What should the Basic-Medic Partnership look like?

[Dustdevil]

Plus five for an excellent post!

I think I'm in love!

[BushyFromOz]

Yes, but the Force is strong in this one. I have high hopes.

Well lets hope so, in his first post in another thread the chap stated he "liked a good broken neck"

[emtpsaveu911]

I was a basic for quite a while before I went to paramedic school. I was a good basic that paramedics like to work with because I knew my place. I was the task master. I did vitals, put patients on the monitor, ran the 12-lead (which I promptly handed over to my medic), put on the oxygen, set up the IV, and asked if there was anything else that was needed to get the patient ready for transport. I talked to the patients and families, very minimally, enough to tell them what I was doing before I touched them. I also took the role of tracking down all the medication bottles or lists for the paramedic. When the call was over, I cleaned the truck, including the bench seat, action area, and floor. I made a mean cot, you could bounce a quarter off it. I wasn't being paid to "think," I was being paid to do. I was a partner, and most of the time I was treated very well by the paramedics because I knew what I needed to do to make their life easier during the call.

I see a lot of basics rolling out of basic school with their 120 to 200 hours of training thinking they know it all and should be afforded luxuries I was never afforded. Don't get me wrong, I could "assess" a patient as a basic, however understanding the assessment was a whole other story. I relied on the SAMPLE, OPQRST, and the other monkey terms to assess the patient. As a paramedic. I rarely follow those acronyms. Honestly, my first thought when I see a patient is LOC, ABC's. When I establish those, the rest of my assessment is just a conversation between my patient and myself. What I need my basic to do is the same thing I did when I was a basic. Perform tasks. Make my job easier, not harder. I shouldn't have to tell a basic that I want oxygen, a 12-lead, an IV set up. I really shouldn't have to tell them the patient compartment is filthy. I establish how I treat patients early on in the shift. I clean up pretty well after myself on calls. I also don't need a basic that is going to complain because I won't let them have any calls. I like to do the patient care, period. If you want to do the patient care, go to paramedic school.

As for giving medications such as patient prescribed NTG, or ASA. A basic better never give any drug other then oxygen when I am with them and the patient. Firstly, I don't use the patients medications. I carry drugs that I use. Secondly, you're not assessing the patient, therefore you are not treating the patient. That is my job. There have been times when I deviated from protocol and not given a drug based on the assessment of my patient. I am not a protocol monkey. I use them as guidelines. I am able to explain every action or inaction I take with regards to caring for my patient. I've gone so far as to consult with a doctor for drugs I have protocol to give without consult just because I like to have the second, more highly educated opinion on whether it's truly the correct course of treatment.

I know your big gripe on here is "treat me with respect." Well, I can tell you now that if you act they way you act, whining about how you are "trained" to do this and that and the mean old paramedic won't let you, you'll never earn any respect. If you perform as a basic, and act very much they way I explained that I acted, you'll be invaluable as a basic partner. You have to remember the major difference between paramedics and basics. Paramedics have undergone an education (hopefully), and basics have undergone training. Ultimately, I'm licensed at the higher level, and I'm responsible for everything that happens on that truck. Before you get a bug up your drawers about how you're treated, remember that if you mess up, I'm the one in trouble for letting you do it. You don't want to be a task master anymore? Become a paramedic. Until then, pay your dues like the rest of us have.

=D> Couldn't have said it better. :notworthy:

[emtkelley]

Now how do you top that? Excellent post!

[itku2er]

:wav: =D> =D> =D> =D> =D>

Well said EMS49393

Terri

[Chrisclark]

Big call.....

MY mother's boyfreind is a basic instructor in another program. I get to hear all kinds of stories when I go home on the weekends about what his sorry bunch of basic students did now. For example, as an experiment he gave them all of the reading material needed to find out how to properly extricate someone using a KED. They knew how to use a short backboard already. Hardly anybody in the class could figure out to use the dang thing. The material was sufficient. The students just would not read it. They ended up sitting around and talking. Most of them did not even attempt to apply the KED. He says that he thinks maybe one or two people in his class will pass their registry test. There are some really sorry basics on their way out of school right now.

[whit72]

Removed

I give up.

[bearcatEMT]

i loved this thread espically the banter between somedic and nremt b classic! well i answered that they should be able to do what they are taught only if they proved themselves to thier medic. i always say when the tones go off the medic is in charge and as an emt i am fine with that. i do agree some medics attitudes are shit but some emt's attitudes are shit too. And i am also totaly on somedics side about the combat medic over emt any day 301st hooha!!! "To Fight For Life" I guess what im trying to say is if u plan on being a medic someday and can prove to ur medic that u can be trusted then yes i agree but if u want to be a career emt then u clearly dont want to be incharge of patient care so let the guy/woman who knows whats goin on do his/her job after all they did pay up to 10,000+ to go to school. u may think im a bag of douche but i understand that the medic has A LOT more education than i and if anything goes wrong in the ambo its mostly thier ass for letting it happen. if ur a compitent emt u should have nothing to worry about with gettin respect from the medic.

[PRPGfirerescuetech]

Wtf?

Ok, I will admit, I gave up reading this thread a bit ago, it gave me a damn headache.

Ladies and gentlemen of EMTcity, its time for a dose of PRPG reality.

Ready?

Respect is earned, not demanded. Not asked for. Its funny, but people who are truely respected usually dont know it until someone tells them.

This applies to all levels of provider. When we define our careers in EMS, it comes, quite simply, from the school of "hard knocks". Get used to it. The only thing you earned by getting through EMT class is that you have the ability to show up to class. Guess what, any sloped forehead goober can get through the course. What defines you, are the steps you make beyond that.

Educate yourself, know your job inside and out, and recognize your limitations. Expand your knowledge, not just within the confines of the next higher certification, but of general medicine itself.

Knowing how to provide oropharengeal suctioning in and out is great, but knowing all your skills plus the clinical uses of the medication lisinopril, the disease processes of diabetes, and the purpose of dialysis in the renal failure patient makes you something worth respect. Knowing how to do your job, simply means you met the minimal level of competence.

Guess what, the minimal level of competence isnt all that impressive, and damn sure not worth any of our respect.

Want to step up in this industry? Start with your education. Expand your knowledge. Make yourself a better EMT across the board. In the mean time, take a night class or two at the school of "hard knocks" and pay your dues.

PRPG

[PRPGfirerescuetech]

Oh, and to answer the original polled question.

Right now, no. When working a limited MICU unit EMT/Medic, unless that medic knows the basic well enough, they absolutely shouldnt be able to tie their shoes without asking for permission.

However, when the country as a whole wakes up, raises the bar a bit and stops churning out retarded basics at a record pace, my answer will change.

In case anyones wondering, im a basic by the way. Im one of the better ones, so I tie my shoes without asking, thanks.