----- Original Message -----
From: "Robbie Coull" <[log in to unmask]>
To: "Martyn Hodson" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 5:26 PM
Subject: Re: ECGs at the scene for thrombolysis
> > Not at all comparable, Martyn. Chest pain nurses have mostly been "bred"
> > from CCU backgrounds, where they've spent years dealing solely with
cardiac
> > patients, and interpreting 12-lead ECGs to a high degree of competence.
This
> > is a world of difference from a general paramedic's experience of chest
pain
> > and ECG interpretation.
>
> ...and this brings us round nicely to the fact that paramedic training
needs
> to be beefed up considerably.
>
> Compare with Holland where you need to have been an A&E nurse for at least
> ?2 years before you can train to be a paramedic.
which is quite possibly overkill for anything other than a PEC role, i find
that some of my nursing skills are rusty working in A+E so take it further
removed and you are into vast tracts of knowledge and skill bearing little
relevance to the work
>
> And of course, I still believe that you need to have grades of paramedics.
> Ours single grade is roughly equivalent to US EMT-Bs,
I don't think many people consider the IHCD tech award to be equivalent to
the Us EMT-B award, you are comparing very differnet courses there and
the US DOT core for EMT-B is less than 200 hours IIRC compared to 400 + for
IHCD tech and 400 + combined hours for the VAS awards
>we also need a breed
> of paramedic equivalent to EMT-Ps, preferably providing ALS response only
to
> selected calls so they can keep their skills up.
it was a political decision to put 'a paramedic on every ambulance' rather
than the more logical approach of technician crewed ambulances with ALS
support provided by paramedics, nurse / paramedics or physicians in RRVs.
we may of course find this replayed with PECs/ paramedic practitioners and
'standard' paramedics in the UK especially if we move to a 'direct entry' o
r university prepared profession where the technician role gradually
disappears
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