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I think Dwayne really got to the heart of the issue right here. My concern isn't about who calls who what round-these-parts. And it isn't about what the public understands or concerns themselves with. And it isn't about what my teacher calls us in our class. It's about your wilingness to be acurate (and comfortable) with who you are. It's a question of authenticity. When I was an EMT basic I called myself an EMT because that's who I was. It didn't matter if the person I was speaking to understood or not. If they didn't understand and wanted to know more, I explained it to them. If you're an EMT be proud of that. It's a great acomplishment. Everyone in the world that chose a boring job will admire and respect the interesting work that you do. Look them in the eye when you say it and be proud of what you do. Don't ever use words like "only" to qualify your role in EMS. When you use words or terms that describe you or represent who you are or what you do inacurately you're not only being inacurate and inauthentic, your sending yourself a silent message that who you really are and what you really do isn't enough. (That goes for your teacher who tells people that you are paramedics as well. He may think he's "building you up" and that's nice. But he's not. He's silently telling you that you aren't enough. He's wrong. He should say exactly what you are being trained to do. And he should say it with pride.) If something within you really wants to use the word "medic" or "paramedic" to describe yourself, I would take it as a sign that you are meant to progress in this field. Instead of investing your energy in drawn out rationalizations for why you should use an inacurate term right now, invest your energy in becoming what you want to be. When you achieve that goal you can pridefully tell people, "I just became a paramedic!" and they'll know that you've achieved something important. You won't be able to celebrate that victory if you fake it now. Steve

I agree with ERdoc here. Context is everything. In a university setting, professor and doctor are often used interchangeably, but often are inaccurate. When I teach, some of my new students call me professor, although I only have a Master's degree. I always explain I prefer my first name to be used. Should a PhD run around a hospital and refer to themselves as doctor? No, for obvious reasons. If someone on a plane calls for a doctor, do you think the guy with a PhD in communications should step up for the medical emergency? I always address MD's as doctors- unless I know them well, or have worked along side them. One of our medical directors always introduces himself as Bob to every new EMS worker, but until you get to know him, most folks do call him doctor. In mixed settings, ie with patients and/or family members present, regardless of how well I know them, I always use the title "doctor" out of respect to them and their position. I figure these folks earned the right to at least that level of respect.

Okay, now pay close attention... Step 1. Left Click over your user name in the top right corner. Step 2. Left Click where it says "My Profile" Step 3. Hover your mouse over the location your Avatar would be located in your profile, then Left Click on "Change" when it appears. Step 4. A new popup window will appear, the following directions are for a file located on your computer. Left Click on the "Browse" button. Step 5. A file browser will open on your computer, locate the file you want for an Avatar, highlight it by Double Left Clicking on the file. The window will close and the path to your image will appear. Left Click on "Done". Your Avatar should be updated. The file you choose should be rather small, you may have to resize the image so that it will upload appropriately. Mine is 100 pixels X 100 Pixels.

Yeah, I would call this pt hypertensive. My next question is, was she symptomatic? If she was not symptomatic, what is the ER treatment for asymptomatic hypertension? As for what you should do, I would say you have done it all already. No offense but you are the low man on the totem pole. You informed your superior of the situation and it is up to them to decide what to do with it.

Law suits are the rallying cry for all of the uneducated. Basically your statement says that "I will continue to hurt patients as long as I have a good excuse not to change and no one forces me to be more progressive." You're attitude is one of the many things that are wrong with U.S. EMS today. So your doc left the C-Collar on, what life altering spinal injury did that save this patient from? You forgot to mention that which, logically, should have been the culmination of the above nonsense. A dislocated jaw and scalp degloving does not a spinal injury make. And even though they should give us a reasonable suspicion for the possibility, please post your science based evidence that the C-Collar would have prevented further spinal harm. Your feeling is based on what? Your 'impression' of what's right and wrong? Your protocols, which have been proved archaic and faulty? Absolutely, there is always that possibility. But what motivation do you assign to the researchers of hundreds of studies all over the world that have created data strong enough to convince most of the world to stop using these devices? What benefit do they all have in common? How do you support your ideal that there is a world conspiracy to falsify research data in relation to LLBs and C-Collars? Perhaps you feel that the back board lobby is so rich and powerful that it can corrupt the world? For your point to have the slightest validity you need to have at least a theory where that question is concerned. You come here with an apparent disrespect of published physicians and science in general and hold up as your proof of superiority your 'general impression' and anecdotal stories that show that you've actually seen an injured person in the past and seem to feel very self righteous in your argument. My wish for you is that you come to see that your line of thinking is a problem, not a solution to what's wrong with EMS. Combine your apparent lack of ability to logically assess something as long standing and clearly supported as the LBB issue with your stated fantasies of being put in a position to scare and humiliate new EMS students and it seem clear that you need to take a few steps back and look at your basis for being in EMS or change to a forum that is more impressed with bluff and bluster over substance. You show a common weakness of many relatively experienced but less than committed basics. The lack of education to more realistically assess medical issues, yet the confidence that comes with performing monkey skills that look cool on TV but provide very little benefit to patients. Some of the most intelligent people on the City are basics, so it's not a slam at your cert level, it's just that you personally still have a lot to learn at this point...As do we all.

Anyone that cares about this is stressing over nothing. You have to learn not to care about little things, or you'll burn out early. The unfortunate truth is that nobody but us knows what all those letters mean. And none of us likes to be called an ambulance driver, even if it is accurate. So "medic" is the logical default term for us all. Nurse is the default term for everyone from a CNA with a month of training (more than most EMTs) to a PhD Nurse Practitioner, and you don't often hear anyone except the freshest nursing school grads complain about it. In paramedic school clinicals, the school nametags said "Paramedic" on them, even though we had only completed the classroom portion. No big deal, unless intentionally misrepresenting one's licensure for practice. If so, that's a whole 'nother story.

Um, no Oh and FYI if you think skills make or break a practice level you have a lot to learn

That is my actual medical thought too Although possession by the devil is still a distinct possibility