akflightmedic
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Posts posted by akflightmedic
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Too lazy eh? Five minutes and could not find it. Hmmmm, it took me all of 45 seconds and I was there.
I will say again what has been said many times here before....
If you want to know something about National Registry, where would you think to look? Maybe, I dont know, the national registry website? Might be good to start there.
www.NREMT.org
Google national registry and it gives you the site....now I have pointed you in the right direction, however I will not do all the work for you. The skill sheets are there but it is up to you to discover which tab will reveal them when clicked upon.
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May I ask how you avoid the reciprocity route? Do you know the definition of the word? It is taught in every EMT class I have ever taught and is usually found on the NREMT exam as well. Sorry, but you have me confused saying you wish to avoid the process. Why? How is it a backdoor route? That makes absolutely no sense. Every state I have been licensed in, is because I applied for reciprocity. I never viewed it as a backdoor route, only as the correct way to move from one state to another.
One entry found for reciprocity.
Main Entry: rec·i·proc·i·ty
Pronunciation: "re-s&-'prä-s(&-)tE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
1 : the quality or state of being reciprocal : mutual dependence, action, or influence
2 : a mutual exchange of privileges; specifically : a recognition by one of two countries or institutions of the validity of licenses or privileges granted by the other
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Great video! I can not believe they were entering that bdlg at a safety exhibition for the public. What morons...
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What is the incentive to the services to hire people from your agency?
It would work if all eligbile potential employees signed on with you and agreed not to work for someone without you.
What is the incentive for them to do that?
I guess one way to pitch it to the services, is that you can reduce their costs by screening all employees for them and doing the ref checks, balh blah blah, but that could also negate a current postion within their company. You assume liability for all the screening and hiring practices. COuld be a good thing. But could also lead to more frivilous complaints and having medics bounce around from service to service till all decide they do not want that particular one anymore. Do they all have the same protocols? Kinda strange if they do.
Where is the job security. Would you be offering benefits, retirement,etc? Is there any upward mobility?
Sorry for my ramblings, I am tired and just blabbering, hope it made sense.
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Those of you that know me, know that I hate pretenders and I hate people that plagarize. When I read that poem, it sounded so familiar. I have an excellent memory. That poem has been around for years! I notice in the title you state it is an original but you do not say to whom...is it original to you? Give credit where it is due but do not take it when it is not deserved. If you are reposting poetry, it is proper eitquette to cite the source or attach a statement that says not yours but you wanted to share.
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I think you need to talk to a recruiter if you are seriously planning on entering the military. If you wait till you have completed the bachelors program, why would you want to be a medic? You will be commissioned as an officer in any branch you choose. Why would you want to have an enlisted man's position as an officer? If you are serious about the military and medicine, take advantage of whatever they will give you. Think about delayed entry, let them pay for PA training or even medical school if that interests you. I am sorry but I just can't see you getting a 4 yr degree and then convincing them to let you be a medic as an officer. As far as SF and the 18Ds, they are a great group of guys and it is very competitive. I train with these guys on a regular basis. I also work very closely with the Navy IDC's. If you want to know which one will probably give you the best all around experience and education, then I would recommend being a Navy IDC. I also recommend that you go to www.military.com It is a great site that will list all the different options with the different branches, might give you some i valuable insight.
As for your intentions and wanting to help out the guys, you seem to be very noble. But know this, although war is hell and a lot of guys are dying over here..there are plenty of good medics already here. From the way you made that one statement, you made it sound as if there are no readily available medics or good quality care. There are plenty of both. I am one of them and I provide as such. We have so many groups working together, it is truly amazing experience. The military has excellent equipment and is very up to date on skills and treatments.
Stay in school, don't lose focus and see how much changes in the next 4 years while you are obtaining your degree. Then make some informed decisions at that time.
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NO! Absolutely not!
That defeats the whole purpose of the program. We had a turn in at our fire station. Your job is to accept the child, ask the mother if she wants or needs anything and take whatever she volunteers, but do not pressure. This is a last resort effort so these babies don't end up dead, so we make the transition as smooth as possible. This is not the time to make judgements or ask a ton of questions. If she wanted to be hounded with paperwork or signing forms, she could have gone to child services or an adoption agency. This is in my experience a totally anonymous transaction. The girls I have heard about were underage and scared. A few were druggies as well. But all in all, I am glad this program exists without the mother having to face any charges.
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Well Rid, it is rare I disagree with you, so I will chalk this one up to my youthfulness and ignorance,lol. Maybe after I put another decade under my belt, I too may change my opinion. Didn't say I was hard core against it, just feel its not for me at this time. Hopefully I will not learn another lesson the hard way as I have many others, but from my personal experience, not having it saved me once already. Anyways, since I have such an open mind usually, I will look into this further and see what stats I can pull up either for or against. In the meantime, should anything happen, feel free to say I told you so, as I will do the same.
