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your opinion on a manditory 2 year degree for paramedic


2 year degree, good or bad?  

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A basic understanding of physics is good, but I think the high school level suffices. College physics is a royal pain in the arse, and more about plug'n'chug formulae than really grasping the concepts of how things move around and how different forces act. I think a survey course explaining the basic concepts that's focused on improving spatial thinking would be a lot more pertinent than more useless formulae that you never recall when you're looking at an accident scene...

Wendy

CO EMT-B

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Nope. Calculus is good for learning the higher sciences, but for what we utilize and need to understand, calc is not a necessity. Algebra, however, is. I liked Calculus... but I don't find myself using it very often... and I don't think that it would make someone a better medical provider. (Someone who doesn't dig higher math, that is. Anyone who pursues the study of anything they're interested in or have a yen for makes themselves a more rounded provider... even if it's studying dance theory in depth..)

Wendy

CO EMT-B

Point taken. How about 2 quarters of algebra and a quarter of either statistics or epidemiology?

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A basic understanding of physics is good, but I think the high school level suffices. College physics is a royal pain in the arse, and more about plug'n'chug formulae than really grasping the concepts of how things move around and how different forces act. I think a survey course explaining the basic concepts that's focused on improving spatial thinking would be a lot more pertinent than more useless formulae that you never recall when you're looking at an accident scene...

Wendy

CO EMT-B

I think there is more useful information in college physics than useless as it applies to paramedicine. Then again, I really liked physics so I may be biased.

Is physics required for a high school diploma anymore? I was under the impression that either physics or chemistry is acceptable. Maybe it differs by state.

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Definitely differs by state as far as the high school diploma goes. As far as useful vs. useless.. again, I hate the formula heavy aspects of physics. I love the concepts... but I wouldn't force everyone through a math-heavy physics course. You would be biased! Physics folk usually are ;-).

JP, I'll go for 2 semesters of Algebra and a semester of statistics... and I do think epidemiology is a good alternative for those who hate statistics. Even if you hate stats (which I certainly did!) it's a great course to at least sit through. You learn a lot about how research is analyzed... and how figures can be manipulated. Invaluable stuff in my opinion.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

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Huh? Say what? You lost me...

Wendy

CO EMT-B

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Generally statistical significance is considered having a "P value" of 0.05 or less. Essentially the likely hood of the result happening by chance is 5% of the time. This is a semi-arbitrary cut-off mark and can determine if a study is published or not. Hence P=publication.

Is a P value of 0.05 that much more significant than 0.06? Also P value will be affected by sample size. The larger the size, the lower the P value a study will earn. Hence things like confidence interval width are just as important for determining the precision of the data.

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Knew it had to do with P values, just wasn't sure what you were getting at lol!

Stats proves that it's all made up. That's the impression I got. But ya gotta believe in something, right? :lol: (I know how to actually use statistics wisely and interpret them... but you gotta admit it seems bogus at first!)

Wendy

CO EMT-B

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