Here’s the deal. A bachelor’s degree in EMS is highly unlikely, in and of itself, to produce a new breed of supermedics who are going to suddenly gain the immediate respect of physicians and nurses, become the newest level of mid-level healthcare professionals, and increase both reimbursements and EMS salaries. So, why push for a bachelor’s degree paramedic?
Here’s why. A college degree is, in our society, the commonly accepted indicator of academic achievement. Some might even argue that a degree is an indicator of intelligence. I’d disagree with that, having met a Harvard-educated lawyer who barely understands the law and knowing several borderline geniuses who never did finish college.
To me, a college degree proves maturity and commitment to reaching a goal. It shows dedication and in the case of attending a large state university, the ability to achieve your goals in spite of a gargantuan bureaucracy that often throws roadblocks along the way. (Try financial aid or registration back in the days before the web was around. Not fun at all, I tell ya.)
A bachelor’s degree in EMS will probably not cover any additional skills or interventions. Heck, it probably won’t even add that much theoretical knowledge of medicine. What it will add above and beyond a certificate or even an associate’s degree is a stronger foundation in general knowledge, written communication, and critical thinking. When you have to take English, some social sciences, science classes, and maybe even some fine arts, your world expands infinitely beyond merely memorizing a cookbook of treatment options.
If we’re serious about EMS 2.0, 3.0, or whatever reset we’re on this week, let’s swing for the fences. Paramedics should possess a bachelor’s degree to practice and the only people allowed into a “medic mill” or a certification program should be those who already have a bachelor’s degree.
When paramedicine is no longer merely a skill set and the majority of paramedics can turn out a report that doesn’t read like a junior high text message, we might be able to reach some of the other goals like higher pay and reimbursement models based on treatments, not transports.
Just the thoughts rattling through the mind of (possibly) the most overeducated volunteer paramedic out there.
Ambulance Chaser: I agree about education. One hundred percent–even though I completed my Bachelor’s 29 1/2 years after finishing high school, and 25 years after I became a paramedic.
While I don’t oppose the idea of “EMS” as a major for a baccalaureate program (I know there are a couple out there); neither do I think it is a mandate. Nursing has largely gone that route. If you wish to advance in nursing, going from an ADN to a BS or BA in something else is a roadblock…even though the additional education is valid in expanding critical thinking and overall education.
My wife had her BA (in Psych); and went back for her ADN when she decided to go into nursing. Given the politics of nursing, she completed her BSN as well. However, she recognized some time ago, that business acumen is important in healthcare these days…so she obtained her MBA (executive program…a lot of real-life up & coming leaders). However, within healthcare, she’s still looked at funny because she doesn’t have an MSN (even though most MSN programs teach little about budget and finance…things healthcare leaders need to know).
I guess my point is that education is good, m’kay? However, for those folks that are already paramedics, a BA or BS is good period. It doesn’t have to be in EMS.
Agree. The trend in medicine for the past 10 or so years has been for doctors to get MPH degrees. I laugh at them and tell them that they should be getting MBAs instead. If they had, they wouldn’t have thought that Obamacare was such as great idea.
As you and your wife understand, the people who understand finance and budgets are going to run health care.
In addition to being an EMS professional, I have a M.A. in Higher Education Administration and Counseling/Developmental Psych… basically, working with anything that occurs outside the classroom in Higher Ed. When I worked at Babson College, an all Business school, I was sadly shocked at just how horrific the spelling and grammar skills were of these students at a highly selective university. The excuse? Business students don’t need to know how to write. Same excuse I hear often in EMS. Forget the arguments of business proposals, journal articles or a simple PCR with correct medical terminology and grammar. It is truly saddening the state of decay of education at even the high school level these days. I believe higher education, especially a well rounded liberal arts base, adds the ability to critically think and evaluate for ones self, especially in this era of evidence based medicine.
