Dustdevil

There are pros and cons either way. On the positive side, education is always a good thing. This will absolutely help your professional development. On the negative side, you will forget or never solidify the greatest portion of this education long before you are in a position to use it. Would you trust yourself to take a lead medic job if ypu finished medic school 3 years ago, but had never ever worked in the field? Of course not. You'd need a serious refresher and dual time to get up to speed. Hell, I had been a medic for 32 years when I first deployed to Iraq. But I had been out of the field for a few years at that time too. I certainly wouldn't have trusted me without a LOT of refreshing. And that is refreshing of things I had already practised for decades. I fear that, while the course will be a good brain stimulator in the short term, it's going to simply be a lot of time and money for little to no lasting benefit. If you don't use it -- soon and often -- you lose it. And you don't want to be that guy signing "CCEMT-P" behind his name, then not being able to back it up in practice a year from now. Of course, I'm hoping you're not the kind of pretentious wanker that would ever sign with those initials anyhow, lol. Good luck!

Yeah, that is definitely a mistaken assumption in most of the civilised world. California EMS is still living in 1972, even in the best system. And the scope of practice is still way over the head of their scope of education. You'd be lost in many other states, much less other countries. Even those with limited scopes have four times (or more) the educational requirements of California. Seriously. You'll see that just browsing here. Even more so if you travel around. While I am the first to maintain that communications is absolutely the most important "skill" in our scope of practice, it doesn't compensate for a lack of medically specific education. That said, as an educator and an employer, your educational background would put you at the top of my list of candidates. Big kudos for that accomplishment. I sincerely hope that you are able to someday put it to more productive use than dragging hose.

They're all horribly unprofessional looking, and I would never allow them. Why not just wear thermal underwear or a jacket if you're cold? If you're wearing body armour, as you probably should be, you usually won't have any problem staying warm.

Unfortunately, the Middle East and the Philippines are the only places I have seen doing the kind of thing you are describing. And neither is a good place to take a family. Although, they're safer than Mexico these days. Most overseas opportunities are for remote duty, hazardous duty, and industrial duty, not EMS as you know it. If you're interested in that kind of thing, let me know and I'll give you some direction. It is certainly possible to find employment in third world countries like Australia, NZ, Canadia, South Africa, etc... But not without beginning your educational process all over again. All of those countries have educational standards light years ahead of anything found in California. They wouldn't even look at you without a couple years of local education. It's a lot easier for nurses, who generally meet a higher standard than overseas counterparts instead of lower.

That has been my involvement in police EMS. It usually boils down to a force of cops doing fire and EMS as an afterthought, with very little emphasis on it, much like most fire-based EMS. The only real positive to it is that cops are generally much more mentally and intellectually suited to medicine than the typical hosemonkey. While this results in a better quality of practitioner, it is still held back by police work being their primary interest and career path. I have no experience with the civilian staffed police EMS, but Fort Worth, Texas actually tried it briefly in the late 1960s. Seems like a lot of stuff that fails miserably down here becomes suddenly popular up north about 20 years later, lol. I worked one semi-rural county-wide EMS where the crews were mixed. Each medic was officially employed by the hospital, but the salaries and costs were paid by the county. There was one medic per truck, and he was a deputy sheriff, but did not work patrol, unless it was a special detail or overtime shift. We did not wear SO uniforms on the ambulance. We kind of wore whatever we wanted actually. Usually scrubs or a flight suit. But we were almost always carrying a concealed firearm. And we made nearly twice as much as the patrol deputies. The second crewmember would be which ever ICU nurse could get to the ambulance first when the call came in. Some of them were EMTs also, but usually not. None of us medics (I was not a nurse yet) ever missed not having an EMT with us. The nurses were much better to have along in most every case. That was my favourite EMS job ever.

Every agency that tries that eventually gets pwnt for millions in civil court. WTF do you care? I for one didn't take the job to NOT transport patients.

I don't doubt that he's dead. But I seriously doubt that he died when and where we are being told. Tis just Obama wagging the dog.

You can't say "snatch" here.

Of course, the best of all time was this one: EDIT: Found more, lol.

Lame. Any union worth joining would be arguing, "twice the education, twice the pay!" They may accomplish something in third world countries, but I have yet to see them do anything but LOSE jobs in the US.

It's not the flying you have to worry about. It's standing with the other 500 people in the TSA grope line that is dangerous. That's where the next terrorist strikes will be. ROFL! I pray to Allah that's on YouTube! EDIT: He did it more than once, lol!

I much prefer the Captain Archer approach!

I agree.

Logical FAIL! He was not of my species, or that of any of my friends or family, or even pets. Huffington can whine about it to all her democrat friends, who organised the "spontaneous" eruption of Astroturf outside the White House last night. When was the last time anyone saw that many white people on the streets of DC after dark? Puhleeze! It doesn't happen.

