Incomplete training

[tskstorm]

Apparently not, it is still open. Also, I seem to remember reading that Lifeguard is somewhere in Canada.

Well you know I can't close it .. but that was my unofficial closing!

[ERDoc]

As someone who has come late, I'd like to add a few thoughts. If they taught us everything we needed to know to be a doctor while in medical school, medical school would run 20+ years. Part of pursuing a (supposedly) professional education (training?) is the ability to learn on your own. It doesn't sound like this case is a protocol issue as much as a management issue. Let's face it, none of our patients ever follow the protocols. You have to be able to think outside the box. Patients never read the textbook or protocol manual before calling 911. I won't argue whether this pt needed 2, 3 or 100 people to manage but in the field you may not have enough people and will have to manage. To the OP, it sounds like your instructor was trying to give you what he/she could before the strike shut everything down, be thankful he/she cared that much and didn't leave you on your own. It also sounds like the instructor did not know about the "protocol" either so how can you hold him/her accountable. In the end, you are an adult undertaking a professional education and failed. Suck it up and deal with it.

[armymedic571]

As someone who has come late, I'd like to add a few thoughts. If they taught us everything we needed to know to be a doctor while in medical school, medical school would run 20+ years. Part of pursuing a (supposedly) professional education (training?) is the ability to learn on your own. It doesn't sound like this case is a protocol issue as much as a management issue. Let's face it, none of our patients ever follow the protocols. You have to be able to think outside the box. Patients never read the textbook or protocol manual before calling 911. I won't argue whether this pt needed 2, 3 or 100 people to manage but in the field you may not have enough people and will have to manage. To the OP, it sounds like your instructor was trying to give you what he/she could before the strike shut everything down, be thankful he/she cared that much and didn't leave you on your own. It also sounds like the instructor did not know about the "protocol" either so how can you hold him/her accountable. In the end, you are an adult undertaking a professional education and failed. Suck it up and deal with it.

Accountability.......what a concept....

Isn't ironic. Sad but ironic that some people find this a new and unheard of trait.......

Doc, your advice is the type that most people should heed, but probably will not. If you are a Medical Command physician, good for you....

[HellsBells]

Based on the fact that Lifeguard mentions PCP training, an EMR scope, and a strike, I'd say that he is from British Columbia.

I don't really understand the problem with the scenario he is posting here. If the OP would be so kind as to clear things up a little, I'd like to ask a few questions.

First off, did you actually need 3 people to be present in the testing area to perform this task? Or did you have to mention that, theoretically, you'd use 3 people?

Secondly, I don't understand the positioning you're speaking of, why would you hold the pt in a lateral position, manage the airway, then place him back into a prone position? Would it not be feasible to roll the pt directly onto a backboard and manage the airway from there?

Finally, what part of this procedure did the instructor not teach? How much instruction on airway management were you given?

[tskstorm]

Based on the fact that Lifeguard mentions PCP training, an EMR scope, and a strike, I'd say that he is from British Columbia.

I don't really understand the problem with the scenario he is posting here. If the OP would be so kind as to clear things up a little, I'd like to ask a few questions.

First off, did you actually need 3 people to be present in the testing area to perform this task? Or did you have to mention that, theoretically, you'd use 3 people?

Secondly, I don't understand the positioning you're speaking of, why would you hold the pt in a lateral position, manage the airway, then place him back into a prone position? Would it not be feasible to roll the pt directly onto a backboard and manage the airway from there?

Finally, what part of this procedure did the instructor not teach? How much instruction on airway management were you given?

Yet another person with the same answers, and he/she can't be bothered to take the time to read it, or let it sink in.

[MedicAsh]

Isn't it the Paramedic's responisbility to know what the correct protocols are? That is part of the job. In class they teach you how to safely do the skills and treat your patient but it is your responsibility to know when to use those skills and treatments (protocols). We cant be spoon fed everything. There isnt going to be someone out there in the field telling you what to do and how to do it. We have the responsibility to also learn and expand on what is taught in class. This is not a field where you can be babysat. If you did something wrong and failed a skills station, then learn from what you did wrong. Go and research in your book what the "right" thing is. Paramedic instructors can't teach you everything there is to know. There is a lot to learn on your own. That is why we have text books. READ THEM!!!

[tskstorm]

Isn't it the Paramedic's responisbility to know what the correct protocols are? That is part of the job. In class they teach you how to safely do the skills and treat your patient but it is your responsibility to know when to use those skills and treatments (protocols). We cant be spoon fed everything. There isnt going to be someone out there in the field telling you what to do and how to do it. We have the responsibility to also learn and expand on what is taught in class. This is not a field where you can be babysat. If you did something wrong and failed a skills station, then learn from what you did wrong. Go and research in your book what the "right" thing is. Paramedic instructors can't teach you everything there is to know. There is a lot to learn on your own. That is why we have text books. READ THEM!!!

Paramedics job yes, students job not as much.

I can understand being pissed off about not being taught something then being tested on it. However our job is about improvisation, this will develop more in the field then in class.