geezlaweezy

Talk to Dr. Ori Rotstein at St Mike's Hospital (Toronto). He mentioned last year he was thinking of starting a Master's program with someone at Sunnybrook in Emergency Field Care Medicine open to Post Grad and Professionals in the field. Pubmed his stuff, it's pretty interesting. Sometimes the best way of finding a grad program you want to do is to start one up yourself and get a prof/researcher to back you up.

Actually, I'm not EMS. I was all set and ready to go this August into paramedicine when another opportunity arose, so EMS is temporarily being put off indefinately. My experience comes from working in high risk facilities, and I have had unfortunate opportunities to deal with serious incidents and fatalities. I'm sure many here will shoot me down when I say this, but I think the problem with EMS personnel dealing with laypeople/bystanders is that yes, they are the ones who have the most knowledge with what to do in an emergency situation, and the most qualifiied to do so, WHEN they arrive on scene. What seems to be overlooked quite often, however, is that it is usually the bystander who has witnessed the traumatic incident or the first to arrive on scene. Seeing something happen vs. arriving after a call has been made is extremely different, so I've actually found that many EMS personnel are sometimes insensitive (unintentionally) to how the bystander is reacting or will react in the future. For you guys as professionals, you see this everyday, and bystanders obviously don't. My main point is that my personal experience in dealing with my student is that I was able to relate, as a fellow bystander. I'm not quite sure how you guys deal with your students given a similar experience. I'm just telling the story from my point of view. Cheers

I agree with both Dustdevil and BEorP when they say if you don't teach your students that there is a low survival rate, damage to the ribs, etc you are probably not a good realistic instructor, and even worse letting people walk away with a hero complex. I emphasize these points in every class that I teach, BUT more importantly, I emphasize that doing something is always better than doing nothing at all. One of my former students actually had to perform CPR on a gentleman a few months ago, and needless to say, it was shocking and traumatizing for her to have had to actually apply what she had learned to someone who was, well.. dead. I spoke to her afterwards, assured her that she took appriopriate action and did all she could. Contrary to the informal 'study' dzmohr mentioned, instead of refusing to ever do CPR again, she was even more determined to take another update course so she could get her skills more polished (she messed up a bit due to shock) so she would doubt herself less should it happen again. I think it's really important for bystanders who perform CPR to seek proper counselling necessary to move on after incidents such as this. From what she told me, the random shrink she saw was completely useless. Why? Because the person had no stories or anecdotes to relate to the situation. When she spoke to me or other people who have gone through similar situations before it was much easier for her to move past it because the advice and words came from people who knew where she was coming from.

I've encountered situations when I was lifeguarding and tending to a situation when a doctor or someone with more quals than I arrived on the scene. In those cases it can be very sticky because the situation is under my 'jurisdiction' and it's my duty to perform to the best of my ability for the pt. While on the job, we are legally responsible for those people, and if we let people who are off duty medics or doctors over rule us and things take a turn for the worse, it can end up being our butts on the line... union, management, company, etc get on our case. It could be a case of policy (usually is) and since upper management doesn't really understand what really goes on, the legal crap will hit us in the face after the fact. In your case, sounds like your friend was a bit panicky and probably wasn't able to think properly... there are LOADS of lifeguards who just can't handle REAL situations (but can perform well on simulations) which is unfortunate. In terms of off duty medic/nurse/doc arrival, I get to choose whether I want their help or not because again, my ass is on the line too. Usually I accept the help, and as long as after the fact they're willing to sign off that the pt is ok or I document their ID#, and get their contact info, it's smooth sailing.

Lord of the Sicko ..... ohhhh yeahhhh, bring it on!! :boxing: :naka:

Does anyone know the reasoning and justification as to why CPR is changing from 15:2 to 30:2?

I'm pretty brand spanking new here (a week maybe?), but if it isn't too big headed of me, I'd like to put my two cents in. First of all, this forum has inspired me more than ever to become a paramedic. I won't be attending classes until August, but the depth of knowledge, personal anecdotes, years of combined experience, quirky stories, and other various interests that are expressed here are getting me more and more excited about the profession! I don't think many of you realize how much of a help you have been to me and other aspiring paramedics (or EMTs) who are curious about such things, don't know what types of questions to ask, or need some advice. Every time I hear or see an ambulance whiz by I give a little woo hoo and yay (I know, I'm cheezy!) because now I finally see how truly passionate some of you are about your work. Secondly, I have to admit, it can be a bit intimidating posting or chatting with seasoned veterans. The first time I came into chat and asked about certain things I just didn't know because I haven't started school yet, I got slammed down hard. What is extremely basic knowledge to you may not be to others who are just curious. There are now more and more people who are trying to do more research into whether this is the profession for them, or on the various schools because it's getting to be a more popular field and harder to get in. If it helps newer people speak, may I suggest starting another subforum for people who are just interested but may not be medics? I do notice there's the occasional bickering, but what forum doesn't? Most admins don't even lock threads or give warnings in other forums as they should be doing, so this is actually a lot more civil than many I've seen. Not only that, but you can't really change the personality or heated emotion of the writer, you can only ask them to choose their words wisely. Yes I agree that there should be a standard to which EMTs/medics uphold their professionalism even off duty to set a good example, but the occasional slip is okay. Obviously, I'm quite comfortable with chatting or posting now, probably because I'm used to crazy patrons yelling at me at work for no apparent reason, and maybe I just can't shut my trap when I feel really passionate about something. I truly hope new members will see how many nice people there are in here who are so patient in taking the time to answer questions or give some helpful tips. I may not be very knowledgeable about the field at this point, but at least I'm making the effort in trying hard to learn, regardless of how many people roll their eyes at me. Anyway, thanks to all those who've been so friendly and helpful. Cheers!

Hi, I've not started my paramedic schooling yet, but I've been teaching young children 1st aid for 11 yrs now. Some things kids have enjoyed are slinging as dustdevil suggested, dealing with minor cuts and bleeding, but i've found the most interesting for them at that age is learning how to deal w/ consc choking victims. The important thing is to get them interacting and active regardless of what you do because most have extremely short attention spans. 1st aid trivia games are fun too, combining them with a tag relay to get them running. Just some suggestions!

Thanks for your input everyone, keep them coming! I've yet to hear something from someone who went to Algonquin, but I'm intrigued by the comments on the Toronto schools. Academics and experience are certainly factors, but I think I can conclude that the most important thing is how hot the instructors are if I'm to slut myself out to the faculty. Is there an oddball poll out there that rates the hotness factor of the paramedic faculties? Any recommendations SooC?

Hey guys, I was reading some of the comments with regards to which is the best paramedic school in Ontario. I also got in as well, and am having an EXTREMELY difficult time trying to decide where to go. I've been accepted to: Humber Algonquin Centennial I'm not going to Centennial because from what I've heard, it's too political, and relies too much on theory rather than clinical. Humber has a pretty decent reputation, but Algonquin has been ranking #1 in the graduate testing for the past three years, so it comes down to those two choices. I'd really appreciate some comments on which you think is a better school, provides great experience and whether you believe it all comes down to test results or school reputation when it comes to hiring. Thanks!