Illinois and NREMT Testing

[Dustdevil]

That is exactly what I was trying to avoid. Thanks for the cut downs.

They were cut downs only if the scenario applied to you. I was truly hoping that they did not apply to you. But yeah... if you are indeed that dangerous person I was talking about, then so be it.

That comes to additional 2500.00 per person that rural squads and our local departments are having a hard time coughing up. That's all.

Then they aren't trying hard enough. No sympathy.

It's not three months, it's a calendar year in class with six months of that being what they had in the EMT-I course. The clinical time has to be re-done as well.

Amd you're telling me they don't need that review? They wouldn't benefit? They already know EVERYTHING that is taught at the EMT-I level?

Now you work full-time, go to class two nights a week, do 30-40 hours of clinical time a week and your told to do it again.

Boo hoo. It's a profession, not a hobby. Give it 100 percent or get out. We don't owe anybody a certification or a job. You have to earn them. It's too damn easy to do today as it is. It is simply impossible to sympathise with anybody who isn't willing to do everything they can do to be everything they can be. And if you do anything less, you are not worthy of the profession.

Let me ask you this, you have your nursing degree, what if you wanted your masters and you were told that your bachelors wasn't good enough and to start over at the CNA class.

Invalid analogy. CNA is not a part of nursing education to begin with. And that is exactly the problem with such a disjointed paramedic education model. You're given three pieces of the puzzle, which don't even fit together properly, and expected to make a full picture from it. It is a horrible way to "educate" people who are utilising advanced and invasive medical procedures on the sickest and most unstable human beings in society.

I've been through EMT-B three times. I've been through full paramedic school twice. I didn't whine when, after four years as a military medic, I had to go take EMT school. I embraced it. All $500 dollars worth of it. When I let my paramedic cert lapse for a couple of years, I didn't whine about having to retake it. I embraced it. All $3k of it. And I learned things I didn't know and I became a better medic for it. And to address your analogy, when I chose to become a nurse, I didn't whine about how with 21 years as a medic I shouldn't have to go take classes over things I already knew. I embraced it. All four years of it. I learned things I didn't know before, and I became a better nurse and a better medic for it.

Am I that much better than you? Am I that much more professional than you? Am I that much more devoted to the profession than you? I'm not judging you. As I said, I don't know you. You have to judge yourself. Honestly. Are you as committed and devoted to the profession as I am?

Why re-invent the wheel if someone has already done it?

Are you honestly not getting it? Perhaps someone else here who you perceive as less hostile can explain it to you.

Why the hostility?

Because this is my profession. I am not a hobbyist or an EMS tourist. This has been my life for thirty-three years. I have given blood sweat and tears to this profession that you can never imagine. When you cheapen my profession, you cheapen my life. That is personal. When you get personal with somebody, hostility is to be expected. It does not compare to the hostility you will receive the day you show up to work on my mother, my wife, or my children and don't know WTF you are doing because you "don't need all that book learnin."

[Tracyd1]

The sad thing here is that you are saying alot of things I agree with. I too am passionate about this field and have all of the respect in the world for all of the work it involves. I too am scared of people who think they know everything and get pissed off when they give the attitude that they don't need "more book learnin". I am in the middle of a situation and I don't know what to do. I'm sorry about the CNA thing, in this system that is where nursing starts is at the CNA level. I'm just trying to make you understand that I didn't enter this post for a war of words, I entered this for ideas from people in this line of work who may have already been down this road. That's all!

[Asysin2leads]

Tracy, if you are really serious abotu doing your medic, repeating 30-40 hours of clinical time is a drop in the bucket. Yeah, its sucks to have to redo something you've already done, but to get my medic, I had to sit for two different state EMT-B tests, and now if I want to go anywhere else, I have to retest with the National Registry despite holding a degree in paramedicine.

This is also why I suggest to anyone who is serious about working as a paramedic to forgo all the in between steps and get your medic as soon as possible.

[Tracyd1]

I've been a medic for 15 years. I was trying to help people advance their education since I am an educator.

[DwayneEMTP]

Hey Tracyd1

I also didn't get from your posts that you're a medic.

I know sometimes, like now, it can feel like pulling teeth trying to get the info you asked for...but if not here, where?

