DirtyBlackSocks

erm, I'm not currently enlisted anymore. I'm a Disabled Veteran. I've been told by some folks that certain PA programs out here actually give Veteran's that have service connected disability's prioritization in getting accepted into the program, assuming they meet all other pre-requisites. I'll have to look into it further after I've completed my RN training, which is still a few years off. Thanks for all the information guys, it's much appreciated.

Over the weekend I was helping my fiance move some stuff into her new house and it became pretty obvious to me that lifting anything over about 120 lbs. is going to be a huge burden now with the pins in my hip. So becoming a Paramedic is, unfortunately, out of the question as I fear I would potentially be putting peoples lives in jeopardy. My Vocational Rehabilitation is actually going to pay for my BSN, through obtaining an ASN at RCC and then transferring to USC for the BSN. I was under the impression that you had to be an RN for at least 4 years before you can become a PA, but on thinking about that further it wouldn't make much sense. However, I'm probably going to practice as an RN for a while before heading off to PA school and seeking out my Master's Degree just so I can get the experience and save up a nice nest egg to live off of while I'm doing the training. Seems like the best route, I really crave education. So I don't want to just stop at a BSN, I'd like to try and take my educational development in the medical field as far as realistically possible starting from square one now at the age of 25. Seems like a good route, thanks for the links.

Have any of the RN's here considered or gone through PA Training? What are your opinions on the schooling involved? I'm having a difficult time finding any concrete information on what's involved in getting the licensure.

If you want to debate the way scripture is interpreted you'd be better off finding a priest in that particular religion and discussing it with them. It's not fair to try and get a representation of an entire religion's belief from some one who has not made it their profession. I would have to agree that Doctor's and Nurses would have to break their faith in performing blood transfusion's if they were Jehova's Witness, but by the same token I'm sure the argument is made that if the person receiving blood isn't JW it's not an issue. Still, it's a good question. In my mind, being willing to perform a blood transfusion on some one else, but not on yourself or your children. Would make you a hypocrit. What comes first for Doctors, the hippocratic oath or religion and faith?

Well, let me just say again that I'm not trying to downplay the role of the EMT-P or say that RN's are superior. They both have different roles in the EMS process and are equally important IMO. I feel like the topic has strayed somewhat from where it originally was and that maybe some of my statements are going to be taken the wrong way. A lot of my misconceptions probably come from that all my experience is with the Army, where things are handled much differently. Even the Army Nurses are trained with a more combat oriented environment in mind.

RN's require an AS degree along with Microbiology, Anatomy And Physiology 1 & 2, Developmental Psychology ect. While the day to day experiences of a Paramedic and RN might be similar. RN's have a superior knowledge to Paramedics. I don't need field experience to tell you that. Your basic RN can challenge a Paramedic course with little to no problems straight out of school. I doubt your average guy is going to be able to pass the State Board for RN Licensure straight out of Paramedic training. EDIT: That's somewhat misleading of me to say. If you were to compare say an RN who specializes in working in the ER; with a Paramedic. Which I think is a fair comparison. I have several RN's in my family, as well as Paramedics. I know a little bit of what I'm talking about. I just don't have any field experience outside of roughly 5,000 hours working as an Army Medic.

Said like a true soldier.

If no one's on scene and it looks bad stop and do what you can until they arrive. If there are people on scene and it's obvious that they've got more then they can handle stop and offer assistance. Other then that you'll just be doing more harm then good.

Ugh, I'm not going to keep debating a topic that has no solution against multiple people. I've stated my opinions, though you've constrewed some of them inappropriately. But I don't have the patience to try and defend and/or explain what I mean to a bunch of people. You win.

Look, you can't expect people to verse themselves in the different types of service providers. We are the civil servants, not the other way around. It's understandable to get a little miffed if some one in the medical field refers to you like that, because it's in their scope of practice and their obligation to learn this kind of stuff. You can't expect civilians to all suddenly study up on the differences between all of us.

In my opinion, if people can certify without taking courses like Anatomy And Physiology. The NREMT-P test should be looked at to where curriculum like that is a requirement to be able to pass. A lot of this can be solved in Continuing Education requirements ect, as well. One can't expect a Paramedic to come into the job knowing everything they're supposed to do. With anything dealing in medical care the best teacher is practice. But perhaps new requirements can be placed upon Paramedics as they progress in their career. I.E. for a second renewal require them to pass a new exam based around Anatomy And Physiology as well as the refresh course, if they didn't opt to take that exam the first time around.

