[quote name='oneilljb' post='39955' date='Oct 4 2006, 14:43 ']Am I reading this right. You only have 5 ALS trucks?[/quote]
Yup, the BLS has to go through 12 weeks of academy training and 12 weeks of field internship prior to getting a badge(the state certification only gets you in the door if you pass the entrance process). The additional training has a lot of pathophysiology and assessment in it, which "allows our BLS to assess at an ALS level" (academy statement, not mine) and make a determination of which is more beneficial to the patient-wait for ALS, intercept with ALS or cancel the ALS and go to the hospital. With transport times generally between 2-10 minutes, the last option tends to be the most common.
I have been sent on calls where a private service has requested ALS from us, and BLS is sent as well, since they can't drive our vehicles, only to find them in the back of their truck with a fully packaged patient, just sitting and waiting for the ALS to arrive-They are horrified when we tell them that the hospital is 1/2 mile away, and the ALS is coming from downtown, and if they hadn't just sat there with their thumbs up there arses, they could already have been at the hospital.
It's quality, not quantity. Our ALS providers have to go through a similarly brutal process to get promoted. We have many, many state certified paramedics working as basics, just waiting for the opportunity to advance. I would rather have a great basic over a poor or mediocre medic any day of the week, and 99% of our BLS falls into the very good to great category.
Yup, the BLS has to go through 12 weeks of academy training and 12 weeks of field internship prior to getting a badge(the state certification only gets you in the door if you pass the entrance process). The additional training has a lot of pathophysiology and assessment in it, which "allows our BLS to assess at an ALS level" (academy statement, not mine) and make a determination of which is more beneficial to the patient-wait for ALS, intercept with ALS or cancel the ALS and go to the hospital. With transport times generally between 2-10 minutes, the last option tends to be the most common.
I have been sent on calls where a private service has requested ALS from us, and BLS is sent as well, since they can't drive our vehicles, only to find them in the back of their truck with a fully packaged patient, just sitting and waiting for the ALS to arrive-They are horrified when we tell them that the hospital is 1/2 mile away, and the ALS is coming from downtown, and if they hadn't just sat there with their thumbs up there arses, they could already have been at the hospital.
It's quality, not quantity. Our ALS providers have to go through a similarly brutal process to get promoted. We have many, many state certified paramedics working as basics, just waiting for the opportunity to advance. I would rather have a great basic over a poor or mediocre medic any day of the week, and 99% of our BLS falls into the very good to great category.
Facebook
Google
Reddit
Twitter