New Job, Paragods.

[Sasha]

Ugh!

First of all, I got hired by an ambulance service a couple days ago, woohoo! Today I did my first ride along. My partner was truly nauseating. The guy has had his Medic patch TWO WEEKS and thinks he is GOD. Im more than halfway through medic school and he would quiz me and try to teach me, but he was teaching me stuff I had already learned, and he was teaching it WRONG! How to set up a saline lock.. Isnt that Paramedic 101?

Not only that, but here is the point of the post: Dont you just hate medics who think they are better than nurses!? UGH!!!

He saw some T wave elevation and he was like Oh, here, the patient has too much potassium. You should run labs on that immediatly Yeah okay, but when I looked at the strip, the T wave wasnt elevated, it wasnt even the t wave. It was a pacer spike. How do you confuse the two? Apparently he didnt do a good history because he had no idea the patient had a pacer, I asked the nurse and she confirmed yes, pacer, yes, pacer spike.

Then I talked about how I wanted to go to nursing school and be a flight nurse. According to him, lifeflight doesnt hire nurses (Yeeeah okay) because nurses dont do emergency care, and according to him, dont even know ACLS. He said nurses cant tube people.

Is this true?

Even if it is, Im really annoyed with his paragod attitude where he looked down on all the nurses, ordered them around in their own ER, and then he was too high and mighty to even unload and load the stretcher or do ANY vitals. He had me do the vitals on scene, then in the back of the truck, then in the ER. All he did was start an IV (after instructing me how to set up a saline lock like a three year old) .

THEN after he sat in the back and did nothing during transport, he took an hour at the hospital writing his report before he went back into service and claimed that there was a looong ER wait.

If this is how the whole company is, I may just have to quit.

So... How do you feel about Paragods? Do they harm our image as a whole or do they just make themselves look like @sses?

 

[Ridryder911]

No I don't believe there is such a thing as a Paragod. I do believe in idiots though..

Don't be mad at those that are ignorant, even though they could be better. Time is on your side, (not the patients) and the system will flush him out like a bottle of mag citrate.

I suggest to invite him to post here.. I would love to discuss the real world to him.

* p.s. ST segment elevation is NOT a sign of K+; rather peaked or flat T waves is.


R/r 911

 

[ffemt8978]

I suggest to invite him to post here.. I would love to discuss the real world to him.

R/r 911

Now that sounds like an idea for an EMTLife.com fundraising drive...we'll sell tickets to view that thread.

 

[Sasha]

No I don't believe there is such a thing as a Paragod. I do believe in idiots though..

Don't be mad at those that are ignorant, even though they could be better. Time is on your side, (not the patients) and the system will flush him out like a bottle of mag citrate.

I suggest to invite him to post here.. I would love to discuss the real world to him.

* p.s. ST segment elevation is NOT a sign of K+; rather peaked or flat T waves is.


R/r 911

Nooo. Im looking forward to entertaining you all with stories of his crappyness! I wouldnt be able to if he was invited to post here! :sad:
PS- Im aware, like I said, he was trying to teach me wrong (he was so passionate about it too!) He also claims AIDS is airborne..

 

[mikie]

Ugh!

He saw some T wave elevation and he was like Oh, here, the patient has too much potassium. You should run labs on that immediatly Yeah okay, but when I looked at the strip, the T wave wasnt elevated, it wasnt even the t wave. It was a pacer spike. How do you confuse the two? Apparently he didnt do a good history because he had no idea the patient had a pacer, I asked the nurse and she confirmed yes, pacer, yes, pacer spike.

Even if the T wave was elevated, it doesn't necessarily mean the pt has too much K+; it could be 1000 other things. Furthermore, You don't tell a nurse to run labs or what to do!

Then I talked about how I wanted to go to nursing school and be a flight nurse. According to him, lifeflight doesnt hire nurses (Yeeeah okay) because nurses dont do emergency care, and according to him, dont even know ACLS. He said nurses cant tube people.

Is this true?

I'm pretty sure ACLS is required. Also pretty sure nurses cannot intubate. Might change with the setting (flight vs ED RN)

 

[Ridryder911]

He also claims AIDS is airborne..

Technically, he is right. It is a virus and alike a virus it can be spread alike all viruses. Albeit it is a fragile virus and doubtful it would be spread that way...

R/r 911

 

[mikie]

AIDS is a virus. Viruses can spread. This virus doesn't spread through the air or we'd all be f*cked. Now maybe in a long long time and after more mutations, we'll talk.

 

[KEVD18]

not all nurses are required to be acls certified.

my father is a nurse manager. he has to carry an acls card

my mother is a staff nurse. no acls for her.

paragods are like a holes, every service has them and they all stink. your best bet is to nod and smile and completely ignore him. if you really want to take it to him, wait until you have a confirmed case of him talking out of his rear(the situation you mentioned with the pacer spikes comes to mind) and bring it up when everybodies around. it wont make you popular with him, but if he gets called out on his lack of knowledge enough he'll either actually learn his job, or take his toys to another sandbox; both of which are immediatley beneficial to you.

 

[Sasha]

Technically, he is right. It is a virus and alike a virus it can be spread alike all viruses. Albeit it is a fragile virus and doubtful it would be spread that way...

R/r 911

According to him, everything is airborn and all our patients should be treated like lepers. His idea of airborne is a AIDS patient sneezing blood on you, he would not be convinced that its still blood that is spreading it, not the air.

 

[mikie]

According to him, everything is airborn and all our patients should be treated like lepers. His idea of airborne is a AIDS patient sneezing blood on you, he would not be convinced that its still blood that is spreading it, not the air.

well ya, if an AIDS patient sneezes BLOOD, that's another story.

 

[VentMedic]

Ugh!