As a man with a strong faith in God I can understand not wanting to break that faith based around principles and rules one has set for themselves to shape better character. Personally, when it comes to my son. I let him choose his own path and do my best to instill what I feel are the better parts of Christian values in hopes of him growing up to be a good person. I don't expect an 8 year old to grasp the concepts of faith and karma. I myself didn't even find it worth considering until I was more then twice his age. As a result, I can respect some one's faith and beliefs being taken into account. But I have a lot of trouble grasping the concept of letting your child die because of your own personal beliefs. If it were my son, I don't know what I'd do. It's just way too touchy of a subject, this could be debated as heavily as the concept of religion itself and still never have a conclusive outcome. So in the end, as their legal guardians, in the end I feel it should be left to the parents to decide. Even though I may never understand how some one could live with themselves after a decision like that. It's not wrong, it's not right, it's just different.

Frontcrawl, admittedly my experience in EMS outside of what I've done in the Army is very limited and I am only familiar with the limitations set upon Paramedics and EMT-B's in California as well as what my instructor's in the Army told us. When I spoke of unique experience, I meant that as an Army Medic you essentially work as an LVN/LPN with only an EMT-B. We are cycled through everything from burn wards to OBGYN in the hospital and permitted to do things your average EMT-B/P will not be permitted to do. Such as trach's and chest tubes. So I would say, in terms of what I've done with only an EMT-B certification, that I've had a fairly unique experience. When I spoke of getting an AS degree as a requirement of becoming a Paramedic I was more trying to make the point that some one might as well become an RN if they're going to go that route. I do realize there's an extra year of school required, but it just seems silly to me to REQUIRE Paramedics - whose training generally consists of 1 year - to obtain an AS. That doesn't mean I don't think everyone SHOULDN'T strive to be the best they can and take these extra courses. But the pay Paramedics receive does not warrant the requirement. In a perfect world everyone would be held to extremely high standards and be paid accordingly, but we have to look at things somewhat realistically. Obviously most of us aren't in the EMS field for the pay, but how much of a decline do you think we'd see in EMT-P's if an AS Degree was part of the requirement? Look at the lack of RN's in the field right now as a general comparison and while EMT-P's would require one less year of school then an RN for their AS, I'd say it's still a good impression of what would happen. While we should in no way be settling for mediocrity, realistically there has to be a comprimise made. I'm not saying the EMS system is great by any stretch, but when you try and factor in additional things such as pay rate, job outlook ect. Some of the proposals made here just don't factor in. I don't know how it is outside of California, but Paramedics here are generally hired the day they graduate because they're in such high demand. I would also like to think that people take this field as seriously as myself and would strive to obtain further education on their own warrant for the sake of being better at their job. I'm not trying to downplay the role of a Paramedic at all, they're just as important as any other phase of EMS. I just don't think requiring AS degree's seems like a realistic possibility.

I think people thinking paramedics should require AS degree's are thinking a little too highly of the job position. I hope I don't touch on too many nerves with this post, but having worked in a hospital setting with only EMT-B knowledge in the Army. I've had a unique perspective to see how small the scope of pre-hospital care is. Paramedics are there to stabilize and transport. To open up the scope for an AS degree you'd basically be turning them into RN's/LPN's(LVN's). EMT-B's are there to assist Paramedics. Neither are trained with the expertise to perform grossly life saving techniques that Doctors are. None will be supervised by a Doctor like an RN would in performing certain techniques. Giving some one a bit more General Education isn't going to help anything. Aside from Anatomy And Physiology I & II, Medical Terminology and possibly Interpersonal Communication or a Sociology/Psych course there isn't a whole lot that a Paramedic would benefit from. I've already said this before, but we'll never get rid of EMT-B's because private company's can pay them minimum wage. An EMT-B and Paramedic responding to a call that isn't multiple patient is essentially doing the same thing an EMT-P/EMT-P team would. The only way you'd see EMT-B's getting eliminated is if EMT-P's took a pay cut. A lot of people are going to disagree with the above and I had some trouble collecting my thoughts to shorten it up. But to sum it up I think the difference in scope between pre-hospital and in-hospital care is huge. Paramedics are well trained in doing what they do, but their primary goal is still to stabilize and transport. Not to find long term solutions to an issue. As a result I don't believe an AS degree or BS would make any sense.

