Posted: 5/14/2014 2:02:17 AM EDT
| I'm going to put together a medical kit for home and vehicle. I've had CPR training at work annually. Back in the day I had quite a bit of first aid training. I was thinking of taking EMT/Paramedic training. I don't care about a certificate since I wouldn't a practicing EMT/Para. I just want to know some stuff. Where else would a civilian get med training that would be useful for SHTF? Thanks |
| EMT/Paramedic is a crazy level of schooling. Look for EMR/First Responder courses. Often your fire department might put it on for a couple hundred dollars. I'm going through it now with my Search and Rescue group and it is really good information. I've learned a lot. That said, I am going for the license/cert - and since I fall under the medical direction of a Doctor associated with our SAR group, I have to follow the EMR guidelines. No meds, no cellox gauze, etc, etc. Still enough to be able to stabilize someone until a EMT-B and above arrives. |
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I found this suggested on another forum.
http://www.nols.edu/wmi/ |
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Quoted:
EMT/Paramedic is a crazy level of schooling. Look for EMR/First Responder courses. Often your fire department might put it on for a couple hundred dollars. I'm going through it now with my Search and Rescue group and it is really good information. I've learned a lot. That said, I am going for the license/cert - and since I fall under the medical direction of a Doctor associated with our SAR group, I have to follow the EMR guidelines. No meds, no cellox gauze, etc, etc. Still enough to be able to stabilize someone until a EMT-B and above arrives. Define "crazy level" please? I looked up the local classes for the fall. I'd hate to spent $300 if it's not applicable. |
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Maybe look at a volunteer fire Dept? Also, more and more gun/tactical places are offering "trauma" 1st aid type classes.
One in GA I am about to take it taught from a Cert. Dr. and former combat Dr. that seems pretty in depth. And "Supp" to be a State reg. class. As far as taking EMT Basic {don't think they offer that anymore} Think now it's EMT i and yes, it's pretty involved.... then you have to do ride along to get credits, by then might as well take the National...... Wouldn't hurt if you wanna go that route....but there is some time involved. I THINK the last 3 or so months are spending time getting credits in ride alongs...AKA Actual calls. |
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Quoted:
Define "crazy level" please? I looked up the local classes for the fall. I'd hate to spent $300 if it's not applicable. Quoted:
Quoted:
EMT/Paramedic is a crazy level of schooling. Look for EMR/First Responder courses. Often your fire department might put it on for a couple hundred dollars. I'm going through it now with my Search and Rescue group and it is really good information. I've learned a lot. That said, I am going for the license/cert - and since I fall under the medical direction of a Doctor associated with our SAR group, I have to follow the EMR guidelines. No meds, no cellox gauze, etc, etc. Still enough to be able to stabilize someone until a EMT-B and above arrives. Define "crazy level" please? I looked up the local classes for the fall. I'd hate to spent $300 if it's not applicable. I can only speak for Kansas but EMT here is 5 months, 4 hours a night, two nights a week. A-EMT is 5 months, two days a week, 8 hours a day with 36 hours of clinicals and 36 hours of ride alongs. Paramedic is a two year degree with roughly 200 hours of clinicals and nearly that many hours of ridealongs. I'm sure Missouri is roughly the same If you just want training, go the EMR route and sign on with a local volunteer FD. |
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Quoted: I can only speak for Kansas but EMT here is 5 months, 4 hours a night, two nights a week. A-EMT is 5 months, two days a week, 8 hours a day with 36 hours of clinicals and 36 hours of ride alongs. Paramedic is a two year degree with roughly 200 hours of clinicals and nearly that many hours of ridealongs. I'm sure Missouri is roughly the same If you just want training, go the EMR route and sign on with a local volunteer FD. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: EMT/Paramedic is a crazy level of schooling. Look for EMR/First Responder courses. Often your fire department might put it on for a couple hundred dollars. I'm going through it now with my Search and Rescue group and it is really good information. I've learned a lot. That said, I am going for the license/cert - and since I fall under the medical direction of a Doctor associated with our SAR group, I have to follow the EMR guidelines. No meds, no cellox gauze, etc, etc. Still enough to be able to stabilize someone until a EMT-B and above arrives. Define "crazy level" please? I looked up the local classes for the fall. I'd hate to spent $300 if it's not applicable. I can only speak for Kansas but EMT here is 5 months, 4 hours a night, two nights a week. A-EMT is 5 months, two days a week, 8 hours a day with 36 hours of clinicals and 36 hours of ride alongs. Paramedic is a two year degree with roughly 200 hours of clinicals and nearly that many hours of ridealongs. I'm sure Missouri is roughly the same If you just want training, go the EMR route and sign on with a local volunteer FD. The EMR class I am in is about 60 hours of training total. Up here EMT basic is 3 months, two 8hr days a week. I haven't looked at the higher EMT levels here, but I do know Paramedic is basically a career path - multiple years and lots of hours.
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I just finished EMT-B here in CT. 175 hr class, $900, 8hr ride along and 8hrs in the ER.
