Emergency Medical Technician Basic

[Bill]

Emergency Medical Technician
IN-STATE TUITION EMT Basic $175.00 $ 125.00
Marion Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company
Class Start Date: Thursday, September 8, 2005
This is a Tuesday / Thursday Evening Class
1830 Hrs. - 2200 Hrs.
Course Coordinator: William Little

Prerequisites: Must meet the requirements listed in the Functional Position Description for the EMT as determined by the PA Department of Health. The suggested reading level of the participant should be at or above the 9th grade level.

A copy of these requirements may be requested via email to [e-mail]. Students under the age of eighteen (18) must have a legal guardian or parent present at the first session of class. Minimum age to enter the class is (15) years of age. However, students will not receive state exam results until their sixteenth (16) birthday. Students must have a photo ID available at the state examinations. The guardian needs to provide signatures for a criminal history background check and other paperwork required in the class.

Attendance by the student and guardian at the first session is mandatory. Preregistration is required and registrations are not confirmed until a form of payment is provided. Students will be dismissed from class after (14) hours of absence.

Course Description:
An Emergency Medical Technician is a staff member of a basic life support ambulance providing routine and emergency care and transportation. Upon completion of this 140-hour program, the participant should be able to perform a number of complex skills such as spinal immobilization, use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), assisting patients with medications, performing patient assessments, performing CPR, and taking vital signs. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be eligible to test in PA Department of Health practical and written examination. The EMT class may be used as a free elective toward a HACC degree program. Contact your counselor for more information. Students are expected to practice and study outside of class in order to be successful. Normally, students who do not study outside of class are not successful. Students must also follow the EMS student guidelines for the duration of the class. A copy of these guidelines will be distributed and reviewed at the first session.

NOTE: Registration will close the Friday two weeks prior to the start date of the classes. Register early - space is limited. No on-site registrations will be accepted.

NOTE: All students will be provided with a pocket mask at the first session. Workbooks and practice CD ROM’s are optional and may be purchased by calling Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Inc. at 1-800-832-0034.

No refunds will be issued after the 1st night of class.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Registering by Phone:
You may register by phone if using a MasterCard or VISA to pay fees. Call the Senator John J. Shumaker Public Safety Center at [phone] between the hours of 8 am and 4:30 pm.
Please have the HACC course record number (CRN) and your credit card ready. You may reach voice mail during peak registration periods. You may leave all of your information on voice mail. Your call will be returned during the next business day.
Registering by Fax:
You may register by fax with credit card information, register for a free class, or with permission to bill using company letter, signed by an authorized person. Fax must be completed with students name/s, Social Security number/s, phone numbers, address, course title and section number to [phone].
Registering by Mail:
Complete the registration form on the following page and mail it to the following address:
HACC SPSC EMS/HC, One HACC Drive, Harrisburg, PA 17110-2999.
Payment may be made by check, money order, VISA or MasterCard. NO CASH.
Authorization to Bill:
Many organizations pay for individuals to attend training and education programs. On the form provided and signed by a company official authorized to encumber funds, provide the necessary information from the registration form to register the student. The information necessary includes the course title, HACC course record number (CRN), date/time, name(s), address(es), social security number(s) and day and evening phone numbers of the enrollee(s).
Please use the attached form.
Refunds:
A determination to deliver a scheduled class is based on first day enrollment. To withdraw, students must call before the start of a class for 100% refund. Withdrawals received after the first day will not receive a refund. A student called for military duty must provide a copy of deployment papers for 100% refund.
Replacement Certificates/Wallet Cards:
Requests for replacement of HACC-issued certificates or wallet cards must be requested in writing and must be accompanied by a $5 per card/certificate request.
Note: The American Heart Association strongly promotes knowledge and proficiency in CPR and has developed instructional materials for this purpose. Use of these materials in an educational course does not represent course sponsorship by the American Heart Association, and any fees charged for such a course do not represent income to the association.

HACC, Central Pennsylvania’s Community College, does not discriminate in admission or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, political affiliation or belief, age, sex, national origin, ancestry, non-job-related disability, place of birth, General Education Development Certificate (GED), marital status, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
Inquiries concerning affirmative action should be directed to the office of Human Resources, Whitaker Hall 126, Harrisburg Area Community College, One HACC Drive, Harrisburg, PA 17110, telephone [phone].
For information regarding services, activities, and facilities that are accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities contact the Director of Disability Services, telephone [phone].

[A1M9B]

Will Bill be teaching a class any sooner than this? I am interested but it will interfere with other school activities.

[Bill]

TUITION REDUCED - 21 JULY 2005

Emergency Medical Technician
IN-STATE TUITION EMT Basic $125.00
Marion Volunteer Fire and Rescue Company
Class Start Date: Thursday, September 8, 2005
This is a Tuesday / Thursday Evening Class
1830 Hrs. - 2200 Hrs.
Course Coordinator: William Little

The Emergency Health Services Federation, Inc. will be purchasing textbooks for all participants thus reducing the price of the course.

