Riskimedic Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 It is known fact that when in checkoffs the basic skills are missed more than the actual medic skill. To answer your question yes I do miss an occasional EMT skill every once in a while, those who say they don't are FOS!! Engine 27 Lineman is right it isn't as widely known as we had thought. Back to the question at hand, should you go straight through EMT school and straight into Medic school? NO Take pride in your career and do it right!! Your patients and partners will appreciate it as will the hospitals you transport to.
Riskimedic Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 One other thing. There is a different in being a book medic and a field medic!!!!
mobey Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 yes I do miss an occasional EMT skill every once in a while, those who say they don't are FOS!! For the record I am educated ALS working BLS. (Moved provinces...different education standards) Gotta ask what BLS skills do you forget? Oxygen? History? BP? How to dress a wound? Seems to me there are no ALS skills that can be performed without a BLS assessment and BLS intervention first! Makes you wonder if a paramedic that forgets BLS should be performing ALS interventions and diagnostics at all! Edit to add this.... I am not going for a personal attack... I just don't want any future medics (or current for that matter) on this forum to think it is accepted to "Forget" the basics just because you have more to think about as a Paramedic. I believe if a EMT has to "Save a Paramedic" with his BLS skills, that paramedic has failed at his job!
spenac Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 Just Do It! ( thanks nike) There is no need to delay. Very little value in fact probably no value in delay. You can get your experience in the field as paramedic just as well as if a basic except you actually have the education to actually help somebody. Still best advice.
JPINFV Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 I challenge you to give me ONE example where an EMT "saved" a Paramedic. Manual labor. game, set, and match. 8) :twisted: :hello1:
JPINFV Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 It is known fact that when in checkoffs the basic skills are missed more than the actual medic skill. To answer your question yes I do miss an occasional EMT skill every once in a while, those who say they don't are FOS!! To clarify a bit here. Are you talking about completely forgetting to, say, splint an arm on a non-critical trauma, or, say, failing because of some of the lame things that NREMT expects (example: NRB=12 LPM or more, NC=6LPM and only when NRB isn't tolerated)? One other thing. There is a different in being a book medic and a field medic!!!! I believe that's more commentary of the sad state of EMS education than commentary on the "right way to do things."
Asysin2leads Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 It is known fact that when in checkoffs the basic skills are missed more than the actual medic skill. To answer your question yes I do miss an occasional EMT skill every once in a while, those who say they don't are FOS!! Engine 27 Lineman is right it isn't as widely known as we had thought. Back to the question at hand, should you go straight through EMT school and straight into Medic school? NO Take pride in your career and do it right!! Your patients and partners will appreciate it as will the hospitals you transport to. Wrong, wrong, WRONG. Okay, let me see, what BLS skill do you "miss"? Do you forget to turn the oxygen on? Forget to take a blood pressure? "Forget" to board and collar someone? I mean are you like in the back with a trauma, doing the IV and like "Oh, damn! I forgot to put on a c-collar! D'oh! If only I had an EMT around to save me." If I missed a BLS 'skill', not only should I be taken off the ambulance, but I should be taken in to have a CAT scan to see if I have a bleed or something. See, the real problem is that people who wasted their time in EMT-I class look desperately for some kind of vindication for wasting their times and therefore insist steadfastly that playing with yourself in EMT-I class makes you a superior medic. It doesn't. If you are intelligent and dedicated to your job, medic class will be no problem. Ignore the tattoo and missing tooth set in class who says otherwise. Go heavy or go home.
Dustdevil Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 It is known fact that when in checkoffs the basic skills are missed more than the actual medic skill. To answer your question yes I do miss an occasional EMT skill every once in a while, those who say they don't are FOS!! Engine 27 Lineman is right it isn't as widely known as we had thought. No, he is wrong. It is so widely known that everybody who has been on this board for more than a few days has seen it multiple times already. It's not only well known. It's well worn. What is just as well known is that it is a load of shyte. Yes, basic skills are frequently missed by providers of all levels. They are no more often missed by medics than they are by EMTs. And an EMT is no better qualified to help their partner catch those mistakes than would be a paramedic. This is why it is such a stupid myth to perpetuate. There is no logical or factual basis for it. It's worse than a myth. It's a lie that is counterproductive to professional development. It's just one of those silly little feel-good things somebody told you in EMT school to make you feel like your 120 hour first aid course was actually worth what you paid for it, and you never spent enough quality time in EMS to come to the intelligent realisation that it was BS. Back to the question at hand, should you go straight through EMT school and straight into Medic school? NO Take pride in your career and do it right!! Your patients and partners will appreciate it as will the hospitals you transport to. More complete nonsense with absolutely zero foundation in fact or educational theory. Going stright to medic school is doing it right. Do the math. Would you suggest that your children take a couple of years off in between middle school and high school? Of course not. Sound educational theory is constant, regardless of the course of study. That's why nurses don't spend a couple of years as a nurses aid before nursing school. That's why physicians don't wait a few years after graduation before continuing their education with an internship and residency. Look around you. No real profession -- medical or otherwise -- promotes that kind of idiocy. In order for experience to be useful, you must first have acquired an educational foundation upon which to build that that experience. Four weeks of night school is not education, and it certainly isn't a foundation. It's just first aid. You are correct about only one thing. Yes, our patients and our fellow professionals will appreciate us if we take the "right" path to professional excellence. Unfortunately, you seem to be clueless as to what the right way is.
Jyannotti308 Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 I challenge you to give me ONE example where an EMT "saved" a Paramedic. Where them being an EMT allowed them to recognize something or to do something that a Paramedic could not have done or would not have recognized. The medic collapsed after seeing a patient vomit, does that count? <grin> Justin Nationally Registered EMT-Basic IFSAC Firefighter I/II NIMS Operations Hazmat Awareness Advanced Cardiac Life Support
AnthonyM83 Posted January 1, 2008 Posted January 1, 2008 Here's some BLS skills I've seen missed: -Trying to start a line on a trauma instead of loading the patient & going (BLS skill) -Not getting updated vitals...once again because trying to start a line -Not doing pulse checks because caught up in watching heart rhythm (until EMT sitting around watching checks a pulse b/c it's one of the few things he can do...whoops PEA) -Not monitoring dressings to see if bleeding has continued/restarted -Trying to get aspirin and intro aboard so fast, they forget O2 Realistically, BLS skills ARE forgotten. But like Dust said, they're forgotten by both EMTs and Paramedics. And they're not necessarily things that should get you thrown of the ambulance. It does make sense though that the larger number of things you have to consider and do, the more likely you'll miss one of them especially if equal emphasis was not spent on it in school. ONE reason I can think of for getting SOME BLS experience in first is that most medic programs aren't designed to guide you through BLS skills as well as ALS, both in didactic and internship.
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