If you could change one thing about EMS what would it be?

[joesph]

Park your ego at the door and remember who we are there for.

[Dustdevil]

Park your ego at the door and remember who we are there for.

Was that directed at anyone in particular, or is it the "one thing" you would change about EMS?

[afib]

ok yes this subject and similiar subjects got hacked to death a while back to the point of near violence, this will be death of us.......we need to get away from fire.............we all need to be fire.....................loose the attitudes.................more money.............national unity of one way to operate and treat........ok fine yea yeah yeah.

look we cant bitch at each other that gets us nowhere.

WE NEED TO LET THE POLITICIANS KNOW WE ARE TIRED BROKE PISSED UPSET AND SICK OF ALL THIS NONSENSE.

unless one of you have a better realistic idea...........REALISTIC IDEA...ONE WITH REALITY THAT WILL WORK. no bitching amongs each other what will work that all parties will like......im not a politician i hate politics but they are the ones controlling things like insurance reimbursements and all that

anyone have a purposal ????

[krumel]

Only one wish?

Hmmm..Got so many...

What about getting all those unprofessionell idiots, "siren addicted" dorks kicked out that ruin the reputation of EMS?

What about an standardization of the training within the E.U. and the US?

What about sufficient money for all of us?

[RatPack]

"Siren addicted dorks" In my area police officers are required to hold a bachelors degree to even apply. Guess what, the siren addicts on power trips still exist.

[Dustdevil]

"Siren addicted dorks" In my area police officers are required to hold a bachelors degree to even apply. Guess what, the siren addicts on power trips still exist.

Nice rant, but totally irrelevant to Krumel's point. He said to kick the siren addicted dorks out. He didn't say anything about education keeping them from coming in in the first place. However, while they still exist, you cannot intelligently argue that higher educational standards do not significantly reduce those numbers.

[cdcmj]

Dust, glad to see somebody else agrees with the notion that when you fix education, you fix alot of other things as well. HIGH Educational standards= a profession= a lot of the issues being talked about in this thread being resolved as a consequence of the one change.

[wrmedic82]

ok yes this subject and similiar subjects got hacked to death a while back to the point of near violence, this will be death of us.......we need to get away from fire.............we all need to be fire.....................loose the attitudes.................more money.............national unity of one way to operate and treat........ok fine yea yeah yeah.

look we cant bitch at each other that gets us nowhere.

WE NEED TO LET THE POLITICIANS KNOW WE ARE TIRED BROKE PISSED UPSET AND SICK OF ALL THIS NONSENSE.

unless one of you have a better realistic idea...........REALISTIC IDEA...ONE WITH REALITY THAT WILL WORK. no bitching amongs each other what will work that all parties will like......im not a politician i hate politics but they are the ones controlling things like insurance reimbursements and all that

anyone have a purposal ????

What I tell everyone who bitches about fire/ems. Its not the service, its the attitude of the provider. If the medics attitude is not towards the well-being of the patient, patient care ultimately suffers. This can also be seen in private ambulance services as well.

I know in the state of Texas, Firefighters are only required 20 hrs CE per year to renew certification. It also is the firefighter's responsibility to maintain their EMS cert. (72 hrs EMTB, 104 hrs EMTI, 142 EMTP). I do agree that more focus should be on education per year vs every 4 years. I am also for 1 uniform certification for all EMS providers. I am also for designated drivers trained only to drive the ambulance to and from calls. I also think there should be legislation on the books that give certain criteria for lawsuits concerning health care providers. (not just EMS). I also think there should be a law making it a class B misdemeanor for abuse of the 911 system.

I have cast my 2 cents there.

take care, be safe.

[Dustdevil]

All great points, WR! I have often thought of having basically a designated driver certification, which would train drivers specifically for EMS driving, and in much greater depth than is taught in current EVOC classes. This would certainly improve our safety, and the safety of the public and our patients. Of course, the vollies won't be happy with their drivers needing as much or more training than their EMTs, lol. After all, the whole reason they want a driver cert is so people don't have to get a whole 110 hours of EMT training.

I have also long been on board with one EMS cert level, eliminating anything less than a full, degreed paramedic. Of course, there should be specific programmes set up for first responders, who should revamp the current EMT-B programme to meet their needs, replacing the ambulance specific material with more relevant items like extrication. But first responders are not EMS and need not be under the direction of the paramedic licensing boards. Let the fire commission regulate them. Same thing with non-emergency transfer jocks. I don't see any need for them to be certified in anything more than CPR, personally. Let the taxi and limousine (or in Texas, the Railroad Commission) regulate them, removing the burden from the health department.

[cdcmj]

Agreed once again Dust. I am actually working on getting aboard an initiative out here in Pittsburgh to propose an out of hospital practitioner professional title, educated to the level of a PA with emphasis on the out of hospital delivery of medical care. This also entails all facets of healthcare, not just the 5% true emergency calls that we all generally deal with.