Then I talked about how I wanted to go to nursing school and be a flight nurse. According to him, lifeflight doesnt hire nurses (Yeeeah okay) because nurses dont do emergency care, and according to him, dont even know ACLS. He said nurses cant tube people.

Is this true?

You can remind him that RNs can still challenge the state Paramedic exam. Florida still has an old statute on the books requiring RNs to be EMT-P certified for scene (not inter-facility) response. But, those that do flight have several years of ICU and ED experience. Ground crews also do the majority of extracation so scene HEMS is rarely an issue of concern for flight RNs.

They also have the advantage of ICU and ED experience to make them invaluable with hemodynamics, medications, different means of arterial and venous access and life support equipment such as ventilators, LVADs and IABPs. RNs can also continue to work in EDs and ICUs to maintain their skills and knowledge. CCEMT-P provides little in experience and many programs offer little in education but is only a formality to give them the patch. There are also reasons why some hospitals put their own staff (RN and/or RRT) on transports when some ground ALS units show up for an interfacility transport. These same reasons are why some hospitals have their own CCT RNs with all the "skills" of a paramedic plus much more Critical Care education and experience.

Besides ACLS, Flight, ED and/or ICU RNs may also have PALS, NRP, CCRN, CEN, CFRN, TNCC or FNATC among others.

Intubation is no problem for Flight RNs and if they are hospital based, they may get many more intubation opportunites than the average ground medic. The same for other advanced procedures. Specialty RNs have extensive skills, education and protocols as well as years of experience in their profession.

I bet he would be amazed that Florida Flight 1 utilizes only RN/RRT teams with no paramedics. They do not do scene response but they do some serious interfacility transports that are way beyond what many Paramedics will ever experience.

http://www.flhosp.org/services/floridaflight1/index.htm

Most of the helicopter teams in Florida (and in other states) have an RN on board with the exception of a few FD HEMS. If they do interfacility with high acuity, it is highly recommended to have someone ICU trained.

Also, in many flight agencies, a Paramedic can get his/her RN license but may still not be able to assume the title of Flight RN until he/she has completed the minimun years (usually 3 - 5) of RN experience in an ICU/ED/CCU.

 

[ffemt8978]

Florida Flight 1 utilizes only RN/RRT teams with no paramedics. They do not do scene response but they do some serious interfacility transports that are way beyond what many Paramedics will ever experience. [/FONT]

http://www.flhosp.org/services/floridaflight1/index.htm

Most of the helicopter teams in Florida (and in other states) have an RN on board with the exception of a few FD HEMS. If they do interfacility with high acuity, it is highly recommended to have someone ICU trained.

Also, in many flight agencies, a Paramedic can get his/her RN license but may still not be able to assume the title of Flight RN until he/she has completed the minimun years (usually 3 - 5) of RN experience in an ICU/ED/CCU.

And around here, Medstar uses RN/RT flight teams and they do do scene response. No medics on their aircraft at all.

 

[VentMedic]

My cockiness as a Paramedic definitely left when I went to RT school which even with an Associates degree in EMS, it took another 2 years to get the degree to sit for the RRT. I then had to get a 4 year degree in CardioPulmonary Science (RT) at UCF to run with the big dogs in the ICUs just to stay competitive in the market. At the present time, the Associates is all that is required for entry into the RT profession but the professionals themselves have raised the bar. This is also what happened over 25 years ago when their expectations became the Associates when only a cert or OJT was required.

My intubation skills were excellent as a Paramedic but had to really excel in technique as an RRT as did my knowledge of intubation and the many different airways.

 

[Sasha]

My cockiness as a Paramedic definitely left when I went to RT school which even with an Associates degree in EMS, it took another 2 years to get the degree to sit for the RRT. I then had to get a 4 year degree in CardioPulmonary Science (RT) at UCF to run with the big dogs in the ICUs just to stay competitive in the market. At the present time, the Associates is all that is required for entry into the RT profession but the professionals themselves have raised the bar. This is also what happened over 25 years ago when their expectations became the Associates when only a cert or OJT was required.

My intubation skills were excellent as a Paramedic but had to really excel in technique as an RRT as did my knowledge of intubation and the many different airways.

You went to UCF? Im applying for nursing school there!

 

[VentMedic]

You went to UCF? Im applying for nursing school there!

Loved the university although it has been many, many years since I graduated.

The medical programs all have high standards with great clinical access.

 

[Sasha]

Loved the university although it has been many, many years since I graduated.

The medical programs all have high standards with great clinical access.

I know, I know quite a few nursing students from there. And I live like 2 miles away. But they have a looong waiting list, which is why Im applying ASAP for next year.

 

[VentMedic]

I know, I know quite a few nursing students from there. And I live like 2 miles away. But they have a looong waiting list, which is why Im applying ASAP for next year.

Good luck! The wait should be worth it. It will give you an excellent foundation for any aspect of nursing or whatever you decide to do.

 

[BLSBoy]

I know, I know quite a few nursing students from there. And I live like 2 miles away. But they have a looong waiting list, which is why Im applying ASAP for next year.

Hmm. Small world after all...
I lived over in Brevard, and I partied many a weekend away at UCF.

 

[Flight-LP]

Hey Sasha, why is a newbie medic having anything to do with your orientation? He should be in a preceptor program himself. Is he actually cleared to work as a medic with only 2 weeks experience?

 

[BLSBoy]

I know, I know quite a few nursing students from there. And I live like 2 miles away. But they have a looong waiting list, which is why Im applying ASAP for next year.

Hmm, you live near UCF. I'm guessing you work local too.

You wouldn't happen to work for a EMS agency that recently got the boot from the unincorperated parts of Orange County and drives slime lime rigs, do you?