Recent content by Achromatic

Perhaps not the right forum (feel free to move)... Looking for examples of websites for EMS/FDs you think are great. Nicely designed, structured, etc... planning ideas for a site redesign for my department. Any suggestions appreciated!

I am trying to help a friend who is an Italian paramedic and doing some job research. Does anyone have a link to a typical "program guide" to the practical elements of an EMT-P program (i.e. rough hours, rotations, expected activities) I could point him to?

-B: 68 and passed.

To the very best of my knowledge, ILS is not recognized on a statewide level (unsure if any counties implement, but certainly not King (Seattle), Pierce (Tacoma), or Thurston (Olympia)). EMT-P's have been on NR for a little while, and now FR and -B are joining them. Though I am new to the...

I am -so- glad that as of about 25 hours ago, Washington state is now an NREMT state. :D

How are you maintaining your IV/EMT-I skills, being that WA is not a state that recognizes the -I, and doesn't allow BLS to do any more than prep IV lines?

Actually, it wasn't. It was aimed at short duration courses in general with a heightened sense of caveat emptor. i.e. "If your school says they can turn you out as a medic in under 3 months, while all these other colleges are saying 9 months - 1 year, why is this?" (In your example, not knowing...

I would have to agree with Linuss below - it's good that you knew that you'd forgotten it, and in most places, with most meds, you'll have standing orders, but gotta take issue with your instructor's remarks - there's at least a general order for things for a reason. Administering ASA and then...

Sucks to do the right thing - maybe you need to educate your friends more, or choose 'better' ones than ones looking for some "way to put you down"...

The only math you'll have to do as an EMT-B is "multiply by 4" (when assessing pulse, respirations, etc in 15 second blocks). Well, it'd also be good to "multiply by 2.2" which is easy, double and add 10% for one or two meds to know when to use a ped dose versus an adult. But seriously...

True, I was more talking about the duration of the course - if the course squeezes that 120+ hours into 2 weeks, or less, then you have to think about your ability to process and retain that information (as said, it's not rocket science, but there is a substantial volume and most people can only...

That's not too bad. Our EMT class was 2 nights a week x 4 hours for 17 weeks, 136 hours, plus about 8 Saturdays of 8 hours, 192 hours. (Our program was entirely FD, run by the County ALS service).

Hints to look at: How long is your program? An EMT program is meant to be at least 120-160 hours. If that is squeezed into, say, 2-3 weeks, unless there's a specific reasoning for the "acceleration", in all probability, you're not getting a quality of education. Whilst there is nothing...

Mistovich and Karren, Prehospital Emergency Care, 8th Edition is what we used. Comprehensive, over 1300 pages.

Definitely a very valid point, I think. There is definitely still a stoicism in many parts of our jobs that transcends the 'necessity' required day to day. Without revealing too much, I /can/ say that in this person's case, there /were/ people aware, who were trying to work on a...