studentemt Posted March 8, 2006 Author Posted March 8, 2006 EMS-cat- I'm taking the course in another county b/c my county does not offer it right now. The instructor mentioned that they got the clinical time waived. I'm planning on asking them and the state OEMS about it.
Ridryder 911 Posted March 8, 2006 Posted March 8, 2006 I would be very cautious of taking any EMT courses then in that state. I doubt any other state will or should recognize their certification or license. If no clinicals area required they have deviated from the national curriculum, and have decided to to have substandard programs. R/R 911
AnatomyChick Posted March 8, 2006 Posted March 8, 2006 I completely agree with Rid. If you're not being required at the minimum and encouraged at the maximum to get in as many clinical hours as you can... then there's a problem. It sounds like you're already in the program though, so your best bet is to check with the State Bureau / Dept. / Unit of EMS and get the scoop. I know that it's hard to believe :shock: but 'some' instructors are not above lying, especially when it fits their purpose... if you have questions, always ask.. and ALWAYS contact your local EMS office. I require my students to complete 90 hours of clinicals, so, doing none, seems a unbelievable to me. Just my .02 cents.
Just Plain Ruff Posted March 8, 2006 Posted March 8, 2006 I cannot believe the state EMS burueau granted a waiver on clinical time. Be wary of these claims. If they are false and you pass the class and get your license the state may do a audit and require you to go back and do clinical time. The state may also take a look at your paperwork and say, where's your clinical hours checklists? "What do you mean you didn't do any" "Go back and find a service to ride with and come back when you get those hours done" When you are thinking you are done, you might just not be. Call the state and ask for confirmation and if they say yes we granted them a waiver then ask the tough question, why did you grant them a waiver that deviated from the National Standard? I know that in my paramedic class we were given a credit for working for a service with a certain number of calls above 10000 calls a year. They called it work experience. Made a lot of people angry in the class that they had to do more since they worked for rural services running 300 or so calls a year. I for one spent every day not in class either in the hospital or on the Ambulance. I had more than a thousand hours in the hospital total and more than 500 hours in the ambulance. I rode with one medic mainly at a very busy service and he taught me so much. Good luck on this I hope you get the answers you are looking for.
studentemt Posted March 8, 2006 Author Posted March 8, 2006 "In extreme cases, when students are not able to obtain experiences in a clinical or field setting, it may be necessary to utilize programmed patients. All variances must be approved by the state EMS office or licensing agency." I found this on the NHTSA site, so there are exceptions. I still plan on asking about it, though.
Ridryder 911 Posted March 8, 2006 Posted March 8, 2006 True, but this is considering that there is no clinical site... i.e intubations, etc.. not clinicals in general. I know that if you do not have clinical time, you may not be able to get reprecocity to any other state. Be safe, R/R 911
JakeEMTP Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 "In extreme cases, when students are not able to obtain experiences in a clinical or field setting, it may be necessary to utilize programmed patients. All variances must be approved by the state EMS office or licensing agency." I found this on the NHTSA site, so there are exceptions. I still plan on asking about it, though. This situation isn't extreme though. They just plain don't want to do it because they are too busy, or there are too many students. I can only imagine if it was a nursing program, would they have time? Would the docklings following the attending around have their time cut short? Of course not. Here again we see a shining example of EMS taking it in the rear.
Ridryder 911 Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Actually, this is a prime example why our EMS is considered training like in 1'st Aid. Excuses and laziness of EMS and their by-products. Even nursing homes nurses aides get clinical time....Wow that says a lot about our profession! R/R 911
Dustdevil Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 Meh... even those basic programs that do give you ride time give you so little that it really isn't of any significant value to you. Unless the the EMT basic program is significantly expanded, both classroom and clinical, then it is really a joke to quibble over a couple of rideouts. What is the difference between a basic with four ambo shifts and one without? Four ambo shifts. Big deal. :roll: I'd much rather have a student who soaked up his lecture and lab like a sponge than one who had a month of rideouts. I can teach any partner to take a BP and make-up a cot in one shift. But I can't teach him all the stuff he should have learned in lecture and lab. I've said it once, and I'll say it again. Experience is extremely overrated. In fact, it's a joke.
JakeEMTP Posted March 9, 2006 Posted March 9, 2006 I agree Dust, but don't you think propective EMT's should at least see the inside of an ambulance? :wink:
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