Jwade Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 Is this in the United States? How many hours of actual education for the care of the ICU patient did you get in your Paramedic program and how many hours of hands on care in the ICU did your clinicals provide. There is a considerable difference between a patient that is stabilized for transport from the field and one that is in an ICU. There's a different focus, different protocols, many different meds that are rarely mentioned in most Paramedic classes and technology that one would not use in the field. Even RNs who work in the ED don't consider themselves to be ICU capable unless they have had the training/education due to the dynamic nature of the ICU patient. The same goes for many ED physicians. I don't believe there are too many Paramedic programs that produce ICU capable Paramedics. Yes they may be able to handle some ICU patients for a very short time but that would be only if the medications are familar to them as is the technology. However, it would be wise to have additional training and education beyond the normal Paramedic program. The focus of the Paramedic is emergent care in the prehospital setting which includes stabilization. The patient is not yet "ICU" and all the things that make the patient "ICU" may not always be initiated until they reach the ICU. Not every ED is capable of performing at the level of an ICU. Have you never heard "gotta get them upstairs to ICU as soon as possible"? Exactly, I heard this EXACT same quote from 2 different ER nurses today while I was teaching ACLS........ The paramedics who would be capable of working in an ICU would be considered statistical outliers. ( Yes, there are some) However, definitely not the mean of the population... Respectfully, JW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccmedoc Posted January 20, 2010 Share Posted January 20, 2010 (edited) Yep..Most ED docs pucker up when they have to keep an ICU player for more than a couple hours..Usually when they meet criteria, they are headed for a big bed. Not to be confrontational, but me thinks Bryan20w needs to reread the last part of the thread..To compare the strongest medics with the strongest (read ICU) nurses is not a fair comparison, simply due to the added educational availabilities for nurses as compared to most medics. You are right though, it is apples and oranges.. Edited January 20, 2010 by ccmedoc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VentMedic Posted January 21, 2010 Share Posted January 21, 2010 (edited) Have you never heard "gotta get them upstairs to ICU as soon as possible"? Exactly, I heard this EXACT same quote from 2 different ER nurses today while I was teaching ACLS........ The paramedics who would be capable of working in an ICU would be considered statistical outliers. ( Yes, there are some) However, definitely not the mean of the population... Respectfully, JW You wouldn't expect me to drag all my stuff down to the ED, set it up and then haul it back up to the ICU. I'd rather not work that hard. Edited January 21, 2010 by VentMedic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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