Green and greener

[paramedicmike]

... chalk that up to the centuries (ok probably more like a decade, but Ruff and Mike alone account for a majority of it) of experience on this board.

Are you insinuating I'm old?

[Just Plain Ruff]

insinuating, there's no insinuating about it.

and strictly is strictly a loosely based term based on a lightly defined statement of partially understood definition of truth that underlies everything in the universe from "here hold my beer" all the way from "what happens in vegas stays in vegas" up to "no new taxes" to "I turned over all the pertinent emails and deleted all the others and my husband didn't have sex with that woman" but not to leave out "I retired"

Edited May 14, 2015 by Ruffmeister Paramedic

[scubanurse]

Are you insinuating I'm old?

If the shoe fits We can't all be young guns! I've been in EMS for 10 years this month, yet I'm only 27!

[island emt]

I wonder how many total years of experience actually is found on this board?

I started Sept 1970 with my first working day on an old pontiac high top wagon that was owned by a funeral home and retired 1 January 2014.......

Yes I know that I'm old.

Really Kate: 27,,, I've got shoes older than that

Back to the OP:

I'm one who believes in getting some time under your belt working on the street before spending 10k plus for a degree in Paramedicine.

WHY you ask???

Seen way too many kids spend the money , take the courses and when they get to the job , they find out it's not what they expected and not what they want to do for a career. Once they get past the L&S and the adrenaline rush stage , they end up hating the decision the be a Medic.

[Just Plain Ruff]

I started Sept 1970 with my first working day on an old pontiac high top wagon that was owned by a funeral home and retired 1 January 2014.......

Yes I know that I'm old.

Really Kate: 27,,, I've got shoes older than that

Back to the OP:

I'm one who believes in getting some time under your belt working on the street before spending 10k plus for a degree in Paramedicine.

WHY you ask???

Seen way too many kids spend the money , take the courses and when they get to the job , they find out it's not what they expected and not what they want to do for a career. Once they get past the L&S and the adrenaline rush stage , they end up hating the decision the be a Medic.

But a full year like most are told to get? Surely not!!!!

[ERDoc]

Back to the OP:

I'm one who believes in getting some time under your belt working on the street before spending 10k plus for a degree in Paramedicine.

WHY you ask???

Seen way too many kids spend the money , take the courses and when they get to the job , they find out it's not what they expected and not what they want to do for a career. Once they get past the L&S and the adrenaline rush stage , they end up hating the decision the be a Medic.

But isn't that the way it is with any career that requires a degree or schooling? You don't really know if you like the field until you are done and doing the job. You can like numbers, but once you are an accountant you may hate the job.

[island emt]

my attitude changed back in the late 80's when the degree programs in the community colleges started becoming very popular as compared to the 6 month medic mills.

Had many newb's sent to me for FTO time and some of them were book brilliant , but 'couldn't do simple EMT tasks and skills.

Then there were the brilliant clinical technicians who the first time they encountered a traumatic death , crispy pt or GI bleed ,went off the rails and walked away.

$10 grand & 2 years down the tubes.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Here is what I did. when I was in EMT school, I mentored and became very good friends with a very strong medic. He allowed me to ride with him on every shift he had for the duration of my emt school. i was an observer (in essence but he allowed me to perform as an EMT student). I did everything the emt students were allowed to do.

Codes, extrication, assist IV's, everything.

I realized that this job was for me. I then rode with him almost exclusively at that service for when my medic clinicals occurred. he knew me, I knew him. When you get that level of friendship and understanding I believe you get a better education. hell he even came to my wedding.

I know that not everyone can do what I did but when I became a medic, I allowed students to ride extra with me to decide themselves if they wanted to continue on to medic just like my medic friend did for me.

[island emt]

you were very fortunate to have had that experience Ruff.

Many of the newbs we hired had a "minimal necessary" preceptorship during their clinicals.

Some of them had only ridden third on transport trucks doing the renal shuffle & nursing home two step.

I didn't blame them for their lack of exposure to the real world of 911 service. but due to large class sizes the college could only get so many slots with busy services.

I remember one young lady who was an incredible wealth of knowledge, could name all drugs by type , class and normal usage, could pick right up on a R on T from across the bus, could look at a set of labs and determine all the issues the pt had going on.

She worked with me for a week of normal calls and did excellent. Cardiacs , diabetic emergencies, strokes, abdominal pain all perfect care & diagnosis.

We rolled on a car Vs motorcycle call one evening and I sent her to check on the car occupants while i went to the motorcyclist.

After she cleared the two folks from the car, she came over to see what I needed from the truck.

The rider had above knee bilateral amputations to his legs and as she saw me putting tourniquets on the above knee stumps, she turned green.

Then I tasked her to go & see if she could locate the severed limbs.

She found them and passed out , hitting her head on the pavement and suffering a pretty significant head injury.

When the sheriff showed up , I had him go check on her as I had my hands full with my Pt until a second truck could get to us to take care of her.

We talked later at the hospital and She said I'm done, they never told me we'd have to deal with that kind of call.

We talked for several hours as she was being held for observation and I got the back story of her Paramedic training.

Yep:: she did her clinicals at a transport service where the most severe trauma she'd been exposed to was a LOL in a nursing home with a hip FX.

the boss showed up & we talked with the newb for hours trying to convince her she could do this job.

NOPE she was discharged , came back to the base and turned in her gear .

Never to work in EMS again.

It was our loss as she had so much promise.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Yep it was your loss, someone should have told her that she was going to face those calls and she should never have done all her calls at that one transport service for training. That was a failing of her MEdic clinical training supervisor. But I do hear what you are saying.

That call was one of those calls that I've not even run, but I've run others.

My first baby code, (first day of full time work, had a adult code and a trauma code same day) nearly had me walk off the job but had a great partner who basically took me off the street for 30 minutes for a debrief after the trauma code.

Horrible first day, but it made me a great EMT though.

She should never have been allowed to run all her medic clinicals with that transfer service, her medic program failed her, NOT you!!!