army training new flight medics to critcal care standard

Horrible idea on so many levels. The top one being a complete waste of my tax dollars.

1. Let's look at battlefield trauma and the reported statistics. 5% die. I wonder if they remotely considered the fact that the injury pathophysiology was probably responsible for this statistic.

2. How are these 68W's going to obtain their Paramedic certification? Less than half of the Army's flight Medics hold a "P" cert. They are already short staffed and pumping folks throught the 68W factory at Ft. Sam. How does the Army realistically see these medics having the ability to obtain the cert, and actually maintain it? Considering the current deployment rotation, that would be difficult to say the least.

3. What honestly does the flight medic need to add to their skill set? What trauma specific care can be provided at the "critical care standard" level? I can think of only one; blood administration. Unfortunately, it is DoD policy that blood is only hung by a "licensed care provider", i.e. RN, PA, or MD.

4. Speaking of nurses, why not put more of them in this role? It would certainly be more cost effective. Even contracting out this level of care could be done with trained and educated professionals for less than $53M.

5. Trainee and RSI should never be placed in the same sentence. Nor should RSI be used in the battle field. Something about taking your time and going through the steps accurately and completely added to an environment where time is not a luxury given just doesn't add up.

My biggest issue is the retention of any discernable level of quality. Considering the extremely high turnover rate, the minimal training standards to become a 68W to begin with and the minimal level of care that will be authorized due to the high turn over of medical direction, this spells a waste of money, if not a complete disaster. There are other DoD medical personnel that could provide a higher level of care with a stronger educational background and this concept could be done quicker and cheaper than this half arsed idea.

Sorry, i give it two thumbs down.
 
I still find the articles national guard /civilian flight medic stats for survival rates amazing. I am not sure how that study was conducted and what factors made those statistics so much higher? Whats your opinion on that?
 
My opinion is that the study is absolute unsubstantiated bullsh!t.

There is no way there is a substantial number of civilian flight paramedics that are actively flying in Afghan-land. Either they ran their numbers off of a tiny sample size or the whole study is again unsubstantiated and possibly fabricated.

The Army needs to publish their study and stop providing lip service. As of now, I have seen zero credible evidence. Having significant experience working with and training these folks, I just don't see the first hand correlation that validates this statement.
 
I am currently in the army as a 68w. I can honestly say this program may just be more of a waste than a help. Yes, the army needs more flight medics since it's changing the needs of the medical field. Yes, be nice to have everyone as a paramedic. Honestly though, it's all trauma for the most part. It is up to the unit to train father in the field. The unit I was in trained a lot in the field of trauma and care. If the unit is lazy then you have basic skilled medics that perform poorly. I think the unit level training needs to be targeted and put to a standard higher than what is present. If the unit is on point, you have medics that can and will go beyond their level of care with the know how to complete the task at hand. I have moved on from my old unit and now I am a psd medic which basically means I take care of the upper leadership. So, yes I do deal with more than just trauma but I still do my research and training to be able to conduct my job. I am getting out due to the fact, the army treats most non infantry jobs as second hand soldiers. I see the new medics coming in and I am surprise that they do have the know how to do their job with the best results possible, what they need is confidence. If that means more school then so be it, i think it means just more on the job training and better unit level leadership. Army wouldn't have to spend as much.
 
Wouldn't it make more sake to train only a small group of flight medics to the CCP standard? It seems to me that many of the skills and interventions provided by CCPs are not likely to be used all that often given that many flights are going to be trauma related. I'm sure there are times when a solider gets very sick at an FOB and needs an airlift to definitive care for treatment of a serious illness and then the CCP education would be more useful. I just cannot imagine this is all that common though.

In a significant trauma case is there anything that a CCP paramedic is going to do that a regular flight medic cannot?
 
I think a lot if the difference comes from the guard medic s having real world experience far in excess of their army counterparts.
 
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