BAYAMedic

Indeed, spenac's posts require the grain of salt, accompanied by a twist of lime and shot of tequila... Fireman1037

Perhaps I was initially a bit cynical in the approach and made it sound like a lesson in humility. My origional idea was along the lines of the medical school concept. "See one, Do one, Teach one" I think having a proctor or co teacher as a fresh medic assisting in the basic class would provide someone who the students could relate easily, as a very educated EMS student who understands the demands of the class.

I definitely would like to see how everyone's opinion sits with this topic. I agree that the SEI or EMS Evaluator would need to be taught in coordination with this and before a direct teaching. But I think it would be a great way to humble fresh out of school Paragods and remind them that much of the time Basics are our second pair of hands. Fireman1037 View PostFireman1037, on 22 December 2010 - 09:32 PM, said: Fall year 3 ALS 300 NREMT Prep ALS 301 Internship if not compleated BLS 100 Assisting in Teaching an EMT-B Class ALS 302 Leadership and professional Development (resume building and interview coaching) ALS 303 The Paramedic in atypical Positions (lecture from EMT-T's, Industrial site, Mining operations, Offshore, and contract military medics) Brentoli, Can I offer a comment? I'm not making a submission. I think you would rather go the route of an instructors class. A good one would be 3-4 college hours plus internship. Any paramedic worth something should be able to teach a BLS class, just my opinion. spenac, on 23 December 2010 - 05:38 AM, said: In theory that is true but in reality not all people are good teachers. You could take even many highly educated doctors that could not teach a basic class not because they do not know the material but because they are not teachers. Unless you mean they could go up and read the slides, but I'm sure that's not what you mean. Brentoli, I don't want to take this OT, so if this merits discussion we can open a new thread. My thought process here is that an essential skill of a Paramedic would be communication, the same for an educator. A good instructor course would help to focus the communication into instruction. With the basic program as it stands, it doesn't take a masters degree to present the material, rather in depth vocational knowledge. Like I said I don't want to sidetrack Ruffs contest, and if we want to discuss this a new thread would be great. Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

Ok ruff, heres my submission 3 year Associates Program with first year being Non-Program Fall Quarter Biology 101 (5 cr) English 101 (5 cr) Communication 101 (5 cr) Study skills Workshop (1 cr) Winter quarter Biology 241 (A&P 1) Lab based (5 cr) Psychology 101 (5 cr) Math 101 (Intermediate Algebra) (5 cr) Spring Quarter Biology 242 (A&P2) (5 cr) Lab Based Psychology 238 (Abnormal Psych) (5cr) Health 104 (health and lifetime fitness) (3 cr) Sociology 101 (crossing cultural Barriers) 5 cr PE class (3 cr) Summer off Fall year two (program) ALS 201 (Intro and history of EMS) ALS 202 (Pharmacology I) ( with an emphasis on RSI and Respiratory drugs) ALS 203 (Documentation and legal) AlS 204 (Paramedic Skills lab {PT assesment {lung sounds, Heart tones, Bowel tones, etc}, iv access and intubation}) ALS 205 (Pharmacology math) Winter Year Two ALS 210 Cardiology ALS 211 Pharmacology II (emphasis on anti-arrythmics) ALS 212 Anestesiology Clinical ( OR Rotations minimum of 25 Intubations) ALS 213 IV Therapy rounds and ER Clinical ALS 214 Medical Pt Assesment and Pathophysiology ALS 215 Trauma Assesment and mitigation (including PHTLS Cert) Spring year 2 ALS 220 Pediatrics (including PALS cert) ALS 221 Geriatrics (including GEMS cert) ALS 222 ER clinical Continued ALS 223 Trauma II (including FARMEDIC Cert) ALS 224 Pathophysiology II ALS 225 OB/GYN & NEONATOLOGY Summer year 2 ALS 230 Field Internship II (cross cultural experiance, IE Rural Washington student to Atlanta, GA) ALS 231 Field Internship III (very rural, long transport time excess of 1 hour) 5 call minimum ALS 232 Prevention (Working within community, teaching first aid) ALS 233 Field Internship I (Local agency or who student is affiliated with) ALS 234 Bridging the gap ( You and your medical director) Fall year 3 ALS 300 NREMT Prep ALS 301 Internship if not compleated BLS 100 Assisting in Teaching an EMT-B Class ALS 302 Leadership and professional Development (resume building and interview coaching) ALS 303 The Paramedic in atypical Positions (lecture from EMT-T's, Industrial site, Mining operations, Offshore, and contract military medics)

Hmm, I may be way off on this, but based on what I have read (Pre-cardiology in medic school) is one of the factors showing the left ventricular hypertrophy would be a raised ST segment, as would hyperkalemia. could you have been seeing a large pt. and assuming the LVH from the ST elevation when it could have been diagnostic of the Hyperkalemia? If I am looking at this wrong please correct me, this is shooting from the hip without the formal classroom education to back it up. Fireman1037

Pathophysiology by Copstead and Banasik, Fourth Edition. Amazing text.

