Good EMT-B "extra's" to have. ( ITLS, NRP, and so on )

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imadriver

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Got a (hopefully) simple question on some good courses to have for an EMT-B.

I work in an ALS system. Each Unit has 1 EMT and 1 Medic. Independent from Fire. In Florida. I only got a little experience, a little under 2 years. And I work with the same medic just about all the time.

That being said, I know how to do the simple basic ALS-assist stuff. ( IV/IO Setups, ECG/12-Lead Placement, Intubation Setups, and setup for the basic drugs that we use in our service )

My question is, what are some good courses to take for me to help my medic and, more importantly, my patients. I've done A LOT of reading on these things, almost down to everything but a course breakdown. I even got a list:

PALS, ITLS, NRP, PEPP, ACLS, AMLS, GEMS, AHLS, NALS, PPC, ABLS.

Our system has a very wide range of patients. I've ran many trauma alerts, codes, stimi's, and so on. Luckily, we have three Great hospitals right in our county, even a Helicopter for our "north end" of the county oh sh*t calls.

So, our area luckily offers a wide range of these classes, but you have to watch for them needless to say.

Hopefully some of you more experienced people can help out and clue me in on some of these things. Thanks for any input! Looking forward to it.
 
I honestly cant say a whole lot on the classes but I do know ACLS and PALS I would hold off on, those 2 classes mostly focus on cardiac rhythms, which at the B and I'85 level, we cant interpret. Soo, that ones sort of up to you. Just my 2 cents.
 
None of them can hurt anything. While you may not actually be able to perform some of the things. The extra knowledge in anticipating what your medic will be wanting to do next could help. The only one that I wouldn't waste my money on is AMLS. Its 16 hours of doing pt assessment and "learning to think" about what is wrong with the pt. If your not already doing that there are other problems
 
emt11 said:
I honestly cant say a whole lot on the classes but I do know ACLS and PALS I would hold off on, those 2 classes mostly focus on cardiac rhythms, which at the B and I'85 level, we cant interpret. Soo, that ones sort of up to you. Just my 2 cents.
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Actually ACLS and PALS are so simple nowadays that some hospitals have even support services ( janitors, maintenance, etc ) take them so they can have more hands available to help work codes. Much of ACLS and PALS is learning teamwork.
 
emt11 said:
I honestly cant say a whole lot on the classes but I do know ACLS and PALS I would hold off on, those 2 classes mostly focus on cardiac rhythms, which at the B and I'85 level, we cant interpret. Soo, that ones sort of up to you. Just my 2 cents.
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I/85 can most definitely interp the rhythm's in ACLS.

I work as an I while I'm in school and we can manually defibrillate patients in the presence of our medic. We can also push most of the code drugs...
 
bigdogems said:
None of them can hurt anything. While you may not actually be able to perform some of the things. The extra knowledge in anticipating what your medic will be wanting to do next could help. The only one that I wouldn't waste my money on is AMLS. Its 16 hours of doing pt assessment and "learning to think" about what is wrong with the pt. If your not already doing that there are other problems
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If taught by a proper instructor, I thought AMLS was by far the most worthwhile course listed.
 
got a (hopefully) simple question on some good courses to have for an emt-b
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EMT-Paramedic.
 
NVRob said:
I/85 can most definitely interp the rhythm's in ACLS.

I work as an I while I'm in school and we can manually defibrillate patients in the presence of our medic. We can also push most of the code drugs...
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Nevada may be different but here(Georgia, and we are an NREMT state) as an I'85 we are only to recognize VF, VT, Sinus Tach, Bradycardia, and asystole. As far as those rythmes we can look at it and tell a medic, "hey look the pt's. in ...." We can not manually deibrillate a patient, AED's only and you'd lose your certification for pushing code drugs.
 
usafmedic45 said:
EMT-Paramedic.
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Quoted for truth. You'll better serve your patients by educating yourself as a Paramedic. You'll understand more of what's going on with all those alphabet soup courses after you have a Medic's education.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. I know for the most part I really can't do anything even with the knowledge. And I kinda study some things on my own (Cardiac Rhythms, Drug Indicators / Contra-indicators, etc) but I figured some classes where someone is actually teaching wouldn't hurt. All I really know how is tell my medic "Hey, those squiggles don't look right" if they are doing something else at the time.

I will be taking ITLS shortly (offered by my service), and maybe a NRP class by a local Hospital. Also was thinking about GEMS since we have A LOT of nursing homes around here.

PALS seems a little over the top cause usually I'm just hauling *** to the hospital at that point. But is there much of a difference between PALS and PEPP (Pediatric Education for the Prehospital Professional)?

I was thinking ABLS (Advanced Burn Life Support) as well, we have a Burn hospital we transport to every so often but I'm not sure if that will actually help since I'm not actually "treating" anyone with burns, just keeping them stable and everything sanitary around them. Although we do have a meth lab problem and we get bad burners from that every blue moon. So between ABLS and maybe AHMLS (Advanced Haz-Mat Life Support)?
 
Don't worry about the alphabets. Worry about learning the basic science (physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, physics, pharmacology, etc) that underpins medical care at all levels. Learn how what we do in the field links into what is done once the patient is at the hospital. It is so much more useful than a wallet full of cards that signify that you can regurgitate back a bunch of bullet points.
 
usafmedic45 said:
Don't worry about the alphabets. Worry about learning the basic science (physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, physics, pharmacology, etc) that underpins medical care at all levels. Learn how what we do in the field links into what is done once the patient is at the hospital. It is so much more useful than a wallet full of cards that signify that you can regurgitate back a bunch of bullet points.
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I definitely like that advice USAFmedic. Sounds like a plan to keep studying all that stuff. I really don't want to seem like a cert seeker or anything, just seein' what the quality of classes out there is.
 
They are good for the technical skills involved but they are pretty light on the why, when and when not. A solid underpinning of knowledge is far more important than anything else. Technical ability is a secondary concern. The difference between a rank amateur or newbie and a competent, consummate professional is the knowledge to judge when to do something and more importantly when not to use the skills they have at their disposal.
 
imadriver said:
I definitely like that advice USAFmedic. Sounds like a plan to keep studying all that stuff. I really don't want to seem like a cert seeker or anything, just seein' what the quality of classes out there is.
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Ever thought about going to medic school? It would probably be good to get your medic before taking all of these classes.
 
I've only been an EMT for a couple years. Was going to test the "A" side of the waters a bit before I decided to take the leap. Also I always like to have a general understanding of things before I get fully involved. I love every bit of my job working as an EMT, but at the same time, want to be able to help more.

Not sure if I want to kiss my sons head good bye for the year and a half it takes to get medic.
 
imadriver said:
I've only been an EMT for a couple years. Was going to test the "A" side of the waters a bit before I decided to take the leap. Also I always like to have a general understanding of things before I get fully involved. I love every bit of my job working as an EMT, but at the same time, want to be able to help more.

Not sure if I want to kiss my sons head good bye for the year and a half it takes to get medic.
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Gotcha, What service in Florida do you work at?
 
usafmedic45 said:
They are good for the technical skills involved but they are pretty light on the why, when and when not. A solid underpinning of knowledge is far more important than anything else. Technical ability is a secondary concern. The difference between a rank amateur or newbie and a competent, consummate professional is the knowledge to judge when to do something and more importantly when not to use the skills they have at their disposal.
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A and P knowledge is the one thing that I know is holding me back in both my jobs. Even if I am unable to effectively treat the patient, I still want to know what's going on from a physiological and disease process perspective. The only time I really get any info on why a patient is presenting the way he is occurs when we transport to the ED and it's not too busy and the nurse or doc is nice enough to explain whats going on to me. I learn a lot more this way than looking stuff up on my phone afterwards. I wish I could work with a medic just because I would be with someone with so much more knowledge. Say what you will about the paramedic's education, but it's still a lot more than mine. I'm lucky to get A&P OTJ education at my Sports Medicine gig but that's more athletic injury centered.

As I type this I'm studying for an inorganic chem test so that I can eventually take a cadaver lab at my undergrad only institution, which I here is quite rare.
 
Ask your medical director if there is any way to establish a chart review procedure for patients brought in by EMS. Basically it's a great way to find out what you are trying to learn, figure out how to improve things, etc. We did it on almost every patient.
 
imadriver said:
Got a (hopefully) simple question on some good courses to have for an EMT-B.

I work in an ALS system.

My question is, what are some good courses to take for me to help my medic and, more importantly, my patients.
Click to expand...

EMT-Paramedic
 
Jimi stop stealing usafs posts

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