Experience to become a paramedic

[sirduke]

Jesus H Christ, we've beat the hide off this dead horse. Lets move on to another subject as people will NEVER agree on this one.

Personally I think Zero to Hero medics SUCK, but that's just one man's opinion. My experience with them ain't that great.

But, I personally know some EMTs that should have been drowned at birth to save the world from them, they have risen to their own level of incompetence.

But this horse is FREAKIN DEAD, let it be.

[Dustdevil]

Personally I think Zero to Hero medics SUCK, but that's just one man's opinion. My experience with them ain't that great.

That has nothing to do with zero-to-hero. It simply means the schools in your area suck.

[FireMedic65]

I have said it before and I will say it again.

IT DEPENDS ON THE PERSON. You can't teach some people maturity. There are plenty of zero to hero medics out there. There are also Many medics who were basics for years before medics and they blow.

[emsboy_2000]

I whole heartedly disagree with absolutely no experience. Giving yourself some time as an EMT-B will give you a better idea if EMT-P is really what you want. I've met many people, who after acquiring their EMT-B, decided this field was not for them. Granted, most people entering this line of work are pretty sure they're in it for good; however, getting that preliminary experience as a basic is smart. Give yourself the time, I say, and move on gradually -no need to rush. This may not be the case for everyone, but I'm sure there are good reasons as to why most places require you to do it in steps (EMT-B, EMT-I [some places] and EMT-P). If at all possible, give yourself the time to learn, and saturate your neurons with as much as you can. Take it slow, I'm sure you'll be glad you did in the long run. Good luck.

[Dominion300]

I whole heartedly disagree with absolutely no experience. Giving yourself some time as an EMT-B will give you a better idea if EMT-P is really what you want. I've met many people, who after acquiring their EMT-B, decided this field was not for them. Granted, most people entering this line of work are pretty sure they're in it for good; however, getting that preliminary experience as a basic is smart. Give yourself the time, I say, and move on gradually -no need to rush. This may not be the case for everyone, but I'm sure there are good reasons as to why most places require you to do it in steps (EMT-B, EMT-I [some places] and EMT-P). If at all possible, give yourself the time to learn, and saturate your neurons with as much as you can. Take it slow, I'm sure you'll be glad you did in the long run. Good luck.

This is why I believe in a bit more strict and longer basic program (or bypassing the basic completely). In my basic program I was required to complete 100 hours on an ambulance with a MIN 10 contacts. Get your 10 in the first 5 hours, cool, but you still have 95 hours to do. This gives you a bit more time as the basic to get a feel for things. Does it fully prepare you for the real world in EMS, no of course not. BUT it gave us all a good idea of whether or not we'd like the field.

Further to that, my paramedic class required another 125 hours at the beginning riding as a BASIC in which we had more time to determine if we wanted to go further, working only with other medics in fly cars (to ensure that we'd have the most exposure possible). The basic time was for us to evaluate and watch the medic, assist the medic and get a bit of experience into the how things work. It was a useful metric in my opinion, not to evaluate how good you are at basics, but to give you a better glimpse into being a medic, especially if you are inexperienced or have not ever worked with medics before.

Personally I am happy with my decision to go straight into medic classed with minimal experience. I've learned WAY more than I ever did in 6 months in a VERY busy (100k+ runs a year) system. The class takes a very good approach to ddx, and we are required to go through them every day. It's never using the checklist, it's just a think and do type scenario.

Edited May 19, 2009 by Dominion300

[tskstorm]

Why not just read the other 219038129038 threads with this discussion ... and see we always get no where...

[Dustdevil]

I whole heartedly disagree with absolutely no experience. Giving yourself some time as an EMT-B will give you a better idea if EMT-P is really what you want. I've met many people, who after acquiring their EMT-B, decided this field was not for them.

EMT and Paramedic are such drastically different jobs that this is not really a logical conclusion. That's like saying you can tell that, because you don't like being a carpenter, that engineering isn't for you. It just doesn't work that way. The only thing you can decide by being an EMT is whether or not you want to be an EMT.

Being a Paramedic is a completely different job, so one does not translate to the other. Hell, I decided after becoming an EMT that I didn't want to be one either. It sucks. That's why I became a Paramedic. Things get better as you move up the food chain, not worse.

[WolfmanHarris]

So would it be best to rethink the education so that the experience gained at a BLS level is actually relevant for the eventual ALS provider? Ensure that BLS education is longer, covers A&P, pharm, patho.

[tskstorm]

So would it be best to rethink the education so that the experience gained at a BLS level is actually relevant for the eventual ALS provider? Ensure that BLS education is longer, covers A&P, pharm, patho.

Of course it would, it is always a benefit to increase the minimum education level, but the reality is how would you propose to get that to be the standard?

Even if that is the standard still can't be certain that would help the experience vs. immediate medic class.

[WolfmanHarris]

Of course it would, it is always a benefit to increase the minimum education level, but the reality is how would you propose to get that to be the standard?

Even if that is the standard still can't be certain that would help the experience vs. immediate medic class.

I'd imagine you'd need a strong state EMS authority to set standards and to increase the minimum. It wasn't that long ago that BLS education in Ontario went from one to two years in the length. The main impetus for this was the inclusion in 1996 of SAED and symptom relief (ASA, NTG, Glucagon, glucose, epi and ventolin) to the BLS scope. After a few years of it being essentially in-service training it was moved from the services to the colleges and at that time the province changed the length of the program to not only reflect these skills (which realistically isn't a full year's worth as written) but an increased depth of knowledge of A&P, patho and the like. The timing of this was around the same time that the province downloaded operation and funding for EMS to the upper tier municipalities so it can be hard to draw a clear correlation between it and the other many changes in EMS in Ontario, however, after this Ontario saw a drastic increase in wages. We now make an income comparable to RN's in many specialties.