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All Paramedic students remember.


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Ok, I guess it's 'confession time' here....

As an EMT, I looked at a lot of the medics I came in contact with as 'pompous asses' because of their attitudes toward the lower license levels. This thread has forced me to re-evaluate my position.

As I climb through the license level ranks, I find more and more that there’s so much I DON’T know. I’m not the first EMT to come to this stark realization, and I know I won’t be the last to ‘figure it out’.

Working my way through EMT, then EMT-I and eventually onto EMT-P, I find that when I was a ‘mere EMT’ I thought I knew it all. This feeling was great to hold onto, and gave me confidence to do my job.

Then I went on to the EMT-I portion, and realized that I didn’t ‘know it all’ like I thought I did. But I learned more, and still felt good about it all. I was still confident, but looked at things differently.

When I started my medic class, I quickly learned that what I really knew nothing more than oxygen, stop bleeding; and keep broken body parts from moving.

Those that know my story know that I had to drop my medic class for reasons beyond my control. I haven’t given up, and will be working toward getting into the next class.

As I wait for the next class to start, I realize how painfully inadequate my education has been, and how much I still have to learn just to be able to call myself ‘competent’. Terms like ‘good, great and exceptional’ will just have to wait. I do not deserve them … yet.

As with every ‘confession’ comes the opportunity to eat a little crow. I think I’ll have mine with a generous dose of A-1, to make it more palatable.

To all the medics that I call ‘friend’:

I offer each and every one of you a sincere apology. While I thought that many of you were ‘harsh’ in how you dealt with the lower license levels, I’ve come to realize that it wasn’t out of ‘meanness’. You were challenging me to not only prove you wrong, but also push me into learning more. For that, I owe each of you a great deal of thanks and appreciation.

This confession serves as a warning to all of those medics (and the Doc’s too!):

Since you all have pushed me into going further than I thought I could, each and every one of you will be ‘hit up’ as an information source with even more questions than I’ve already hit you with!

To everyone else:

This site is a great place to ask questions, debate theories and ultimately LEARN. These ‘grouchy old medics’ may seem harsh and ‘mean’, but they’re only want you to push to be the best that you can be. We’re taking people’s lives into our hands, and the patient’s deserve more!

When the ‘old hands’ around here challenge your posts; whether for content or spelling/grammar, they aren’t being ‘meanie-heads’, they’re pushing you to correct the ‘little mistakes’ before they snowball into ‘big ones’. One misspelled word on a PCR can change the entire meaning.

It’s been said that those that have successfully completed the medic course (especially with a degree), have ‘forgotten where they came from’. Some have gotten ‘arrogant’ because they’ve completed the course; but most appear to be coming from the same position that the previously addressed medics are.

In the United States, our EMS education is very lacking in content. The cliché “You don’t know what you don’t know’ is so very true. The ONLY way to get a glimpse of this is to pursue your education above and beyond the minimal course called ‘Emergency Medical Technician – Basic’!

When I finish my degree, I hope to remain the same person that some of you have come to know and at least ‘like’. I’m going to push you as I always have to get more education. I’ve had to re-evaluate what I thought I knew and now have to look at things much differently than I did from the ‘safety’ of my EMT-B world. I hope that many of you will find yourselves in the same position!

ER Doc,

Thanks for reviving this thread!

Apology accepted. :beer: Just kidding.

You know why you'll be an exceptional paramedic, Lone? Because you are humble and eager to learn more. In my experience, those qualities (along with some others) are absolutely instrumental in a good medic.

I can't wait until you start class again. I'm excited that you'll be learning more and sharing what you learn. I bet you'll teach a few of us some things along the way.

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2 negatives? care to explain why.

Sure, we don't need another thread to turn into an ALS vs BLS pissing match. This thread is about advice for paramedic students on how to survive medic school and become competent providers. I won't drag down a good thread other than to say that of all of the good advice given, that is the one part I disagree with. I wasn't going to say anything about it because, like I said, I didn't want to see this useful thread go down the ALS/BLS shitter.

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You have to be a great EMT before you can be a good medic.

Strongly disagree.

If it takes someone at least 6 months to a year to "master" the limited, basic skill set of an EMT in order to go to paramedic school, something is wrong. If I had my way, any John Doe could enroll directly into a paramedic program without EMT first, provided they had completed the pre-reqs to include human anatomy and physiology, intro to psych, chem 1, english.

EDIT: this is why I do not like thread resuscitations. I incorrectly assumed the OP's thread cam about recently when in fact it is dated to 2006. I will leave my post above as it stands, but it is not my intention to start this type of debate in an ancient thread.

Edited by daedalus
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Strongly disagree.

If it takes someone at least 6 months to a year to "master" the limited, basic skill set of an EMT in order to go to paramedic school, something is wrong. If I had my way, any John Doe could enroll directly into a paramedic program without EMT first, provided they had completed the pre-reqs to include human anatomy and physiology, intro to psych, chem 1, english.

EDIT: this is why I do not like thread resuscitations. I incorrectly assumed the OP's thread cam about recently when in fact it is dated to 2006. I will leave my post above as it stands, but it is not my intention to start this type of debate in an ancient thread.

Daedalus, I beg you to delete your post. Like I said in my previous one (right above yours), this is a good, useful thread so let's not let it turn in to one of the BLS vs ALS pissing matches (I think there are at least 2 going on right now).

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Daedalus, I beg you to delete your post. Like I said in my previous one (right above yours), this is a good, useful thread so let's not let it turn in to one of the BLS vs ALS pissing matches (I think there are at least 2 going on right now).

Doc I had no intention of turning it into an BLS vs ALS thread. If I understand you correctly, you negated my post over something that might happen, when in fact I was challenging a statement made by the OP. I fail to see how an otherwise useful thread can be derailed by an objection to a statement made by the OP, especially when nothing in my post suggests that I have a problem with BLS providers.

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Doc I had no intention of turning it into an BLS vs ALS thread. If I understand you correctly, you negated my post over something that might happen, when in fact I was challenging a statement made by the OP. I fail to see how an otherwise useful thread can be derailed by an objection to a statement made by the OP, especially when nothing in my post suggests that I have a problem with BLS providers.

Crap, I will start by apologizing. When I read your post for which I gave you a -1, I assumed you were being sarcastic and agreeing with the statement (must be the New Yorker in me). After rereading it several times I see what you are getting at and I agree with you. If I can figure out how to get rid of the -1 I will do so. I still think that making a comment like that has the potential to turn this thread into ALS/BLS again. My sole purpose for resurecting it was to continue adding helpful/useful/positive advice for those going into their medic classes.

Again, I am sorry for misinterpreting your post. I accept 100% of the blame.

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