Email to [e-mail] for a printable registration form.

Sorry ems53chick. I will not be starting a course sooner.

[medic4life]

I have a concern with the EMT training in Franklin County. I am a career paramedic who is employed by a Franklin County agency. There is a volunteer member of the local fire department who is currently in the EMT class. While engrossed in conversation with this student recently, I was informed that there are absolutely no requirements for a student to obtain patient contact prior to sitting for the State pratical or written exams. Further more, students are not required to obtain any hospital or pre-hospital clinical rotations prior to taking the State exams. Doesn't this sound absolutely obsurd?! How can ANYONE take an EMT class and expect to be capable of providing quality patient care... or any patient care for that matter? Doesn't the Federation or the State require some type of clinical experience before actually assuming the care of someone else's life?! Does this present ANY concern to anyone else... or is it just me?! There is definately something wrong with this!

[Here4theRush]

As an EMT myself I can personally tell you I was scared to death on my first call. I agree with you medic that there should definitely be some clinical practice before just handing out those pretty blue cards. Although training is wonderful and all, it isn't the real world and things are totally different. It's a little harder to work on a live human than it is a piece of plastic. Anyone who has ever taken an ambulance call knows exactly what I'm talking about. Even if they (the EMT students) would shadow an ambulance company for a day or two. Hopefully someone will see our little posts and maybe give an answer as to why there isn't any clinical training. ;D

[SubZeroSapphire]

Although I do not have any answers as to why this is, I will say that yes this did make me shake my head in wonder also. However, I shake my head in wonder at a lot of things done around here, simply because they are so very different than where I came from. I got my EMT certification in another state, and was granted reciprocity here. Where I was originally certified, we were required 12 hours clinical time, which was in a level one trauma center, and 24 hours ambulance ride along, which was not 24 hours of sitting at the station, it was patient contact (so basically you had to run 24 ambulance calls) Even after all that I have to say I was still very nervous when I was out running by myself at first, I couldn't imagine going out without having done any rotations.

On another similar note, I have to say I was also very surprised that there was no kind of testing to gain reciprocity, many states do require that.

[medic4life]

My point exactly SubZero! Your EMT training required clinical experience... both hospital and in the field. Why isn't that the standard here. You guys are not the first EMTs who have told me that they were concerned. That's why I'm posting here. This is crazy! I have actually had EMT's on trauma calls who looked at me dumbfounded when I asked them to apply a traction splint... which is a BLS skill. When I asked them what the problem was they said that the were not taught that in EMT class! This is a PROBLEM!!

Thanks for your input.

[Brian McCaffrey]

medic4life,

Welcome to the dilemma that we discuss regularly at work. The EMT program has "improved" to the point that it absolutely scares me. Granted, it has been a "few" years since I took my EMT, but back then we were required to have hospital clinical time as well as hands on vehicle rescue training. Thanks to my volunteer company (and no life), I also had about 300 ambulance calls under my belt by the time I was done with class.

Nowadays, the new EMT's look at me like I have two heads when I mention things like hospital codes or paper tripsheets. They laugh when I tell them that I can't remember SAMPLE or OPQRST. They can laugh all they want...We old farts trained, not just memorized.

Is there an answer to this shortcoming? Probably not. They are adding hours to the Essentials class, but dumbing down the EMT class. Go figure.

[Bill]

And the key word is, "answer".

As I'm sure some might remember, there was hospital time. Students actually got to experience interaction with REAL patients and care providers in a somewhat controlled clinical environment. However, in some hospital environments, EMT students were on the bottom of the priority list. Paramedic and Nursing students were given priority and the EMT students sat and did nothing.

When us "old farts trained," we were taught to assess medical and trauma patients in the same manner. We were also taught that what we needed to know for the classroom and/or to pass the state examination process was actually different then what we did in the field. Thankfully, we have addressed these issues and have closed the gap with the above issues.

The key is to provide consistent and quality hospital and field experience for EMT students while allowing for feedback to the course coordinators and instructors relative to student progress and success.

Much of the emphasis now has been placed upon making student candidates excel in the state practical and written examinations and then have them acquire the field experience that they need once the education process is over.

Is it possible then to "turn out" students who are, "book smart," "classroom literate," or "practical exam" ready? You bet it is.

EMS service managers then discover many who can not take the body of knowledge and apply it in the actual field settings. Some of these, "new EMT's" may discover that they may never be able to function and that, "this just isn't for them."

I do not disagree with any of the points made on this thread. We need to begin to focus on this dilemma and begin to look for answers rather than just continuing to let this problem go unaddressed as we have in the past!

[medic4life]

EMS18A:

If there was a time when EMT students were required to have some type of clinical exposure.... why did it change? What prompted the set back?

