Re-thinking EMS education.

NUEMT

NUEMT

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What would you like to see changed in how medics and EMT's are trained? What innovative techniques does your program use that you like and/or have developed?

What percentage of your lectures use 300 plus slides of powerpoint? (Ya.......)
 
More training on communication, how to talk to people, managing chronic health issues. We spend so much time training for the high acuity 5% of our calls.....and no one seems to train people how to talk to grandma who slipped out of bed.
 
This is just my unrealistic dream:

I would like to see First Responder/EMR be around 80 hours (similar to an MPIC, but for land and include more of a wilderness component...more like a hybrid WFR/MPIC course).

I'd like to see EMT require full semesters of Anatomy and Physiology, Stats, Chemistry, Biology, Medical Terminology, Psychology, Human Growth and Development, Physiology, Pathophysiology and expand its length to about 400 hours to include scope of practice to be similar to an AEMT, and include an EVOC course. And I'd like to see AEMT eliminated.

I'd like to see Paramedic include all of that, plus semesters of organic chemistry, biochemistry, physics and higher level mathematics, as well as rescue courses, communications courses, management and leadership courses, legal courses and require a bachelor's degree.

I'd like to have an Advanced Practice Paramedic role that blends Community Paramedicine with a role similar to a Physician's Assistant, that would allow for things like cleaning and suturing wounds on a scene, writing scripts for common medications, post-surgical follow up, etc.
 
I'd like to see more focus on realistic scenarios that make people actually think about how to treat/interact with the patient. We can all memorize a treatment protocol, but communicating with a patient (or just regular face-to-face conversation) is becoming a lost skill. Forcing students to have a conversation with the patient and explain the treatments is just as important and them knowing all the right doses and differentials.
 
I'd like to see more involvement from other healthcare disciplines. I think a problem with the way we currently train is that we have paramedics who are only familiar with their local scope of practice teach it, but not 100% to the level what is expected of the NREMT. For example, cardizem is not used out here so it was briefly mentioned. Rapid sequence induction is not done here so when we go to that part of the airway chapter, the instructor laughed, "Ha! You are never going to do that!" *click* *click* *click* to skip it. The paramedics I've seen teaching the class are usually very experienced and knowledgeable, but only with what it was like a decade ago. Another example is that my medic school instructor had know idea how to read ECGs and 12-lead. I feel like paramedics generally are behind compared to other healthcare provider and a lot more limited. After I finished, they stopped having paramedics student teaching home medications. They just want them to ask the patient or family "What do you take this for?" These are just examples of where I think other healthcare disciplines like a doctor or registered nurse could fill in the gap.
 
Aprz said:
I'd like to see more involvement from other healthcare disciplines. I think a problem with the way we currently train is that we have paramedics who are only familiar with their local scope of practice teach it, but not 100% to the level what is expected of the NREMT. For example, cardizem is not used out here so it was briefly mentioned. Rapid sequence induction is not done here so when we go to that part of the airway chapter, the instructor laughed, "Ha! You are never going to do that!" *click* *click* *click* to skip it. The paramedics I've seen teaching the class are usually very experienced and knowledgeable, but only with what it was like a decade ago. Another example is that my medic school instructor had know idea how to read ECGs and 12-lead. I feel like paramedics generally are behind compared to other healthcare provider and a lot more limited. After I finished, they stopped having paramedics student teaching home medications. They just want them to ask the patient or family "What do you take this for?" These are just examples of where I think other healthcare disciplines like a doctor or registered nurse could fill in the gap.
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Awww man... right on the head. Oregon already requires an Associates to be a medic. Protocols are rough. National or at least state protocols should be enacted.

And I am not a fan of fire based EMS where I am. Third Service always seems better.
 
Do they show you human remains, or stuff like that? It was one of the things I think should be added, e.g. participate in a compulsory postmortem examination. I was devastated when I heard, I will see nothing like that, just bones.

Sooner, or later you will see people in different condition, what then? Run away?

From the first days of training, people need be familiarized with what they may see.

Photos, and videos give barely any insight. Some might think, I am okay, but when they
 
I think I can answer with a quote of myself from about 10 years ago.

Summit said:
POINT 3: If I lived in Canada, or if the US had the Canadian EMS system, I'd know right now that my career for life would be prehospital medicine.
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And something I said more recently:

Look at places like Canada or NZ or Australia where paramedics are 3-4 year degrees and sometimes graduate level... They are also paid better so they aren't dying to get off of an ambulance where they were making $10/hr working 24 hour shifts with no hope of career progression unless they become a firefighter or work in an ER.
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