I passed both NREMT tests and am waiting on the state and NREMT paperwork to go through. Keep in mind, EMR, EMT, Paramedic are all Pre-hospital care. EMR&EMT is basic life saving (BLS=CPR, simple airways, very limited meds usually by direction of Dr.) and Paramedic is Advanced Life Support (ALS=advanced airways, limited meds, IVs). You aren't "fixing" anyone, you are just keeping them alive until they get to the ER and hopefully improving their condition along the way. I'm 54 and have a fulltime job, I did the EMT-B thing just because I always wanted to learn more and volunteer. The more I learned the less illusions I had about being the "doc" for my family or others during SHTF. Not trying to discourage you just realize your learning pre-hospital care. I do recommend EMT-B to anyone wanting to learn more about A&P, BLS, mass casualties, EMS operations. I hope after a year or so of volunteering I can take the Paramedic course. |
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Quoted:
Define "crazy level" please? I looked up the local classes for the fall. I'd hate to spent $300 if it's not applicable. Quoted:
Quoted:
EMT/Paramedic is a crazy level of schooling. Look for EMR/First Responder courses. Often your fire department might put it on for a couple hundred dollars. I'm going through it now with my Search and Rescue group and it is really good information. I've learned a lot. That said, I am going for the license/cert - and since I fall under the medical direction of a Doctor associated with our SAR group, I have to follow the EMR guidelines. No meds, no cellox gauze, etc, etc. Still enough to be able to stabilize someone until a EMT-B and above arrives. Define "crazy level" please? I looked up the local classes for the fall. I'd hate to spent $300 if it's not applicable. Paramedic needs EMT first and typically a few months of work. The actual class is about 1000 hours |
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I'm a big WMI fan (see my avatar). From a survival perspective it makes more sense imho. You're not going to be in a regular urban pre-hospital care environment where help is on its way. You're more likely going to need to have the knowledge to monitor vitals over one or more days, make splints/bandages/etc from misc stuff you find laying around, etc. |
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Quoted:
I just finished EMT-B here in CT. 175 hr class, $900, 8hr ride along and 8hrs in the ER. I passed both NREMT tests and am waiting on the state and NREMT paperwork to go through. Keep in mind, EMR, EMT, Paramedic are all Pre-hospital care. EMR&EMT is basic life saving (BLS=CPR, simple airways, very limited meds usually by direction of Dr.) and Paramedic is Advanced Life Support (ALS=advanced airways, limited meds, IVs). You aren't "fixing" anyone, you are just keeping them alive until they get to the ER and hopefully improving their condition along the way. I'm 54 and have a fulltime job, I did the EMT-B thing just because I always wanted to learn more and volunteer. The more I learned the less illusions I had about being the "doc" for my family or others during SHTF. Not trying to discourage you just realize your learning pre-hospital care. I do recommend EMT-B to anyone wanting to learn more about A&P, BLS, mass casualties, EMS operations. I hope after a year or so of volunteering I can take the Paramedic course. Do you guys not have the AEMT or EMTI in your state? I know some states don't really know what to do with AEMT's yet since we're so new. FOr anybody looking to eventually go paramedic, you may want to look at doing the AEMT course after EMT. It's basically the entire first semester of paramedic without the advanced cardiac interpretations and a few other things. It will make the paramedic course alot easier for you if you decide to keep going. It will cost you more time and money though, so it's a trade off. I just passed my state boards for AEMT today and I'm %99 sure that I will never go paramedic. |
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Quoted:
I'm a big WMI fan (see my avatar). From a survival perspective it makes more sense imho. You're not going to be in a regular urban pre-hospital care environment where help is on its way. You're more likely going to need to have the knowledge to monitor vitals over one or more days, make splints/bandages/etc from misc stuff you find laying around, etc. Quoted:
I'm a big WMI fan (see my avatar). From a survival perspective it makes more sense imho. You're not going to be in a regular urban pre-hospital care environment where help is on its way. You're more likely going to need to have the knowledge to monitor vitals over one or more days, make splints/bandages/etc from misc stuff you find laying around, etc. Yes, it's definitely a good skill set to have, especially if you spend alot of time outdoors. However, I view it as more of an add on to EMT/AEMT/Paramedic training than just a stand alone course. If all you have time for or all you really want is the wilderness training, then by all means go for it. Like I said, even as a stand alone it's a good skill set to have. |
| So for someone like me with very limited home/ down time from work what would you recommend beyond basic CPR? I get between 32 and 48 hours off a week depending on the time of the year so taking classes is going to be nearly impossible. I can put a cold compress on a twisted ankle and know to keep presure on a bad bleeding wound, but really that about it. I would like to know more and don't know where to start. |
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Honestly I'd shoot for a good quality Red Cross or AHA first aid class (which won't teach you much more than you already know) and then one of those weekend combat first aid classes. Maybe throw in that wilderness class too, I've heard good things about it.
It looks like you're being realistic about your time availability for something like EMT (in Virginia it's like 140 course, about a semester long taking it at night). I think that's smart. So, go for the most you can get away with. |
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Quoted:
Yes, it's definitely a good skill set to have, especially if you spend alot of time outdoors. However, I view it as more of an add on to EMT/AEMT/Paramedic training than just a stand alone course. If all you have time for or all you really want is the wilderness training, then by all means go for it. Like I said, even as a stand alone it's a good skill set to have. Quoted:
Quoted:
I'm a big WMI fan (see my avatar). From a survival perspective it makes more sense imho. You're not going to be in a regular urban pre-hospital care environment where help is on its way. You're more likely going to need to have the knowledge to monitor vitals over one or more days, make splints/bandages/etc from misc stuff you find laying around, etc. Yes, it's definitely a good skill set to have, especially if you spend alot of time outdoors. However, I view it as more of an add on to EMT/AEMT/Paramedic training than just a stand alone course. If all you have time for or all you really want is the wilderness training, then by all means go for it. Like I said, even as a stand alone it's a good skill set to have. Well, I went through this exact same decision just a month or so ago. I came to the conclusion that if he, like me, isn't going to be working as an EMT then it's a lot of expense and time to invest for an education that'll sit largely unused. That's why I decided to focus on Wilderness First Responder instead. It seems in the context of this type of discussion it's more prudent. If you're already an EMT or going that route then I do agree that it makes a great add-on, though. |