fully support them having those skills with proper education, but for conversation purposes realize that those are considered ALS by many (even though they're at the Basic level).

Guess he only has time to post on the other site, he posted there yesterday. You guys really must have mad him mad.

CAEMS,

I think the reason the state is low on applications is:

-Concern about driving past accident scenes without stopping could cause a poor image

-Cops might think they're trying to show off and witnessed infractions could actually work against them

-EMT's are healthcare professionals. Weird to advertise your job. Doctors don't (I know the small window sticker does exist, though)

-Los Angeles County has a high EMT concentration, but many make minimum wage (if not FF's), thus special plates might be an expense we can't afford.

-Puts our profession (or driver) in the category of "wanker" / "Ricky Rescue" and harder to be accepted as an allied healthcare worker.

Those are just reasons I've heard from different people.

I do appreciate the state trying to do this for us, though. I appreciate the hard work the intern put into it. I think there are much graver things that need to be addressed than vanity plates at this time, though.

-Respectfully,

Anthony

I'm sorry? Did you really mean "guess"? Because if so, this is NOT the right line of work for you. Although there are two answers that seem right, one is always MORE correct than another. No guessing. Just knowledge.

They are not tricky. People that say they are tricky probably have difficulty with reading comprehension. This is exactly why there should be a minimum standard for reading comprehension before these classes are taken.

Wow, way to slam a student.

Kristina,

people often use the word "guessing" when talking about test questions with answers that both seem right. Yes, answer should be based on "best answer", but he's talking about the specific circumstance when he's stuck and both seem right based on his knowledge. It's quite a REACH to question his decision on or passion for this line of work.

EMS49393,

Actually many test questions ARE designed to be tricky. Each answer supposed to be designed to seem appealing and attractive based on the stem of the question. Way to slam the student coming here for help by implying he has difficulty with reading comprehension. Fortunately, he was confident and well-written enough to respond to you as he did, but a different student might not and instead walked away with a poorer opinion of his soon-to-be peers.

Replies like this seriously annoy me. At least draw out more info from the new guy....or be sure before you speak. You wouldn't want your supervisor, teacher, or peers talking to you that way if you went in to talk to them.

There is a difference between being blunt and slamming a student.

In Australia every Ambulance Paramedic (non ALS) can give adrenaline and IV analgesia.

In New Zealand from 2012 every Paramedic (non ALS) will be able to give adrenaline and morphine, and many already can.

In Canada every Primary Care Paramedic can give IM adrenaline.

Perhaps we are doing something wrong?

Doing a lot right actually, but those interventions would be considered ALS procedures (even if it's a non-ALS unit), no? Oh, if only Dust where here, he'd go off about that. In the US, non-ALS tends to be more ... well non-ALS (for the most part).

I feel like this is an easy problem to solve. Give clear cut ALS criteria (similar to Ruff's list) and be able to recognize need for additional resources and call early, otherwise just transport. Someone with CP might be stable, but the c/c itself warrants ALS even if they might not be doing too much for the patient.

I honestly didn't have time to read the entire article. But it should be mentioned that the fact that often patients don't receive much ALS care after the transfer, shouldn't invalidate the need ALS. ALS is often there for unstable patients IN CASE they crash, since they have a higher probability of 'crashing' than stable patients. A lot of times these patients just get BLS care with IV and cardiac monitoring. That's just fine....

Apparently, their computer system no longer allows them to accurately provide you that information since it cuts you off as soon as you hit a minimum points level. You might have not finished the subcategory you were in, so if you missed 2 out of 4 for example in a subcategory, it might think you were deficient in it.

But....not sure if that answer makes sense now that I think about it, because that would mean people would be taking really lopsided tests...but not sure. The class topic wasn't NR exactly, so couldn't stay on topic for too long when it was touched upon...

Hey guys,

Just sitting in at a workshop with some NREMT and test writing people.

How's everyone doing?

Anyone have some good questions for these guys? (specific to test writing?)

-Anthony