NEWLY CERTIFIED EMT BASIC!

[Dustdevil]

On the other side, it has to be a stepping stone. All paramedics were a basic at one time.

It doesn't have to be. It just currently is. That's because the system was thrown together piece-mail without any real plan in the 1970s. Kind of like adding rooms onto your decrepit mobile home every few years instead of just building a nice house from the foundation up in the beginning. We don't have to accept that ghetto approach forever. We can and will change the system.

Dust, what are your opinions on part time and PRN work, if it is paid? I know you are against volunteering, but I am curious about that, I don't think I have seen you mention it.

No problems with part-time work. Tis what one must do in order to feed a family these days. My only concern is that they devote full-time to education to stay current. But there are just as many full-timers guilty of not doing that as there are part-timers.

If you want EMS as a career, think hard about it. Get some experience as a basic, learn how to take a good history. Its the best thing you can do as an EMT-B. You are the researcher for the medic. Nothing more, nothing less. Can you take that BP under any condition? Can you communicate with the 80 year old stroke pt who never got full speech back?

If so, then go on to become that paramedic. If not, keep working until you can.

You make a good point that perhaps I miss when I tell basics not to waste a lot of time before moving on to paramedic school. I say that because, if you have the drive and aptitude for medicine, then you will do well in paramedic school without basic experience, and even excel. There is no doubt about it. But let's face it, there are a LOT of people coming into EMS who simply do not have the drive or the aptitude for advanced practice. Those people could benefit by taking time as a basic to realise, "Hey... this stuff just ain't coming to me as quickly as it should." and reconsider if they are really cut out for being a paramedic. That's a sound theory on paper, but in practice it doesn't work out for multiple reasons. Some of those reasons include:

• 1. Some bad basics go in thinking "I don't get it in the field, but paramedic school will teach me to get it!" Obviously, that doesn't work out.

2. Some basics don't even realise they don't get it.

3. Some basics get it, but lack the aptitude to get it at an advanced level.

4. Some basics don't get it in the field because they had crap basic training and crap field training, but excel once they get into a real educational system.

• So really, your impressions from field time as a basic have only a small chance of accurately predicting your success as a medic. And that chance is dependent upon your ability to honestly assess your own aptitude and potential. Not a lot of that going around.

So again, I believe the only real value to spending extended time as a basic before moving on to paramedic school is that it gives you enough time for the thrill to wear off and you to truly understand that it isn't as glamourous as you thought it was so you can decide if this low-paying labour gig is really what you want to do with your life.

[brentoli]

Mark this date in history... Not only did Dust agree with me, but I made him think at that. Only took >160 posts to do it

Lub ya buddy!