Hang in there...But I think what most are saying is that if you're an intermediate where you live....it's time to start turning lemons into lemonade...

Have a great day!

Dwayne

[Dustdevil]

Ahh... this is becoming a bit clearer now. I never knew whether or not this scenario applied to you personally or not, which is why I said I didn't know enough to judge you. From what you wrote, it was not clear. But when you accused me of cutting you down, you seemed to be saying that you were the EMT-I in question.

The sad thing here is that you are saying alot of things I agree with. I too am passionate about this field and have all of the respect in the world for all of the work it involves. I too am scared of people who think they know everything and get pissed off when they give the attitude that they don't need "more book learnin".

I appreciate that. But it seems as if you are sacrificing the above principles for the expediency of letting a few people call themselves paramedics. Why would you do that? How can you hold to the above principles, yet at the same time basically tell people they already know everything they need to know and don't need a review to become the best medic they can be?

I am in the middle of a situation and I don't know what to do.

Can you clarify exactly what your dilemma is? What keeps you from simply telling people, "Hey, if you want to be a paramedic, you need to go to paramedic school"? Why would that be a hard thing to do? What option would you prefer?

I'm sorry about the CNA thing, in this system that is where nursing starts is at the CNA level.

No, it is not. Nursing starts in nursing school. Nursing isn't a tiered system like EMS. I don't know where you heard that, but you heard wrong. I dated an Illinois RN for a year, and I know for a fact that she did not go to CNA school before entering the university nursing school at age 17.

I'm just trying to make you understand that I didn't enter this post for a war of words, I entered this for ideas from people in this line of work who may have already been down this road. That's all!

And you came to the right place for that. I apologise that I and others apparently did not fully understand the scenario that you were presenting. This happens to all of us on the Internet. This is the cause of the war of words, since apparently we are thinking alike, regarding the big picture.

[NREMT-Basic]

Dust-

Having investigated nursing school before going the emt route, I can state without question that the requirements for nursing in the State of Illinois require one to have a CNA certificate before proceeding to nursing school. While nursing may not be a tiered system like ems, CNA certification is a pre-req for being accepted to nursing school in this State.

[akflightmedic]

WOw, that is the most bass ackwards thing I have heard in quite some time.

What is the point in requiring one to be a CNA before being a nurse. That makes absolutely no sense at all.

How does being a CNA ensure success or anything for that matter to the student of nursing. SO they know how to get vitals, wipes ass, and make beds...whoopee doo...

Especially for all the people that are going the BSN route. They have 4 years of school ahead of them and the scool is going to require them to get a CERTIFICATE that takes anywhere from 6-12 weeks(depending on the area) before enrolling...???

Are they going to require work experience as well to be in the program.

That is just dumb. That is like requiring a doc to be a med asst first.

[akflightmedic]

Ok I feel better now.

I did my own homework because I just could not believe any state would have such a requirement.

I went to this list of nursing schools in IL and after clicking on many different ones, I have come to the conclusion that you are severly misinformed. None of the ones I saw had CNA listed as a pre requisite for admission...

http://www.nursingprogramsonline.com/nursi...ls/illinois.htm

ignore the "online" in the llink, this list is of traditional schools

[AZCEP]

Quote:

Now you work full-time, go to class two nights a week, do 30-40 hours of clinical time a week and your told to do it again.

This is the very problem of most going into a full paramedic class. They have no earthly concept of what they have signed on for. Even with the warnings, the inexperienced come in thinking it won't be very hard. Then they try to use the analogy of previous standards to the current one.

It's a profession, not a hobby. Give it 100 percent or get out. We don't owe anybody a certification or a job. You have to earn them. It's too damn easy to do today as it is. It is simply impossible to sympathise with anybody who isn't willing to do everything they can do to be everything they can be. And if you do anything less, you are not worthy of the profession.

This is great. I applaud you, yet again, Dust for trying to snap some reality into the situation. As a provider that has been around a couple of blocks, I have to know that others on my scenes know what I do. The fact that I'm never far from some reference material aside, if you want to act like a paramedic, then you better know what every other paramedic knows.

I don't think the CNA analogy is entirely inappropriate. Many places still force people to be certified as EMT's before allowing them to enter paramedic school. Get your feet wet, come back in a couple years, and we will see what you have learned before we allow you all of the "cool" stuff.