There has been a lot of discussion about EMS education in the past year. The release of the EMS Education Standards, recent continuing education scandals and the upcoming accreditation deadline for paramedic programs have all brought EMS education to the forefront of the discussion about the future of EMS. One thing is clear. It is time for EMS Educators to kick it up a notch. Teaching the bare minimum number of didactic hours using the unmodified publisher provided materials just isn’t going to cut it any more. It’s time that we learned how to develop our own curriculum and teach more information than is absolutely required to pass the test.
This is going to require a lot more work on the front end but it will pay dividends in the long run. If we as educators do our part, our students will either rise to the challenge or self select out of our profession. Better teaching will lead to less remediation, which will make our jobs much easier in he long run. Most importantly, our students will graduate well prepared for the challenges they will face in their EMS careers.
I started this blog because I am trying to kick things up a notch in my program. I hope to organize my thoughts and get some feedback.
One thing I know for certain, this is a great time to be an EMS educator!
I have a guest post on Everyday EMS Tips about preparing Combitubes for use in the classroom. Check it out.
This morning began with a great talk by Mr. Joe Cook of the Cook Law Firm. He spoke about Louisiana laws that relate to EMS providers. He also gave us a look into the minds of plaintiffs attorneys. One of the things that will sink a healthcare provider in a lawsuit is if the records have been altered in any way after the lawsuit has been filed especially if it was done on the sly. Apparently it is common practice for the plaintiff’s attorney to instruct the family to obtain a copy of the patient’s medical records prior to the suit being filed. The records will then be sealed until afterward. Then the attorney will obtain another copy of the records and compare both sets for changes. Very sneaky.
Spent the rest of the day going to other classes and meeting people from around the state. Later in the evening I went to the Riverwalk for dinner with a couple of new friends. All in all it was a good day.
Today has been a lot of fun. I woke up pretty early this morning and decided top try the hotel restaurant for breakfast. The food was good but I am still not used to how much everything costs here. Then I helped at the registration both for awhile. I enjoyed getting to see how events like this are run.
The first presentation I went to was by Dr. Susan Nelson. She spoke about the new LaPOST legislation that will going into effect soon. This legislation will create a single DNR form that will transfer in between all healthcare providers in the state. This is a really big deal. Now we will have an easily recognizable form that all healthcare providers can honor. Having recently lost my father to cancer, I can see how this will be a boon to those with life limiting illnesses. It will also make it easier for medics to deal with some of the end of life situations we get called in to.
THe next workshop was about Communications in Emergencies with Heather Hilliard. I thought that this was going to be about communicating with patients but it ended up being more about dealing with the media. Ms. Hilliard obviously has a lot of experience with media relations and gave some excellent advice. Initially I was disappointed about the topic but I ended up enjoying the presentation.
The last workshop of the day was by Steve Phillipe and Alan Lambert from the Bureau of EMS. The gave us a whirlwind tour of what has been going on at the state level. A lot of good things are happening in Louisiana EMS. The next few years should bring many positive changes.
I guess I’ve played enough on my $15 per day internet connection. More from the conference to follow.
The annual Education Conference of the Louisiana Association of Nationally Registered EMTs is being held at the Hilton Airport in Kenner, La. This is my second time to attend this conference and I am excited to be here.
The first speaker was David Page from Inver Hills Community College. He spoke about the Daily Habits of Clinical Masters. He shared many ideas about how to take small steps toward becoming a master clinician. He set a great tone for the rest of the conference.
Dr. Keith van Meter spoke about hyperbaric oxygen. He shared several cases from the offshore diving industry. Very interesting information about a subject thati know little about.
Kelly Grayson ended Day 1 by encouraging us to put our hearts into it. He talked about the importance of the “soft skills” sush as interacting with people.
All of the EMT’s and Paramedics that are certified by the National Registry of EMT’s can be divided into two groups, evens and odds. We join one of these groups based on the year our certifications are up for renewal. Nationally certified EMT’s must recertify every two years, always by March 31st. Whether we become evens or odds depends on when we complete our initial testing process and get certified for the first time. Appropriately enough for me, I am an odd.
My usual practice when it comes to recertification is to have all of my required continuing education and paperwork competed as soon as it becomes available on the NREMT website, usually in late November. Refresher and continuing education have never been a problem for me because I have been teaching EMS classes for many years. The problem is ignoring the procrastination siren and getting the paperwork done in a timely manner.
