NickMedic

Why do people in the US go from BLS to ALS with no experience? I don't know! maybe because BLS is a 200 hour course and ALS is another 700 hours! Its a profit driven business in the US for the most part. You will find most of the publicly funded fire response services have ALS medics with tons of experience and the private low paying companies (profit driven) are the ones who hire ALS with no experience! Why does Canada have social healthcare and the US not? The fact is the systems are different! I stated that working for ORNGE on one of THEIR aircraft is different than working for the SOA! Two totally different beast. Working for ORNGE, you do on scenes dealing with real serious pts everyday! SOA, transfers! When I refer to air, I usually mean the ORNGE aircraft and employees! You told me the burden of proof is on me, I was just proving my point. I am sorry I don't agree with going to ALS with no real experience! Im sorry if you feel that it is a personal attack! As I said previously, good luck (honestly) with the course, and I hope things work out for you I am really not trying to be a prick, just trying to tell you that you have an uphill battle. This is a topic that really urks me, which is why I am passionate about it!

and how can you be a good ALS provider when a person has zero BLS skills/experience! As I have said before, I came out of school thinking that ALS is the best thing since sliced bread, but realized that to be a GOOD ALS provider, you need to have some experience doing actual 911 calls! Their is a reason why every school in the province except ONE requires experience before allowing you to do ALS training. Good luck though!

Proof? How about the SOA providers only transport pts who ORNGE doesn't think are critical. Basically they are a flying transfer service! No difference than a PTS in the GTA!! They never go to peoples houses and do primary assessments, they transfer pts from facility to facility! Their jobs more closely reflect a transfer service (albeit a regulated transfer service) then a 911 service! If you work SOA air, you will never go to the scene of an MVC, never provide primary care to a PT (VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY rare situation) will they go to a reserve to do a primary response when ORNGE or the preferred providers are unable due to weather/lack of availability. Not only that, if the PCPf is working with an ACPf, they will do ZERO decision making if for some RARE situation where a decision needs to be made about PT care! Ask a ACPf who works for a SOA provider, they will even tell you the job is a piece of cake! I have many many friends who work in Northern services (SNEMS, James Bay ambulance) and they all say that the SOA only transport stable pts who have a very low risk of deterioration and have been stabilized by the local hospital before the transfer for a CT scan or some other test, then transferred back home! Ala, a transfer service! How can you develop good 911 Paramedic skills when you have ZERO experience doing actual calls!

95 of 100 working ACPs will tell you that you NEED road experience. Their are reasons for this. If you feel that working in Greenstone area (as you have previously posted) for 1400 hours prepares you for ACP class, then good luck. Greenstone had like 650 code 4's in a YEAR between 3 bases! thats less than one emerg call a station every three days!! Their are also very few services that will hire ACPs direct to FT. Most unions have clauses that prevent services from hiring external ACPs until all union members have been offered the opportunity to train to ACP. Out of eleven ACP schools in Ontario-only ONE allows you to enter without experience in a decent call volumne setting. Could it be that Durham College wouldn't be able to fill Their ACP class if they put an experience requirement in place? I would think that is the case! Feel free to take the ACP class, when you are done, let me know how the job search goes. If you can get a job with a service (not including the private flight SOA operators) than I will congratulate you!

If the experience is in a busy service. Say 500 calls (non transfer) under your belt

If you can figure it out then......

Windsor EMS (county stations) are going form Private into Municipal as part of Windsor EMS. So send your resumes to Windsor EMS if you want a decent chance of getting a PT job

As a working medic in Ontario, I can tell you that you wont get hired by a credible service as you have zero experience, if you do get hired, I don't think a medical director will certify you with zero experience. People need to understand that you YOU NEED real world experience before ACP. Even a couple years in a busy service. I remember when I graduated with an 89% average, I thought I was the best medic in the world. Now 4-5 years later, I look back and think about how green and inexperienced I was! Experience is worth more than any school can teach. Take the ACP course, graduate, then go on your first call (7 week old VSA) with your newly polished ALS skills with your PCP partner who has been working for years, and I bet the PCP partner will be the one running the call!

You don't want to work air, especially when you have less than a couple years of road experience. You will be a bad land medic. Seems like people out of school go to work air, then get the ACPf without ever working in a half busy service on land. Its ridiculous and shouldnt be allowed!