Breaking: Hundreds of EMTs, paramedics said to be working with fake credentials

[tskstorm]

Can you imagine? That could wipe out entire services! I wonder how one gets by as a paramedic, for long periods of time, with no education or training at all?

What good are those services really doing? Get rid of them.

[HERBIE1]

Wow. This isn't about one or 2 people scamming, this is HUGE. Fire them all is the answer, but yes, the unions will get involved and they will probably be receiving slaps on the wrist.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Wow. This isn't about one or 2 people scamming, this is HUGE. Fire them all is the answer, but yes, the unions will get involved and they will probably be receiving slaps on the wrist.

There are some on this forum who think that all Firefighters do is sit in their recliners and watch television. They have plenty of time to study the material while watching Dancing with the stars.

[DwayneEMTP]

There are some on this forum who think that all Firefighters do is sit in their recliners and watch television. They have plenty of time to study the material while watching Dancing with the stars.

I'm all for bagging on fire fighters, as they're full grown and can bag on me back. Imply that they have to many fire tattoos, wear too many hero shirts or drive giant 4x4 penis extenders, but to imply that they watch Dancing With The Stars?? Well, that's just low...you should be ashamed of yourself...

Of course, to our brothers and sisters in the fire services, that is meant tongue in cheek.

Dwayne

[Just Plain Ruff]

There are some on this forum who think that all Firefighters do is sit in their recliners and watch television. They have plenty of time to study the material while watching Dancing with the stars.

But seriously, over 200 dumbtards did this, hopefully they all get caught, fired and banned but what will happen is that those working for the private services will get fired outright.

Those that work for non-union public services will also get fired

Those that work for union companies will just be put on the fire truck until they can get their licenses back in good standing.

I wonder how many other states have this as an issue but just haven't had it put out in the open air by the "unbiased media"

I know of several medics who are good friends with ACLS instructors and PALS instructors and have not had to go through a ACLS/PALS refresher class or recert course in 15 years. Their buddy just signs them off. These guys work for a very rural service, running 300 calls a year and they make about 9 per hour. They say they just do not have the money to be able to get to classes or to take time off work.

In the state of missouri we have the ability to get all our ceu's online(except cpr, acls, pals, ITLS). You read an article and take a test, get the credit. Usually each of these articles goes for 2-3 credits or hours. The cost is around 90 bucks for the entire kit and kaboodle.

I did this program for my relicensure 2 years ago and it took me 4 weeks to get all 150 hours. That was allowing for only 12 hours of credit per day taking these tests.

[HERBIE1]

There are some on this forum who think that all Firefighters do is sit in their recliners and watch television. They have plenty of time to study the material while watching Dancing with the stars.

Actually in my station, their most common activity is bickering with each other like a bunch of little old ladies- followed by watching sports in the recliners and on the couches.

But seriously, over 200 dumbtards did this, hopefully they all get caught, fired and banned but what will happen is that those working for the private services will get fired outright.

Those that work for non-union public services will also get fired

Those that work for union companies will just be put on the fire truck until they can get their licenses back in good standing.

I wonder how many other states have this as an issue but just haven't had it put out in the open air by the "unbiased media"

I know of several medics who are good friends with ACLS instructors and PALS instructors and have not had to go through a ACLS/PALS refresher class or recert course in 15 years. Their buddy just signs them off. These guys work for a very rural service, running 300 calls a year and they make about 9 per hour. They say they just do not have the money to be able to get to classes or to take time off work.

In the state of missouri we have the ability to get all our ceu's online(except cpr, acls, pals, ITLS). You read an article and take a test, get the credit. Usually each of these articles goes for 2-3 credits or hours. The cost is around 90 bucks for the entire kit and kaboodle.

I did this program for my relicensure 2 years ago and it took me 4 weeks to get all 150 hours. That was allowing for only 12 hours of credit per day taking these tests.

Well, online education is the wave of the future for universities as well. The only credits we can take online are the required basic NIMS classes.

Around here, there have been severe cutbacks in the personnel at resource hospitals, which means they simply do not have the staff to offer as many con-ed sessions. Additionally, we get paid a flat OT rate for attending off duty classes, and the more on duty training they can do, the cheaper it is on the department. Online training can work for the didactic portions, but what about refreshers for skills not often used? WHat about the introduction of a new med or procedure? How is that handled?

