Young Paramedics

[bball160]

true, i understand im not as educated and i do not have as much experience as alot of you but im a young EMT with some experience. I believe i do have a right to give an opinion. I didnt know the people on here were so strict

[ambodriver]

EMT? I thought this tread was abut medics, any monkey can be an EMT, hell most monkeys can be medics too..but can they be a good one? A solid education can help this but isn't 100% neccesary. Especially the way EMS is setup today.

lol what i was trying to say is that being an EMT-B for just a year and then becoming a paramedic just is not enough experience on the basic level. I had a very intelligent instructor tell me a good paramedic comes from a good EMT.

People say a lot of shit in EMS and the above quote doesn't really say much. Experience is experience, a year on a private as a B won't teach you shit. I did that for a year and took medic and now work 911. How are you going to tell us how to be a good medic when you aren't even a medic. That's baloney. Good medics are made by being articulate, curious, hard-studying, critical thinking and a lot of common sense. Skills are learned and practiced but theory and medicine are studied, learned and applied. Any amount of experience as a basic MIGHT help you learn some cheesey skills like backboarding and obtaining V/S, but the power of the Paramedic lies in advanced assessment and understand of the physiological aspects of emergency medicine, not being a tech monkey.

Edited March 15, 2009 by ambodriver

[CBEMT]

true, i understand im not as educated and i do not have as much experience as alot of you but im a young EMT with some experience. I believe i do have a right to give an opinion. I didnt know the people on here were so strict

If you stop spouting off about things beyond your training and experience and pay attention, you might learn something.

Other than that, you're asking for a world of hurt. You could be like many before you and storm off in a huff to someplace like EMTLife where your opinions are celebrated, but you'd still be the same young, inexperienced, under-educated, "because my instructor said so" that you are now.

[krumel]

@Dust:

The Discussion came up a few (2 or so) years ago...

I will look it up in my companies libary next week..

Don't know if it's even available in the web...

But I look if I can find anything.

(and BTW: I'm swiss... And jewish...So nothing about the master race;) )

[CaliMedic209]

im 21 years old and have been a paramedic for a year.. i think one issue that hasn't been addressed (that ive seen) is the area that the "one year minimum" as an emt is served. i work in an urban area and i strongly feel that working here is comparable to working 5 years somewhere else. age=nothing, maturity/eductaion/COMMON SENSE=everything.

[Emtgirl101]

Getting a paramedics at 18 or 19 would be pretty hard to do in new york state (where i live) .... and Is almost un heard of in alot of states because. Emt basic maybe but not paramedic most paramedic programs require 2 -4 years of schooling depening on how you go about getting it so highily doubt kids at 18 or 19 are full fledged paramedics they can however be emts basic and perhaps EMT-I , bUT ITS USUALLY 17 WHEN kid graduates high school unless they started kindergarden late or failed a few time, usually kids have been in college 1 or 2 years at age 18 -19 I was already a nurses aide and a emt basic at 19 so to be basic it can be done. and I graduated high shcool when I was 17. and I WAS living on my own had a car , apartment good job at the nursing home and vol at the fire hall. It was hard work but it can be done if your heart is in it fully.

-heather-

[celticcare]

Firstly Dust, I have to hand it to you mate, I had an inkling you were going to actually go down the path of **** young paramedics blah blah, but you came in batting for the younger ones of us out there.

Education of young in general today, is ten times different to education of our same age group set 10/20 years ago. What was classed as higher education then, is high school education now *DNA, biology to a cellular level, digital technology etc*. Advanced skills are now intermediate or basic now *LMA, defibrillation, ecg interpretation, 12 lead acquisition*

In an age we are in now, technology and science are around us, now there will be 1 good paramedic *and I say paramedic as any knuckle dragger can be an EMT plain and simple* and 1 bad one in amongst that young lot graduating... and there will be one who will have a moment when they are at a trauma, that is WHY it is important for double crewing and support and mentoring.

