EMT Education

[Ridryder911]

After reading several posts, I am questioning what one thought of or attitude was on their EMT training.

One does not have to post if they do not want to...

R/r 911

 

[fma08]

It was enough to let me know that i needed paramedic school to really learn something. it seemed like we focused on about 3 or 4 illnesses and the rest kinda touched on briefly... sad in a lot of ways... but cant fit it all in 120 hours i guess..

 

[Onceamedic]

I didn't answer the poll Rid, because I truly didn't see the option I wanted. I found EMT-B to be extremely frustrating. I felt like a round peg being hammered into a square hole. I see now that the goal was training - learning to do some very specific things in a very specific manner - without being taught the "why" in a way that made sense to me. I was totally unnerved at the end of the course with the idea that I was somehow equipped to do useful work in an ambulance. Of course I wasn't. There was very little time in the course to truly learn anything. I thought it was me - that I was too dumb or somehow not right for the field. I started the course with the intention that I was going to be a paramedic and for me, it was the hoop I jumped through because that's what I had to do to get to medic school. When I got to paramedic school, my instructor told us to forget all that EMT "crap" - that this was a whole different ball game. Seems pretty dumb to me now to make us go through basic.
Good subject. Thanks for asking for our opinions.

 

[katgrl2003]

I actually did study, studied my arse off actually. I took what the book and our teacher taught us and went more in depth, did studying on my own. Looking back, I realize now I didn't need this to pass the class. I could have passed without even buying the book. Do I regret doing it? Heck no. All it did was make me want to go on to medic school. I hated the watered down feeling I was getting in class. Heck, I already knew most of this stuff by age 9 by reading my mom's nursing school books (something my dad was NOT pleased about).

So for my vote? Class was way easier than I thought, and I am just using it as a stepping stone for later things to come.

-Kat

 

[LucidResq]

Going in to it I expected the content to be very shallow and inadequate and after completing the course I can say with confidence that it indeed was. I didn't study more than 1-2 hours total throughout the entire course (and didn't need to), but then again due to previous courses I've taken and my background in SAR I came into it with a decent knowledge base of anatomy and phys, legal/ethical concepts, first aid, patient packaging, etc etc.

I do not regret taking the course however. My clinical rotations were excellent and my preceptors allowed me to do 99% of the patient care. If there is one thing I took out of this class... it's that I started learning how to talk to patients which is an often overlooked skill.

I also took advantage of being in close proximity to experienced EMTs, medics, nurses and doctors by asking tons of questions and asking for advice.
Since I had mastered much of the basics, I tried to delve deeper into the topics. Yeah, the class taught me about shock and bleeding, but it was a very very basic explanation so I whipped out my A&P texts and studied stuff like hemodynamics, hemostasis, MAP, etc.

The EMT course consistently fails to teach the "whys" of the diseases, assessments, and procedures of EMS... which is really important stuff to know if you're ever going to gain critical thinking skills in the field. Yes, they will tell you the symptoms of shock... but do they ever explain why those symptoms occur in detail? Not so much.

 

[Sapphyre]

Oy Vey.

Less than halfway through class, it became apparent that we will come out with little or no knowledge. I went in with an expired ARC Emergency Response card, so, that may have been part of it. Towards the end, there were some of us that declared we now know just enough to know we don't know nearly enough. It's really scary thinking some of the people could be solely responsible for patient care soon.

I actually learned the most from the clinical hours (surprisingly, after reading here, the clinical hours were nearly half the classroom hours)

 

[BossyCow]

My EMT class was a pencil whipping, get them on the street formality. Fortunately for me, I took it the extra mile myself simply because I felt I needed to know more, and I had a 24/7 on call Paramedic in the house, who was more than willing to give me more information than I asked for on every question.

I continually run into the comment. "I don't feel comfortable in my skills/knowledge" from new EMTs. Our department has a mentoring program that we implement until we feel an EMT is adequately prepared. In the meantime, I take as many classes as I can afford or that I have time for, and pass that information on to the EMTs I am responsible for. We debrief on every call and include the MPDs run review comments.

 

[mikeylikesit]

My basic class was easy except for some of the EMT history and radio procedure portions that were just sleepers. I learned half about medicine and vitals and the rest about how to ride on an ambo, radio and look out for some common injuries. i have seen these 2 week accelerated classes and think to myself...damn that’s easy and quick! I realize that you don’t have to know how the body works at all just primarily what you could do if it looks like: this that, or that. Assist this take these measurements down that we have machines do anymore. Even Medic school was a joke if it wasn’t so much info in a short amount of time!

