northernmedic

Well as per normal this has quickly degenerated into name calling and personal attacks. Anyone wishes any info feel free to PM me as is my normal practice. I will no longer be posting on this thread.

Mentorship is not the same as preceptorship. You still do about 1000 hours of preceptorship on a 3 man car as part of your ACP diploma (64 credits). Yes we do plenty of lifting, especially where I work since there's a lot of old multistory buildings without elevators. Don't worry VS-eh we'll give you a navy blue fleece to cover up your white shirt :twisted:

Sounds good man, keep up the good work. Send me a PM if you need any help or such. I would get your PCP ASAP. You really can't do anything in the service as an EMR it is mainly a stopgap to get people into remote stations before they do their PCP.

We have a written exam, panel interview using the STAR technique which is similar to the RCMP and a physical fitness exam. Then there is a criminal record search, driver's license review and reference check of minumum 4 references.

We have been using combitube as our backup airway for about 10 years and are currently examining either the LMA supreme or King Lt-S to replace it. Most likely we are going with the King for many of the reasons listed previously. It will only be as a backup airway and we will continue to use ETI. We have had the bougie for about 8 years and it is a great, cheap, low tech addition to the airway kit in my opinion. We are also starting to certify all our ALS staff in the AIME course (airway interventions and management education). This is a great course put out towards emergency physicians by the CAEP and should be a really good go.

Agm: I have some resources which I will try and either post or PM to you.

http://www.ps-sp.gc.ca/prg/em/cemc/04pgc_02-en.asp Try here. You need to create a login profile but its free.

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada has some good online CBRNE courses that are free. I'm sure NAIT and SAIT offer some kind of continuing education courses. In my service we have our own clinical education division that pumps out plenty of in house courses as well as training officers that do monthly station visits for various topics. We also have lots of monthly free stuff like case rounds, physician shadowing etc where you earn CE hours for attending. There's always the alphabet soup courses to attend as well like ITLS/ACLS etc. Most hospitals have some workshops like ECG interpretation etc that may be of interest as well.

Here is the current breakdown on the west coast to the best of my knowledge. EMR: 150 hrs didactic PCP: 540 hrs didactic 50 hrs clinical ~200 hrs ambulance (I have heard this has recently been raised by another 4 tours) ACP: 500 hrs didactic ~250 hrs clinical minimum 1728 hrs ambulance Numbers may vary somewhat because hospital and ambulance practicums are competency based and additional time may be required depending on the students as well the call volume. The numbers above would generally be considered the minimums. Not sure about CCP but it around 1 extra year after ACP. Probably somewhere around 600-800 hrs I would estimate.

Best way to get into BC with an American certification is to go to Nova Scotia and get registered as they will recognize you with an NREMT-P and then you can apply for a BC license under the AIT. If you are already a Canadian citizen that will really help the process.

I am an ACP in Vancouver and I can give you personal info about our provincial system. I also started my career in a rural area. I am not aware of any recent published papers surrounding our system other than the Cameron Report which addressed only fire dept first responders. Send me a PM with any specific questions and I will do my best to answer.

Whenever I am getting set up for a trauma intubation I always have my partner get the bougie ready. In my opinion it is the cheapest but most useful addition you can make to your airway kit. I have intubated several very soiled/bloody airways basically by feel using a bougie when bleeding is so severe it cannot be totally suctioned clear.

I recently heard that Nova Scotia will let you register as an ACP if you hold an NREMT-P. If you were already registered there it makes it much easier to become licensed in another province so I would explore that route. I will try and find the link I was looking at.

Mike I will send you a PM and hook you up. Are you PCP or ACP?

We have to pass ACLS as part of our ACP course but there is no requirement to maintain it. I find that most of the courses around here are heavily focussed on hospital based resuscitation rather than prehospital. That and the course is completely watered down. I almost laughed out loud when they told us in class not to stress because the exam was open book.

Well done. Good luck with your licensing.

Great stats. Hopefully you guys can win the public over to your side of the dispute. We are in a similar situation here and I suspect it is not that different across the country.

Wide complex QRS, tachycardia, hypotension, Elavil use. It definitely suggests one thing to me.

I would imagine that in Calgary the average T4 includes a significant amount of overtime to reach that $75000 figure. It sounds as though the service is quite short which seems to be a situation more and more Canadian EMS services are beginning to face. All this OT I'm sure is leading to burnout, which compounds the situation further.

My former partner trained in Nova Scotia and he recommended you review the EHS Nova Scotia Protocols here: http://emergency.medicine.dal.ca/ehsprotoc...otocols/toc.cfm A large majority of Canadian ACP programs now use the Brady Essentials of Paramedic Care (Canadian Edition) in addition to most of the usual supplmentary texts. I'm sure the other NS medics can give you better info on the text end of things.

The behaviour based interview uses the STAR technique and is a pretty standard process used by the RCMP and many other employers. There are tons of web based resources out there on STAR technique preparation that are free. The fitness test is the CPAFLA test, again just google it to find the standards. I believe it consists of a step test, pushups, situps, grip strength as well as some EMS specific lifting tests. The rest of the process is all reams of paperwork: medical, criminal record check, drivers license check, reference interviews etc. Many of the vancancies for ACP have been filled. I can't speak to outside the GVRD but here in Vancouver I think we only have around 5-6 vacancies right now. We recently hired 2 people from TEMS as well as one from Ottawa. I think a couple of alberta people filled 2 spots in Victoria recently as well. A lot of people have been trained internally as well to fill many of the vacancies. There is a posting out for the Infant Transport team right now so that may pull a few ACP's out. Al can fill you in on stuff but let me know if you have any more questions. I can probably answer more ACP related stuff.

Interestingly enough last week I had a pt presenting with nearly identical signs and symptoms (and age) who was severely septic. With such a short transport time I would start a fluid bolus if I could and just hit the road. By the time you get your dopamine infusion initiated you could be at the hospital.

It is possible to get EMR equivalency in BC with an NREMT-B. Pretty much that is the only level though. You can get equivalency at any level as long as you have graduated from a CMA accredited paramedic program.

If you are interested in working in BC we hire lots of dispatchers. We use the MPDS course but you also have to do around 4 additional months of classroom and radio time. Total time is 5 months (paid). Pay starts around $26.00/hr and the schedule is 4 on 6 off. Not a bad gig but pretty high stress and the training course is actually quite challenging. We have 4 EMS dispatch centers which cover the province.

Our narcs are issued individually but we have keys to the replacment locker in each hospital to restock. I tie mine inside my narc belt pouch with a piece of bias tape so even if my pouch opens up I won't lose the key.