To think firemen should be trained up as paramedics

[LunchpackOfNotreDame]

There is a shortfall in paramedics, and fire services are now leaning more toward prevention and road traffic accident work.

Would it make sense, as they're often first responders, to train fire officers up as paramedics?

[Seeyounearertime]

I think they are trained in basic first aid?

I'd wonder where it ended of they were trained up to paramedic standard tbh.
If yountraiend the police too then the paramedics wouldn't be needed.
Crikey, don't suggest it to the Osbourne or he'll train just one person to put out fires whilst arresting the arsonist and giving life saving CPR to the victim.

[ExasperatedAlmostAlways]

No I think firemen have to learn enough as is to be honest. More than people even realise.

[LunchpackOfNotreDame]

It wouldn't be as a replacement but to work alongside. They're specialist in dealing with Road accidents why not let them be specialist in the whole trauma too? It would free ambulances up for other emergencies

[PotteringAlong]

If I need a paramedic I want a paramedic, not a fireman who's subbing in.

[PotteringAlong]

But you will still need ambulances there - you're not transporting the injured in the fire engine!

[cuntycowfacemonkey]

I don't see how it could work well at all tbh.

[SauvignonBlanche]

YABU and clearly have no idea how intense the training is to become a Paramedic.

If however you had asked if Firefighters should have extended or enhanced First Aid skills I'd agree with you.

[QforCucumber]

The shortfall has occurred since on the job training was scrapped and a degree in paramedic sciences required.
If firemen were asked to do the degree, on top of their own training I think there's be a shortfall there too.
Bring back training via ambulance technicians with sciences a levels and I think the paramedic applications would increase again.

[Seeyounearertime]

It seems some members of the fire service are trained as Trauma Technicians and are able to perform advanced first aid. In their training they have to spend 2 days working am A&E department. Crikey. Modern super heroes.

[originalusernamefail]

As a PP has said training up firemen would just lead to a reduction in the number of paramedics on the road. It's similar to nurses and the new associate practitioner role, they will have all the responsibilities of a nurse (except dispensing medication and professional accountability) but half the training and half the wage. Paramedics are highly trained professionals and should be respected as such.

[Passmethecrisps]

I can see the sense of it but it does make me think of the recent call for school kids to be given compulsory first aid training to relieve ambulance crews.

Not that I am comparing the fire brigade to senior school students at all.

I just feel that those roles are specific and should be done by the experts

[Horsemad]

Already sort of being done: Google 'Lincs JACP'

[Baconyum]

It's not that simple. Firefighters are also having their numbers cut. They're already trained beyond basic first aid and anything beyond that often requires further equipment too. There's also the consideration of the stress this would put on the people doing these jobs.

Emergency services workers are already at highest risk of stress related physical illness, suicide, addiction, mental breakdown and divorce.

[whois]

Nope.

The paramedic service is on its knees because of changes to working conditions which make the job untenable in the long term. Sorting out the working conditions would go a long way to retaining paramedics.

[Cynara]

Fire crews are trained in first aid and are excellent at it, and probably could be trained further in order to treat more complex trauma. The role of a paramedic encompasses far more than the treatment of trauma, however, and paramedics undertake extensive training and regular updates in an enormous range of medical conditions before and after qualification.

I do take your point to an extent: we have a great deal of respect for our fire crew colleagues and we appreciate the help they give to patients and us as ambulance staff at the scene of accidents, but our role is far broader and more complex than could be taught as an add-on to someone already working in a demanding profession, and to suggest otherwise makes me a bit defensive, it reminds me off the times patients have referred to us as 'ambulance drivers', when driving a van is the least of our worries.

[MammaTJ]

You know a paramedic degree takes 4 1/2 years?

It's not something you can pop on a two week course and do to great efficiency.

Fire crews are trained in first aid and good at it! They keep the patient alive until the experts get there.

It is not a workable idea to train fire crew to be paramedics at all.

[CalleighDoodle]

Lazy bastard public services! They should all train be trained in everything and let's pay them 50p!

[CalleighDoodle]

(Terribky ssentence structure ia the resukt of too much baileys this evejign)

[Stratter5]

We have that in operation up here, it's called JACP and is being trial led here in Lincolnshire.

[originalmavis]

I thought they had to be trained up as they are are often the first service to arrive at a scene. My niece is a firefighter and she had to attend the to a heart attack, car wreck and someone being chopped on half in her first week on the job. Obviously she attended to the first 2, the latter one being a retrieval.

[Tuiles]

It works for the French

[toopeoply]

We are trained in trauma and enhanced first aid. Plus we have much of the same kit to use. We are trained in rtc trauma and we know how to use collars, oxygen, op airways etc etc. My machine also carries a defib. We are also called put to out of hospital cardiac arrests and the powers that be are using us often in conjunction with paramedics or instead of if they are far away. So yes we will do our utmost to keep someone alive until other agencies arrive.

[SilverOldie2]

So assume paramedics will be trained up as firemen then?

[RedMapleLeaf]

"Firemen"?

[ouryve]

Think of the new plot possibilities for Fireman Sam. Norman lacerates his femoral artery climbing a tree to save a cat and has a severe anaphylactic reaction to the tree sap, but never mind, Fireman Sam comes to save the day.