Young people in EMS and evidence against it

[Asysin2leads]

I know this has been a topic we've kicked around the office a few times, teens being EMT-B's, 18 year old paramedics, and I've always been of the idea that its not a good idea to have people that young involved in prehospital emergency care. Explorer program, fine, ride along, great, but volunteering as an EMT-B at 16 and being a full, paid paramedic at 18? Just not a good idea in my book, I'm sure there are young people out there that are an exception, but generally speaking, that's where I stand. This link is a thread from a different site, the players are dopy sleepy doc, an 18 year old apparently firefighter and paramedic student. I'm of course my normal, charming, warm hearted self. Read the texts, the back and forth, and see if you don't agree with me that 18 is too young to be a paramedic.

http://www.publicsafetytalk.com/forum/t556-p6-test-help.html

[Ridryder 911]

Looks like rejects from Firehouse... you should join me in there too... at least here on EMT City we agree, IV meds are needed for patients. . Might join the site, to confer kids has no place in professional EMS.

Be safe,

R/R 911

[JakeEMTP]

:shock: Hard to believe she would carry on like that. I suppose she thought it responsible to enter a burning, smoke filled house without SCBA. First thing taught in Basic class was to protect yourself. Yes, the outcome was great THIS time, but what about the next?

I have to agree Asys, this particular person scares me.

[jenniemt]

As a 22 yo medic student I won't really comment on the age thing. I wonder if I'm too young sometimes...

What made me laugh was the fact that she said she "owns her own apartment". Last I checked that was renting. I wonder how she goes to high school, medic school, and works enough to support herself? I work 20 or so hours a week and go to medic school for about 8 hours a week and as many of you have seen (literally on the web cam) I am almost always studying. Whatever floats her boat though, I guess.

[JakeEMTP]

You just might be the exception to the rule though Jenn! :wink:

[DwayneEMTP]

Asys, I can't imagine the young girl in that conversation managing any type of adult responsibility, much less issues involving ethics at the Paramedic level.

That post very much supports your argument.

Dwayne

[hammerpcp]

I think that being a lifeguard at 16 is to young, never mind a paramedic (or emt whatever).

[medic001918]

I'm curious as to how she knew the five year old was going into respiratory failure if the fire was that bad? If the patient was that close to the door that she could see her why didn't he patient just walk out the door? The smoke couldn't have been that bad if she could tell that much about her patients condition. When I was on the FD if I did something like that, the chief would have been more than happy to suspend me and require me to do some additional training about why we don't do things like that before being allowed back inside the building. Sometimes a poor decision has a lucky outcome which sounds like the case this time around.

The other thing I'm curious of is how she's in paramedic school while still in high school? The program I went through has a high school diploma as a prerequisite to enter the program. I thought that was pretty much a standard everywhere, but I could be wrong?

Shane

NREMT-P

[EMS49393]

That whole thing pained me for so many reasons. I'm originally from Maryland, so I know first hand how the system works out there. I have never heard of being in high school while being in paramedic school there. Now, there are several vo-tech programs scattered throughout the high schools that will give a student hazmat ops/FFI/EMT-B. There isn't anything specifically in the rules for having a high school diploma, but of all the ALS programs I'm familiar with there, they require it on an institutional level. I will say that nearly all if not all the "Paramedic" programs are now fully-based college programs. The EMT-I classes are still available at selected fire academy's. So that would mean chickie would be going to high school and taking on a college load concurrently. Not likely. Still in high school at 18? I guess that's alright, but I figured you'd be about out of high school at that age or a few months after. Maryland does NOT let people under 18 participate in ANY ALS clinical rotations or skills.

Honestly, after reading into that post a little, she talked about studying for her IV test. In most jurisdictions in MD, IV Tech is a 24 hour add-on class for the EMT-B, and most EMT-I programs require you have it before you start the class. It leads me to wonder if she is honestly involved in a paramedic class anyway.

You can not live in the Baltimore/DC corridor and work only 20 hours a week unless you have some trust fund somewhere, or live with your parents. The rent starts high in Baltimore, and increases exponentially as you travel down I-95 to the surrounding DC area. Bethesda is also in one of the wealthiest counties in MD. Anyone can do the math on that math.

The mouth on that little girl was by far the most embarrassing part of her posts. I felt ashamed for her. (Insert sarcasm here) All this AP education, college, and full-time job and she can't command the English language well enough to get her point across without resorting to obscenities. My father always told me obscenities were a sign of ignorance, and I can certainly see why he says that after reading that.

Running into a burning house without protection? Oh, no, no. A good indication of maturity is following the first rule of the job, "I'm going home."

After my long-winded explanation about a few things from my home state, I'll conclude with this... Children do not belong in public safety, period. With all the talk of a national scope of practice, perhaps they should standardize the ages as well. If you can't drink a beer (legally ) then you're not old enough to play in this sandbox.

[Guest]

That was just nasty. :shock: