Eydawn Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Depends on the state, Zip, for whether you're licensed or certified.... If they're swamped in the ED, and another paramedic is working as an ER tech... you can give your report to them. Your paperwork is there for perusal for when things calm down (unless your guy is dying, lol!) Not saying that RN's are lower or unequal... just saying the report doesn't *have* to be to an RN depending on situation. Wendy CO EMT-B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippyRN Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Depends on the state, Zip, for whether you're licensed or certified.... If they're swamped in the ED, and another <http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/results.php?searchTerm=paramedic&submit=submit>Paramedic</a> is working as an ER tech... you can give your report to them. Your paperwork is there for perusal for when things calm down (unless your guy is dying, lol!) Not saying that RN's are lower or unequal... just saying the report doesn't *have* to be to an RN depending on situation. Wendy CO EMT-B the implication was you give the report required by medical control and then refuse to give a handover to the practitioner who is taking over care of the patient, if the ED uses paramedics i nthe ED then that is your equal levle of care - the next question is are the paramedics allowed by the facility to undertake initial assessment in the ED .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VentMedic Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 Depends on the state, Zip, for whether you're licensed or certified.... If they're swamped in the ED, and another <http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/results.php?searchTerm=paramedic&submit=submit>Paramedic</a> is working as an ER tech... you can give your report to them. Your paperwork is there for perusal for when things calm down (unless your guy is dying, lol!) Not saying that RN's are lower or unequal... just saying the report doesn't *have* to be to an RN depending on situation. Wendy CO EMT-B Report should be given to a licensed professional of equal or higher status who is working in the level of that license. If a paramedic is working as an ER Tech, they are functioning under the title the hospital has given them and not necessarily as a function of their certification or licensure. If they assume responsibilty for a patient while working in a nonlicensed position, there could be dire consequences if something happens to the patient later and the licensed person was not made aware of the patient or their condition. Florida already has case precedence for this in their court system unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eydawn Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 That's why it's important to know what or who you're functioning as when you are working in a non-field setting... if the person is working as an "ER Tech" but is required to perform to the levels of their licensure and is hired as a Paramedic by the hospital, they are operating at the Paramedic level, no? Hopefully one would know in their own system who they can and cannot hand off to... but then again, this is EMS... Wendy CO EMT-B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippyRN Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 what wendy says Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afd1307 Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 In reference to the Good Samaritan Law, just going to point out that I never said it keeps you from getting sued. I disagree when you say that if you proclaim that you are an EMT you are exempt from the Good Samaritan Law. Maybe explain a little more because I see that if you start working on an unconcious patient and you don't say you are an EMT, a bystander will have no way of knowing that you should be doing what you are doing. I wonder how many court cases are filed against EMS professionals on duty vs. off duty for providing medical treatment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainstandup Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 given that paramedics in the US are not (Registered) Practitioners i think you might well just find that an RN is 'equal or higher' in the food chain ... Gong!!!!!!!!!!!! In most states in the US the nurse can only practice in the hospital setting or in very confined out of hospital settings. An example would be air medical where the nurse is responding as part of an organized team in response to a specific incident, with established protocols and a medical director. It's true that often times the nurse is in charge of air medical if they are part of the crew configuration. Contrary to what you assert (and a poorly veiled attempt at yet another nurse vs. medic pissing contest) nurses are not in any way licensed to practice medicine. They are licensed to nurse. Did you ever stop to think is this weren't true there would be nurses setting up clinics independent of physicians. Even FNP's operate within a limited scope of practice. Instead of trying to start another argument, why not acknowledge its simply a different practice setting. Nurses such as dustdevil are educated and experienced providers in the out of hospital setting and understand operational considerations. An ER nurse with no prehospital experience or training, barking orders on an accident scene or other; prehospital setting is silliness. I can assure you if this happened tonight in NC and the nurse refused to get out of the way she would instantly be arrested and removed from the scene. Oh and by the way, if a physician was on scene, he would have to provide proof of NC Medical License and sign a form accepting responsibility for care and agree to accompany the patient to the hospital onboard the unit, even this would require approval from Medical Control. Absent these things the Physician would either get out of the way or would be arrested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VentMedic Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 That's why it's important to know what or who you're functioning as when you are working in a non-field setting... if the person is working as an "ER Tech" but is required to perform to the levels of their licensure and is hired as a <http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/results.php?searchTerm=paramedic&submit=submit>Paramedic</a> by the hospital, they are operating at the <http://www.emtcity.com/phpBB2/results.php?searchTerm=paramedic&submit=submit>Paramedic</a> level, no? Hopefully one would know in their own system who they can and cannot hand off to... but then again, this is EMS... Wendy CO EMT-B IF they are HIRED as a Paramedic you can ASSUME that is correct. However, for many states the Paramedic license is strictly prehospital and not valid inside the hospital. If you are working under the title of ER Tech and not Paramedic inside the hospital, you may not be working under your Paramedic license. You do not have to be a Paramedic to be an ER Tech with advanced skills in the hospital. Many of the skills that a Paramedic possesses are used by many other trained personnel inside the hospital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainstandup Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 In reference to the Good Samaritan Law, just going to point out that I never said it keeps you from getting sued. I wonder how many court cases are filed against EMS professionals on duty vs. off duty for providing medical treatment. Law suits are avoided through the following: * Education * More education * Even more education * Training * Kindness * More Kindness * Professional appearance * Competence (yes I intended to place it here) * Empathy * NOT driving like a damned fool. * Avoiding patient refusals as if they were a coiled cobra. * Recurrent training & more education * Recurrent "training & practice" on kindness and empathy. Refer to the Bible and Christ's example on this. THIS ISN'T A RELIGIOUS STATEMENT BUT MERELY A GREAT EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTOOD KINDNESS AND EMPATHY! NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS. Even non-christians can use the stories absent the religion. There are a number of "deities" that can be interchanged here and please no religious fights. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeEMTP Posted February 7, 2008 Share Posted February 7, 2008 I disagree when you say that if you proclaim that you are an EMT you are exempt from the Good Samaritan Law. Maybe explain a little more because I see that if you start working on an unconcious patient and you don't say you are an EMT, a bystander will have no way of knowing that you should be doing what you are doing.Ok, lets say you start working a patient and you do something that further aggravates their injuries. Whether they are oriented or not, it doesn't matter. If your actions makes things worse for the patient, through negligence, wreckless wonton or intentional wrongdoing, you could be sued. I believe there is something about working over your scope of practise also. Here is what NC says about it. http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2001/...TML/S160v6.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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