I’m not the world’s most religious guy. But I just awarded myself a new title. I’ve accepted ordination as a reverend in the EMS Church of the Painful Truth. And for my fellow followers of the gospel of the truth that EMS is the practice of medicine, I deliver to you my first sermon.
I direct my preaching at the wayward masses. Because, after all, it’s the sinners who need salvation, not the choir.
Here’s who and what holds EMS and EMS education back. Students who consistently fail to take responsibility for their own learning; the fictional belief that some specific study guide or app will magically allow them to pass NREMT; the belief that the NREMT exam is difficult; low entry standards for any EMS education program; and an army of mindless drones bleating along about how “you can do it.” And of course, the belief that the test shouldn’t matter so long as you can do skills and you want to be in EMS. I am fully expecting to be called a meanie, unsupportive, a paragod, and probably several other names. Here’s one thing though. I’ve achieved my EMS certification. The secret? A little bit of intelligence, some common sense, and a four letter word that’s forbidden to so many unsuccessful EMS candidates – WORK.
If EMS is that important to you and you truly feel called to deliver medicine at all hours of the day or night, then EMS should be important enough to master, much pass an entry level test designed to measure minimal competence to practice your craft safely.
No more excuses. Join the EMS Church of the Painful Truth. All you have to lose is your dogma and all you have to gain is the knowledge that, contrary to what the rest of our craft says, you are a medical professional. And the Kool-Aide is safe to drink.
Good blog, but Neal Boortz is considering copyright infringement.
Preach it brother!
When I did my AMLS course, I scored a 100% and was hailed as the luckiest girl in town. Luck had nothing to do with it. A little time and some work had everything to do with it.
I’m in Deacon training right now, I’ll be one of your Deacons when I finish school in December!! Keep the Faith
Amen! Preach it!
We wonder why EMS is under-educated, yet people are whining about the NREMT EMT cognitive exam, and their complaints are considered normal. Do they not realize that the exam is only looking for a C-level of knowledge?
How pathetic! We need to increase recruiting and education standards to for better continuity of patient care (do hospital folks trust our reports and field impressions, or do they repeat everything?). EMS needs a strong national standards organization and legislation so that incompetent people are no longer eligible to be hired. I’d love to see all paramedics have a BSN-equivalent degree focusing on field medicine. EMS needs to be paid real money, and treated on the same level as the nurses receiving their patients.
Who do you want taking care of you in a time of medical crisis? Someone who barely passed their EMT exam and follows protocols by rote, or someone who has a deep thirst for book knowledge, and for asking the “Why” questions? People smart enough to ask “Why” are generally getting educated way past the EMT level and are not available for EMS service due to more lucrative employment.
I don’t understand why the US is still on the advanced hearse driver model, instead of the ER extension model of care, where the purpose of EMS is to begin definitive treatment in the field, and are considered competent enough to make a treat/release here, transport, or deny transport/treatment decision.
EMS has no concept of risk acceptance or mitigation. All of the current risk management strategies focus on risk avoidance, ie: ‘Transport the hangnail; he might have a heart attack thirty minutes from now.”
Part of this is due to lawyers and court cases not accepting the reasonable provider concept where a trained EMS professional is considered competent enough to say that “based on the field tests I’ve conducted, this person does not show any reason to be transported to the hospital.”
Law enforcement jealously guards their right to officer discretion, but EMS does not, ‘cuz anecdotes.