# Paramedic School Textbooks (what was required for you)?



## MDA (Jul 18, 2010)

This is a branch off the other thread a member made regarding preparing for Medic school. Since I was the one who asked him what his preparation course was like, I thought I would expand on it a little bit.

What textbooks (for those of you who are going through, or went through) for  Medic school are required?

I'm curious to see how much this varies. Every Medic school in my area within our major Counties all use the same materials.

I ask all of this because I'm trying to compile a list of books to purchase now so I can start studying everything needed on my own before I actually enter the Medic program.


----------



## MrBrown (Jul 18, 2010)

For Ambulance Technician we use our own custom material because none of the commercial texts were any good.

Paramedic and Intensive Care Paramedic use excerpts from the Brady book but sparingly, it too is not very good.

We also heavily use the pharmacology, patho and A&P books from the nursing faculty.


----------



## MDA (Jul 18, 2010)

MrBrown said:


> For Ambulance Technician we use our own custom material because none of the commercial texts were any good.
> 
> Paramedic and Intensive Care Paramedic use excerpts from the Brady book but sparingly, it too is not very good.
> 
> We also heavily use the pharmacology, patho and A&P books from the nursing faculty.



That's really interesting.
So your instructors basically came together and just taught what they know?

How does certification work in your neck of the woods?


----------



## Melclin (Jul 19, 2010)

MDA said:


> That's really interesting.
> So your instructors basically came together and just taught what they know?
> 
> How does certification work in your neck of the woods?




Teaching resources do exist outside of the realms of paramedics textbooks. We have book lists divided into recommended and compulsory texts although most compulsory texts aren't any more necessary than the recommended ones. Basically *we need to learn the concepts necessary to fulfill the units learning objectives, how we do that is largely up to us* just like at most universities.

We share the same or similar book lists as the nurses. Most lecturers do not use those books, which is frustrating.

*Most lecture material comes from medical text books (commonly Tintenalli's) , medical literature and guidelines/position papers/recommendations from relevant bodies.*


----------



## MrBrown (Jul 19, 2010)

MDA said:


> That's really interesting.
> So your instructors basically came together and just taught what they know?
> 
> How does certification work in your neck of the woods?



Clinical Education, Clinical Standards and the Clinical Management Group (our Medical Advisors) came up with all the material for the Technician Diploma.  

There is around 200 pages of educational material (what you would call the "textbook") plus a library of inhouse produced DVDs and interactive storyboard/Flash presentations which are based online.

We produced our own material because we want to achieve specific learning objectives which are not covered in the American textbooks which are quite frankly not worth much more than the paper they are printed on.  They cover specific information relevant to the American medicolegal and clinical praxis contexts which vary significantly from those in New Zealand and Australia so contain a lot of irrelevant material which is either irrelevant or not clinically significant for how Ambulance Officers practice here.

The Paramedic Degree does use the Brady book sparingly.


----------



## ExpatMedic0 (Jul 19, 2010)

Brown why do you guys not use the UK, Oz, or south African highest level paramedic text? It seems like all those countries have bachelors degree trained medics?


----------



## MrBrown (Jul 19, 2010)

All nations listed use the American textbooks sparingly except for South Africa, I am not sure what they use.  I know the UK used the Nancy Caroline book for a while.

The problem is that the US is the leader in EMS publishing having the most proliferated education system however unfortunately the books are written specifically for the American education objectives, medicolegal and clinical praxis contexts.

Much of the US textbooks material is not relevant here because we do things differently.

While I think the Paramedic books are useful they reads more like a skills manual than a comprehensive standalone text.  Infact the Degree programs here probably make more use of standardised nursing or allied health texts (A&P, pharmacology, 12 lead ECG interpretation etc) than a specific Paramedic book.


----------



## Melclin (Jul 19, 2010)

schulz said:


> Brown why do you guys not use the UK, Oz, or south African highest level paramedic text? It seems like all those countries have bachelors degree trained medics?




Because they don't exist. A bachelors degree doesn't mean there is a textbook. If there is a British or South African text, I certainly haven't heard about it. And we don't have one here in Aus. 

There is an excellent Prehospital trauma text book written mostly for HEMS docs, but any other doctors involved in prehospital care. Its out of print now, but it was excellent. I used it extensively in my trauma studies. 

http://books.google.com.au/books?id...&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false


----------



## MrBrown (Jul 19, 2010)

Melclin said:


> There is an excellent Prehospital trauma text book written mostly for HEMS docs, but any other doctors involved in prehospital care. Its out of print now, but it was excellent. I used it extensively in my trauma studies.
> 
> http://books.google.com.au/books?id...&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false



Looks like Brown has found something to occupy his mind when it gets boring at work ...


----------



## NJnewbie (Jul 19, 2010)

This looks like a great book to add to one's collection.  I'm shocked that there is a Kindle edition.  They don't usually make Kindle editions out of older, out of print books, so I did a little research and this book is not out of print.  New books are still being sold on the publisher's website so they seem to be still printing it.  This originally published in 2001 so they should do a revised edition, but maybe they haven't sold out of their original stock yet or don't see a need to do a revision.


----------



## Outbac1 (Jul 19, 2010)

A reprint of a reply of mine from March 08.

The courses I've been involved with have used not one but several. For my PCP I had

Mosby's Paramedic Text (2nd ed)
Human Anatomy and Physiology, Marieb (I liked this one)
Understanding Pathophysiology, Huether & McCance (2nd ed)
Mosby's Nursing and Allied Health Medical Dictionary
Exploring Medical Language, Mosby's
Differential Diagnosis of Arrhythmias, Davis (Not sure where this came from)

For my ACP I have

Mosby's Paramedic Text (Revised 3rd ed)
Anatomy and Physiology, Thibodeau & Patton
Understanding Pathophysiology, Huether & McCance (3rd ed)
Lippincott's Pharmacology, (3rd ed)
12 lead ECG in Acute Coronary Syndromes, Phalen & Aehlert(Revised 2nd ed)
ECG's Made Easy, Aehlert (3rd ed)
Pediatric Advanced Life Support, Course Guide and Providers Manual (2006)
Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support, Providers Manual (2006)
Neonatal Resuscitation Textbook, NRP, (5th ed)
Exploring Medical Language, Mosby's (6th ed)

Many come with CD's and supporting web sites. If I could only get a couple I would start with an A & P and the dictionary. Then a pathophysiology and a paramedic text. Follow those up with speciality books. No one book has it all, you will need several as you will reference them time and time again. These are all good books, but can be a little hard on the head and wallet.

 I also spent a lot of time GOOGLING.


----------



## Melclin (Jul 19, 2010)

NJnewbie said:


> This looks like a great book to add to one's collection.  I'm shocked that there is a Kindle edition.  They don't usually make Kindle editions out of older, out of print books, so I did a little research and this book is not out of print.  New books are still being sold on the publisher's website so they seem to be still printing it.  This originally published in 2001 so they should do a revised edition, but maybe they haven't sold out of their original stock yet or don't see a need to do a revision.



Really? Awesome. I might try and get a hold of a copy.


----------

