"my nurses"
Why is a paramedic considered a "tech" and not a professional in your eyes when some of us completed the exact same pre-requisite coursework as ADN/ASN nurses?.
I think this is easily answered, though it might not nbe the answer you want.
You might be educated to the basic level of an RN, but many (read vast majority) of your peers are not.
In my hometown alone nearly 100 paramedics that met the state's 750 hour required education for paramedic graduate every semester.
There are many places where paramedics are supposed to be and are treated like "techs" still. Many large places. (check out some of the forum posters here)
Untill all paramedics have as a minimum education that of an entry level nurse (or other healthcare provider) then they do not possess a significant specialized body of knowledge to make the move from tradesman to professional.
Strangely enough I am reading a book on the history of surgeons that demonstrates how they began as basically less than barbers and their climb from tradesman to medical professional. There are some very striking similarities between the two groups. (too many to name here) The most striking is that at one point the were banned from medical university and then when finally admitted decried how they didn't need it. (Sounds like when paramedics tried to enter degree programs and count the vocational certificates for credit and now complain they don't need more education.)
but we are masters of emergent pre-hospital care as we should be.
Sorry, but...no... You are not the master of it. If you were the master of it, you could decide what the treatments would be and when you would use them. If you were the master you could demand the practices that have been demonstrated to not work be removed as well as institute new ones when you demonstrate their value.
As it stands, you simply cannot. Paramedics are still at the mercy of other professionals. (both nursing and medical)
Let see that wide bottom NOC RN that is considered a professional even consider putting herself out into a unfamiliar situation and gladly accept the challenge. You as well as I know that isn't going to happen.
Nor do paramedics without extra training and education function well outside their preferred environment.
And with the exception of MICU/ICU/STICU/ED RN's I know, actually attempt to continue learning, instead of just settling in and being happy as the MD's puppet taking orders.
I think this is a very unfortunate characterization of nurses and nursing.
Both patients and medical staff appreciate the contributions of the bedside nurse. So much so, that giving grief to the nurses of a doctor is sort of like an attack on the King's soldiers. You will also not impress patients by criticising the nurses that took care of them either.
The point of nursing is to take care of basic life needs. (I don't know them very well offhand, because I was not exposed to them as much as nurses are) But bathing, eating, dressing, the ability to carry on some level of activity, health awareness and promotion (like public health management as an extension so people will not get sick enough to need a doctor, which is the basis for the NP angle) and helping to take the prescribed medication, along with spiritual/social interaction and the efforts to help reduce pain is the nurses body of knowledge. It is what makes them professionals. (and also incidentally what got them into anesthesia)
The role of the nurse is to help the patient (sometimes by doing it for them) follow the instructions prescribed by the doctor and to report to the doctor the success of, failure of, complications of, and potential hazards of during the course of patient care.
It is not the "decision making" that they assumed as the need for standing orders came about in medicine. It is not the specialized skills that they learn when functioning in the ICU or other technically advanced environment.
The role of the prehospital paramedic is to follow standardized guidlines of patient care in the absence of a physician until that person can be taken to one.
(in fact back in the day when I went to paramedic school, a paramedic was defined as: "The prehospital care provider in the absence of a physician")
It is in my opinion terribly unfortunate that EMS is not truly part of the continuum of patient care. (lip service is paid to it, but in practicality it is not) The patients journey through healthcare oftne starts over as soon as they reach the hospital. Even when you take them directly to the cath lab or trauma surgery.
Many of the "prehospital treatments" that are perpetuated because of "the environment" and "If we didn't do this we wouln't do anything so give us something to do" would not even be considered by in house care providers. (including facilities smaller than hospitals)
I do not consider myself anti-paramedic. Actually I am rather pro-paramedic. The thing is though, I can call a spade a spade, and the medicine that US EMS has to swallow in order to become true professionals is going to taste really bad, and have a few unpleasant side effects.
But when you attack the way a nurse carries out the prescriptions of a doctor, because you do not like the treatment or method, then you are attacking the decision maker too.(the doctor)
As a paramedic, I can tell you that you definately do not have the body of knowledge required to do that.
