Savoy6

The quality of providers is what the testing, education and hiring process allows. How deep should a state go and who should be kept out. Criminal backgrounds are just that. How high should the bar be set? I would entertain comments from Missouri folks ONLY at Greg. Natsch@dhss.mo.gov I work on legislation and the process was and is open to the public, especially the background checks. It was a hard battle when we did it. providers didn't want to be checked. If you knew some of the people involved in cases, you'd be shocked. Leaders in the EMS community, instructors, providers. People who'd been the voice of EMS in some cases. Quality providers that checks didn't catch, but their criminal behavior caught up to them. It's not a perfect system, but it does work.

Missouri has been conducting checks for over ten years. We were the first state to be raked over the coals by the media in 1994. EMS is just a reflection of society, but EMS providers are expected to be held to a higher standard. You are with a patient at their most vulnerable times. Was unpopular, but it has kept some bad folks off the streets. Plus it has cost quite a few folks their license. They do it to themselves. We're not talking parking tickets or bad checks. We are talking felonies against person, drugs, sex offenses, crimes against children, the handicapped. Of all people, Robert Blake said, "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime".

Check your state laws- for us, if he enters a guilty plea-his service has to get a waiver for him to be around controlled substances. Unfortunately this may be out of the hands of an employer. Now drug court is for users, not dealers or manufacturers. Depending on the charge, you might have DEA and federal drug laws and at least, your state agency that has oversight of controlled substance. It sounds good to have rehab and all that, but that is a deal that attorneys usually try to make. This is a widespread problem. It's not just about addiction, it's about ethics and value systems. You might be amazed how many use, steal, divert, empty and replace with saline depriving patients of needed medications, use rig stocks for personal use. We have a meth problem too. Number one per capita for labs. It's not as easy as a four question survey

I have something I can send :wink:

Interesting thing- The concept was developed by a Dr who wrapped India rubber around patients legs to perform back surgery sitting up. Then of course the military used G-suits for dive bombers to keep them concious, and they evolved during Viet Nam. Miami FD used them quite a bit in the 60' and early 70's. I used them quite a few times, back in the day. Had unconcious unresponsive trauma patients wake up and start talking. But then, they fell out of favor. I think more studies should have been done to support them than shoot them down. My " Any tool in the tool box" theory. Hey if they don't work don't use them, if they cause further harm, don't use them. If they do work, use them. I don't think anyone will resurect them for study. It's amazing how some "researchers" drive the entire realm of EMS. More research should be done at the local level to either support or remove a drug or tool. I looked at crics in the early 90's. We had to change our PCR afterwards. Cric and Cervical collar were too close together on the form, and mismatced carbon copies skewed the results. Out of 63 report crics, only 22 were actually performed and 18 of those were nurses from one flight service. If further investigating had not been done, we'd have been led down the wrong path. SOO, my point is, research is good if it's valid, accurate and the sampling numbers are sufficient to make it so. EMS Systems should be constantly reviewing procedures and evaluating the efficacy of all their procedures, not knee jerk and follow along like sheep. There is no template for all to follow.