Hardly. Being able to read, write, and do basic math are skills that should be taught in K-12 system, but mostly aren’t.
A liberal arts degree is a waste of four years and a lot of money. Ask me, I know.
TOTWTYTR,
I agree with the points made in other threads here. In college, my roommate was a student in Business Admin and pre-med. My cousin, an OB/GYN, used to say he was the most prepared of any pre-med students in today’s day and age.. and that was almost 20 years ago. In the end, he got a scholarship from the Navy to attend med school, did his service, and now is completing his cardio-thoracic fellowship.
What I am always stumped at, even in seeing you speak at conferences, is how you joke a “liberal arts education is useless.. just ask me.” You never got a Bachelors degree. Do you have any educational studies to back your argument? Other than that, you paid for your son’s liberal arts degree then he couldn’t get a job straight out of college and entered another trade/field? The point of a liberal arts ed is to grow the mind, not enter a trade. And yes, we in higher education are aware of the lowering applicant rate in these times. As stated, even engaging in higher education extends and opens one’s ability to criticall think… see Alexander Astin’s Theory of Involvement and Chickering’s Theory of Student Identity.
It’s about ROI. A degree in TV and Movie Production is essentially useless because there are very, very, few jobs in the field. For most of them, you have to know someone. Same with most liberal arts degrees. How many English Lit majors are employed in English Literature jobs? Not many would be my guess. They might have found other jobs or even gone on to grad school, but how long will it take to pay back that mountain of debt that most people have to incur? Even lawyers are having trouble paying back their loans given that most entry level legal jobs pay poorly.
I’d also work on my reading comprehension, as my son got a good job right out of school. He’s paid off most of his loans and his employer paid for most of his Master’s degree.
I also agree about education for every one of the reasons you mention. I disagree, however, that it won’t necessarily include more medical knowledge. A million years ago I went through a certificate program because that’s what was available. See this – do that. I went to nursing school to get the A&P, patho…and the all-important “why”. The Associates Degree in EMS added those things. A bachelors degree (although the curriculum is in place already) CAN include more, and arguably should. The fly in the ointment, however, is requiring a bachelors degree for a profession that frequently does not pay well. I cannot begin to imagine how many potential professionals we would lose as they decide that four years of debt isn’t worth the income. I postulate that until the “profession” is truly a “profession” and paid as such everywhere (and not treated as a stepping-stone to elsewhere) we have a bit of an issue.
Support much of what you say and look forward to the day when a BS is the floor. With that said, mandating a BS as the prerequisite into EMS is an over reach to me. I have had several students in my program (community college cert and AAS degree program) and they have not distinguished themselves as far as willingness to take on the student role. While the “n” is low (5% of the total of around 130 to date), some understand education processes and even help their classmates learn how to be better students, many of them disdain the community college process and minimize the academics because the have already risen above this level. They often adjust this as they slip. I get you are suggesting a bs them EMS so the entire class would have this, but I don’t see that happening for at least 30 years.
Sadly Ambulance Chaser, the ROI on a bachelors degree as a prerequisite for entering a paramedic program is non existent. Making paramedics have a degree is not going to magically cause salaries to rise.
Nursing improved their salaries by improving education and organizing. That’s what you lawyers call a two pronged approach. One is pretty much useless without the others. Non union nurses make money because employers have to compete with the hospitals that hire union nurses.
Education alone won’t exert upward pressure on EMS salaries. In the long run it will just encourage people to go into other fields.
I have a few friends that have EMS degrees (UTSA) and they got out of the business since EMS pays so poorly. I agree that we need to fix basic medical knowledge, grammar, and such among the general EMS pool but with the rising costs of college and the horrible pay in non-FD EMS, it does not seem worth it. I have a BS in Biology, have been in EMS 17 years (12 as a paramedic) and am only making $17/hr in New England. As I approach the age of 40, jumping ship and becoming a RN looks more and more appealing for the wage increase at the cost of clinical autonomy.