The National Registry has recently made things much easier for me. I was able to apply for recertification online including having my service and medical director approve my application and competency. Since I paid with a credit card there was no paper produced in the process. The best part was that it took about a week to get my new card.
If you or your agency haven’t set up with the NREMT to do this, I would look at it pretty close. I have two complaints about this process. First, I cannot have my program set up as an agency so that my students who are recertifying their EMT during paramedic school can fully utilize the online process. Second, it would be cool if I could be listed under multiple agencies to take credit for CE’s I received at my other part time job without inputting them myself.
Overall, the process is awesome and I am grateful to the NREMT for making reregistration a little easier.
What do you think?
Here Mr. Pink being interviewed by Russ Roberts on the EconTalk podcast.
I intended this blog to be about EMS education and for the most part it will be. In addition to being trained as a paramedic, I also have a B.S. in Human Resource Management. Since I was a paramedic first, I was able to apply the things I learned in school to EMS. As a result, I have a keen interest in EMS workforce issues. Hopefully one day I will get to spend part of my time researching employment in EMS.
In that vein, occasionally I pick up a book or read an article about HR stuff and think about how it could apply to EMS in general and in EMS Education specifically. I want to make sure my program is fair and continues to produce field ready paramedics that can function as a part of an EMS organization.
With every class that graduates, I worry about the world they are going out into. I hope that they will find a good agency to work with and that the passion that got them through school will stay with them. Inevitably some will leave, or separate from, their employers. The reasons will vary. Some separations will be voluntary, some won’t. This is one of the things I hope to research one day.
I recently picked up a book that shed a lot of light on the subject of separation. It is The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave by Leigh Branham. This book is the result of thousands of exit interviews conducted by the Saratoga Institute. Mr. Branham has distilled the results of these interviews down to 7 reason people leave an organization.
Reason #1- The job or workplace was not as expected.
This has been discussed on several of the EMS related social networking sites. EMS education programs are often accused of painting an unrealistic picture of what life will be like on an ambulance. The curriculum is partly to blame. We spend most of our time teaching things that will make up a small portion of the EMS call volume. There are a whole lot more routine transports than there are death defying saves. On the other hand, the consequences of not being able to handle a high acuity, infrequent call badly are a lot worse than making a mistake on a low acuity, more frequent type call. Those of us that teach in EMS programs need to figure out a way to balance these factors out to give the students a more reasonable picture of what life in EMS is like.
Reason #2- The mismatch between the job and the person.
I am not completely sold on requiring paramedics to be EMT’s first but this does provide an advantage when it comes to filtering out mismatches. Hopefully if someone has gone through an EMT course and worked a bit, they will have an idea about whether EMS is for them or not. Then again, I suppose it does take a few months, if not more, to get a feel for what EMS is really like.
The mismatch may be at the agency level as opposed to the industry level. Finding the right home within EMS is just as important as finding out if EMS as a career is right for you.
Reason #3- Too little coaching and feedback.
It would be easy to start bashing EMS managers when it comes to employee relations but that really isn’t fair. Most EMS leaders that I have worked around genuinely want their employees to be happy, they just don’t always have the tools required to lead other people. Leading and teaching are two sides of the same coin. Both require a person to consistently coach and give feedback, no matter how uncomfortable it might be. This is a vital skill if students and employees are to feel secure and grow.
I really have a hard time with this, especially where professionalism and behavior is concerned. It is hard to look into another adult’s eyes and tell him that his behavior is not acceptable. Not doing so when your position calls for it is cowardly and does a disservice to everyone involved. I am trying hard not to be a coward.
Reason #4- Too few growth and advancement opportunities.
This one has been beaten to death on the EMS internet sites. No further comment required.
Reason #5- Feeling devalued and unrecognized.
I think everyone feels this way at one time or another. The job of an EMS program director or supervisor is to make an effort on the organization’s behalf to minimize the opportunity to feel this way. It is important to give positive feedback as well as constructive criticism.
Reason #6- Stress from overwork and work-life imbalance.
This is a tough issue for a lot of EMS people. Ron Davis and Kelly Grayson spoke about this recently on their excellent podcast “Confessions of an EMS Newbie.” It is very easy to let your entire world revolve around work. EMS can be emotionally taxing and having people around you that understand this can really help. The problem comes when things are bad at work and you don’t have anything else to anchor to.
I counsel my students to develop and maintain a life outside of EMS. This can be difficult at times given the schedules we work but it is worth it.
Reason #7- Loss of trust and confidence in senior leaders.
