When is a "medic" not a Paramedic, outside the mil

[firedoc5]

Paramedic Specialist

So there are Paramedics and Paramedic Specialists? Why differentiate the two. A Paramedic is a Paramedic, they should already be Specialists...in EMS. IMHO. But I guess that's government for you.

[NREMT-Basic]

Actually, I'm solidly on board with the OP.

Don't want to pay for medics? Simply pay for Intermediates and call them medics, bullshitting the public of course. Not to mention you'll have a waiting list of Intermediates that are willing to work for peanuts so that they can be called medics without having to bother with all that additional schoolin'.

It's ridiculous, dishonest, dangerous, and another thing that's holding EMS back.

Great post.

Dwayne

Not to mention that I know a certain EMT from the Pacific Northwest who used to frequent this forum and perhaps still does under yet another alias, that never got past Basic and even that licensure was dubious at best who always called himself a "medic" and when he got called on it said "the public doesnt know the difference anyway and thats what they call us all."

[NREMT-Basic]

FormerEMSLT, Iowa has the EMT-B, EMT-I, which is basically going through the EMT-B all over again, but adding IV access, and acid base balance into the cirriculum. The clinical/field hours are 120 however, well now they are contact based. The "Iowa Paramedic" is what would be considered the EMT-I99. The "new paramedics" are paramedic specialists. Oh, and don't dare forget the first responder as well.

I am currently what is considered an Iowa EMT-I. Then again the next two days hold my written final and practical final for paramedic (specialst) class. The biggest advantage I have personally seen with the Iowa EMT-I, is that after I was done with the class; I felt much better at pt assessment. Simply because I had (at that time) 120 hours of clinic/field time to do in addition to the class time. Did the acid base balance stuff seem clear as mud? Dang right it did. We also covered, very quickly, and very sparsley, the P QRS T complexes, and what each wave meant. They weren't trying to teach us EKG interpretation, just broadening our horizons a little.

Does our system "work for us"? Yeah I guess you could say it does. I have seen a few times where it was nice to be able to gain IV access to a critically injured or ill patient as we awaited arrival of ALS, or at times, assist ALS with getting a line as they worried about advanced airways, such as in a code. I know, some will say that 120 hours of class and 120 of clinics does not completely or properly introduce a person to A&P, or pathophys, but, in some truly dire situations, a line was accessed early, and it facilitated the care that the paramedic specialist provided. Of course, you first have to worry about the basic stuff.

As for being called a medic? Paramedics are medics, EMT's B's and I's particularly, are just that; EMT's. I never let someone call me a medic, because I wasn't. I still am not a medic, just a tired student praying to get through the next 48 hours in one piece. Personally, I think that when you say medic, people think of you as a person who is trained to give meds and hook up the monitor. They may not know what all the stuff is, but they see it and hear about it, so they expect it. What is a name but a name? Nothing really, but what is important is how others, the public in this case, percieve what is in that name.

Just my few cents worth.

But...to add yet another wrench to the works, the National Standard curriculum of the DOT/NHTSA still uses EMT-Basic, EMT-Intermediate and EMT-Paramedic and EMT-Paramedic is what we use hear in IL an according to my friends and the IDPH, a lot of agencies are soon going to have to change their patches and emblems to reflect that they are all EMTs and then also reflect what "level" of EMT the responder is. Except of course for the MFR, who is, of course, at least in IL, not an EMT at all according to the law.