Level1pedstech
Forum Captain
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I have been meaning to start a thread on the ever increasing education requirements for pre hospital providers and after reading through some old posts on the topic of education I think now would be a great time to discuss a few things I have been thinking about.
I will start by saying that Im all for education and I know Im not alone in that area of thought. One of the reasons I work as an ER tech is for the opportunity I have to learn from the best in the field of emergency medicine every time I work a shift. One of my tech duties is to record on traumas, this requires me to ask the transport medics questions about what happened prior to arrival and make the required notes on the trauma chart, in the course of a twelve hour shift I may write on five or more traumas giving me the chance to soak up allot of information that I can use later in the field. I am a hands on learner and this way of ongoing self education works well for me. I believe that when a person makes a choice to enter the field of pre hospital emergency medicine they need to make the commitment to continue to educate themselves when ever possible.
I think the trend towards making the paramedic program a two year degree is spreading and I have heard Washington state will soon be following the state of Oregon. I was talking to one of our new RN's who used to work with me as an EMT/ER Tech and the subject of medic school came up, he really made a good argument for changing my future education plans. Without going into all the pros and cons of prehospital EMS compared to the RN route, I know both sides very well, I have to ask myself why spend two years+ in school and come out making what we all know can be very low wages as a medic when you can spend two years+ in school and come out as an ER RN and make very good money. I know the two are different paths but I cant be the only one that has to be thinking which way is really going to work out the best in the long run. I am not looking for a medic versus RN fight so don't even go there. I simply would like some intelligent feedback on the subject.
I will start by saying that Im all for education and I know Im not alone in that area of thought. One of the reasons I work as an ER tech is for the opportunity I have to learn from the best in the field of emergency medicine every time I work a shift. One of my tech duties is to record on traumas, this requires me to ask the transport medics questions about what happened prior to arrival and make the required notes on the trauma chart, in the course of a twelve hour shift I may write on five or more traumas giving me the chance to soak up allot of information that I can use later in the field. I am a hands on learner and this way of ongoing self education works well for me. I believe that when a person makes a choice to enter the field of pre hospital emergency medicine they need to make the commitment to continue to educate themselves when ever possible.
I think the trend towards making the paramedic program a two year degree is spreading and I have heard Washington state will soon be following the state of Oregon. I was talking to one of our new RN's who used to work with me as an EMT/ER Tech and the subject of medic school came up, he really made a good argument for changing my future education plans. Without going into all the pros and cons of prehospital EMS compared to the RN route, I know both sides very well, I have to ask myself why spend two years+ in school and come out making what we all know can be very low wages as a medic when you can spend two years+ in school and come out as an ER RN and make very good money. I know the two are different paths but I cant be the only one that has to be thinking which way is really going to work out the best in the long run. I am not looking for a medic versus RN fight so don't even go there. I simply would like some intelligent feedback on the subject.