I have taken the Basic course 2 times and am currently in Medic school, My experiances in classroom on the subject varied a bit with instructor. My first instructor for Basic didnt really touch on the subject (other than the soft tissue wounds slides). My second instructor, First night of class began with the youtube "indian man electrocuted on a train" watching someone grab a high voltage line and drop to the ground dead. There were lots of various exposures throughout the class to show EMS isn't all sunshine and rainbows. Impaled fencepost, Mortal heavy equiptment entanglements. ETC. I applied for a job shortly after my first EMT class, as a security guard at a hospital. Part of the interview was a stroll through the morgue and watching of an autopsy, and seeing a childs corpse in the fridge, to see if I could emotionally handle the day to day operations of the position. On the first day of paramedic school there was a bloody slide show, and Monster.com's commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8ZYsuwgehk. and He would finish his sentances several times through the day "and if this isn't for you the health sciences registration office is right down the hall , there are other programs with openings. One of the most impactful things was his reading of a poem to the class. I feel that the latter two instructors better prepared me for the harsh realitys of the dark side of EMS Fireman1037 "I want to tell you lies." Author unknown. I want to tell that little boy his Mom will be just fine I want to tell that dad we got his daughter out in time I want to tell that wife her husband will be home tonight I don't want to tell it like it is, I want to tell them lies You didn't put their seat belts on, you feel you killed your kids I want to say you didn't ... but in a way, you did You pound your fists into my chest, you're hurting so inside I want to say you'll be OK, I want to tell you lies You left chemicals within his reach and now it's in his eyes I want to say your son will see, not tell you he'll be blind You ask me if he'll be OK, with pleading in your eyes I want to say that yes he will, I want to tell you lies I can see you're crying as your life goes up in smoke If you'd maintained that smoke alarm, your children may have woke Don't grab my arm and ask me if your family is alive Don't make me tell you they're all dead, I want to tell you lies I want to say she'll be OK, you didn't take her life I hear you say you love her and you'd never hurt your wife You thought you didn't drink too much, you thought that you could drive I don't want to say how wrong you were, I want to tell you lies You only left her for a moment, it happens all the time How could she have fell from there? You thought she couldn't climb I want to say her neck's not broke, that she will be just fine I don't want to say she's paralyzed, I want to tell you lies I want to tell this teen his buddies didn't die in vain Because he thought that it'd be cool to try to beat that train I don't want to tell him this will haunt him all his life I want to say that he'll forget, I want to tell him lies You left the cabinet open and your daughter found the gun Now you want me to undo the damage that's been done You tell me she's your only child, you say she's only five I don't want to say she wont see six, I want to tell you lies He fell into the pool when you just went to grab the phone It was only for a second that you left him there alone If you let the damn phone ring perhaps your boy would be alive But I don't want to tell you that, I want to tell you lies The fact that you were speeding caused that car to overturn And we couldn't get them out of there before the whole thing burned Did they suffer? Yes, they suffered, as they slowly burned alive But I don't want to say those words, I want to tell you lies But I have to tell it like it is, until my shift is through And then the real lies begin, when I come home to you, You ask me how my day was, and I say it was just fine I hope you understand, sometimes, I have to tell you lies

I am currently a Paramedic student with 5 years experiance as a Basic. I have owned and used several scopes since I started, both my own, my parters, and company purchased and discovered the following: The more expensive my scope, the greater tendency it had to grow legs and magically disappear. Bye bye Cardiology 3....... I will miss you. The acoustics were good, but did have some background noise issues. Borrowed an RN's Electronic scope for a shift. The lung fields were clear and My ambulance was missing on the third cylander. Called it the Craig Swapp scope (one call, that all!), At reccomendation of several ARNP's, PA's and Medics, The most recent scope I bought was a Littman Master Classic II, (Black Edition) [Call It a moment of whackerdom or call it trying to be able to spot it across the Station when it has magically grown legs.] I love this scope. I cant remember the exact cost of the scope, but the order of the scope, the 3 Initial bell engraving, a cool penlight, and a BP cuff. Came to about $140 including shipping. It has served me well, gave me great acoustics, and with my initials it is uniquely mine. I Plan on replacing it with another just like it. Just my opinion.

