I was recently reading an Internet message board for EMS professionals and noticed that whenever an EMT basic would ask a “newbie” type question or post an opinion, he or she would get jumped by the “old guard” that frequents the forum. (And no, I’m not going to mention which forum I’m writing about.)
So in these medic’s defense — I understand how jaded some paramedics can become after many thankless years on the job. I also understand the frustration that they may have with EMT-B’s that want to add additional skills to their scope of practice without understanding the theory behind the skills — and hey, I hate poor grammar as much as the next guy.
But for God’s sake guys, cut ‘em some slack.
I recently watched a thread, started by a new EMT, which asked about what kind of pay he could expect, what kind of job he would get — the “new guy” questions.
Rather than encourage this new EMT to pursue additional education or give the guy some real-world answers, he was belittled, derided and told in no uncertain terms that EMTs were useless in Emergency Medicine and that PARAMEDICS were the “end all, be all” in EMS.
The “Paragod” mentality has to stop. Yes, some us us want to become paramedics, EMS educators or ER Docs. Others simply want to work as a volunteer EMT with their local rescue squad. Ultimately, we’re all in this for patient care and we owe it to ourselves to eliminate the oppressive class structure that exists in EMS today.
OK. That’s all. I feel better now.
I got the same response… It was about then that I stopped reading those forums.