Starting EMT school

[CPL_Primeaux]

I got on the SLCC website and did my application, orientation , and financial aid stuff. Waiting to get my packet in the mail . Anyone have any hints and tips that would be useful for the basic EMT course? Good study guides and such.

 

[JBE]

Best of luck with the course!

It's been so long since I took the EMT class (1992?), I really don't know what's out there as far as study guides go...

Just curious, are you taking the class for practical knowledge or are you actually looking at a career in EMS?

If you have any other questions or need any help just ask...

 

[CPL_Primeaux]

Well I was a CLS in the Army so I have the basic knowledge , though I am probably outdated by now. They come out with new stuff all the time. But no , I planned on getting my EMT then going back for paramedic. I will career it.

 

[bayoupirate]

The best tip I can give you is to stick with the materials that the instructors use. There are some variations in text for EMT-B and you could get some contradictory information. Stay away from anyone's old text or materials. EMS has some recent updates that make the old information wrong, at least as far as testing goes.

Best of Luck on the course. Stick it out. For many people I know, they wouldn't trade their Paramedic job for anything. For others, their time on the ambulance was a great first step into something else.

 

[CPL_Primeaux]

I dont have to many questions at the moment. I know military first aid is a no no in the civie world, to an extent so there will be habbits and things I will need to break I am sure. Also once I actually start taking the classes I am sure I will come across things that are brand new and I will have more questions then. I am in the process of trying to get into the course now. I was mainly just for now looking for good sites to study on a bit before I go in.

 

[Captain_Morgan]

I dont have to many questions right now. I know military first aid is a no no in the civie world, to an extent so there will be habbits and things I will need to break I am sure. Also once I actually start taking the classes I am sure I will come across things that are brand new and I will have more questions then. I am in the process of trying to get into the course now. I was mainly just for now looking for good sites to study on a bit before I go in.

I've never been in the military. What is the difference?

 

[JBE]

I've never been in the military. What is the difference?

Differences in trauma care mostly....however many civilian services are starting to adopt military practices

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[moe24]

My b-momma is a EMT basic at care ambulance she's studying for intermediate then she's going for paramedic..she got in a class with free tuition through Acadian but it was limited to like 30 people.out of those 30 people 17 pass.she told me most of them failed the hands on class were you have to practice on a dummy.so yea goodluck and try to be prepared for the hands on part of the test.

 

[dwr461]

Military medic's used to gave about equal skills for trauma as civilian medics and far worse medical skills. Particularly Advanced Cardiac Life Support was lacking in military medics. But this was never a draw back since the population they worked within had very good cardiovascular health, almost no chronic substance abusers and no elderly pt's. The last time I spoke to a military guy about this he worked in my department as a NREMT-P and was a flight medic still in the Guard. He said that military medics sucked rocks compared to civilian ones. For working in the civilian world they had very few usable skills and must unlearn many bad habits. He said that civilian medics transitioned to military service far easier than the other way around.

Those were his words. Not mine. So don't attack the messenger. I never was a military medic. He was both. NOT ME. But I was very familiar several years ago with what they were taught. One of our former medics had quit EMS and signed up full time for the US Army as an instructor for medic's.

Dave

 

[asianpersuasion]

If your gonna spend the time to become a emtp go ahead and get your rn.

 

[CPL_Primeaux]

Hey Dwr, Yeah it will be tough transitioning to civie medic habbits .You were informed correctly .

I was never a combat medic just a combat life saver so I am no pro for sure but yeah they told us different things like that when I was in back in 03. Stuff like tourniquets are never used in the civie world and such.

Thats going to be my main concern is dropping those habbits. Like say in the moment I revert back to a war mind set and do something I am not suppose to do outside a combat zone and end up screwing someone up . I will just have to watch myself really hard until I really get into the swing of it and learn how to operate.

 

[JBE]

My b-momma is a EMT basic at care ambulance she's studying for intermediate then she's going for paramedic..she got in a class with free tuition through Acadian but it was limited to like 30 people.out of those 30 people 17 pass.she told me most of them failed the hands on class were you have to practice on a dummy.so yea goodluck and try to be prepared for the hands on part of the test.