As a paramedic program director, I get a lot of trust from my students initially. Whether or not I keep that trust is another matter. I don’t have to do anything big to lose that trust, just not do what I say I am going to. Every time I don’t deliver when I say I will, every deadline that gets changed, every lesson that wasn’t adequately prepared for erodes that trust and confidence. It is also vital that I make every effort to give my students the most accurate information available. Teaching error or falsehood breeds falsehood. I know it is going to happen but I need to make every effort to keep it to a minimum and not let it happen due to lack of effort.
I really enjoyed this book. It has given me a lot to think about.
Last weekend was my second trip to Dallas for the Gathering of Eagles. For the uninitiated, Gathering of Eagles is a conference put on by the medical directors of some of the largest EMS systems in the USA, Canada, and the UK. It is two days of 10-15 minutes presentations covering a wide variety of EMS topics. Each of the speakers is a respected EMS physician who believe in the importance of prehospital emergency care and the EMT’s and paramedics who provide that care.
The conference was held at the amazing Fairmont Dallas Hotel. The Fairmont was the venue for last year’s Gathering as well. Both years that I have gone, the Fairmont rolled out the red carpet for us. The hotel is beautiful, the service was first rate, and the food was great. It was a little weird staying in a real hotel, being a solidly Motel 6 kind of guy. I am not used to having people park my car or get my bags. I am also not used to having someone check me in who actually seems interested in making my stay pleasant. I can’t wait to take my wife to the Fairmont Dallas.
I hitched a ride to Dallas with a coworker from the EMS agency that I work as a Rent-a-Medic for. Along the way we ran into someone we both knew from previous jobs. It is really a small world. We arrived at the hotel after 2100 and got settled in. Amanda roomed with another coworker of ours and her daughter. I was excited to have a room to myself until I tried to go to bed alone. I’ve been married three years now and I just can’t sleep alone anymore. I know, I’m whipped.
The morning started early for me. I made my way to the lobby to register. They gave us yellow rubber bands for lunch, a notebook, and a program. Looking at the program, I saw that this year would be just as silly as last year. These guys love to ham it up. Check out the program and you’ll know what I mean. I got down to the banquet hall in time to see the crews setting up for breakfast and the vendors setting up their displays. It looked like there were a lot more vendors this year. I love checking out all of the latest toys that people come up with. Eventually Amanda and Dawn made it down from their room as did Amy, my co-instructor, and her husband Kevin.
Dr. Paul Pepe, our host, began the conference with a few opening remarks. He was joined by Dr. Ray Fowler and then the race was on! Dr. Corey Slovis or Nashville was the first to present. His talk about the five most important papers relating to EMS that were published in the past year. Apparently Dr. Slovis likes to boil every thing down to the number 5. He took crap from the other Eagles throughout the entire conference. However he goes about it, Dr. Slovis always presents important information in a very accessible way. Later on Slovis and Fowler had their yearly debate. This year it was about intubation, but it ended up being more of an agreement than a debate. Hearing one physician call the other an “ignorant slut” ala Dan Akroyd was pretty awesome.
There were several presentations relating to disaster response including Dr. Saussy of New Orleans EMS talking about her trip to Cuba and Dr. Griswell recounting his recent trip to Haiti. Then the focus changed to trauma. My favorite presentation in this section was from Dr. Goodloe of Oklahoma about helmet removal. Dr. Persse of Houston gave an eye opening look at c-collars and blunt spinal trauma. There were also a couple lectures about tourniquets.
After a wonderful lunch, the focus was on cardiology. Each presentation was an eye-opener. I think the 2010 edition of the AHA guidelines will be bringing some serious improvements to pre-hospital care of cardiac arrest. What’s really cool is that there are services out there implementing changes right now that are producing significant results. Good research and thoughtful technology implementation are the future.
Late afternoon brought the current ACEP President, Dr. Gardner. She provided a view into the politics of Emergency Medicine and EMS that I had not seen before. There were a few other presentations about various topics that were all interesting. All in all the day was a feast of information. This feast, however, left me famished!
Supper was found at the Hoffbrau Steaks. Amanda, Dawn, Dawn’s daughter, and I met Amy and Kevin there. Instead of getting a steak, I decided to try the Dr. Pepper Chicken and was not disappointed. After supper we went to the western store adjacent to the restaurant and then we rode around a bit trying to think of something to do. We finally admitted defeat and went back to the hotel. I got to talk to Rachel, my wife, for awhile and then I crashed for the night. Check back for more riveting details from the Gathering of Eagles Day 2.
