Illinois and NREMT Testing

[Luckydogg0404]

Well said becksdad. I agree 100%. That could easily close the debate!

[Savoy6]

Illinois wants to have their own test for one simple reason and that is money! The politicans want more money to come to the State.

That's an interesting view. Writing a test is an expensive and time intensive process, if done correctly. If the test is compromised, like that won't happen, you lose money. lose money? Yep, gotta re-write the thing. Validation is expensive too and so is defending the exam. A discrimination lawsuit or an ADA challenge gets very expensive.

They get hung up on that stupid coral snake thing. The fire chief and others are missing the point. Hemotoxin vs. neurotoxin. Oh yeah, we no longer teach fractures, cardiac anatomy, differences of CHF and pulmonary edema, diabetic emergencies...

We are caught up in the cultural "get by cheap" mentality. Funny, how much do fire trucks cost?? Are they used to capacity on a daily basis?? How many of a departments calls are EMS? Over 80% or more. FD wants all the marbles, but not the expense. Can't have it both ways.

I'm not anti Fire Service. I dedicated more than 10 years of my life to the Fire Service. I am anti STUPID. And stupid wears many uniforms.

Illinois is in trouble. It will cost them more money in the long run to develop their own test. The media in Illinois is not getting both sides, they are feeding in to the Chiefs, who may have a valid point about being excluded.

Rhetoric, emotionally charged statements and "bumper sticker" logic works with a stupid media an uninformed public.

Bottom line- Read the EMS Agenda for the Future and the EMS Education Agenda for the Future both from NHTSA. Then see who is taking a big step backwards.

[Dustdevil]

We are caught up in the cultural "get by cheap" mentality. Funny, how much do fire trucks cost?? Are they used to capacity on a daily basis?? How many of a departments calls are EMS? Over 80% or more. FD wants all the marbles, but not the expense. Can't have it both ways.

I'm not anti Fire Service. I dedicated more than 10 years of my life to the Fire Service. I am anti STUPID. And stupid wears many uniforms.

There are some truly great quotes coming out of this unlikely topic!

[DwayneEMTP]

There are some truly great quotes coming out of this unlikely topic!

=D>

[Tracyd1]

This is the third time I have started this post. I am new here and don't want to start a debate with anyone, but there are so many questions I have on this issue I don't know where to start. Does anyone have EMT-I levels in their state? If you do, is it a strong secure program or are you hearing that it's going away? We were just told by IDPH that if you are an EMT-I your hours no longer count and if you would like to be a medic you need to start over at the basic level and repeat hour for hour your clinical and class time because the curriculum no longer exists to go from I-P. Cost for the exam has risen and availability has declined, no one seems to have an answer for most questions that are asked, and 12 people have resigned (or taken a LOA for medical reasons) in the past year from IDPH. So far four services have closed and one went from ALS/ILS to BLS. These were all rural communities that wait a VERY long time for ALS. They are having difficulty scheduling with the national exam and the last I heard they still haven't announced the testing schedule at any level for 2007. I don't know whose fault that is and I'm not placing any blame for that reason. I am leaning toward IDPH but again- don't know. Enter stage left, Bloomington Fire Department. Had EMS thrown in their lap, can't upgrade your I's to medics, can't schedule tests in a timely fashion, can't get answers, the person you spoke with two months ago and approved it DOESN'T WORK HERE ANYMORE. Can you see the frustration now? They are not asking for a "test for the retards", they want answers and they/we all deserve them. Please let me know if your area has an I program and if you have problems with it.

[JakeEMTP]

Hey Tracy,

From what I understand, NC is considering doing away with the Intermediate level. I heard this last week and the concept is to combine the Basic and Intermediate skills and that would be the new basic. Then there would only be 3 levels here. MR, Basic and Paramedic.

As far as your Rural areas having long wait times for ALS, if they were ALS instead of BLS, your wait times would be reduced significantly. We have discussed this many times and I hate to beleaguer the point.

Good luck.

[Tracyd1]

They can't go ALS, to expensive and they have no tests. See what I mean. What is MR? Is that like our first responder level?

[JakeEMTP]

What is MR? Is that like our first responder level?

Exactly, Medical Responder :roll:

It's not to expensive. Council has it's priorities in the wrong place. If they were truly concerned about their constituent's, they would indeed find the funding.

[Dustdevil]

Texas seems to be on the same course as most other states these days. EMT-I is alive and well in many rural areas, but is all but extinct in the metropolitan areas. It appears that even in those rural areas, finding the completion segment is becoming increasingly more difficult as the colleges take over the education lead from the community hospital based programmes. I hear this same complaint from many Is in Texas.

It's time to read the handwriting on the craphouse walls. EMS is elevating its game and its level of educational professionalism. No longer will a piece-mail approach to paramedic education be acceptable to the profession. I don't know you, so I cannot judge you. However, I would be quite willing to put a Ben Franklin on the belief that you need every bit of education you would receive in a complete paramedic course. Even the stuff you think you already know. I've been at this for over thirty years, including a nursing degree and full paramedic school TWICE, yet nobody ever heard me whining about how I had to go back to EMT-B just to renew my expired license last year. And you know what? I learned stuff I didn't know or had forgotten. You will to. EMS isn't going away. If it takes you an extra three months to get that silly disco ball on your sleeve, big deal. You'll be a better medic for it. Maybe even an adequate medic.

Be a professional. Embrace every last minute of education you can obtain throughout your entire career. You are NEVER too smart or too experienced to learn, even from a review. If you think you are, get out now because you are dangerous.

[Tracyd1]

That is exactly what I was trying to avoid. Thanks for the cut downs. I do embrace education and teach EMS, I feel bad for the students that were in school and paid the community college tuition and now have to do it again. That comes to additional 2500.00 per person that rural squads and our local departments are having a hard time coughing up. That's all. It's not three months, it's a calendar year in class with six months of that being what they had in the EMT-I course. The clinical time has to be re-done as well. Now you work full-time, go to class two nights a week, do 30-40 hours of clinical time a week and your told to do it again. Let me ask you this, you have your nursing degree, what if you wanted your masters and you were told that your bachelors wasn't good enough and to start over at the CNA class. That's why the people at the I level are so aggravated. I just wanted to know if another state had been through this yet and it sounds like Texas might be on it's way. Why re-invent the wheel if someone has already done it? I'm sure with your experience that you are very wise and I'm not doubting that. Why the hostility?