ROFL! That plays right into my contention that his entire racism argument is completely overshadowed by his sexism. I don't mind admitting that I'm racist. Too bad he's not man enough to do the same.

Where it makes the difference is in the job hunt. Medic schools are cranking out a lot more medics than there are actual EMS jobs for. So if you end up in a big pile of applicants, any respectable agency will give hiring preference to the candidate with more education. And after all, if you don't get the job, then the salary is irrelevant, right? So you're definitely on the right track with your degree plan. Anyone who tells you that it won't make you a much better medic is saying that because they don't have it.

Point of order: You can say prick here, but you can't say dick. It's in the rules.

I have no involvement in this shindig, but it's a great opportunity for anyone looking for some hands-on CE. If you come to town for it, let me know so we can meet up for lunch or something. SLAM Advanced Human Airway Cadaver Lab - May 13, 14, or 15 - Fort Worth, TX at the University of North Texas Health Science Center * This is an instructor led stand alone skills lab (no lecture). * There are four cadaver stations at the lab. * Each small group will rotate between the cadaver stations. * These intubations will be documented and a copy of the number and types of intubations will be provided upon request for those practicioners who are required to have a minimal number of intubations per year. 1. Station 1 -Difficult laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation: bimanual laryngoscopy; bougie-assisted intubation; external laryngeal manipulation; BURP technique; HELP position 2. Station 2 - Use of supraglottic airway devices: LMA Supreme; LMA Unique; King LT; Combitube; and EasyTube 3. Station 3 - Videolaryngoscopy: Airtraq; Glidescope; McGrath; Res-Q-Scope 4. Station 4 - LMA Fastrach Intubation and retrograde intubation Approved by CECBEMS, AANA, and ACEP Price: SRNA/Student/Resident: $100 EMS/RN/RT/AT: $175 CRNA/PA/MD/DO: $250 May 13, 2011 SESSION 1 - 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. SESSION 2 - 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. May 14, 2011 SESSION 3 - 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. SESSION 4 - 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. SESSION 5 - 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 P.M. MAY 15, 2011 Session 6 - 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Session 7 - 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Session 8 - 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Visit store.slamairway.com <http://store.slamairway.com> to register

Seems like this works both ways, Crotch. Aren't you saying that all those black women who weren't attracted to me are racist? But if I slept with one, and didn't like it, and never did it again, I wouldn't be racist? Someone here obviously never took Logic 101. And this thread is a perfect example of why it should be required of all medic students.

Let me run a little test here. Is this racist? What about this one? Hosted by MySpaceAntics.com Why and/or why not?

ROFL! Excellent point! But Crotch has already discredited his own argument with his avowed homophobia. I hate to say it, but it seems we may have been our own worst enemy in this case, fighting so hard for a "homeland" and separatism throughout history. I completely agree with you, but I get that notion from other MOTs more than I do Skinheads.

That's why choices are nice! If you have the time, and/or can visualise your site without a lot of searching, then get the iodine layed down and drying while you get everything set up for your stick. If you're in overdrive mode, scrub it good with alcohol and get after it. But if you have chlorhexadine, you don't have to make that decision.

In a cardiac arrest, you could probably make a decent case for breaking his leg if you think it might stimulate cardiac activity. Operating under that popular-but-dubious theory, it certainly wouldn't hurt to give an epi pen. However, there are many more negatives than positives. Number one problem is that you don't know for sure what the rhythm is without a monitor. Consequently, you may actually be doing something to worsen the situation rather than improve it. Of course, as time passes, you can be more assured of what the underlying rhythm is, but by then, it's too late. Next, we have the problems of drug uptake. If your patient isn't perfusing peripherally, then the chances of much of any of that already inadequate dosage making it to the myocardium from the sub-Q tissue is slim to none. That's a problem often seen even in anaphylaxis. We dump several doses of epi into the SQ, and it just sits there from lack of perfusion. Then, when the patient begins to compensate, and regains some peripheral perfusion, all that epi suddenly gets dumped into hid system, causing secondary problems as bad as the original problem. Of course, this same phenomenon is also thought to be responsible for some "DOS" patients later being found with a pulse too, so it can theoretically go either way. I can't really say what I would do without being there and having all the necessary info. But sometimes a shot into the dark can mysteriously pay off, I guess.

According to you. But arguing moral relativism is like running in the Special Olympics.

For further clarification, the core of this forum is committed to integrity. Hypocrisy is something that always gets a negative response. And if you go hating on someone for hating, then there is no more blatant hypocrisy. It's something many people have trouble seeing in the mirror, so just be aware of it.