EMS Education for the Beginner

[fiznat]

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I've been interested in it for a while, and recently decided to go for it and ask my paramedic instructor if I could help him with his EMT class that he is also running. I've been an EMT for 6 years now, and I've gone through about 8 months of paramedic class so far-- I feel like I have something that I could offer the new students, and I'd like to be involved.

The instructor said he could have me help out with various labs, skill stations, etc. I also will have an EMT student follow me around during my Emergency Department rotations for my paramedic clinicals. Cool.

My question is though, as many of us who have worked EMS for some time know: EMS education is often VERY different from EMS practice. What they teach you to do in school is not what we do on the road. What I was hoping to get from some of you guys who have had experience with this is, how do you draw the line between the "this is how it is really going to be" type education and the "teach for the test" kind of education? My inclination is to teach towards the reality of EMS, but I'm not really sure what is proper here. Can anyone offer any advice?

 

[southerndoc]

You should finish paramedic school and get some experience as a paramedic before becoming an EMT instructor.

 

[fiznat]

I'm not talking about instructing an entire class from zero to EMT, I'm just looking into doing minor labs and skill sessions to start. I dont see why I cant help EMTs learn how to protect c-spine, take vital signs, assess patients, etc etc even though I havnt finished my medic yet. Hell, my original EMT instructor wasnt a medic either.

 

[greytmedic]

I was going to post earlier, but a storm blew through and knocked out the power.

I don't see why fiznat can't help out with EMT-B class. As long as he/she(not sure) has experience, helping out with some skill labs and practice stations shouldn't be a problem. Teaching is an excellent way to reinforce what youy already know and even learn more. You don't have to be a paramedic to teach someone how to splint a leg or take a blood pressure. These are basic skills we are talking about here. After all, paramedics make the worst EMT-basics.

As for real world vs. book world, there is a reason the course is designed the way it is. It teaches the basics without getting into too much detail. That is where real world experience comes into to play. For right now, I would suggest going along with the book. That is what will teach them the basics on to which experience can be learned later. If you teach students the way you have learned in the field, they may get a job somewhere else where they have a different variation anyway. Plus, it will just get confusing come test time.

Once you get the newbie out of the class and on to the streets, then you can show them the real world.

 

[CTtarheel]

simple rule of thumb . . . don't teach anything you haven't done sucessfully on a real patient. We had some students helping out in our EMT class who were teaching us to use stuff that they'd never done in real life, and they were completely worthless.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

Here, you have to have a formal state cert to teach EMS courses, but you can be a secondary instructor (teach bits and pieces of the program without it). I agree with southerndoc that most people should be at least a paramedic before teaching. Very few people have a grasp on EMS well enough to teach at the EMT-Basic level, even after years of experience as an EMT. If you want to teach certain parts of the program, check with your local programs and see what the requirements are. However as I said before you really should wait to have more experience and education under your belt before focusing on teaching others.

 

[leviathan]

Here, you have to have a formal state cert to teach EMS courses, but you can be a secondary instructor (teach bits and pieces of the program without it). I agree with southerndoc that most people should be at least a paramedic before teaching. Very few people have a grasp on EMS well enough to teach at the EMT-Basic level, even after years of experience as an EMT. If you want to teach certain parts of the program, check with your local programs and see what the requirements are. However as I said before you really should wait to have more experience and education under your belt before focusing on teaching others.

It's always been my motto that to teach something, you should know it at least to one level higher than what you are teaching. That way, when people ask you questions about why to do something a certain way, you know you fully understand the theory behind it and can respond with a good answer. For example, when I am teaching AED courses to people in my volunteer organization, having training in ACLS is great to be able to answer the incessant questions that prop up.

 

[psychbender]

I generally teach to the test, then follow that up with "and this is how we do it in the field," if there's really any difference. I've been helping out with EMT-B skills stations since I was a Basic, and it actually helped my skills more by running other people through (then showing them how to run through) all the steps for eval and treatment. Recently, my state changed how they test a little, so my evaluation techniques are a little dated (I use the national registry-style evaluation with critical failure criteria), but they still work great for in the field. Bottom line, if you have enough confidence (and experience/knowledge to back that up) in your abilities, and your state and instructor don't have anything against it, go ahead and help teach. It's a great experience, and will likely help you in your medic class. Just go easy on them, no medical trauma scenarios when they're just starting out...save those for when they recert.

 

[Gatewayhoward]

Hmmm, well I remember that to get through registry you have to deal with memorizing every little step of the practicals and the occasional facts that make no real sense on the written. When I went through a refresher, we finished it by brining up all different types of scenarios and the instructor would pick one of us and we would go with it. That's something I hope most medic classes do.

 

[sentrosi]

Yeah, I've only been an EMT for 3 years and I am the Training Officer for my universities student run and staffed service. Our instructor is awesome, but he depends on senior members of our service to help him with the EMT class we teach every year.

He balances "by the book"/"for the test" stuff and "war stories"/"actual EMS" stuff very well. Either way, most of the recruits coming out of the class still have no clue what it's really going to be like. Since they are all students, we have a lot of dropouts when that happens and the discover they can't do it.

Anyway, do the book stuff first as a foundation, but add in random "real" stories/info if appropriate or if they ask you about it. Like I beat how to use a traction splint into them for the test, but most of them know that it's used very rarely in actuality.

Make sure they know every detail needed for the test. They'll learn the actual stuff regardless of if you have it in the class or not.