dunntm

I know some of these posts are older, but wanted a moment to clarify some factual inaccuracies contained in this thread. 1) Denver Paramedics ran 100,000 calls last year, more than every other EMS agency in the state combined. Its medics are hardworking, dedicated, ethical people. The incident of the guy walking into the ED bagging himself has been told and re-told for 20 years. Although I have talked to many people who have claimed to have "been there" when it happened, none of those people can provide many other relevant details (who was the paramedic that did that, whether the patient was male or female, etc). 2) Denver Paramedics had nothing to do the research design, IRB approval, etc for the PolyHeme study. Instead, it served as a research site because of the high volume of trauma we see, the ability for our paramedics to manage both a sick trauma patient AND follow a research protocol, and that all Level I trauma returns to a single facility. Any suggestion that there were ethical lapses on the part of the paramedics themselves is both factually inaccurate and potentially slanderous. 3) Ketamine was added to our formulary on 1 July, not for pain management. But to manage a narrow range of patients who are presenting with excited delirium. 4) Denver Paramedics regularly hire. Many of our new people are coming from within our basic ranks and from our paramedic school. It makes sense to hire people you already know. And the paramedic students have essentially gone through a 500 hour interview, as that is the amount of field time they get with use by the time they graduate from school. However, the division does hire a wide range of providers from outside the system. Obviously, those with more work experience have a better chance of getting hired. I am not part of admin, but a paramedic field instructor with almost 30 years in and having worked in several systems in several states. People move from across the country to work here. If you have specific questions you would like to ask from someone who is on the inside -and not from people who are posting second hand information- please email me directly: dunntm(at)yahoo(dot)com. Or, contact our HR department. Good luck to you. Thom Dunn