Returning Vets to be fast tracked medics to ease shortage

[akflightmedic]

Lets not sidetrack into Alaska. We all have agreed EMS nationwide needs improvement, it is not just there.

But yes in Alaska your options are very limited, I mean there are more reindeer than people in Alaska...come on. You can not even complete your medic in state; a student has to go to the lower 48 for clinicals. This is why they have the EMT III which is a pseudo medic who can intubate and do ACLS drugs.

Anyways, this thread was about the vets and them fast tracking into EMS and whether or not it would be a disservice to them and the community which they serve.

There are other threads about state EMS systems.

[alcoholpolydipsia]

Hello EMT City,

First let me say that Mandy don't feel like your being picked on. I know where your coming from. Yes Basic's play an important role, and yes (I know your education/training background) you learned many valuable things as a basic/intermediate. However, the question here is if fast tracking Military Medics Army 68W or Airforce 4N's would provide a service to our communities and country. To that question I have to give a very loud and clear response NO NO NO and NO! I have worked with and trained both AF and Army medics and I have to say it is the exception not the rule that they are skilled in the care of the sick and injured. Most of these folks are great but spend the majority of there time in service in the clinical environment or dealing with very limited sports related injuries. Case in point a few weeks ago we attempted a pilot program at UAF to fast tract 68W through AK EMT II (NREMT I-85). The course was reduced to 20 hours and focused on pediatric assessment and care of the medical patient. The results were not good. That being said most of the 68W that ran though the course were very intelligent, well educated, high speed soldiers, and had they been given the full course in my estimate would have been highly successful. Most of those guys could give chest tubes and cut downs with the best of em, but lacked the knowledge to understand how medications they had given or why procedures they preformed worked. Again I'am not bashing the Military I work with AF/Army folks every day, and given their "extra clinical knowledge and OJT" many would likely make excellent intermediates. What I am getting at is that some of our veteran God Bless Em would do well in EMS but fast tracking is not appropriate for the vast majority of the medical career fields (MOS) even those that maintain EMT-B certification. Capt. D I agree AK needs significant changes, maybe we should start a thread on that one =D

[Laura Anne]

Welcome to EMTCity, my ETOH brother from another mother.....

I agree with your post and coming from someone who able to see it from both sides is greatly appreciated. I myself, couldn't feel that commenting on this topic would be right because I cannot understand the training that military personnel go through, therefore making my opinion one of bias and ignorance. And we all know that people on this site are NEVER either of those!!! :roll: 8)

Again, welcome and thnx for the input! Perhaps recreating a class that isn't crunched into 2weeks is the right direction for these wonderful soldiers, but just needs some tweaking? Sounds like it may work, but it has to be longer and prepared in another manner.....kinda like those programs that were going to be designed for paramedics to complete their RN expeditiously. Does anyone know of any of those programs in place anywhere?

[AZCEP]

You've made a good point al. The criticism has to be placed on the administrators that are setting these students up to fail with their shortsightedness.

Saying that the ex-military providers can't be excellent civilian providers is much like saying there are no decent fire department medics. They can be, it's just rare to find the one that has done it. Because there is so much more to the transition than just "brushing up" on the medical situations, the fast track route should be round filed.

[ccmedoc]

....kinda like those programs that were going to be designed for paramedics to complete their RN expeditiously. Does anyone know of any of those programs in place anywhere?

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