@DrParasite, do you think it'd be sufficient to have such a low barrier to entry? This might undermine us with respect to other healthcare fields. For example, I don't know of any nursing programs that have such minimal requirements.
Since you asked for my opinion, 20 years ago you didn't need a degree to become an RN. 10 years ago (and I might be dating myself here a bit), you didn't need a degree to come an RN; there were still diploma programs out there. Now to work in a hospital you need a BSN as a new grad, but most existing RNs aren't getting their BSN unless they want to move into management, or their employer is forcing them to get it. But here is the real question related to this process: has the mortality level increased or decreased with the increased education? Has the skill set increased? Can a BSN nurse do anything less than diploma nurse RN to warrant that increased salary? What does the thousands of dollars and a piece of paper do to benefit the individual nurse, and the healthcare system as a whole? Or was it just a marketing scam to raise the salaries of nurses, while not giving any benefit to the patient.
I am all for education, but not education just for the same of education. I am 100% against requiring a bachelors degree to be a paramedic. But I would be 100% in favor of requiring a bachelors degree in Emergency Medical Sciences, where every course was directly relevant to the field of paramedicine. The reason I support non-degree paramedic programs is because every minute you are in class you are learning stuff that is directly related to being a paramedic. There are no electives, no other courses to make you "well rounded," everything you do in class is designed to make you a good paramedic. Show me a degree program that is 100% designed to make you a paramedic, and demonstrate to me why it's better than a non-credit program, or rather, the non-credit one isn't as good as it is, and I will support it too.
It is my opinion (and speaking as someone who got their original EMT at 17), if they can do the job, let them. If your requirements are 6 college credits of A&P, awesome. if they need to read and write at a 14th grade level (equivalent to an associates or 2nd year undergrad), test them and see how they do. If they can't use a computer, can't speak properly, don't use proper grammar, can't show up on time, can't pass the exams, or whatever criteria you want to use, they don't graduate. But what does a HS diploma mean, other than they passed HS? are there smart people who dropped out of HS for one reason or another (take care of a sick family member, was sick themselves, insert any other reason for not graduation?
My current EMT program is 244 hours. We are one of the longest programs in the state and exceed the minimum by quite a bit. and if I had my way, I would double it, adding 244 hours of clinical time on an ambulance with a minimum of 75 patient contacts. But that's not my decision.
You mentioned how other healthcare fields don't respect us. How do you define respect? how do you quantify it? Can one bad apple ruin the respect that has been built up over years? How do you know when we have the respect of others?
At the last 3 full time EMS jobs I have held, I can tell you the ER staff respected me as an individual. They listened to what I said, we were friendly and social both inside and out of work, and I may have slept with one or two ER staffers. And when I worked on the street at a EMS agency ran by a Level 1 trauma canter, I knew many of the attending MDs on a first name basis, and they knew who I was. And I had an issue with someone, it was handled appropriately. There was accountability both ways, and we all respected one another (and called each other by name). So I was respected, even if my profession wasn't. But they also knew me, saw me 3-4 time a week, often several times a day. It's very hard to respect someone you only see once or twice a month, regardless of what their profession is.
On the bright side (or maybe not), when you've seen one EMS system, you've, well, seen one system, as the aphorism goes. I like the idea of county-wide EMS for rural areas, as I've said - spreads the costs.
I've been in over a dozen EMS systems, urban, suburban and rural, in three states, and in various levels of employment (mostly part time or per diem, with 3 FT ones over the years, plus looked into others. We can discuss county wide EMS in another thread.... it does spread out the cost, but there are several drawbacks.
