Put the Pedal to the Metal

And......Here we go....


Day four was heavy. The lecture was interdisciplinary with a focus on base concepts that we ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO UNDERSTAND to at all excel in the course and Paramedicine. It started out with some basic Cell structure/Microbiology, shifted to Chemistry, shifted to some Anatomy/Physiology, shifted to fluid balances and IV therapy, finishing off with the dreaded Acid/Base balance.

During one of the breaks, the instructor mentioned there is a shift towards requiring Anatomy and Physiology to become a Paramedic.

I completely agree with this direction. I'm sure that this stuff will be filled out as the course goes on, but learning about these different fields on a "need to know" basis, I don't think really makes for good education.

A lot of these concepts I remember covering in High School, so maybe I'm wrong.

Maybe its a wider societal opinion. It seems the attitude towards vocational education is something that you "get through" so that you can finally practice. I don't know why Paramedicine would be any different. And in part, it is sort of true. I'm fairly sure that I won't ever need to know that the cell membrane is composed of a phospholipid bi-layer. Maybe I'm just a nut because I am the type of person that just retains such information.

I am really excited that we are starting from the bottom up. After discussing intravascular pressure, I realized that malnourishment can cause edema. Maybe that was obvious or know by some readers already. But I'm glad that I was able to see that.

I already knew that albumin count in the blood was one of the ways that how well nourished a patient is measured.

Yesterday, I learned that it is large molecules like protein (albumin) that help water diffuse into the vascular system, due to their inability to pass through the cell wall.

I figured out that if a patient doesn't have enough albumin in their blood(malnourishment) then water will diffuse out of the vessels into the interstitial space causing....

Edema!!!

Where's my prize?


But anyway, I'm sorry if this is obvious, but it was relieving to know that I was able to take these parts of things that I am learning and able to use that knowledge critically, coming to new conclusions.

Which I think is really suppose to be the difference between a EMT and a Paramedic, its not just about the toys and drugs.