 

[JPINFV]

I took the course the begining of my second year of college (intro bio, lower division writing, chem. Calc. No anatomy, physiology, biochem yet). I found myself not paying attention at all to the lectures half the time and instead just flipping through the book. I found the vast majority of the sections to be either very repititve or very common sense orientated (owing, in part, to my training as a boy scout). As such, I was pretty disappointed with the level of material that was expected of us.

 

[Ops Paramedic]

From the option i choose, i would appear that i'm not one of the lucky ones who "hardly had to open a book/ what a joke", as the results point to those guys in the majority. Or maybe it was just a really worthwile course...

 

[Ridryder911]

From the option i choose, i would appear that i'm not one of the lucky ones who "hardly had to open a book/ what a joke", as the results point to those guys in the majority. Or maybe it was just a really worthwile course...

Maybe your class was taught differently than those in the U.S., as I have seen majority of those outside the U.S ... something I believe we should look at and study.

R/r 911

 

[jazminestar]

I had an EXCELLENT class, our teacher was an ER nurse for 30+ years and all of our t.a's were either emts or medics.....but for me it was a bit easier only because i had already taken a human anatomy class and a pathology class. and had a ton of classes because i'm also a licensed massage therapist, so i think i had a better understanding of the human body..........so yeah that's it i did have a good expierence and learned from some great people

 

[Ridryder911]

Bump.. surely we have more than 25 people that view here! You do not have to comment to vote.. be honest!

Thanks,

R/r 911

 

[Capt.Hook]

I dunno. I had been a FR with 2 refreshers going into EMT class, so much of the info wasn't new by any means. Not at all to say I was 100% proficient in all skills, but I felt darn confident.

I was certainly surprised at how glossed over the curriculum was. It was obvious one wouldn't be a good EMT straight from this class without more training.

Towards the final classes it was also obvious we were "learning to the test" which really bothers me, mainly because I at least was familiar with what a call consisted of and how ems calls are handled. Honestly I don't feel any more trained as an EMT than a First Responder. It's amazing how much I didn't learn.

In short, I don't feel my EMT class prepared me or my classmates with as much as it should have

 

[Guardian]

I’m not sure what you’re hoping to accomplish. I would rate my class as moderately hard when I took it at 16 years old. If I took the same class today, I would probably fall asleep from boredom in class. People’s perspectives change over time and are based on previous experiences.

All things equal, I think the class is pretty darn easy, and it should be that way.

 

[Ridryder911]

I’m not sure what you’re hoping to accomplish. I would rate my class as moderately hard when I took it at 16 years old. If I took the same class today, I would probably fall asleep from boredom in class. People’s perspectives change over time and are based on previous experiences.

All things equal, I think the class is pretty darn easy, and it should be that way.

Nothing to accomplish, but rather to find out the general opinion. We read on how a EMT what care should be or not be performed, then at the same time how they were not prepared for real life. As well, we continue to read how easy, or how hard/difficult the course was.

Now, I ask why what reasons it should it be so easy, if these persons are responsible for emergency care of patients? Obviously, those that perform care at that level has left opposite opinions...

R/r 911

 

[Outbac1]

Since my "basic" class was 1200 hours it is hardly a fair comparison. So I won't vote in the poll. Having said that I had to work hard on my course. Some things came easy and others didn't.

 

[Guardian]

Now, I ask why what reasons it should it be so easy, if these persons are responsible for emergency care of patients? Obviously, those that perform care at that level has left opposite opinions...

R/r 911

One reason it shouldn't be rocket science is because we should balance the number of emts vs the difficulty of the curriculum. Currently, I think we are doing a pretty good job of that. The advantage of emt-basic is that it graduates so many people. It's a good thing having a large number of emts all over the place to assist paramedics and other health care providers when needed. And we are only going to need more of them as we are forced to handle more and more none emergencies. The emt is absolutely vital to our system of ems. I think your point is only valid in a situation where no ALS service is available and there were a bunch of emts running around pawning themselves off as the "medics" (whatever that is). Unfortunately, that is the case in many areas. I think this is the real problem that needs addressing. But regardless, it's almost as if you are trying to make the emt-b more that it was ever designed to be.

 

[Guardian]

Since my "basic" class was 1200 hours it is hardly a fair comparison. So I won't vote in the poll. Having said that I had to work hard on my course. Some things came easy and others didn't.

yes, it's a totally different system up there. Some advantages and some disadvantages.

 

[Onceamedic]

But regardless, it's almost as if you are trying to make the emt-b more that it was ever designed to be.

I run with a service with a lot of EMTs and I appreciate their presence a great deal. I must take exception to this statement tho - when the EMT-B program was first implemented, it held great promise for the future of our profession. The program has been progressively diluted, with less and less hours allocated. Rather than trying to make the emt-b more, I think most of us would like it to return to where it was originally going - before the requirements of EMT-B were "dumbed down" to make it attractive to vollies.