Sorry to revive an old post, but I was doing a search and found this topic... and I'm just blown-away. I can't understand why people would advocate only having paramedic level certifications! Paramedics are great for IFT's, less so for pre-hospital care IMO. And... not wanting to expand basics or intermediate levels. The majority of pre-hospital calls don't require paramedics! Are we in favor of saying that everyone in the hospital needs to be a doctor!? No, ridiculous! Basics - or at least intermediates - since this level requires clinical rounds - should start seeing IM or IN Glucagon, D5 and/or D50, IM or IN Narcan, pain control in the form of Nitrous Oxide, CPAP... glucometry, pulse oxymetry, etc... Mass has already stripped D5W from I's and is on its way getting rid of I's and not adopting the A-EMT standard, which makes me want to move. Everyone is loading their services with Medics needlessly and they're not getting any experience, but have substantially more ability to do harm. I say keep paramedics to a minimum in most urban or suburban 911 systems, they'll do just the calls that require them and keep them very good at what they do. The education needs to be expanded as well as the scope of practice for B's and I's. Or, I's to the as-and classify B's as Inter-Facility Technicians. And, how about doing away with the "Basic" "Intermediate" and "Paramedic" and call them "Paramedic 1" "Paramedic 2" "Paramedic 3"...
I'm just so tired of seeing services employ all ALS and dispatch ALS on every call. I'm think its a detriment to patient care and a waste of money and resources. Our job is not to fix patients, but to treat and transport sick people to the hospital in a timely fashion.
