Freshmeat

I'd like to hear what you have to say about River Medical/AMR in Kingman! There is ALOT of talk in my circles about AMR (there is an advertised online hiring ad for Chandler (suburb of Phx. by AMR) and as far as I know they dont have any CON other than River Medicals....talk!! People are listening!!

I dunno & am pretty happy to leave it that way at this point However, I'm not sure where its possible to compare Medic education with an RN ed. An RN Associates degree is basically equavilent to a 4 year degree with 4 blocks of Nursing school(2years) and about 4 sememsters of Pre req's (2yrs) Mostly Bio & chem + co reqs. Medic school ranges from 9-14 Months in AZ and very few medics I know ever bothered with the associates that goes with it, as it gets you no where; and takes alot of extra time. ("no where" ='s read $$$). My partner has an AA in emergency Medicine and he makes $13.00 an hour just like the rest of the medics with comparable employment time AA or no. PLEASE do not read this as a knock against medics (I spent a better part of my life wanting to be a Medic)..its not a knock, just not seeing how the education is comparable timewise. I wish to god it was comparable, I would be in Block two of nursing school right now!

Interesting stuff. To answer a few questions and toss in a few mindless thoughts as well ( I am just a basic after all ) My medic, nor any other medic at our station, actually has a base hospital or a medical director specifically; We work under state guidelines, and when they call for orders they simply ask for whatever Doc is present & document. I have no idea how normal this is outside AZ, but its not generally they way things run in Phoenix. We pretty much do things the only way we can, and work with what we have been given; sucks at times but such is life. I know of one specific instance where a medic (not one of ours) amputated a dudes leg, wasn't even medical direction possible as there was no phone service (crush injury involving a train); the guy died in flight and there was a shitstorm that hasn't been settled as far as I know. Hell its usually an interesting and entertaining little sitcom when my partner asks a hospital pharmacy for restock. Our ALS ground transports are generally about $1,200.00 as far as I know. A helicopter ride is about $18,000.00; and of course patient condition is always the primary concern, with post transport monetary problems being secondary. The Choppers are usually put on standby, if it sounds serious and launched once we have reached the patient, so we're definitely not dispatched at the same time usually. Occasionally...& this is where my questions comes from, DPS (state police) dispatches helicopters. Other times we have arrived on scene at the same time, because an overzealous, volunteer firefighter launched a chopper before reaching the scene themselves. If I ask this question to five medics, I get five different answers. So I guess we will just continue to do what we think is best for the patient hell with the unknown. Personally, I have found the flight crews staffed with highly qualified people, and we truly NEVER have had a single issue with one. They carry more drugs (RSI ect) than we do and sure as hell have a faster ride. Anyhow, interesting reading and thanks for the input. :wink:

Most of the flight RN's I see are also CEP's, pretty much the same deal here as far as a test challenge goes; I'm currently a nursing school student & I'm pretty familiar with flight nurse qualifications, most of use are. Hell, our Critical Care Ambu nurses are pretty well loaded training wise as well. Think of my question in this context and perhaps it will be more clear. We (One medic/ One EMT) arrive on scene the same time as the Chopper (one medic/ One RN). My Medic asses's the patient and decides she/he is BLS & very stable and doesn't need an $18,000.00 chopper bill. This same ambulance medic is not concerned with flight weather, as he wants to ground the patient and believes there is no problem with this. The flight RN, wants to fly the patient, and disagrees with the assessment of the Medic. Who gets to make the final transport decision??? I believe its the RN, but I just don't know for sure. Can someone provide me with some valid basis as to whether I am right or wrong?

Again, it wasnt a turf post. My partner has never been one degree hot over a flight RN calling shots. Never had one single problem with a flight crew, of any kind whatsoever, we all work very well together. Certain situations just made us wonder who actually holds the reins when there is an RN on scene. A couple Medics I work with stated that the RN was never a higher level of care than a medic at an "outside of the hospital" setting. My partner actually believes that the RN is the highest level of care and has defered transport decisions to them in the past (ground/air when we both hit the scene same time and the patient isnt ALS) Much of the time, we try to do what is best for the patient financially on top of the obviouse medical considerations. A helicopter ride in our area is about $18,000.00 and who knows what an Ins co will do. So can anyone tell me definitively???? I really do appreciate the input!

I'm an EMT in AZ, basically stationed in mining town 1/2 way from Phoenix to Vegas. As you can imagine, we fly ALOT of patients that are ALS, as ground transport to the nearest Hospital is about 2hrs. Anyhoo, What I'm wondering is who is the highest level of care on scene, when The chopper lands? Is it still my Medic partner, or the Flight RN??? Not really a turf issue, rather just something we were thinking about since occasionally we reach the scene about the same time :shock:

Can anyone recomend a BLS pocket reference? I'm a spankin new EMT and I remember my instructor saying he carried a pocket sized reference guide that contained Vitals by age/gender ect. Seems like a good thing for me as I have a hard time with numba's....lotta dead brain cells in there. :oops:

thanks guys!

I am sposed to be working with Wildland firefighters, attached to a private contractor providing EMS service to the crews. Typical things go wrong, typical EMT issues. The fanny pack needs to carry my steph, trauma shears, BP cuff, pen light, tons of gloves, mole skin, 4x4's ect. backpack or bag wont be so helpful since I'm allready supposed to have my fireshelter and most likely a moniter since I'm guessing the Medic will think I'm sposed to carry it I dont intend on arguing with Medics much. Seriousely...no one has a EMS fanny pack they like? Like wow and stuff!

I bought one awhile back to use in my clinicals...its sucks; fell apart pretty much as soon as I bought it. Anyhow I have a job waiting for me, as soon as my patch comes through and its one item I'm sposed to have. Any advice on a particular brand/place to get it? Also advice on what to carry would be really helpful ( I tend to overdo it, in my German-boyscout-obsessiveness). Thanks in advance!

Well I'll admit that orriginally I was trying my damndest to figure a way around the experiance req that AZ schools demand...I put alot of thought into it and talked to alot of Medics and came to the conclusion that for "me" I need the basic experiance first. I have no problem at all with the idea of being a medics helper...nothing would make me happier right now. I have learned more in the last six months than I learned in five years at ASU. I would be more than happy to drive an ambu and wear a neon shirt that says "AMBULANCE DRIVER" front and back If it allows me to keep learning and keep on the road to being a good EMT then a good Medic I'm more than happy.

To my knolledge...and believe me I have looked carefully, there are NO schools in AZ that will accept you without 1,000 work hours of EMT-B experiance. You are corect technically..it is not a state requirement, but either way you cant go to Medic school without prior EMT experiance in this state.

Um I dont care what I'm called....just let me get my 1,000 hrs of EMT-B done so I can get INTO a Medic school. In AZ you dont go to Medic school until you've worked a year as an EMT. The reasoning is obviouse and to be honest, it would scare the shit out of me to find out my dad had coded and the Medic running the call had never even seen a code worked. I am truly uneducated and new to all this, but the discussion about how EMT-B's dont know anything and all kinda cracks me up. Maybe elsewhere its different, but here we all have to start at that level, and they dont let us play ALS (run) until we have been an EMT (walked) for a while. I'm currently a licenced general contractor. I build custom homes for rich people; "Ambulance Driver" sounds like a great title to me.

Are there any EMT-B's out there with the Wild land Red card? Has it done anything for ya? I'm doing the class next week and was wondering if it was truly worthwhile.

In AZ you cannot get accepted into any Medic School without 1,000 hrs of EMT-B experiance. The schools do not take this lightly and there isnt really a way around it. So....no joby means no further education in EMS.