Returning Vets to be fast tracked medics to ease shortage

[Richard B the EMT]

A "show of hands" please: How many of us have had a "3rd" rider, who was from a military medical school, to get "field experience" in your "Saturday night knife and gun club" district?

My hand is up, and is up at least 5 times for as many military "trainees".

[Flasurfbum]

2. As alluded to above, the "shortage" is is self-perpetuating because of the actions of those in system administration and management, who intentionally drive medics out of the field in order to keep salaries low. If you are intentionally running off your workforce, you do not have a manpower shortage. You just have shitty management.

Amen Brother. As a soon to be Medic, I am "shopping" around the agencies for a job.

Hmm, well, i could use this new patch and work on and ambulance, and make 13.22/hr.

Or I can go be a lifeguard for a city, and make roughly the same amount.

Hmm, decisions, decisions.

4. Fire departments pump out paramedic classes by the thousands every year' date=' only to utilise those medics for only 2 to 5 years before sending them to a fire truck for the rest of their career, further increasing turnover.[list']

Yes and no. I currently go to school in a county that FORCES all Firemen to become Paramedics. That means they ride the "Penalty Box". I can see that not many want to be there.

At all.

And it shows.

At the same time, you have cities that provide ALS 1st response service, and their Medics are NOT forced to become Medics. They do it cause they want to.

I am all for FDs providing 1st response ALS services. Even ILS. But to force them to do it. Not good.

[AndyMedic]

I think this is a pretty decent idea

[DwayneEMTP]

I think this is a pretty decent idea

Which idea, and why?

Dwayne

[AndyMedic]

I volly with plenty of combat vets who were medics and their patient care is excellent...you cant expect for them to be thrown right into the box whit out a little extra training..but they would do fine...smart people..a whole hell of alot smarter then most street medics...

[AZCEP]

Very capable in their area of expertise perhaps, but that is poorly translated to the civilian world.

[AndyMedic]

so they get a little brush up on medical..no respectable service is gonna just throw em out into the wild without someone riding with em to make sure they are capable....plus def the kinda person id want with me working under pressure

[HellsBells]

I volly with plenty of combat vets who were medics and their patient care is excellent...you cant expect for them to be thrown right into the box whit out a little extra training..but they would do fine...smart people..a whole hell of alot smarter then most street medics...

Sorry Andy, but that is just an epically moronic statement. Why exactly does your extensive volly experience make you think that combat vets are a hell of a lot smarter than street medics?

As has been stated earlier (ad nausem), there are plenty of valid reasons not to toss military medics into the emergency system without making certain that they have the same qualifications as anyone else doing the job. I'm sure lots of these combat vets are really "nice, smart" guys, but having warm, fuzzy feelings for vets does not change the fact this is bad public policy.

[AndyMedic]

are you familiar with the schooling they go through?

[spenac]

are you familiar with the schooling they go through?

Actually there are all sorts of levels of training. Key word training rather than education as to why. Some do get to go thru more education but most get the basic. I work with a several former military medics all of them have said to work beyond the EMT-B level in the "street" would be crazy. They understand their training was not geared to what we see. And even the trauma training they received is not all applicable to "street" medicine.