A change in the advance skills

[katbemeEMT-B]

I work for an ALS service, but I also "volunteer" with the BLS service where I live. Our BLS service responds mainly to the elderly. When we pull up to a house and enter, we really have no idea what we are there for because what they tell dispatch is usually not what is really wrong with them. I have learned this by furthering my education. We don't have the ability to do EKGs so getting a picture of heart activity is out of the question. I will tell you that my education has taught me to look at the patient, the complaint, and compare those to my impression of the patient. When I call the hospital to give my report, I include all those things noted above. This gives the doc a clear picture of what to expect.

On the other hand, you have some of the volunteers who do nothing more than what the service requires of them for education (very little). The get the same patient with the same complaint and that's what they tell the doc. Next thing you know the ED staff is in frenzy because the patient they just got is having an MI and they had no advance warning. The EMT failed to portray a clear picture of the patient.

EDUCATION IS EVERYTHING!!!

If your Med. Dir. feels you need these advance skills, then you should push to become an ALS service.

The volunteer service I work for is in the same position and my response was, "then make us an ALS service otherwise all those new toys are useless". I'm not giving up until it happens.

[air.stump]

Dude.....continuing education and upgrading skills is just part of the profession. No matter where you are or what you do.

Suck it up and do it.