I personally haven't, but did see it used in the ED with Fentanyl for sedation while they set a Radius Fracture Fireman1037

I tend to read alot in my bus between calls, and as much as I hate to admit it my arms have gotten too short to read with out my cheaters. This last summer I was out at the local welding supply shop and discovered a pair of bifocal safety glasses that looked incredibly stylish (They were exactly how I brought sexy back). I broke my dollar store cheaters I had in my lunch box on accident so I used them as my bus readers. I tend to wear them on the top of my head most of the time and put them on, on all my calls. Apparantly those little details like veinus visualization became strangely easier. So Yeah, I use my cheaters as a multi use purpose. Fireman1037

I can only attest to what I have done. When I was 16 I started as a Volunteer Firefighter, That fall I took the Outdoor Emergency Care Technition (National Ski Patrol) class and patrolled that winter. The book covered the requirements of EMT-B and has the same scope on the ski hill. I then took First Responder to be able to help in the FD (the OEC wasnt recognised off the hill) at 17 and when I was 18 I took my EMT-B. The other classes gave me a base to be able to practice my skills at before I was legal to become an EMT-B. As was mentioned protocalls change regularly, And you can't take the NR-EMT any longer than a year post class. I don't know how the testing and certification process is back East as I am from Washington state. The other thing that my be allowed depends entirly on your school district. Myself, I had completed all of my curriculam prior to my Sr. year of high school. All I had to do was fill credit hours with electives. I was able to do a "school to work internship" with a combination of local hospitals and local ambulance agencies. I reported on the hours that I attended, the calls I ran, and the skills I practiced. I was lucky enough to win the Presidential Freedom Scholorship for Volunteerism for it. The combination of all the above made me top of my class when I did take my class. Timmy you started young too, whats your suggestions for the kid Fireman1037

Something like this? Edit to include picture that didn't attach

I say make the punishment truly fit the crime. Suspend them all until they have compleated a full initial certification class. If they are a Paramedic they get to do the full 1000 hours and the basics get the 110 hours. Then make them go back to probationary status regardless of years of experiance. Put them for a specified amout of time doing cabulance/ IFT work where they can't hurt anyone and focus on LEGAL documentation. I had my EMT-Basic and didn't do the required OTEP as I had taken a vacation from EMS and fire work (I am still out of the fire side of things but I have had the nickname since I was 16). Guess what I had to retake the initial class. At first I was LIVID about having to do it to get my license back. BUT the last day of class I thanked the professor at the college where I took it. I didn't realize how much I had forgotten and how much there was to the class if you want to get the most out of it. Now here I am, in a better position due to my full initial class to start Paramedic school this fall. Just my .02 Fireman1037

The book we used in a pre-req class for medic school was Pathophysiology by Lee-Ellen C. Copstead-Kirkhorn PhD RN & Jacquelyn L. Banasik PhD ARNP. In my humble opinion, it is what you are looking for. It covers the disease processes, common treatments. It is a decent reading textbook. The Merek Manual is tops, no question but as a quick referance its one of the texts I will keep around. http://www.amazon.com/Pathophysiology-Lee-Ellen-C-Copstead-Kirkhorn-PhD/dp/1416055436/ref=dp_ob_title_bk/188-8577567-2427530 Fireman1037

What are the empty pills bottles for, the quantity, and the Dispense date? The puke volume and the contents appearance, Any intact pills and their description? What is the patients current respiratory rate and lung sounds? Fireman1037

I know that I have things at home in my home jump bag that I would never be able to use on the street. The man who performed my wedding and close friend of mine did 2 tours in Vietnam as a special forces medic. His gift to me for going to paramedic school (under the instructions to never use it on the street) was a OD 1972 Special Forces field surgical kit. Would I(or should I) be able to buy it? No not legally, but it is the best damn splinter kit in the world. Guess I have a little zombie hunter in me too. Fireman1037

I am repeating on what my EMT instructor told in class. His Medical Program Director supplied business cards to his emt's and medics to give to Docs offering help, stating Thank you for your willingness to help. These EMT's are under my license under my protocals, If you agree to help you will be taking fully liablity for this patient and you will be practicing under your own license and malpractice insurance. Needless to say most doctors left the scene alone Fireman1037

Agreed, I wouldn't have referenced this article unless it had the case studies as well. The thing that concerns me with this tube is that, With the Combi there was a 1% chance of tracheal intubation and there was a second lumen in that instance. With a single lumen tube like this isn't there a albeit slight risk of accidentally doing this and having damage to the larynx and preventing ventilation? Fireman1037

Hello everyone. My county has adopted the King airway device in lieu of the COMBI-Tube. Who has used them and does anyone have likes and dislikes about this particular tube? On researching the tube I found this article that shows an interesting point of view on ETT vs. King tube in cardiac arrest patients. Anyone care to share personal experiances for or against this tube? Fireman1037 http://paramedicine101.blogspot.com/2009/05/debateking-lt-for-cardiac-arrest.html

It was an invalid arguement even on a good day. The one drug protocal that is currently inplace is IV thiopental sodium. That is what Darryl Durr claimed to be allergic to. However due to botched executions in the past, and due to being unable to maintain an IV in some past IV drug users, the state of Ohio has a back up IM lethal injection protocol. Instead of 5,000 mg of thiopental sodium IV, they can use 10 mg of midazolam IM and 40mg hydromorphone IM. I was suprised they even tried to fight it with the alternate protocal in place. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/OHLethalInjProtocol.pdf Fireman1037

Chest wall ridigidity. What are the effects of Metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol-XL) on BGLs. Josh