She'd be better off skipping the Intermediate part and going straight to Paramedic instead...

 

[JBE]

Hey Dwr, Yeah it will be tough transitioning to civie medic habbits .You were informed correctly .

I was never a combat medic just a combat life saver so I am no pro for sure but yeah they told us different things like that when I was in back in 03. Stuff like tourniquets are never used in the civie world and such.

Thats going to be my main concern is dropping those habbits. Like say in the moment I revert back to a war mind set and do something I am not suppose to do outside a combat zone and end up screwing someone up . I will just have to watch myself really hard until I really get into the swing of it and learn how to operate.

Tourniquets are used in the civvie world...just recommended as a last resort, but that is changing with new studies and findings based on military use in combat environments...

 

[CPL_Primeaux]

Oh didnt know that. The medic with us told us they dont use em in the civie world. Maybe he did say last resort. I cant recall.

 

[dwr461]

With our last update our department is now using tourniquets. They look to be the same one's issued to the military. If you pull them hard enough to make one pattern than they can be used as a pressure dressing. Pull them harder the pattern will change and they'll stop arterial blood loss. I've treated a lot of GSW's and major trauma over the years. I can't think of too many times where they would've come in handy but there you go. I had a 7.62x39mm round shatter a women's femur one time. Maybe for that one but then she did OK as far as blood loss goes.

Dave

 

[CPL_Primeaux]

Wow really ? Thats interesting. They change so much from year to year and sometimes month to month it really is hard to keep up . Then my last update was near 8 years ago so really I probably dont know to much at the moment haha.

 

[JBE]

Wow really ? Thats interesting. They change so much from year to year and sometimes month to month it really is hard to keep up . Then my last update was near 8 years ago so really I probably dont know to much at the moment haha.

The big push for evidence-based medicine in EMS has brought a lot of changes through the years...Thinking back through the years it's amazing how things have changed over time...

Dave, remember when MAST trousers were in vogue? Blows my mind that there are EMT's out there now that have no clue what they are...

Not too mention LifePak 5's and look where we are now...

 

[Captain_Morgan]

Tourniquets are used in the civvie world...just recommended as a last resort, but that is changing with new studies and findings based on military use in combat environments...

That was one thing that was forefront in my mind. I made Eagle Scout almost a decade ago, so my training is certainly aged, but I remember talk about tourniquets becoming more well received as they weren't so much of a last resort option any more. It was still hammered into us to not use one unless it was literally "life or limb," but I seem to remember a paradigm shift with respect to their use and that a limb was more save-able even after using one with modern medicine.

Honestly, it's the evolving philosophy behind first aid that makes me want to take refresher courses in addition to reinforcing the fundamentals.

 

[vrod787]

I took the NEMSA class through SLCC. My basic in Alexandria and split my Paramedic, half in Alexandria then moved down to Lafayette. DO DO DO the objectives!!! I can't stress that enough! ALL their tests are from those objectives. The reason being, those objectives make you pretty much read your chapters. If you go through NEMSA in Lafayette, all the instructors are really good and eager to answer questions. Hope this helps...if you want some more detailed info on NEMSA send me a message. I'll be glad to help out as much as I can.

 

[dwr461]

We used to put MAST on every cardiac arrest for a while there back in the early nineties. Then we'd give Calcium and Bicarb. Remember the danger of precipitating if you didn't flush the line completely?

The Lifepack 5 was awesome. We had a fire and lost our brand new LP10. This was a small department with only two ALS units. So we had to borrow a monitor until physio could get us another one. The Lifepack 4 was what we got. It was 14 years out of production but beggars couldn't be choosers.

http://www.emsmuseum.org/virtual-museum/equipment/articles/398244-1974-Defibrillator-LifePak-4

Yeah it weighed 37 lbs. It had lead acid batteries in it. So I was told anyway. You couldn't get to them. We did over 100 full power 360 joules defib's into the test station after the new monitor came in just to see what I could do. The battery still had power and the monitor worked. We were worried about damaging the test station at that point so we quit. It was awesome. Unless you had to carry it anywhere...

It's just possible that I might be the last active medic to ever have used one of those things in the field.

Dave