To repeat: my point was that I believe every ward patient should have an IV, even if "just" waiting for placement. I believe this because I manage these patients, and have been screwed by ward teams who think it is appropriate to pick and choose who to leave IVs in. The med student's response was (to summarize) "I was a paramedic for seven years, so that clinical experience makes me competent to intelligently discuss this topic."
It doesn't. Paramedics know nothing about making clinical decisions on the wards (which is what we're talking about).
As far as the second issue you bring up, which I think can be accurately summarized as "You disagree with me, so you must be a
bad intern!!!
". Thank you for importing this inane argument from the Premed forum.
Do I dismiss the input of support staff? Frequently. I listen to what they say, sometimes ask for an explanation of their reasoning, usually receive none (other than "Well, that's how I've seen it done other times"), then do what I think is required based on the situation at hand. If you want to run things by committee, feel free. I do what I was trained to do, then call the person above me.
Also, if I'm going to get input from the support staff, it's going to be from a nurse or occassionally an RT. Never from a tech or paramedic.