Ride Along

[azemsdiva]

I agree with arizonaffcep, I have worked with both type's of Medics and granted there are idiots in every profession.. I found from personal experience ( I worked with a medic that went straight into Medic school from EMT) with no field experience, It was like just having some person walk in and get a job "as a medic" Didn't have a clue about ANYTHING! And the way I see it is these are peoples LIVES we are dealing with... so we have little room for error. I personally would rather have a Medic that had experience as a basic before becoming a Medic work on me or my family vs a Medic that has never set foot in a Ambulance before. (1) Because they have already perfected the BLS part and have actually done assessments before. (2) Its easier to focus on the ALS part if you already have the BLS part down. And (3) You have already experienced all the stuff that comes with EMS, The seizing pt, the code that is throwing up all over the place, the combative pt, The irate family members of a domestic assault or the distraught family of a person who passed away.. the list is endless. If you are a brand new Medic that has never even SEEN any of this much less had to HANDLE the scene and treat these people it can be taxing even for a experienced Medic.

I am a firm believer in EMTs needing at LEAST a yr experience in the field (on a busy truck) before going into Medic school.

Question? Would you want a surgeon that was right out of school w/o any OR time or residency time operating on you, or one that has done several surgerys and completed residency?

Not exactly the same... but pretty close... :wink:

[Just Plain Ruff]

I agree with arizonaffcep, I have worked with both type's of Medics and granted there are idiots in every profession.. I found from personal experience ( I worked with a medic that went straight into Medic school from EMT) with no field experience, It was like just having some person walk in and get a job "as a medic" Didn't have a clue about ANYTHING! And the way I see it is these are peoples LIVES we are dealing with... so we have little room for error. I personally would rather have a Medic that had experience as a basic before becoming a Medic work on me or my family vs a Medic that has never set foot in a Ambulance before. (1) Because they have already perfected the BLS part and have actually done assessments before. (2) Its easier to focus on the ALS part if you already have the BLS part down. And (3) You have already experienced all the stuff that comes with EMS, The seizing pt, the code that is throwing up all over the place, the combative pt, The irate family members of a domestic assault or the distraught family of a person who passed away.. the list is endless. If you are a brand new Medic that has never even SEEN any of this much less had to HANDLE the scene and treat these people it can be taxing even for a experienced Medic.

I am a firm believer in EMTs needing at LEAST a yr experience in the field (on a busy truck) before going into Medic school.

Question? Would you want a surgeon that was right out of school w/o any OR time or residency time operating on you, or one that has done several surgerys and completed residency?

Not exactly the same... but pretty close... :wink:

Can you guarantee that they have perfected bls like you posit that they have?

I would have no problem with a brand new medic taking care of me if they had no experience as an emt before going to medic school. I do not think you need a year of emt experience before getting your medic I think that is hogwash.

I also do not believe that being an emt for a year before going to medic school makes a better emt.

Be serious, are you telling me that doing transfers day in and day out that the emt will do a full patient assessment on every single patient just to keep their skills up to date? I think not. Maybe they will do that for the first couple of weeks but when they see the same types of patients day in and day out, those who are just along for the ride to get home from the hospital to the nursing home or their residence you honestly want me to believe that you will do a full complete assessment on every patient each and every time. Balderdash.

By the time you have run 30 or 40 transfers in a week the average Emt will sit back in the jump seat, take one set of vitals and then write their 3 line report. Trust me I've seen it time and time again and this is how it happens.

[azemsdiva]

I'm talking on a combination service that does both 911 and transports, not just transports.

An EMT needs BOTH. And I am talking from experience with both types of medics... Like I said there are idiots in every field, BUT, one gets good with EXPERIENCE and in this case we are talking FIELD experience, sure lots of people are excellent excellent book medics and get thru class A+ students and while yes it takes book smarts, the field is where it really counts.

I am not dismissing the fact that some Medics that go straight from EMT to Medic are good Medics I am sure they are out there, but the fact remains that experience is key to forming a good Medic.

Why do you think the flight companies require 2-3 yrs experience before a Medic can apply?

[Just Plain Ruff]

I think that the flight services experience requirements are based in two fold.

First they want good seasoned medics but I think there is a second aspect that we have to consider and it's not well publicized.

