As EMS week continues, more bloggers are talking about the problems in EMS. The direction we are going (or not going), the educational standards, and the salary we are paid. Rescuing Providence posted “EMS Week, ‘Take it, It’s There‘”, and the venerable Skip K., replied with his standard mantra of “you have to invest first before reaping the rewards”, and he is correct.
Too Old To Work (TOTWTYTR), replied in his blog post “The Other EMS Week Post“.
I agree with Skip. As long as EMS continually accepts the lowest standard, and caters to the lowest common denominator, we will never grow as a profession. My question to the EMS chiefs in the U.S. is, When will we stop the rhetoric and take action?
We settle for the lowest educational standards, but we don’t have to settle. We cannot individually change the educational standards for your local licensing authority, and there NEEDS to be a place for entry level paramedics and EMTs. We CAN make promotional positions require more education. IF you have a paramilitary style organization (with ranks) you, as EMS chief, can say that the minimum requirement for becoming a sergeant is an Associate Degree. Captains and/or Lieutenant have to have a Bachelor degree. No ranking system in your agency? Do you have FTOs (you should), then make them a different pay scale and require them to have an Associate Degree. EMS Chiefs have the ability to enforce higher educational standards. Why aren’t they?
The time to blog endlessly about the woes of the EMS system, and how great it could be is over. The time to take action and make a change had started. Walk the Talk.
