Basics Doing Advanced Patient Care - Good Or Bad?

[triemal04]

Again I apologize not too familiar with the pacific NW, How is the culture of the FD's up there, and what I mean by that is what is a one year probation like? with fire training and ems training combined.

Couldn't tell you as I haven't worked for every fire department out there. I'm not sure what you mean by combined fire&EMS training. For EMS you will have to learn the system, protocols, equipment etc at each department, and each will have various ways of doing it, as well as different protocols, equipment, etc etc. On the fire side you'll have to learn...well...how to be a firefighter. And each will have various ways of doing that.

If you meant training as in being taught how to be a paramedic by a fire department...not happening cochise. If you missed it, a DEGREE is REQUIRED to be a paramedic in Oregon. I only know of 1 department that will pay for a paramedic's degree. And they don't even transport...go figure. In Washington it's about the same. Tacoma Fire does or did send some of their people through Tacoma Community College to get their paramedic cert, but beyond that I don't know.

Is that what you wanted to know?

[azemtjunkie79]

Leave it to the medics...

[Quakefire]

That should always be the ultimate goal, get the required hours for ACP school... then get at it!

I actually plan on skipping ICP and going right to for full paramedic once I get my hours in. ICP just looks like a lot of money for something i'm going to relearn soon after anyway

[BLS911]

Sorry to revive an old post, but I was doing a search and found this topic... and I'm just blown-away. I can't understand why people would advocate only having paramedic level certifications! Paramedics are great for IFT's, less so for pre-hospital care IMO. And... not wanting to expand basics or intermediate levels. The majority of pre-hospital calls don't require paramedics! Are we in favor of saying that everyone in the hospital needs to be a doctor!? No, ridiculous! Basics - or at least intermediates - since this level requires clinical rounds - should start seeing IM or IN Glucagon, D5 and/or D50, IM or IN Narcan, pain control in the form of Nitrous Oxide, CPAP... glucometry, pulse oxymetry, etc... Mass has already stripped D5W from I's and is on its way getting rid of I's and not adopting the A-EMT standard, which makes me want to move. Everyone is loading their services with Medics needlessly and they're not getting any experience, but have substantially more ability to do harm. I say keep paramedics to a minimum in most urban or suburban 911 systems, they'll do just the calls that require them and keep them very good at what they do. The education needs to be expanded as well as the scope of practice for B's and I's. Or, I's to the as-and classify B's as Inter-Facility Technicians. And, how about doing away with the "Basic" "Intermediate" and "Paramedic" and call them "Paramedic 1" "Paramedic 2" "Paramedic 3"...

I'm just so tired of seeing services employ all ALS and dispatch ALS on every call. I'm think its a detriment to patient care and a waste of money and resources. Our job is not to fix patients, but to treat and transport sick people to the hospital in a timely fashion.

[WolfmanHarris]

Yes most calls do not require ALS skills. All require proper assessment and a good knowledge to realize when they're not needed.

You know what 120 hours gets you in prehospital medicine in the rest of the developed world? Not working in an Ambulance.

You're on the right track to a certain extent, we do need to get rid of all the extra levels, but we don't need rebranding. We need a single four year degree to be a Paramedic and a post-grad diploma to do flight and land CCT.

[ncmedic309]

Paramedics are great for IFT's, less so for pre-hospital care IMO.

You care to elaborate a little more on this statement? Are you suggesting that we take paramedics out of the pre-hospital setting? I'm having trouble understanding your viewpoint. I do agree that a good bit of the care provided by EMS providers in the field is BLS in nature, but you would do the community a great disservice by eliminating paramedic level care to the patients that benefit the most from it - and there are still plenty of them out there. I don't think that we should limit EMT education, but the better goal would be to encourage them to expand their own education and benefit to their patients by seeking a higher level of training and care. What better way to do that than become a paramedic?

[spenac]

I laughed so hard at BLS911's joke I think I need to wear depends before I read it again. How ..........................................

[JPINFV]

I don't get how anyone can think that a 110 hour certification somehow provides better care than someone with 1000 hours of training.

[VentMedic]

I don't get how anyone can think that a 110 hour certification somehow provides better care than someone with 1000 hours of training.

Either it is April's Fools Day or that post is the reason why the EMT-B or "BLS" should be no less than 1 year in length based on a full time college schedule.

spenac, time to change your depends...again.

[WolfmanHarris]

Either it is April's Fools Day or that post is the reason why the EMT-B or "BLS" should be no less than 1 year in length based on a full time college schedule.

spenac, time to change your depends...again.

Vent, JP, does this discussion not seem eerily familiar to you guys? I mean more so than every other time we've gone over this?

I still agree that's a start, but I think the best route is a 3-4 degree as the only level.