The CCEMT-P vs the EMT-P

[Just Plain Ruff]

WAIT WAIT WAIT

The quoting is messed up. I am not the one who is asking this question

I'd be curious as to the opinions of the group - brand new paramedic - should they be going out and getting their CCEMTP or wait to get some experience under their belts?

That question was first posed by Runswithneedles. The quotes somewhere along the lines got crossed..

Please refer to the first post of this thread.

[Bieber]

I think anyone striving for more knowledge should be given the chance, Mike.

[Kiwiology]

I have seen several programs around the internet from the US and all seem to be short courses or another alphabet soup addon, Bryan Bledsoe had a rant about them a while ago and included an example of two Paramedics who took said alphabet soup class and started calling themselves CCPs when the state they were in did not recognise that level, from memory only a few states actually recognise the CCP level.

In Canada the National Occupational Competency Profile for Paramedics does include provision for a Critical Care Paramedic but in reality there are only two provinces I know of that actually utilise them; Ontario and BC. The EMTP in Alberta is a mix between an ACP and a CCP. The education is fairly intense, taking experienced ACPs with several years of experience and putting them through another year to two years of college.

New Zealand, Australia and the UK do not have such a level however you could say the AU/NZ Intensive Care Paramedic is in some ways similar to a CCP; certainly the MICA Paramedic (ICP) in Victoria operates at a level closer to a CCP than the traditional ICP, the MICA Flight Paramedic even moreso e.g. monitoring of patients who are on complex pumps, drips, ventilated, ECMO etc

In NZ the transport of such patients is undertaken by the Patient Transfer Service (glorified driver) using the sending hospitals A Zero team (transport/retrieval team)

[chbare]

Actually, the new CCEMTP curriculum is a bit more flexible and if you do some research, it assumes providers have baseline knowledge of chemistry, pharmacology, and anatomy and physiology. In fact, the site licensing process allows teaching sites to make chemistry, pharmacology and anatomy and physiology courses pre-requisites to taking the course. In theory, this could allow a programme to make a comprehensive course that uses the CCEMTP curriculum as a backbone.

My employer is working on obtaining a site license and we are looking at a course that is at a minimum of a semester long that includes a clinical rotation component. This will be in stark contrast to an older, traditional two week course consisting of 80 hours.

[Kiwiology]

Interesting. It sounds like you really work for a great educational institution and I am very happy to see you working to make some basic biomedical science a pre req to any of that patient touching stuff.

Proton? What in the heck are you talking about man that is devil speak just like mitochondrium, sounds almost like some sort of snack food, never mind all of that, where's my suxamethonium gone?

[chbare]

We have significant obstacles; however, I'm optimistic that we are moving in the right direction.

[Kiwiology]

We have significant obstacles; however, I'm optimistic that we are moving in the right direction.

I would be interested in discussing this with you more, do you like Chinese food? I make a mean stir fried rice

I'll be at your house in three days, now, where did I put my pants ...

Edited June 5, 2012 by Kiwiology

[Bieber]

I thought about taking CCEMTP this summer, but I decided to focus on my bachelors instead. From what I've heard from those who have gone through the CCEMTP it's a great course, but I wish we would devote as much energy toward higher level degrees as we do to alphabet classes.

[chbare]

Yeah, I've had to backtrack on the higher level degree issue somewhat after my degree experiences. Unfortunately, more is not always better. At this point, I'd rather focus on a quality associate degree for entry, then perhaps looking at good undergrad degrees. Unfortunately, nearly all of my core undergrad classes have been...well...worthless. I actually got more out of the humanities, public speaking and fine arts classes than the core classes. I'm actually quite disappointed by my experiences and IMHO, found the AAS that I completed in respiratory therapy last year significantly more scientifically rigorous, academically challenging and clinically relevant than the BS that I will have at the end of the summer.

[Bieber]

I agree with focusing on the associates level for now with increased undergrad options, although I'll state that it was the humanities, fine arts, etc classes that I found the most worthless in my educational endeavors so far. I'm immensely thankful to have found an undergrad program that focuses on the meat of healthcare instead of that junk.

Addendum: Not that I don't think that the humanities and fine arts classes are worthless, I've just always resented the idea that someone who otherwise excelled at the core classes could fail to obtain a degree because they couldn't recall who came up with some psychological theory or who painted what picture.