-=> Quoting Larry Hinsley to Blake Bowers <=-
 > Please don't insult the many EMT's in states such as TN,
 > where the state
 > standards are much tougher than NREMT.
 LH> Exactly the reason why the majority of the FD Medics don't mess with
 LH> it.  Waste of time, *ya know*!  How ya been?
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Please read my response to Blake. I am surprised by your attitude
thinking that the NRT is a "waste of time". Until you get your dierre
hauled into court on a medical lawsuit will you then realize the
importance of "the gold standard" of medical care really is. I used to
have your attitude that NRT was a "waste of time" too and why did they
need recert every 2 years when the the state required every 4 years?
In Arizona, NREMT and NREMT-P is optional until 1998. It wasn't until a
shift of firefighters/EMT's/NREMT's/EMT-P/NREMT-P got included in a
medical lawsuit a few years back by an out of state couple did we learn
the real meaning of "waste of time". I digress here. The outcome
of the lawsuit revealed several things.
The court found that 1) since the NRT was recognized by the plaintiff's
state,  2) the NR and AHA standard was valid nationwide, and 3) the NR
personnel involved followed NR and AHA protocol to the letter and could
not be held accountable for substandard care.
Then it came down to the state standards for the non-NR personnel.
The court looked at both states' protocols to see if Arizona was on par
with the plaintiff's expectations if the accident happened in their home
state.
Here are the court's findings  - since Maricopa County of Arizona was
already using the NRT as a basis of teaching and testing for EMT/EMT-P
replacing the Morton Test Bank, which exceeded the plaintiff's own state
EMT/EMT-P tests, 1) the EMT/EMT-P's that treated the couple indeed
followed the new NR and AHA standards, 2) which was higher than Arizona
state protocol, 3) higher than what the EMT/EMT-P's were licensed for,
4) higher than the plaintiff's state levels of care, and 5) they were
found not guilty of substandard care even though they were not NR
certified.
I am an EMT. I took the EMT recertification test last year, and
immediately knew, as I opened the booklet that it was the NR Exam, the
only difference being that the number of questions were 150, not the NR
level of 250/300 questions. The hands on skills test for EMT/EMT-P is
not as stringent as the NR either as we have to take a 2 weekend
refresher class every 4 years and have to indicate whether we want to be
scored by NR standards or state standards.
BTW, I am one of the team members that was responsible for the
certification of all EMT's/EMT-I/EMT-P's for the whole state. I know
what I'm talking about when I'm comparing test banks of questions for
validity from vendors. Which meant that I had to know the NR standards
as well as the current state standards forwards and backwards in doing
the comparisons.
The difference between the two is like night and day. I passed the EMT
state exam in 20 minutes with a score of around 98%. When I got the
NREMT questions, it was so different that it took the full 90 minutes,
and I wound up with a score of 91%. In all due fairness, I was not
allowed to see the NR test questions until I passed the EMT recert exam
which was based on NRT. Then I could start the comparisons.
I will say this much - the NRT is totally scenario and case based, more
of what happens in real life. The exam options contained more than one
correct multiple choice answer. You had to pick the *best* one. That's a
far cry from Morton's which is mostly basic knowledge and protocol.
So now that I have explained away a "waste of time" myth, you should
start studying the NR requirements because you will never know when TN
will mandate them. I can find out for you, but since it is a "waste of
time", I won't bother. Good luck on your studying.
John
FF/EMT
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