I received my EMT and Paramedic training from another state, and where I trained there was equal time alotted for both EMT and Paramedic students during hospital rotations. All students were involved, they didn't get put in some back room and forgotten about. Now... the hospital where I trained was a level 1 Trauma center and the regional teaching hospital. So there was an ample supply of faculty and student/patient contact. That may be an issue in our area due to being more rural. But I believe we can come up with a solution.

I strongly disagree that EMT or Paramedic students should be 'turned out' just because they are 'book smart'. That is only asking for serious trouble. The training phase of EMT and Paramedic should include hospital and pre-hospital exposure PRIOR to being 'turned out'. I don't believe that the responsibility of determining if someone is 'ready' to work in this field belongs to agency managers. I believe that is the responsibility of the EMS instructor, preceptors, adjunct instructors, etc. However, each student is responsible for their own education. But the decision whether this industry "is" or "isn't" for someone should be made within the safe atmosphere of the classroom, long before they receive certification. That's just my opinion.

If this is something that folks are interested in pursuing further, I want to make myself available to assist in taking the EMS training in this county and making it even better. I offer my assistance in whatever capacity necessary. Anyone can post their concerns and issues here... but it takes people to step up and be willing to help bring addition to a solid foundation already in place. So... I'm here to help. Please let me know what I can do. Thanks again for the great discussion.

[Bill]

Hello Medic4life,

The answer to your first paragraph is in my second paragraph.

You are always welcome at Marion on Tuesday and/or Thursday nights. I know you would enjoy meeting the other teaching staff and the students. Perhaps we can answer your questions, give you a little backround and have you join us.

"Great discussion?" You are indeed correct! That's what the boards are really for.

[sexyemschic]

I know of several departments in the county where they WILL NOT let you practice as an EMT by yourself until you are with a Sr Tech on some calls & you are evaluated. I have worked with several new EMT's, I've had some who were turned over by themselves after 4 or 5 calls, others it was 4 or 5 months. Not all departments just feed new EMT's to the wolves!!!!! It's for the patient's safety and to protect the new EMT & their department by doing this. I know a lot of people, Doctors and teachers, even some of our county's Paramedics included who have more book smarts than common sense, 75% of EMS is basic common sense. These book smart people are sometimes so smart that they appear stupid due to no common sense.

[ResTech]

Ditto on the good discussion.. Medic4life.. nice to hear a strong, rationale voice. I remember when I completed my EMT back in 93 at St. Thomas, it was taught by a paramedic that some consider a legend so-to-speak here in Franklin County, Mills Cowling. And a very good instructor he was. I remember clearly his instruction and hand-outs that covered anatomy and physiology and teaching us WHY we were doing something and WHAT our assessment findings meant. I can tell with newer EMT's that they can ask 1001 "right questions" but are clueless as to what the feedback to those questions means and how to piece it together with the chief complaint. And further have no clue as to what common diseases actually are or the pathophysiology to something as common as shock.

Back in the day I also had to do 12hrs of hospital time of which I also caught a call or two on the medic unit and I thought it was very nice to have the insight and some exposure.

The whole changeover to EMT-B was a mistake and dumbed down EMS in Pennyslvania and really made basics lose respect from other providers. I remember back in the day it actually meant something to receive your EMT and now it doesnt really mean near as much.

Such a delimma.

[medic4life]

Thanks for the support everyone! I appreciate that. Happy Holidays by the way.

EMS18A:

I understand that you are the EMT instructor for the county, if I'm not mistaken. Well, please allow me to offer an idea:

Have an adjunct instructor to fill the position of a clinical advisor and EMT student preceptor advisor. This person would be responsible for being a liason to the local hospitals for the purpose of integrating clinical rotations for EMT students. The students would participate in a clinical rotation in the ED for a scheduled time frame. In addition, the advisor would also develop a pre-hospital rotation for the students, working with local Fire and EMS agencies to have students experience pre-hospital environment. The advisor would maintain all clinical progress for the students and report directly to you throughout the class. This would also keep from adding an unnecessary workload on you. Now obviously there are numerous variables and details involved that would not be applicable here right now, but you get the basic idea. If this sparks any interest let me know. If you can't find anyone to do the job.... I'll volunteer.

Thanks for the time.

[sexyemschic]

I know that Medic 2 will allow EMT students in their ride-a-long program, I think for up to 8 hrs a month or something. The only bad thing is that they are hospital based and ALS so they would see more advanced stuff than what they learn, but it's a good viewpoint for them to see the aftercare of Emergency Medicine & what they are preparing the patient for basically. Curriousity may have killed the cat, but.... Res Tech are you an active EMT in the county anymore??? Because I am not sure what you comment "I remember back in the day it actually meant something to receive your EMT and now it doesnt really mean near as much. " means, I don't know who it doesn't mean anything to. It means a lot to me, my department & my community that I flat out bust my a** to get those ambulances out as much as possible. Some people care about the care that they provide and what it means to others, if the care I provide for someone means that they live a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, or even decades longer then obviously it matters & means a hell of a lot to that patient and their loved ones.