Re: Entrance Exam for EMS Courses

[Guest guest]

Barry,

You have identified the problem precisely. We are at cross purposes in EMS.

We want an adequate supply of personnel, and we want them to be as well

qualified as possible. But if we increase the requirements we diminish the

available pool of personnel.

Read down, because I want to put in some observations to your thoughts.

Gene G.

>

> I'm going to put my neck out on this, but does anyone else see the irony

> here? In the past couple of weeks, we've been howling like a burned puppy

> about the college requirements of the national SoC and now we're complaining

> that kids who are coming into the field straight from high school can't do

> basic English or math.

>

No use imposing college requirements unless there is a pool of potential

students who can handle college courses and are willing to pursue a degree that

pays nothing.

>

> We want students/medics who are academically competent so they can

> understand, digest and apply the materials taught, but we don't want to

> raise the academic bar for entrance.

>

We raise the academic bar for entrance and we automatically shunt our

potential students off into other health professions. If they're smart enough

to

understand our stuff, they can be nurses, rad techs, respiratory techs, LVNS, or

ADNs, and make 3-5 times what a degreed Paramedic makes.

> So we either maintain the status qou

> and put a lot of remedial work into the courses so that our students can

> learn or we raise the bar so that we get more selective in who gets into the

> classes (hopefully students who can learn material without having to learn

> how to learn first).

>

If we raise the bar, we will not be able to fill courses. This happened to

me when I was teaching at the college level. We were forced to take the

" dregs " just to get bodies in seats. We had to teach them the basic skills.

We had no choice. The ones who had the skills to begin with went with other,

better paying, programs.

>

> Thus the question becomes, do we re-engineer our training programs so that

> they are basically a vocation program with all the remedial education so

> that our students can learn to write, read and do math to EMS standards or

> do we link into higher education where those institutions, by their very

> nature, should create (or weed out) students who can read, write and think?

>

We re-engineer our training programs, because nobody else is going to do that

training. If we link into the same requirements that it takes to be a

nurse, for example, we won't get the students, because who in his right mind

would do the same amount of work to be paid a small fraction of what a nurse

makes?

>

> Either way is not necessarily all good or all bad, but you have to be

> willing to live with the consequences of the decision.

>

> Barry S.

>

> We live with what we have to, but we cannot change the economics easily.

> As long as EMS is not a mandated public service, we will have the predatory

> bidding practices that keep EMS salaries lower than garbage collectors and we

> will never progress.

>

Happy New Year!

GG

>

> NOTE: The Texas Department of Health  (TDH) has merged with other agencies

> and is now part of the new Department of State Health Services (DSHS),

> resulting in the following e-mail address format change for all employees:

> firstname.lastname@....

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

if you take your ems classes at a college setting, you have to show proof of

passing the tasp test anyway don't you?

RE: Entrance Exam for EMS Courses

I'm going to put my neck out on this, but does anyone else see the irony

here? In the past couple of weeks, we've been howling like a burned puppy

about the college requirements of the national SoC and now we're complaining

that kids who are coming into the field straight from high school can't do

basic English or math.

We want students/medics who are academically competent so they can

understand, digest and apply the materials taught, but we don't want to

raise the academic bar for entrance. So we either maintain the status qou

and put a lot of remedial work into the courses so that our students can

learn or we raise the bar so that we get more selective in who gets into the

classes (hopefully students who can learn material without having to learn

how to learn first).

Thus the question becomes, do we re-engineer our training programs so that

they are basically a vocation program with all the remedial education so

that our students can learn to write, read and do math to EMS standards or

do we link into higher education where those institutions, by their very

nature, should create (or weed out) students who can read, write and think?

Either way is not necessarily all good or all bad, but you have to be

willing to live with the consequences of the decision.

Barry S.

NOTE: The Texas Department of Health (TDH) has merged with other agencies

and is now part of the new Department of State Health Services (DSHS),

resulting in the following e-mail address format change for all employees:

firstname.lastname@....

[Guest guest]

if you take your ems classes at a college setting, you have to show proof of

passing the tasp test anyway don't you?

RE: Entrance Exam for EMS Courses

I'm going to put my neck out on this, but does anyone else see the irony

here? In the past couple of weeks, we've been howling like a burned puppy

about the college requirements of the national SoC and now we're complaining

that kids who are coming into the field straight from high school can't do

basic English or math.

We want students/medics who are academically competent so they can

understand, digest and apply the materials taught, but we don't want to

raise the academic bar for entrance. So we either maintain the status qou

and put a lot of remedial work into the courses so that our students can

learn or we raise the bar so that we get more selective in who gets into the

classes (hopefully students who can learn material without having to learn

how to learn first).

Thus the question becomes, do we re-engineer our training programs so that

they are basically a vocation program with all the remedial education so

that our students can learn to write, read and do math to EMS standards or

do we link into higher education where those institutions, by their very

nature, should create (or weed out) students who can read, write and think?

Either way is not necessarily all good or all bad, but you have to be

willing to live with the consequences of the decision.

Barry S.

NOTE: The Texas Department of Health (TDH) has merged with other agencies

and is now part of the new Department of State Health Services (DSHS),

resulting in the following e-mail address format change for all employees:

firstname.lastname@....