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Until you provide a more detailed description of the patient, I will make these assumptions based on what you have said thus far.
First, Is the patient suffering from orthopnea? If you don't know what that is, please look it up and get back to me and tell me what kind of physical presentation a person suffering from this typically has.
Secondly, the pt stated that they "really needed to sit up". Just the way you quoted them makes me think...Did they really? Or is this just a case of the provider failing to recognize that a pt is uneasy, anxious or possibly claustrophobic. This is where experience kicks in. First, you do another assessment of lung sounds and SPO2 if available and check other signs of adequate perfusion. Then you apply O2 via nc and you get close to your pt and you talk in a calm and soothing voice and reassure them until they are able to calm down and the need to sit up subsides. You can also raise the board with towels or equipment, but mostly from your short post it sounds as if it was anxiety and therefore you should provide TLC.
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Which brings me to question the statement that two of you have made, "following protocol".
The last 3 services I have worked for do not have "protocols", we had GUIDELINES. In the front page of the guidelines. there is the statement signed by the MD and the county that stated as a paramedic we may deviate or provide treatment different from the ones listed or change order of said treatment provided that we can reasonablly justify our treatment with supportive documentation if such occassion should arise later. inda leaves the door wide open for interpretation, I think.
We are never held to strict protocols as that would mean we were strictly coookbook medics. Now granted there are not many situations where you need to deviate from the "standard" treatments, however it was nice knowing we had that option and the support of our MD and county if we chose to do so.
As for the insurance costs, yes it is afforadable and it is even tax deductible. If it makes you feel better, go for it. Personally, not having it kept me from being in a lawsuit. I would like to see statistics that show how many medics are sued annually and how many of those have insurance. Not saying it doesnt happen, but we certainly dont hear about it very often. Usually it is a quiet settlement with medic's employer and it never makes the headlines.
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Personally, I wouldn't recommend wasting the money on insurance. This is one of the few times I will ever say insurance is bad. My reasoning for this as already mentioned by others is the deep pocket syndrome. In previous threads, I talked about how I was named and then dropped in a lawsuit. Why do you think I was dropped? I was dropped because there was nothing to gain except ruining my career.(for the record, this was a frivilous lawsuit) They examined my past and found out that I was living in a rental house with high credit card debt and no assets. There was nothing for them to gain. Now if they had found a huge insurance policy that I carried and paid for every month, do you think they would have dropped me from the suit? Hell no, they would have went for the jugular.
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Ok, people have covered most of my arguments already so that only leaves one other aspect I dont think was mentioned yet.
Someone said, he was offering to pay for the service but they had no system in place to do on the spot collections.
Lets examine this from an employer's business angle.
How is he to collect payment?? A check, credit card..how is he to verify these are good?? Time is wasting.
What if the homeowner decides to cancel the check, charge or dispute said wages cause he really didn't have it to start with, he just wanted his home saved. While awaiting approval, we have lost several minutes in fighting the blaze, but in an area where there is no tax base for a fire department, I seriously doubt there is instant approval for processing of funds.
In addition to this, the FD probably has standard protocols for new subscribers. You sign up and they do a pre planning inspection. They know the layout of your home and most if not all hazards. Now if he collects on the spot and then sends the guys in and someone gets hurt, who is liable? The business owner cause he did not follow his standard practice. Apply this same scenario to the person who said they had a moral obligation since they were already on scene. Who would be responsible for injuries? Not Workman's Comp since they were not on the job and certainly not the homeowner since he obviously could not afford the money for fire protection. I know no where does it say he didn't have the money and no one told him he had to pay, but I call BS on this. In order to get homeowner's insurance, you have to find out certain information from your local FD's. Who would move into an area without investigating what services are available first. It is common practice. If he didnt investiagte it on his own, you have got to be kidding me if you tell me the real estate agent did not tell him or none of his neighbors told him. I think he was trying to be cheap and it caught up to him.
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Despite what I say???
You told him exactly what I did only I did not refer to the person as an "investigator".
My point I was making is contact someone who is within the system. It kills me how many people I see on multiple different forums asking if I got the job or what the process is. Do people not care enough anymore to research what is involved in obtaining the position for which they applied? I never go for any job without first researching and learning about the position and the service first. Then, from the point I make contact, I am asking questions. I never walk away from any part of the hiring process without asking more questions. Doing these things, presents you as an interested canidate. Instead people choose to know nothing about the process, let time fly by and keep asking people on the internet if they got a job or did something wrong. Go to the source...always.
Sorry, I am not picking on you specifically, but I decided to use your post and situation to show as an example to any newbies that may run across this and wonder what to do.
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Your best bet would be actually contacting the HR department or someone who actually works there or participates in the hiring, instead of asking a bunch of random people on the internet.
