Chemistry?

[HERBIE1]

The very basics of everything we do comes down to chemistry. All the medications we give, come down to chemistry. The better understanding of the body, how it functions and what we give to patients, the better we can treat them. If we as paramedics, wish to be considered "competent" among peers such as RNs and MDs, we need to further our education outside of what is "needed" to treat a patient.

Many paramedic courses are very basic, such as everything is integrated into the class and squeezed into a few lectures. A lecture which is usually just read off a powerpoint from which was derived from the bullets in the text book. In my opinion, this is not enough. We want to call ourselves professionals, with minimal training.

If we have better understanding of how the body works, how the medications work, and how they react with the body it's possible to see further advancement in treatments. A lot of providers know what medication to give to what problem, but not many can explain how it works in the body. Why should they expect more options when they can't explain what they have already. (This does not mean ALL providers, just the ones who squeeze by with just what they need to know to get through.)

I took an advanced placement chemistry class in HS. It was very hard, but very informative. I did not take it very seriously though, and I barely passed... somehow. If those who really care about their career, and their patients, they will hopefully take the course, and take it seriously. I for one, would gladly step back into the class room. Mixing misc chemicals is fun right?

I agree with everything you said except about the powerpoint lectures.

For us old old farts, it was slide shows and flip charts. LOL

[FireMedic65]

Better then what my EMT-B classes were like. Literally... some "instructors" read word for word from the text book. YEA THANKS!!! I CAN READ MYSELF!

Chemistry, A&P, Pathophysiology, Pharmacology, Computer/Technology class, and maybe a basic nursing class on patient needs/care should all be required in the paramedic curriculum. Any other course I forgot would probably be welcomed by me as well.

I mention the "nursing" because as paramedics, at least in my program, we were never really taught basic patient needs. Nurses spend a lot of time with their patients, and develop good relationships with them. The calmer the patient, the better. Maybe this isn't a nursing course, maybe it's something different but the name is eluding me at the moment. It was always a problem with me, to how to react with a patient that just needs comfort during transport along with the care you are giving. But that is a different topic all together.

[JPINFV]

THe problem I have with specialty courses is that many times they are not transferrable as college credit outside the program. I spent a year studying to be an Xray tech, and the Radiologic Phsyics class I took was pretty intense, but I received no credit for it when I transferred to a 4 year school.

In other words, if you are going to spend the time studying, making it a legit college level course so you can apply it to any future plans you may have after- or in conjunction with- EMS-ie RN, PT, PA, or even MD. Of course you can tailor it to the EMS field if you so choose, but the fundamental principles are what's important.

To clarify, I was calling a generalized pharmacology a specialty course, not "XXX for health sciences" courses. I'm not even sure my undergrad offered pharm as an undergrad course. On the other hand, from what I've gathered reading this forum for a long time, a lot of the principles in general chemistry and neurobiology are directly related to pharmacology even if not presented as such (e.g. enzymes is fairly analogous to neuroreceptors).

[chbare]

OK then. I agree with the general consensus. I also agree that a for credit course that transfers should be taken.

Let me explain the reaction I received to my experiment. You can most likely guess the outcome? Actually, the outcome was interesting:

As can be expected, I received strange looks as I handed out copies of the periodic table. Even more strange looks when I started with my review of the basic atomic structure and an overview of the periodic table (Atomic Number, Mass Number, Relative Mass, Group/Family, & period). Then, I asked a question about labs. What about sodium, chloride, or calcium? What is a miliequivalent? I explained the concept of a mole and how it relates to the relative atomic mass. Of course, I explained this in regards to the concept of moles versus equivalents and 1000th of an equivalent. It was neat to see people understand for the first time that electrolyte lab values actually relate to a real and understandable number of atoms.

The really neat part occurs next: I then started talking about electrolytes. What is an electrolyte, ion, cation, and anion? I took people on a field trip through the periodic table. First, we looked at sodium. I talked about the octet rule and how atoms want to have 8 electrons in their valence for "stability." So, we dissected sodium. Na--> Alkaline Earth Metal--> Atomic Number 11 ( 11 protons & 11 electrons)--> Period 3 (three energy levels of electrons) --> Group 1A (1 electron in the outer valence). Then, we discussed what happens when sodium becomes an ion within our body. I explained the loss of one electron to satisfy the octet rule, hence the +1 charge. I proceeded to do this with class participation on the popular positive and negative ions, emphasizing the fact that metals loose and non metals gain and the marriage of ions and ionic bonds. After explaining this, one paramedic stood up wide eyed and stated "my God I get, I get it now." Apparently, he had always wondered how ions worked and wondered about the concept of hydrogen and calculating PH, labs, and the actual meaning of the numbers. The insight that he gained that moment was a wonderful thing to experience.

I was able to just brush on the basics of covalent bonds and electron sharing, and the carbon atoms' unique place and relationship with other atoms such as hydrogen. Clearly, important concepts to understand when considering any organic molecule or structure such as benzene rings and hydrocarbons. This clearly applies to pharmacology and human biology at a supra-atomic level.

Therefore, I do think that a chemistry requirement is very important for a variety of reasons. Do this mean I think paramedic students should study the behavior of elementary particles and know how many quarks and their spin level within say a proton, or realize that elementary particles may actually be strings that require 11 dimensions of space time for specific types of vibration? I think not; however, a rudimentary understanding of basic properties of matter at the atomic level may make understanding concepts at the cell, tissue, organ, and organism level much easier and much more complete. All of this is anecdotal and IMHO of course.

Take care,

chbare.

Edit:" y" --> "e"

Edited October 5, 2009 by chbare

[FireMedic65]

I agree with you 100% there chbare. Surely I do not understand/remember most of that stuff. But I would like to. It makes you feel better about what you are doing. Makes you more well rounded provider. Leaves opportunity for you to work out of the ambulance. It makes you look smarter amongst your peers. I always enjoy spouting off junk to people during a conversation when they think I have no clue about it. You gain at lot respect.

I am all for it! I'd take your class for sure!