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Age Limit For Medics


1EMT-P

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Should there be age limits?

Yes. The legal age of consent plus two years. Age of consent because I want the option to take advantage of my partner should the feeling hit us. And plus two years because that is the minimum amount of time they should have spent in school to become a medic.

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Yes. The legal age of consent plus two years. Age of consent because I want the option to take advantage of my partner should the feeling hit us. And plus two years because that is the minimum amount of time they should have spent in school to become a medic.

This is quite possibly the greatest response I have ever seen on this forum.

EDIT - Welcome to my sig.

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Awesome reply Dust. Made me laugh and start the day off right. Good job!

Now as for the topic at hand, I agree with Dust...Finally, yes thats right..I said I AGREE with Dust.

I think a minimum age of 21 for paramedic is necessary(only exception being the US Military) Cause if you sign up, you deserve to get whatever training they provide.

As for a maximum age, there should not be one provided they can pass the same agility tests for the job and are able to function fully as part of a 2 man team. I have 2 examples of this situation.

There is a mobile home park retirement community in Florida(big surprise there) that is made up of very active seniors. They are on the outskirts of the ocunty, so for years they had slow response times. They raised money, bought an ambulance and started their own rescue squad with the counties blessing and some traiining. They do very well and I was impressed with the level of care they provided. They went back to school and became EMTs.

The other example is a great man that I enjoyed working with anytime he showed up. This man is the oldest registered active paramedic in Florida. He is a retired merchant marine and also retired from some other career. He became a PARAMEDIC at age 67. He is now in his mid 70s and runs calls all the time. He even participates in our quarterly physical testing exams and does quite well. I would hate to see an age cap prohibit someone like this from doing what is in their heart.

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The conventional wisdom, and my natural inclination is to set a lower age limit. But when considered realistically, I just can't do that. Any number you set would be extremely arbitrary and probably without significant scientific or factual support. If there are any scientifically valid controlled studies that set clear age limits on maturity, I would certainly like to see them, as I am completely open to suggestion. But I think that all of our speculation is anecdotal at best.

So, how do we do it? Why 21? Where do you get that number from? What credible evidence do you have that excluding 18-20 year olds from the profession will improve the delivery of care? Let's see the evidence! For every immature 20 year old you point out, I'll show you an immature 30 year old currently practicing in the field. Then what?

The only tangible justification I can think of for a minimum age above 18 is insurance regulations. If your agency's insurance carrier says there is a half a million dollar difference between insuring drivers under 25 and over 25, then there ya go! The choice is obvious! But that doesn't have anything to do with patient care. That's just driving experience and maturity.

I think it goes back to education. Education is the cure for ninety-nine percent of all the ills of EMS, and I think that includes this one. If candidates spend two years in college becoming an entry level paramedic, it will go a very long way towards solving the maturity issue. If nothing else, it will ensure that most medics are at least 20 years old when they start practice.

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I knew you would have something more intelligent to say.

I chose 21 as an age limit for a MEDIC...not an EMT, in the hopes that setting that age would enourage those that really want to do it to become an EMT and get the experience before proceding to medic level.

That is my reasoning in a nutshell.

But yes, I agree wholeheartedly on the education issue...

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I think it is more a matter of experience vs age. The youngest guy in my class was 22 but he already had four year in a busy system with lots of calls under his belt, was a great student and very professional. Remember BLS before ALS.

As for older people, as long as they can do the job (i.e. lifting, riding around in a box for 12 hrs), go for it.

Fitness is a big deal to, I'd rather have a 50 yo that is in good enough shape to do the job than a 23 year old that is out of shape and can't lift the 90 year old without throwing their back out.

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I retired at 64. Only because I was getting bored on the calls. I figured when my job lost the excitement, I needed to move on to something else. In this case, that was retirement.

I was 33 when I took the Paramedic class, only because the training did not exist prior to that. I'd like to see prospective students have some street expirence as an EMT, etc. before taking the EMT-P class. Figure 18-19 for expirence, 20-22 for training, that puts my minimum age thoughts at around 23 yrs/o.

I had my first ambulance attendant training at 26, again, because it didn't exist prior. And my Standard First Aid & Advanced First Aid at 14.

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I glad ppl think OLDER ppl that are getting into the field is a good idea. I myself am new to EMS as some off you know. this is my second ( no wait, third ) career. I have been an EMT for 6 mths and am now in Medic school. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to the first class and saw quite a few 30 somethings in the class. I'm still older than them, but compared to the Basic class it is refreshing to see older ppl wanting to join or further their EMS education.

I can only speak for myself, but I am capable of the lifting and late hours required. I'm nocturnal by nature, I very much prefer the night shift. Going to the gym 3 times a week and playing golf twice a week ( yes, I walk ) help keep me in decent shape.

Don't worry about this old guy, I wont' let you down! :)

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