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Let me give a brief history of the situation.
Henderson has experience with federal contracts as he has done them for many years, usually wildland fires type stuff.
Anyways, Gold Star EMS was a private service in Texas that went belly up after being accused of Medicare/Medicaid fraud. A lot of people lost their jobs, retirements,etc.
50 ambulances were parked and not being used along with all the normal equipment on an ALS unit.
Henderson was also part owner of Gold Star.
Allegedly, GSEMS was cleared of the allegations, however this took months, reputation had been soured and people had moved on, new companies had taken their place.
The storms hit and Henderson used his brain...sure money is a motivator but he is a business man.
FEMA needed ambulances NOW!!
Henderson had 50 of them ready to roll and he used them. Blew the dust off of them, stocked them the best they could and sent them down. A lot of people were able to go back to work and make some money since the layoffs. Many old employees returned. I agree, they were not in the best shape nor were they fully stocked, but this was time of a major disaster. We did not need half the crap that we normally carry on a unit. We had very small amount of drugs but we did have lifepaks and cardiac drugs. I can think of no instance where we needed something to treat someone and did not have it. Most of our job was doing transfers and evacuating patients to upstate or out of state. As for the comment of 16 ambulances following the military guys cleaning gutters, this is absolutely ridiculous. Did not happen!
Out of all the ambulances that were there during the storms, GSEMS/Henderson had the most. At one point at the command center, there were over a 100 ambulances. It was amazing. There were people from everywhere..from AMR to the tiniest little rescue squad out of South Carolina. I met many great people. Everyone has to understand there was much confusion during this time and sometimes resources were scarce, but we as Americans get in our own little comfortable world and can not imagine it or handle it when things happen differently. Yes there were many things that could have or should have been done differently, but it just didnt happen that way. I think overall, the EMS community pulled together and accomplished some major feats with as few lives lost as possible. Yes people died but it was a huge natural disaster. I am proud to have been a part of the effort.
Thanks for letting me rant....
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I was promised pay and I recieved my pay. Those guys were there for the money too as that was a very hot item of discussion as you can well imagine. We were given 480/day. Henderson Consulting also paid for my airfare from Alaska, roundtrip so that I may be there and assist. I recieved all monies owed and I recieved my 10-99.
These guys are NOT altruistic heros despite whatever fluff they are telling the media. They were despised by many during this ordeal which is sad.
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For everyones knowledge, there is always two sides to the story. The first time I went to Louisiana for relief work, I worked for Henderson. I was also there at the same time as these OR guys were there. They are making themselves sound to be angels, however I can speak unbiasedly about them. I do not work for Henderson, have no desire to work for Henderson again...I have no ulterior motives. From the moment these guys arrived, they refused to be team players. They segregated themselves from the rest of the group, they refused to sleep with us and eat with us. They refused to be paired up with anyone else but another OR guy. They bad mouthed the system and continuously freelanced. They refused to follow orders and said they knew best. When the storm was hitting, they refused to evacuate Beaumont. They rode the storm out there and refused to leave with the rest of the group. Instead they holed up with the local FD and stayed there in their station. Mr.Henderson was angry cause everyone else had followed orders and these guys refused. They endangered themselves and the equipment. After the storm landed, they refused to check in and instead stayed in Beaumont. Numerous attempts were made to contact them with no success. As for communications, we were all issued Nextel sattelite phones that had no lapse in coverage during the storm. After almost 2 days, contact was made and they were informed to return immediately to Baton Rouge or they would be charged with stealing the ambulances. They eventually all piled into one ambulance and drove back. I was there when they arrived. Mr.Henderson promptly informed them their services were no longer needed and they got in their cars and left. These guys were problem children from the moment they set foot on the site. There was no room or need for their attitudes especially with what we were enduring. Now it sounds as if they are trying to make more trouble just because they screwed up. Please before you get all worked up over this ordeal, get all the facts. Anymore questions and I will be happy to answer as I worked in LA for 60 days, after Katrina and during Rita. As for the Shreveport guys, they were a great bunch of guys, very friendly. They left because they were only there for 4 days to start with. It was there off time from the FD. I can not say enough good things about them..Thats enough for now, if I remember anything else or yoou have questions, let me know...
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While I can not say the system is ineffective or not working cause I do not work in or around it, what I can say is you can not pick on their education standards. The program is phenomonal and it is something we should all strive for. As for the system itself, if it is so inefective, why do they consistently get high grades? I am asking, not defending. Why is there very little negative press? As with every system, there will be chinks in the armor and flaws with one area or another. But in the education arena and as leaders and innovators of new trials and procedures, they have been leading the pack.
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I am confused....You are saying it is impossible to find a school that teaches basic EMT, the entry level training for all of our careers??? PLease clarify this for me.
And you are also saying the state does not recognize basics but it does intermediates. Usually it is the other way around.