Touchy subject. Logical answers from a medical stand point would be to save the kids life, it sucks being trained to save people and watch them die over some thing like that. On the other hand faith is a huge part of what keeps people progressing in life and should be respected.

They need to start keeping records of addresses and calls. Make up some pamphlets that clearly state what is and isn't an emergecy, along with the number to a taxi cab company and give the people a warning the first time they abuse the Emergecy Response system. Second time should be a hefty fine, like a maximum of $10,000. That's terrible man, that medic's probably going to need therapy and that ladies kids are scarred for life. All because some clown didn't want to drive.

Unfortunately, removing EMT-B's from EMS won't happen. Private ambulance companies want there to be EMT-B's so they can pay out minimum wage to an employee. Essentially an EMT-B and Paramedic team on an ambulance that aren't responding to a multiple injury call can perform the same functions that an EMT-P EMT-P team would. Why pay the extra thousands of dollars a year? Politics suck.

I would say something acceptable to do, is if the person you're speaking to is in the medical field. Tell them you're an EMT-B. If they're not familiar with the medical profession tell them you're a medic. Army Medics are only EMT-B certified, we called ourselves Combat Life Savers or Medics. But we were also allowed to perform procedures even paramedics aren't allowed to do. Some of the techniques are only permitted to be performed by real Doctors in the civilian side of things. EDIT: I was actually talking to a psychiatrist two weeks ago for an updated PTSD screening and told him I was an EMT-B, he wasn't aware of what it was. I found that kind of odd.

Having a spouse in EMS is nice because they can relate to the odd hours. Having a supportive mate who doesn't particularly take an interest in what you do, but still supports you in what you do is just as good. As an EMS professional who chooses this profession, if you want a relationship to work with some one who is having trouble understanding the EMS life style. It is on your shoulders to make them understand, or the relationship will fail. If they're not interested in your scope of practice, just don't bring it up to them unless it's something like a call that really shook you up.

Well, living in California. Calling an EMT a Paramedic comes off as sort of an insult or being a BSer. We don't have EMT-I and the scope between a Paramedic's knowledge and ability's and an EMT-B's is so vast that I think they deserve the distinction. Not many EMT-B's stay with that profession out here, though. Most places only pay minimum wage until you become EMT-P certified. So a lot of us just get our 2000 hours in and head off to EMT-P school. Which is what I think everyone should do. So maybe taking that extra 5 minutes to explain what an EMT-B is is just another way of paying your due's.

Just tell them you work on an ambulance in conjunction with Emergency Medical Services if you don't want to explain the difference between an EMT and Paramedic. More often then not when I get asked about the difference in professions I'm more then happy to explain it.

When I was working a hospital in Texas in the Army we had a teacher bring an adolescent 8 year old student in who had untreated second and first degree burns to her legs. Upon closer inspection we found evidence of child abuse, from pattern marks that best represented a stick or belt to verbal confirmation of being hit on a regular basis with sticks by her parents. When we called social services they said there wasn't enough evidence to support child abuse and would not even send a social worker out, the childs mother picked her up in the afternoon and smacked her on the butt twice for making her take time off work to come get her. Made no sense to me, was pretty depressing. That town's got to have very little going on if they're sending a SWAT team on a raid to investigate a suspected child abuse case.

It's going to sound sexist, so I'd like to point out that I have the utmost respect for women. But after serving in the military as a medic and working with females in a professional high stress environment I've come to learn that a large amount of them are completely and totally off balance mentally. If I were you I'd go to a superior above her head and discuss the situation from your point of view, see if there's anything you can do to counter act her writing you up. If what you're saying is the complete truth and how it really happened, that's complete B.S.

Well, RCC offers a paramedic program and that's the institute which I'll be getting my general education at so hopefully completing the NCTI course will allow me to carry over to them for my AS degree. Guess I'll have to get with a counselor when I get time and see what their opinions on it are. If you've got any other local courses outside of RCC and NCTI you'd recommend I'm open to them. I'm under Vocational Rehabilitation, so the government's paying for my schooling. Let me know if you find anything else local to this area for Paramedic Certification. Much appreciated.

Bummer, hope everyone's alright. Whoever was driving better be a damn good EMT/Paramedic or they can say goodbye to that job... A long time ago a kid I knew crashed an ambulance into a parked car while he was off duty, he's not allowed to work as an EMT in the county because of it.