Krumel, if you have that article, I would love to read it as I believe the stepping ladder program was just set up to protect the old timers who still sit on the top of their mountains. We have the paramedic degree programs here, where students need hundreds and hundreds of hours of road time including shifts with very very experienced advanced paramedics and also hospital rotations etc. Now the service doesn't feel these people should be allowed to practice when they graduate at the skill level they have been trained for. They do a degree and do all the skills of an advanced paramedic (EMT-P) during that time, have to perform hundreds of IV's, drop so many tubes, defibrilate many others and still be able to recite their medications, science and anatomy and rationales for everything. They have an indepth knowledge of anatomy, skills to do the tasks and the ambulance services will only give them EMT-B to practice at. To me that is an insult, some young excellent paramedics, and they have to go to the bottom of the pile, why because some paramedics have this mental attitude, that working for a few years as a basic makes you a better paramedic. No it doesnt, as was pointed out previously, it teaches you shortcuts, how to tie someone to a board and get some vitals, it does not teach you how to be a paramedic and use paramedic skills. I feel sorry for the paramedic graduates to be honest, hard work, thousands of dollars and passing the same skill stations etc as their "in house" trained collegues, for what, to be told "oh sorry you are only able to work as a basic, we taught you all these things now you wont get to use them, get rusty at them and then when it comes to reval for them and apply to other positions, you wont meet the grade".

Face it, younger people are getting into industries, purely because the general information and knowledge is out there, yes there are some idiots out there, but I'll show you just as many useless and idiot 50 year olds as there are 19 year olds.

Bball........ if you're a newbie, I do suggest you dont argue with the big boys, take it as a friendly hint

Stay safe

Scotty

[ERDoc]

Getting a paramedics at 18 or 19 would be pretty hard to do in new york state (where i live) .... and Is almost un heard of in alot of states because. Emt basic maybe but not paramedic most paramedic programs require 2 -4 years of schooling depening on how you go about getting it so highily doubt kids at 18 or 19 are full fledged paramedics they can however be emts basic and perhaps EMT-I , bUT ITS USUALLY 17 WHEN kid graduates high school unless they started kindergarden late or failed a few time, usually kids have been in college 1 or 2 years at age 18 -19 I was already a nurses aide and a emt basic at 19 so to be basic it can be done. and I graduated high shcool when I was 17. and I WAS living on my own had a car , apartment good job at the nursing home and vol at the fire hall. It was hard work but it can be done if your heart is in it fully.

-heather-

I'd have to disagree somewhat with your statement about NYS (although I don't know which part you live in, my experience comes from Long Island). You can take the EMT exam on your 18th birthday (you can be 17 while in the class). The local paramedic program at the state university only required you to be an EMT with some experience (though no requirement for how much). This means you could be in the class and done by 19. Luckily the program was pretty competitive and the admissions bar was usually a bit higher. The program was about a year long with required ride along time in NYC.

As for age, I don't have a minimum other than 18. However, I also believe EMS should be a college level program (which means being at least 20-22 before you are doing it on your own). If you can't handle college level work you have no right taking care of patients. I still don't get the whole thing about having a year or whatever of basic experience before going for your paramedic. Your patients are being deprived of the proper level of provider for a year. I've said it before, let's forget about the whole ALS vs BLS foolishness and work on prehospital MEDICAL care.

Edited March 16, 2009 by ERDoc

[Jeepluv77]

It's interesting for me watching this unfold. I'm 26 so I don't really fall into the "younger paramedic" grouping. But the topic of how much time should be taken as an emt-b before starting paramedic school was touched on earlier. Any chance of getting some more input on that? I started my schooling last August and got my emt-b in Dec 2008. January 12th is started als. I've been thinking of stopping at intermediate for awhile and returning to school when life calms down a little. Also, I'm just not sure I'm ready to have that type of responsibility on my hands knowledge wise. I want to know for a fact that I know what I'm doing inside and out before I start doling out orders to everyone else, even if that means I spend a year to two running as an intermediate and taking orders. However, a lot of my proctors have said this is not a good idea and to go straight through. The best response I've gotten as to why is because if I'm out more than a semester I have to repeat all my clinicals from this semester and last. Which I really wouldn't mind. I already think the 32 hours this semester and 98 hours next semester(for intermediate level) is not nearly enough. At least not for me, as I am in no rush to have someone's life solely in my hands until I've had plenty of time working under the guidance of others. Any thoughts?

[FL_Medic]

I am currently 25 years old.

I was 18 when I graduated from Fire Academy and EMT school. 21 when I got my paramedic cert. I have been working for 4 years. Only the last 3 years as a released medic with my service.

Every year I grow, as a person and provider, I feel like I didn't know anything the year before. I lost my ego(well most of it) on my first call on my own (see "pucker up" post). I can't stand cocky new medics or students because of my own progression. I hate that I was like that, and know why I was told I didn't know anything. Experience is invaluable.

I still catch the "young medic" statements, and it doesn't bother me as much now because they are right. I am young at this job and will probably learn something new everyday. On the other hand, I know I am more educated, and have better bedside manor than some of the burn outs here. Maybe there should be a maximum age, if we are going to set a minimum.