A call to arms! EMT-B's defend yourself!

[zippyRN]

Whoa there, Fella! Do you have a permit for that? This is America, y'know.

sez the man with the picture of the cat hugging the boy as an avatar

yeah, i know hobbes is different !

[Scaramedic]

sez the man with the picture of the cat hugging the boy as an avatar

yeah, i know hobbes is different !

Must be a glass half empty thing, I see his avatar as a boy wrapped up in pussy.

Ever the optimist I am. :wink:

Peace,

Marty

[zippyRN]

Must be a glass half empty thing, I see his avatar as a boy wrapped up in pussy.

Ever the optimist I am. :wink:

Peace,

Marty

that is SOOOO wrong!

[Dustdevil]

I've been on this board for too long, Dust is actually starting to make sense to me!!!

I can actually see his point about volunteers...

Inspiration comes from the strangest places. Do you want to know what the proverbial apple on the head was that brought me to realise that volunteers were harmful to the (or any) profession? It came to me during a comedy routine by Gallagher in 1980.

Gallagher, famous for his Sledge-O-Matic routine, also did a routine about all the things that were wrong with the way the government runs the country. He talked all the jobs we pay people to do that could or should be done for free by somebody else. He pointed out...

• It was hilarious! And you know why it was hilarious? Because it was absurd. And right then and there it hit me. It is absurd to let amateurs, who have neither the time nor desire to devote full-time professionalism, perform a vital service to the community just so we can blow that money on something frivolous. And the reason that we pay postmen and dam inspectors is two-fold: because it is important enough to pay for, and because nobody is willing to do it for free.

EMS is important enough to pay for. Your community doesn't think so? They would if you weren't giving it away for free. Guaranteed.

[itku2er]

This might be off subject and if it is i apologize in advance ......(ok it is off topic) but I want to know

I have often wondered, around here anyway where I live, that they have EMT-B's as supervisors in the private services, How can someone that has no ALS expirence evaluate and QC a ALS run?

Dust I will do it for you -20 points for hijacking a thread.....

Terr

[Dustdevil]

I don't have any experience with EMT supervisors in an EMS situation. However, I have been with an agency that had both EMT and Paramedic FTOs. And part of the FTOs job was to QA all of the charts that were turned in. But only Paramedic FTOs reviewed Paramedic charts. I really can't imagine it any other way. :?

[PRPGfirerescuetech]

I don't have any experience with EMT supervisors in an EMS situation. However, I have been with an agency that had both EMT and Paramedic FTOs. And part of the FTOs job was to QA all of the charts that were turned in. But only Paramedic FTOs reviewed Paramedic charts. I really can't imagine it any other way. :?

As long as the EMT supervisor isnt the highest operational officer, then im ok with it....

[Michael]

the man with the picture of the cat hugging the boy as an avatar

1. We were grandfathered in.

or

2. It's only a cat scan.

or

3. Someone's taking someone in civil disobedience/into protective custody (take your pick).

Good point, though.

[JPINFV]

This might be off subject and if it is i apologize in advance ......(ok it is off topic) but I want to know

I have often wondered, around here anyway where I live, that they have EMT-B's as supervisors in the private services, How can someone that has no ALS expirence evaluate and QC a ALS run?

Dust I will do it for you -20 points for hijacking a thread.....

Terr

Or the service doesn't employ any paramedics (the RN supervisor handles the RNs and RTs).

[cosgrojo]

Wow... I go to work for 24 hours, make an unscheduled trip to the Cape to visit some family... and look what happens! Everyone has either lost their mind, or completely lost the point.

I knew what I was doing when I made this thread, and I'm relatively sure that Dust knew what he was doing when he suggested it. Dust is a very thoughtful individual who is looking for a reason to advance EMS and improve the standards. I do not begrudge him this want, and frankly encourage any and all to sidle up beside him and help further the cause. Unfortunately he and others have made it clear that in their desire to re-vamp EMS, it is going to require the destruction and disbandment of the single largest group of EMS providers.

They have all made it clear that they think the majority of BLS providers are bad. You know what? I agree. I think the majority of BLS providers are either in it for the wrong reasons... i.e. Fire Monkey add-on, or lack the in-depth knowledge and social skills (Dust: It IS about the Skills, just not the ones you mean) to perform at a high level. Most EMS personnel in general are people with very little accessory knowledge about life, classical regular educations, business, culture, literature, or even simple life skills like balancing a check-book or holding down a regular job. This is cumbersome for all of us who look to further the abilities of the industry and our systems.

What I keep reading here is that even a good basic is more useless than a paramedic, to another paramedic. I believe this statement implies that all paramedics are adequate. I think the issues regarding why EMT-B's are useless applies even more dramatically to the paramedics. Bad Basics make bad paramedics. Regardless of where you started, if you don't have it in you to be a good basic, you cannot be a good paramedic. Most paramedics are just as woeful and sub-standard as all the Basics that run about. The problem here is that we are judging people based on the number of hours in a course. It's not about the course... it's not about the school... it is about the PERSON. The individual makes a good EMT or Paramedic. The schools and the hours and the education is ancillary in nature. If the quality of material being molded is deficient, so will be the final product.

So, to answer my own question. A good EMT is similar to a good pharmacist, or a good construction worker, or a good engineer, or a good fighter pilot, or a good WHATEVER PROFESSION YOU CHOOSE. It is someone who tries hard, and thinks harder. Someone who is not satisfied with the education he received in class and didactic, and has taken it into their own hands to learn from their peers (the good and the bad... you can learn something from everyone). A good EMT has good peripheral vision, so that they can constantly watch their partners' back. A good EMT questions orders when appropriate to do so, and has a warning bell always ready to go off in his head when things are about to go wrong on a call. A good EMT knows every application of every piece of equipment in his truck. A good EMT know how to do exactly what his partner is not doing so that you can move with greater efficiency toward the ultimate goal... definitive care. A good EMT knows when his/her partner needs help before the partner needs help. A good EMT knows how to evaluate a patient in a controlled and detailed manner and know not only your own plan of care, but understand your higher level of care partners' plan of care. A good EMT knows how to organize a scene and knows how to utilize every person on that scene to make things run smoothly and efficiently. A good EMT knows how to communicate to a variety of people in a variety of circumstances in an intelligent and focused manner. A good EMT must give respect.. or expect none in return.

The answer to everything is education (and the abolition of whackerism). But education alone is not sufficient if the beings getting the education are not capable of absorbing it. The one thing that is always overlooked on these forums is the QUALITY of the person doing the job. We are quick to nay-say the level of certification and all that hold it, but not break it down into fair and appropriate aggregates. One should not say that basics suck, they should say, "Hey! That basic sucks!" - or - "That paramedic sucks!" Because by classifying all basics or all medics together we verge on a new form of bigotry... One of which I will dub... EMS Apartheid.

I could go on and on if I chose. But I got to go back to work. I believe I have gotten my point across, if not... then I will just tell everyone that what ever level of provider you are, that you suck.

Cheers & Jeers

Josh