HIGHSCHOOL AND EMT-B CLASS

[Fluffpaw38]

very good point. It does make alot of sense. Its a diffrent way of looking at it. I was taught well, I had an instuctor who had won the best instructor in the state award a few years in a row and did last year as well. Regardless I still dont feel ready to handle a pt by myself. I mean with the fire department I run with, they let me take charge but I always have those experience guys behind me making sure I dont trip up.

[JakeEMTP]

I still don't feel ready to handle a pt. by myself. I mean, with the fire department I run with, they let me take charge but I always have those experienced guys behind me making sure I don't trip up.

Fixed.

[brock8024]

I will have to look up in my ems book to find a list of the different development stages we go through. The reason I say this is because I think there should be age restrictions for becoming a EMT.

The reason I say this is from my own personal experience. I am 27 now and very happy that I waited to take my paramedic classes. One I was more into learning and studying. I am not saying that a 16 or 18 year old would have trouble with that either.

The life experience is a big part of our job. I am only 27 and my partner is 42. I listen to her a lot and things because she is older than me and I respect that. I mean she can keep me level headed and open my eyes to things and make me think about calls.

Look at this point, there are things that need to be done for a patient besides just skills. I mean like calling in certain services to help the patient that sometimes younger people may not know.

Here is another point. There was a thread on a elderly man that was intubated even though he had a DNR and was end stage cancer patient. One poster called them idiots for intubating him. I kind of understand where they was coming from but with no DNR does not matter.

There is a reason I brought up the intubation thing. There are times that you have to talk to a family member and understand where they are coming from. I mean sometimes younger people have trouble seeing and understanding the big picture. In the intubation thread the wife wanted him tubed so the kids could say good-bye. Is this a bad thing? Not really, I mean do you know the family situation at all? There are sometimes family dynamics that are sometimes missed due to being tunneled visioned on certain things. I think as we get older and have more life experience we start to understand things better and know what things to ask in certain instances. Maybe the kids told her they would hate her if they did not get to say good-bye, maybe they had accused her of stuff. We do not know. Maybe she would have felt guilty if she did not let them. That is stuff she would have to live with not the EMT's that where there. So we need to not only think of the pt but the family also.

I guess to me this is a good reason why I think there should be some age restrictions. I think the older we get the more sound judgement calls we can make. Not saying that younger people can not make good judgements but sometimes hard to do with little real life experience.

[brock8024]

the whole point of my last post is this, There are times we have to make judgement calls to help our patients. It is not always putting a tube here or there, starting a IV or splinting. There are ways to treat a pt besides all of our "toys". Sometimes our patients just need someone to talk to, help them back up after a fall , or even get them their dinner. Yes I have been called for a fall and the pt refused to go to ER. My partner and I got the lady her dinner and water and was off to next call. Sometimes we do not understand our patients or their familys reasons for doing stuff but it takes someone that will not be bias and willing to take the time to understand them besides jumping to a conclusions, and I think that is what younger people do jump to conclusions before thinking things out.

[firedoc5]

I will have to look up in my ems book to find a list of the different development stages we go through. The reason I say this is because I think there should be age restrictions for becoming a EMT.

The only restriction I know of, at least in IL, is that you have to be 18 to be state certified. At one time it was being discussed that to become an actual Paramedic you had to be 21, due to administering drugs and having to make more definitive decisions. One point was made that by the time someone meets all the requirements to become a Paramedic, even if they started at 18, they would have already became 21. So I don't know if that was formally decided or not.

[Dustdevil]

I was taught well, I had an instuctor who had won the best instructor in the state award a few years in a row and did last year as well. Regardless I still dont feel ready to handle a pt by myself.

Then how do you know you were taught well? How many EMT courses have you attended to make this determination? Every EMT graduate thinks his education was the best, but none are qualified to actually determine that. Your instructor may be teh awesome, but it takes a lot more than a plaque on the wall to prove that. I know instructors who have been teaching for twenty years that suck arse. In fact, way too many EMS instructors take their instructor certificate to mean that they know everything, and don't need to know anymore. Consequently, they sit back on their laurels for the rest of their career, teaching the same old outdated crap for the next twenty years that was inadequate when they started.

Add all that to the fact that the EMT curriculum is laughably inadequate to begin with -- no matter what school you go to -- and you have the reason that EMTs are a joke in this country.

[Fluffpaw38]

I had 6 fantastic intructors. The lead instructor wanted us to not be like this "generation" of EMT-Bs that slack off (get lazy), he wanted us to really put alot into assessing and treating our patients, and I think thats the way EMT classes should be taught. He only had one mandatory class, and it was to watch "patch adams". And I think that the age in which people can be certified as EMT-B and up should be 18. Not saying 16-17 cant do it but Its just the way it should be I think. Oh your 16 and you have a card that saves you can do CPR and re-align broken bones and make major decisions. Its a little much for a 16 year old. Plus there diffrent types of 16-17 year olds, you got the ones that are serious and the ones that just cant go through a day without slapping another guys butt or tapping someone out. :? ya know what i mean? And trust me my instructors did care about the treatment of our future patients. And your right a plaque on the wall doesnt prove it but in my opinion I have seen shit instructors and ones that really wanted us to be taught well. I know what ya mean.

[mrmeaner]

He only had one mandatory class, and it was to watch "patch adams".

I hope this was a typo or I'm missing something. The one mandatory class was movie night? I wouldn't necessarily judge your instructor on this one point, but that statement doesn't make a great case for him.

I don't think a person should be solely responsible for pt. care until at least 25. As far as assisting, 18 is pushing the limit.

[Fluffpaw38]

Have you ever seen the movie "patch adams"? It is related to the class i took. As I said he wanted us to really get involved with our patients and really find out whats going on and figure out the best way to help them. Sorry he sounds like a crap instructor...maybe you should meet him.

[Dustdevil]

Have you ever seen the movie "patch adams"? It is related to the class i took. As I said he wanted us to really get involved with our patients and really find out whats going on and figure out the best way to help them.

I don't think anybody said he sounded like a crap instructor. We're just tired of every person right out of high school, who has never taken any other professional education in their lives, and having no first hand knowledge of other schools or even EMS itself, trying to convince us that their school and instructor are the best, when they really have not the slightest way of knowing that. It gets really old. And, considering how badly EMS sucks in this country, it's really hard to believe that there are so many awesome schools and instructors.

I have heard of nursing schools requiring students to watch Patch Adams. And, as much as that name seems to come up in EMS discussion, I had wondered if some EMT or medic schools were not also doing so. I haven't seen it, but from what I hear, it doesn't sound like a bad idea.

The idea of a movie night for medic or EMT school is a good one. I can think of a few movies that would be of serious educational value for these students. But, the fact your school only had one required movie pretty well tells why other schools don't do it. Because it takes away from medical educational time. Consequently, your only choice is to add time on to the length of the class. And, if you do that, more than half of your prospective students will choose the other school in town, because everybody wants the fastest path to a patch, not an education. Too bad. But yeah, maybe your instructor is on to something.