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Read this on another, non-EMS forum and had a good laugh over it:

I am a lifeguard. In Canada (specifically British Columbia), lifeguards are trained just about as well as paramedics. We just cant insert IVs, take blood pressure, and a couple other things.

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Did you ever read about a frog who dreamed of being a king And then became one?

Well, except for the names and a few other changes If you talk about me, the story's the same one

Neil Diamond, "I Am, I Said".

While I am sure there's areas around the world where Lifeguards might be crosstrained as Paramedics, Neil probably discribed the situation

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Read this on another, non-EMS forum and had a good laugh over it:

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Couple of other things? like think... Oh yes you have to have a brain to think...

LOL

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And this is why I both love and hate teaching the National Lifeguard Service course. Love it because I can teach from a position of greater understanding and experience in the field (7 years as a lifeguard prior to Paramedic school). Hate it because there's a butt load of rescue rickies teaching the same course turning out these NLS guards with delusions of grandeur.

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Yeah, another US medic on that site called BS on him, and the lifeguard's reply is that the medic was being "disrespectful," lol.

What is lifeguard FA there, like 2 days, versus 3 years at JIBC?

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The Lifesaving Society NLS (National Lifeguard Service) course for Pool and Waterfront options is 40 hours, usually taught over two weekends or one single week. It includes no organic first aid component and participants must have a Standard First Aid course as a prerequisite.

I don't teach the surf option, nor is it available in my area, but I don't imagine it has a huge jump. From what I understand participants will often go south for a couple weeks, do the course and have a vacation.

Not sure about Red Cross or other similar programs, but they're probably similar.

This isn't an uncommon attitude though. I've seen it both with Lifeguards and First Responders that I have taught; the inflated sense of training and ego with a minimal to no understanding of what they don't know. It's a reason why I add a section on continuum of care and levels of education into most of my course, just to provide a tiny bit of context and show the participants where they fit in the chain.

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Bump!

Read this on a TOStar article forum and had a good laugh over it:

Folks, understand there are two levels of Paramedics serving you - Basic Life Support ( BLS ) crews[PCP], and Advanced Life Support ( ALS ) crews [ACP]. ALS crews can start I.V.'s, administer drugs, intubate & perform a host of other delegated medical acts. A BLS Medic cannot do these skills, & essentially has a First Responder skill set, with a whack of pathophysiology knowledge thrown in. [Toronto] Fire Services train their F.F.'s to the Basic Trauma Life Support level already, it wouldn't take much to get them to BLS status. It would be much more time consuming to train Medics to be firefighters, but the idea of the merger is sound, and, IMHO, inevitable. So let's get it done!

Just for reference, TFS training runs for a total of 16 weeks

The article

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