Controversial Exam for D.C. EMT's

[crotchitymedic1986]

Pretty easy to take a high and mighty position when it doesnt involve you. I think if you had a handicapped child or a spouse with health problems that disqualified you from getting health insurance individually, or if you were in your 15th year with a service making a great wage and were now forced to start at the bottom again in pay, and would lose a big chunk of your retirement (most fire departments do not offer "experience pay", most start everyone at the same level), I think you might be singing a different tune.

And I would take the average 20 year medic who was state certified over the average new Nationally registered medic any day. Which isnt a negative comment about the NR medic, its just that they havent seen the things you only see a couple of times in your career yet. And I would be willing to bet a paycheck that both these highly publicized EMS mistakes that resulted in death in DC were handled by NR certified medics, not a 20 year medic who was grandfathered in.

Anyone know the facts about the 4 medics involved ?

[JakeEMTP]

Pretty easy to take a high and mighty position when it doesnt involve you. I think if you had a handicapped child or a spouse with health problems that disqualified you from getting health insurance individually, or if you were in your 15th year with a service making a great wage and were now forced to start at the bottom again in pay, and would lose a big chunk of your retirement (most fire departments do not offer "experience pay", most start everyone at the same level), I think you might be singing a different tune.

So we should keep less than stellar employees who provide improper patient care? This is not a assembly line job. Peoples lives are involved here.

And I would take the average 20 year medic who was state certified over the average new Nationally registered medic any day. Which isn't a negative comment about the NR medic, its just that they haven't seen the things you only see a couple of times in your career yet. And I would be willing to bet a paycheck that both these highly publicized EMS mistakes that resulted in death in DC were handled by NR certified medics, not a 20 year medic who was grandfathered in.

Sorry we can't all start our careers with 20 years experience.

[WolfmanHarris]

Crotchity it is one thing to treat your employees well and create a familial feel among them, but when you lose sight of the fact that they are people with a job to do you're likely to make the wrong choice for the right reasons. It is good and right to care about the welfare and situation of your employees and to a certain extent to consider it. I don't believe it should be one fail and out and from the sounds of it, in DCFD, it isn't. But I also don't think your judgement should become clouded by personal factors.

Maybe it's the social safety net in Canada that makes me a little colder to the situation and makes me feel less personnally responsible for the actions of another provider, but while I would empathize with any of the examples you mentioned, I would still not change the requirements for them based on it. Perhaps a hardship or medical leave of absence would be best for them until they are ready to do their job, do it competently and prove it with more than "I've been doing this for 20 years."

I have the utmost respect for most of the senior providers I've learned from, but that's not based on a number of years nearly as much as on what they've taught me, how good they are at their jobs and their commitment to continued education. I have met "medics" with 20yrs on who were grandfathered in when they went from Driver/Attendents and then grandfathered in when they became EMA's and then were grandfathered in with some minor CME when they became Primary Care Paramedics and couldn't find their ass with both hands and comic book instructions when it came to medicine. By being grandfathered they were never exposed to a culture of education and have never felt a need to pursue it. Good enough to get by, is their standard and that should not be acceptable.

[spenac]

Since they use National Registry they should go by its rules. For initial certification you get 3 attempts then are required a refresher then given 3 more attempts then if they still fail they must retake the entire course. If an experienced provider can not pass in 6 attempts I'm not sure I even want them operating a hose on the fire truck. There are also companys that offer seminars to teach the national registry and have very good pass rates maybe if your worried about your job that would be worth the investment.

[CBEMT]

And I would be willing to bet a paycheck that both these highly publicized EMS mistakes that resulted in death in DC were handled by NR certified medics, not a 20 year medic who was grandfathered in.

Pay me. The Rosenbaum crew was a BLS truck. I believe the female member (the one who chose the transport destination based on where her house was) was an "EMT-Enhanced" or something equally stupid.

[crotchitymedic1986]

I said nationally registered medics, not paramedic, I am sure she was NR EMTB or I. No one has said these employees were incompetent or have been guilty of poor patient care, they simply failed a written test.

[akflightmedic]

I said nationally registered medics, not paramedic, I am sure she was NR EMTB or I. No one has said these employees were incompetent or have been guilty of poor patient care, they simply failed a written test.

Throwing the BS flag in...sorry.

Anyone who uses the term "medic", even in Canuckistan is referring to a paramedic. The only people that get away with calling everyone a medic is the Army. Pay up...

[CBEMT]

And your proof of their NR status is.....?

I, on the other hand, have documentation showing that Maryland does not require NR certification for ayone, let alone BLS providers. Or are you of the opinion that DC Fire/EMS exceeds state requirements?

[crotchitymedic1986]

http://fems.dc.gov/fems/cwp/view,a,3,q,525773.asp

NR required, no mention of any "state or district certification" listed as acceptable.

[akflightmedic]

http://fems.dc.gov/fems/cwp/view,a,3,q,525773.asp

NR required, no mention of any "state or district certification" listed as acceptable.

I see the link, but do you think that is a fresh update maybe??

Since they are just now implementing it or maybe a year ago they decided all potential new hires must have it since they are now enforcing it on everyone else?

If this has been a requirement all along, the debate over the guys losing their jobs and not being able to serve on a fire truck and just put out fires would be a moot issue, would it not? It would seem they already have the requirement they are complaining about obtaining. So based on that, it still stands that they possibly were NOT NR certified.