Please help my confuzzlement....thanks
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I get paid in US dollars
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King County Medic One only employs Paramedics. We do not train or hire individuals to work at the EMT level. If you wish to obtain a career at the EMT level, please contact a local Fire Department or private ambulance company.
King County Medic One does NOT operate a Paramedic Training Program. The University of Washington is the sole training provider for all Paramedics in King County.
After a competitive testing process, we contract with qualified individuals to attend the University of Washington Paramedic Training Program. If the candidate is successful in the educational endeavor, they are hired by King County to work as a Paramedic, sent to orientation and placed on a one-year probation under the direction of Field Training Officers.
Call the University of Washington's Paramedic Training Program at (206) 731-3489 or click here to visit their website.
To be qualified to test with King County Medic One you must hold a current EMT certification and have 3 years of field experience. Field experience must be in the pre-hospital EMS setting (paid or volunteer Fire Department or Ambulance Technician); 12 months of the 3 years must be consecutive with a single agency. Military medic or nurse / hospital type experience is not accepted. You must have a high school diploma and a valid driver's license. Competitive candidates will possess excellent reading, math and writing skills. You should be physically fit and able to pass a job-related assessment.
The successful candidate
King County Medic One strives to hire individuals that will perform well in the academic setting. Successful candidates must demonstrate spatial reasoning skills, critical thinking skills, and leadership ability. Candidates should be exemplary in teamwork and customer service skills as well. Qualified candidates are given a series of evaluations, which include:
General Knowledge Test
EMT Level Test
Physical Agility Test
Assessment Center
Physical Exam
Criminal Background Check
Two Oral Boards
Sorry to make it sound like an ad, but I am displaying information that I think justifies the debate
Paramedic Training
To become a Paramedic, department firefighters must apply for the position and if accepted, begin a year-long training programming under the close supervision of the Medical Director at Harborview Medical Center and veteran paramedics. Paramedic trainees must successfully complete this intensive 3,000 hours worth of instruction and hands-on training.
After completion of their training, Paramedics are required to complete 50 additional hours of medical education annually. They are also required to document performance of required skills in excess of State requirements in order to maintain certification as an Advanced Life Support Paramedic by the University of Washington School of Medicine. These hours are divided into a formal lecture series relating to paramedicine, other medicine-related lectures, alarm review with the Medical Director, and teaching EMS-related subjects.
This first link is the best one..explains and lays out the training schedule...now please debate this and tell me it is no good..
http://www.metrokc.gov/health/medicone/trainingschedule.htm
http://www.metrokc.gov/health/medicone/action.htm
http://www.cityofseattle.net/fire/medics/medicOne.htm
http://www.ncpa.org/newdpd/dpdarticle.php?article_id=1364
So, having said all of this, the only downside is it is not a degree program yet. I called the college and they are in the process of developing it, but they do give credit for the course so that you may apply it to another degree if you so desire.
The bottom line is the paramedic program is NOT open enrollment. You must be hired by one of the participating organizations and then you must attend this intensive program or you can not work as a medic..period.
7 days a week for 9 months, 600 pt contacts..read the list..it is amazing. I wish my program had been like that
So, to sum it up...in my opinion, this is what I think makes these medics so much better than medics from other areas..they put the empahasis on education, not just skills.
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What impresses me Dust about them is exactly what we have talked about many times. They are taking a step in the right direction with the EDUCATION...You can not just be a medic and get a job with them. They require you to go through a very rigorous and comprehensive paramedic program. One of the best in the nation ( in my opinion) because of the amount of hours and clinicals they require. If all the programs were similar to this one, we would not have "firemonkeys" blindly following protocols. The training is tough, it requires dedication and you do not skate by or get passed because they need medics. I myself was ignorant of this program until I moved to the northwest. I know a few of the guys and I am very impressed with their education requirements. Since this is all you harp about, you should look into their requirements because I think you will then be pleasantly surprised and you may even pass on YOUR approval..lol
As for the system flaws, every system will have them, but I see exactly what they were trying to do and it makes sense. Not having worked in the system, I can not comment on whether or not it is truly working, but I have heard no negativity from the guys. The employees that I know are very happy and like I said there is very little attrition.
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They did not neglect to respond to anyone....The nurses skipped the system in place and called the private service direct. The nurses are the ones that screwed up the system.
The original poster works for the private service and he was questioning whether or not this was an ALS call and should he have called for them and would they have come. Basically, I assume he is second guessing himself and doubting whether or not he did the right thing.
Help find NR check off sheets
in General EMS Discussion
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Myrna, you didnt do anything for him. Did you read the post? He wanted skills checkoff sheets and said nothing about patches. Am I missing something? Unless you were just trying to be funny, you did not address the post at all, but thanks anyways for giving him the wrong link. I am glad no one told him where to go exactly.