ChaseZ

100% radiotranslucent would be awesome

3 days of bed rest and no DVT prophylaxis is plenty of time to develop a new clot.

Not sure who John is but that philosphy is just ignorant. It seems that to be a common defense used by undereducated people to down play the importance of formal education. Just like the typical "Under water basket weaving" defense. Some of my classes were more useful than othes but there is no one class that I would consider silly or worthless. I find it humorous that the average paramedic supervisor has never taken a statistics or research class yet expect to be able to implement evidence based medicine.

The whole "leave'em dead" saying is outdated. It used to be the case that levophed was only used in refractory hypotension and was the last resort pressor before the patient expired. We have gotten much better at selecting pressors and levophed is now used in a wider scope.

This is the bag I keep in my car. It has some gloves, random band-aids / bandages, and then OTC meds. All that is for personal use. If I am across an accident I will break out the gloves and my iphone but that is about it. Maybe a 4x4 if they are bleeding all over. Why people carry these huge jump bags is beyond me. OP: you are actually going to start an IV and fluids off duty?

I will comment on the nurse aspect in the US. The minimum educational requirement is an associate degree (ADN) which takes 2 years to complete. The next level of education is a bachelors degree (BSN) which takes 4 years. Both associate and bachelors prepared nurses take the same licensing exam and have indentical clinical roles. There is a push for bachelors to become the mimumium entry and many large academic hospitals will only hire BSN new grads. Also, many managment positions require a BSN. Once a RN there are various speciality certifications you can acquire in ICU, Cardiac, Neuro, etc which usually require a year of experience and an exam. RNs are rarely used on ambulances. Some states allow RNs to practice within their scope on ambulances but that is rare outside of hospital to hospital critical care transport. RNs do have presence in helicopter EMS. This requires multiple (5+) years of ICU/ER experience and multiple extra certifications. Fight nurses have a broad scope including all the drugs you mentioned, intubation, central lines, and chest tubes. Our CRNAs require a 2 year master degree with an option of adding a 1-2 year doctorate after your 4 year BSN. CRNAs in some states are able to function as independent provides and manage patients autonomsly.

A little off topic but a really interesting case study about falsely high glucose readings in patients receiving Icodextrin for CAPD... http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org/content/104/6/1473.full

I'm a Murse! Even worse....

Sure, ask anything you would like. I was one of two people in my class with EMS experience. It really did not help academically but did somewhat in clinical. I was more comfortable with patients than my classmates. However my actual EMS experience is very limited, I only worked as an EMT for 3 months before moving for school and working in a hospital. It is surprising how little EMS/nursing actually know about or understand each other. Most RNs couldn't tell you the difference between an EMT and a Medic and most EMS workers only see RNs at either LTC/SNFs or in the ED.

What type of degree is the Community Paramedic program? I have reservations about allowing to function as community practioner without a substantial increase in education. Can you be more specific on what the duties would actually be?

Questions for me?

I got my EMT-B while taking my college prereqs and trying to decide which route I wanted to take (Medic/RN/MD). I really enjoyed EMS but the low educational standards pushed me away, I knew I wanted at least a bachelors degree. I also fell in love with ICU nursing. My original intention going into nursing school was to pursue flight nursing (Have the best of both worlds) but now I am considering working towards the CRNA route. All that is years off since all of that requires years of experience. I would love to volunteer somewhere and get back on a truck.

Missouri does not allow you to challenge the paramedic exam as far as I know. You are allowed to work on an ambulance within your RN scope in certain circumstances. I may eventually do a RN-paramedic bridge program if I decide I want to do flight.

Hey Everyone, My name is Chase and I just recently graduated with my BSN as well as have my EMT-B. I have also held various hospital tech jobs while In school spending most of my time as a cardiac monitor tech. I am a frequent poster on a few other forums usually trying to kill time on slow night shifts or when bored.