There are so many people wanting to be flight medics that they can use that requirement to keep the applicant numbers down. I think that if you require a set number of experience it will keep those with less experience from applying.

I have a good friend on the helicopter and he says that even if they required 10 years of experience they would still have lots of applicants. His service uses the experience requirement as a partial tool to weed out the applicants.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I'm talking on a combination service that does both 911 and transports, not just transports.

An EMT needs BOTH. And I am talking from experience with both types of medics... Like I said there are idiots in every field, BUT, one gets good with EXPERIENCE and in this case we are talking FIELD experience, sure lots of people are excellent excellent book medics and get thru class A+ students and while yes it takes book smarts, the field is where it really counts.

I am not dismissing the fact that some Medics that go straight from EMT to Medic are good Medics I am sure they are out there, but the fact remains that experience is key to forming a good Medic.

Why do you think the flight companies require 2-3 yrs experience before a Medic can apply?

But we are not talking 911 service here, we are talking about the experience gained from working a non-emergency transfer service. the experience from a 911 service trumps non-emergency transfer services any day. That experience is very valuable.

[spenac]

Here's the one thing that I find interesting about the whole EMT straight to Medic thing...EMS is the only profession that I can think of, where one can go straight from graduating a basic class to a Medic class. I'll give you a for instance...in the fire service, once you graduate the academy, you must "prove" yourself (that you can complete certain basic skills) before they (most departments, most specifically, big departments) will allow the "probie" to move on to advanced things. Same with human development...you need to crawl before you can walk and run. When I teach a medic class, the one thing that gets to me the most is having to re-teach students how to take BASIC VS. Going into a medic class, this should be known. It's a BASIC skill. A medic course only adds tools to the tool box.

My award for stupidest post ever written goes to................................

We are medical professionals not FF's. Medical professionals go straight thru education. They do not stop. EMS is the only medical field that this ideal is ever discussed and it is bull. Get your medical education then get in the field and like doctors do spend time under supervision getting experience.

[reaper]

So it is OK for a new EMT to work on a pt, but not a new medic? I guess most have forgot what is was like as a new medic. I don't care if you had ten years as an EMT, when you hit the street as a new medic you were the same way. When you are in charge for the first time, you will forget all the street experience and be scared ****less.

I would hope that you work for a competent service that doesn't throw it's medics out alone, right away. A new medic with no street time will be better in 6 months, then a new EMT will in 6 months. But, now you will have a decent Medic, in stead of a decent EMT!

[AndyJames87]

My ride along went great just to update you guys lol!

[Just Plain Ruff]

My ride along went great just to update you guys lol!

thats just ducky, what did you gain from this experience? Did it make you decide either which way to go for the job or go back to medic school.

From this experience did you see whether you will get any valuable experience doing transfers on Gramma going from the ER to the nursing home or back to her home or to the doctor's office or do you think it will be just a job.

Hopefully this experience as well as the postings of recommendations will point you in the right direction.

If all you gained was a fun ride along and you take nothing from it you are no closer to where you need to be than you were when you hopped out of your car inthe services parking lot?

I'm curious as to what you think now.

[Arizonaffcep]

My award for stupidest post ever written goes to................................

We are medical professionals not FF's. Medical professionals go straight thru education. They do not stop. EMS is the only medical field that this ideal is ever discussed and it is bull. Get your medical education then get in the field and like doctors do spend time under supervision getting experience.

I appreciate what appears to be an attack. Awsome. Just out of curiosity, are you saying that ff's can't be medical professionals? I know many people who would disagree with that...including myself. I don't believe going straight through is a good thing. I'm not saying you need to be an EMT on the streets for years...just enough to get your feet wet. How many medic students do you know of who have gone straight through, paid for the EMT class (in AZ around $800), paid for their medic class (in AZ around $4,500.00), stepped out onto the street, and said "it's not for me." What a waste of $5k+. Not to include the time and effort by everyone else involved with the training. It just makes for a more well-rounded medic, with a little bit of experience.

In regards to interfacility vs 911 as a newbie, both are without question needed. But interfacility (in my opinion) is the best way to start for previously stated reasons. Ideally, getting on a truck where both are run is best, I would think. It creates a good mix. Besides, you can have some really good conversations with these people (not medically related, but a good conversation is still a good conversation).