Paraprofessionalism

Got into another great discussion online earlier about all the additional things that paramedics could do, if only they’d be trained to do them.

That’s the problem.  Professionals don’t just do things.  They know which things to do, when to do them, and they know more than one thing to do for a variety of problems.

In my “real” life away from the ambulance and the blog, I’m an attorney. I know a lot of different things about the law, including things about the areas of law that I don’t practice in.  (The bar exam is a general test of legal competence, not specialization, and rightfully so.)  Yes, it’s entirely possible to create a business entity or a will using software.  It’s also equally possible that said computer program or even a paralegal might not catch some subtle nuance of tax law or community property law that would require changes to the document you’re asking for.

The point is that professionals have a breadth of knowledge about their field.  Paraprofessionals have been trained, usually by learning skills and protocols, how to deal with a variety of situations determined to be “routine” to their career field.  In other words, for paramedics, we learn how to deal with trauma, cardiac emergencies, respiratory difficulty, and a few other so-called common emergencies.  We learn some basic skills for dealing with them such as some forms of airway management, defibrillation, medication administration, bandaging, and splinting.  What we don’t know as paramedics is what we don’t know that perhaps a physician might know.

Thus, as a professional in another field outside of emergency medicine, I cringe a little when I hear my fellow paramedics say how much more they could do if only someone would give them the training.

For any paraprofessional to be trusted to “do more,” there has to be the trust from the overseeing profession.  How do we acquire that trust?  To me, the answer is twofold — we continue to educate ourselves and we recognize our limitations.   Please note that I say education, not training.   A trained chimp can put a tube in a hole.  An educated professional knows when to put the tube in the hole, which kind of tube to put in which kind of hole, and if a tube in the hole is even the right solution to the problem.  And let’s not even go into whether the hole in the patient is the main problem.

As long as EMS continues to advocate that we be trained to do more piecemeal rather than becoming more educated, we will remain paraprofessionals.  Sadly, in many cases, that also means that the rest of the medical world (and perhaps the public) continues to see us as ambulance drivers.

 

Comments

  1. Robert Ball says

    So true, my friend.

  2. Medic Wicket says

    Unfortunately, there are still many medics who still don’t know many aspects of our own chosen profession. This is especially true of those who look down on transport medics, and the added skills, knowledge, and education they have.
    These medics tend to be clueless when called for chronic care patients, especially those on ventilators. We should probably learn all aspects of our profession first.