[Just Plain Ruff]

For the new medication or the new procedure how bout this

Some of the best resources are the educators from the drug companies. If your service can partner with a training entity somewhere in your state this is what can be done.

Partner with the training entity to provide the certificates for classes held.

submit the paperwork for let's say the new drug to the training entity.

ASk the drug company to have their drug rep come to your service and do an inservice with your crews.

The training officer for your service should get the drug info in advance so he can make up a 5 question test.

After the inservice, give the participants the quiz.

Submit the records to your training entity and Wham 1-4 hours of classroom hours.

Minimal cost to your service, minimal cost to your employees and everyone is happy.

If you carry 30 drugs on the ambulance then why not provide 5 inservices of 2 hours length that covers 6 drugs each inservice???

On to the procedure or device training. The device companies also have people who can come out and give an hour long talk to the staff on the particular device. Call it a training session on the new device. We had an hour long (lasted 15 mins) inservice on the new EZ IO drill by our training officer.

If your training officer is associated with your training entity, then why can't that person put on a 4 hour inservice a month. That's 48 hours of CEU's a year.

Or why not have him put on 48 hours of classes that will cover what a refresher will cover?

Apart from Online learning, there is a myriad of alternative ways of getting CEU's other than sending your people to classes far away.

All it takes is some creative thinking.

For the volunteer (yeah I said it) agencies out there - hold a fund raiser and use those funds to provide each member (they should be regular active members, not just those who want the hours) with a subscription to one of the online CEU sites.

[HERBIE1]

For the new medication or the new procedure how bout this

Some of the best resources are the educators from the drug companies. If your service can partner with a training entity somewhere in your state this is what can be done.

Partner with the training entity to provide the certificates for classes held.

submit the paperwork for let's say the new drug to the training entity.

ASk the drug company to have their drug rep come to your service and do an inservice with your crews.

The training officer for your service should get the drug info in advance so he can make up a 5 question test.

After the inservice, give the participants the quiz.

Submit the records to your training entity and Wham 1-4 hours of classroom hours.

Minimal cost to your service, minimal cost to your employees and everyone is happy.

If you carry 30 drugs on the ambulance then why not provide 5 inservices of 2 hours length that covers 6 drugs each inservice???

On to the procedure or device training. The device companies also have people who can come out and give an hour long talk to the staff on the particular device. Call it a training session on the new device. We had an hour long (lasted 15 mins) inservice on the new EZ IO drill by our training officer.

If your training officer is associated with your training entity, then why can't that person put on a 4 hour inservice a month. That's 48 hours of CEU's a year.

Or why not have him put on 48 hours of classes that will cover what a refresher will cover?

Apart from Online learning, there is a myriad of alternative ways of getting CEU's other than sending your people to classes far away.

All it takes is some creative thinking.

For the volunteer (yeah I said it) agencies out there - hold a fund raiser and use those funds to provide each member (they should be regular active members, not just those who want the hours) with a subscription to one of the online CEU sites.

Having a drug rep come out sounds great- but entirely impractical for a large and busy department. For us, it takes nearly 6 months just to get everyone recertified in CPR.

When I was working in an ER, we always had company reps coming out and giving training and updates on new devices, equipment, and medications, but that's also only a couple dozen employees, working on 3 different shifts.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Having a drug rep come out sounds great- but entirely impractical for a large and busy department. For us, it takes nearly 6 months just to get everyone recertified in CPR.

When I was working in an ER, we always had company reps coming out and giving training and updates on new devices, equipment, and medications, but that's also only a couple dozen employees, working on 3 different shifts.

I should have prefaced this towards smaller departments. Those with less than say 20-30 people. Those seem to be the services which have the hardest time getting their staff relicensed and educated.

For a big department there should be NO reason why you couldn't get a CEU program up and running with some of your smarter people. But then again, I don't work for a large department so I don't know the pitfalls. Maybe it isn't so easy. But there surely has to be some people who would step up and help out right?

[emtannie]

What I find scary about this is that if it is happening in EMS, where else is it happening in the medical field? Nurses? Doctors? Lab techs? How many medical staff are actually out there with bogus certs?

I agree that all involved should be fired.

I realize that the PR machine of some unions may have the strength to push this under the rug and make their employees out to be the victims, which is very sad. Those employees who chose to not complete their continuing education should not be protected by the union. I do not want those practitioners coming to take care of me or my family members - maybe they should become the personal EMS attendants of the union reps....