dougd

This thread has me wondering... if someone was interested in EMS management, especially with so many municipalities having rolled EMS in to fire (at least where I live), what would be a better advanced degree - an MBA or an MPA (Master's of Public Administration.) I've never really looked much in to where the two overlap or how much, but there's certainly a degree of finance and accounting skills that apply to both. In the long run, would an MPA be desirable for someone looking for a job as, say, a suburb's safety director? Does it really matter given the amount of political cronyism involved? Honestly, I don't know, I'm just thinking out loud...

Been there. Done that. Bought the t-shirt and the student loans to go with it.

Keep in mind that the world isn't all roses and sugarplums for MBA's. There's a lot of MBAs out there with no real management experience to speak of who have a very difficult time finding a job. I know of some employers who don't think very highly of an MBA with no experience due to past experiences with young kids fresh out of school who thought they knew everything and ended up doing far more damage than good. (Gee, sound like EMS?) On the other hand, even when the MBA grad is willing to take a lesser position, those are usually not offered either since the potential employer believes, "Why bother? He's not going to stick around here very long anyways." Also, keep in mind that while money is important it is rarely the only factor that motivates an employee to take or leave a certain job. Don't take my word for it: http://www.joe.org/joe/1998june/rb3.html

You have to work 96 hours a week to be considered full-time? Don't they have labor laws in OK?

Hmmmm, my first run was while doing my ride time with a suburban fire department. Everyone said, "Oh, you don't want to go there on a Sunday, you'll have nothing to do." 80+ yo male, abd pain. Arrive at the assisted living facility to find him curled in the bathroom, and he tells us he's had diarrhea since the previous night. This admission certainly didn't surprise any of us based on the condition of the bathroom and smell throughout the apartment. ER confirmed a GI bleed. Welcome to EMS, world of glamour. We ran some BS trips after that, but finished the day with a high angle rope rescue for a little old lady with hx of confusion. Her property backs up to a valley, and she was out picking at the weeds on the edge of her property when she tumbled down 180 feet until coming to rest on a couple of trees about half way down. She was pretty lucky - A&OX4, denied LOC, possible radius fracture. As best we could determine, she had been down there between 3-4 hours before her son came over and found all the doors and windows open in the house and started searching for her.

My general rule when it comes to dating people you work with is this: Don't sh*t where you live. When things don't work out it can be rather uncomfortable - not just for you but for your co-workers who might be stuck in the middle. Which isn't to say that I've always followed this rule... let my mistake serve as a warning to others.

I sort of took everyone's advice. A couple of months ago I started part-time with a local private ambulance service. The logic many of you have presented here make sense to me, filling VFD slot only perpetuates the problems facing EMS as a profession. Since starting, I've had the pleasure of working with some good paramedics and basics who were willing to have patience and take their time to show me the ropes, I've also worked with a couple of yahoo's who have shown me how NOT to operate. I've found I learn something new each day, but that isn't difficult since I already knew I didn't know sh*t about sh*t when I passed my basic. Still working on finishing my BS degree, working my full-time job and lurking on the forums here to see what wisdom gets shared on a daily basis and hitting the CE circuit as much as time allows. So much more to learn, so little time... I'm thinking about medic school next year, but if I do it, it sounds like the way to go is the degreed route through the community college. (Isn't that a step backwards, finish BS degree to get a second AS degree? )

Ok, let's see how I do... :-) If your patient has no breathing / no pulse, or does not start spontaneously breathing upon opening/repositioning their airway: Black (Expectant) If you patient requires assistance maintaining airway, respiratory distress, or arterial bleeding, burns 50%+: Red (Immediate) If your patient is non-ambulatory, has burns > 10% but < 50%, evidence of traumatic injury, but can maintain their airway and breathing is normal: Yellow (Delayed). Walking Wounded: Green. JEMS recently discussed triaging in the context of a WMD event. In one of the scenarios they pointed out the need to reassess the patients you have categorized as delayed on a regular basis to ensure that their situation has not deteriorated. That's probably not bad advise as additional resources arrive on-scene, regardless of the type of incident.

I seriously doubt that volunteering on the Northeast Ohio Medical Reserve Corps, where we are used as MCI/disaster backup by a couple of agencies and, for the most part, do little more than provide first responder services for non-profit fundraising events such as the MS Society bike rides and the ADA fund raisers is costing anyone any high paying jobs. Those organizations would simple go without having anyone on hand if they didn't get it donated to them. That said, I was not clear in my posting, I'm not running on a VFD. Where I live they are very few and far between, and while I have applied to a couple of FDs that hire part-timers, again those are paid positions.

I have another career as a computer networking geek. Apparently I don't like money, because here I am investing time and money in a field where I'm virtually guaranteed not to make any. Honestly, this is something I've always had an interest in, dating back to when I was in high school and volunteering for the Red Cross. I've found a place in life where I had the time and desire to make it happen. I'm planning on just going the Vollie route for now.

Darn, I walked right in to that - and on my first post, too.

I just finished my basic class (yeah, I'm all wet behind the ears, I know it. ) and we were instructed not to do sternum anymore to assess for responsiveness. Anyone else being told that? I found it interesting since that was my first response when asked how to assess for response to painful stimuli.