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I\nwrite with every sense of seriousness to avail fellow Nigerians the opportunity\nto know who paramedics are, how they are trained, what they do or employment\nstructure, where they are trained and where are they found in Nigeria\nPresently? TRAINING OF PARAMEDICS.<\/strong> SKILLS OF PARAMEDICS IN\nTHE HOSPITAL SETTING.<\/strong> Paramedics\nin most jurisdictions administer a variety of emergency medications. The\nspecific medications they are permitted to administer vary widely, based on\nlocal standards of care and legal restrictions, and physician or medical\ndirector preferences. For an accurate description of permitted drugs or\nprocedures in a given location, it is necessary to contact that jurisdiction\ndirectly. A representative list of medications may commonly include: Analgesic\nmedications such as aspirin, ketorolac and paracetamol, used to relieve pain or\ndecrease nausea and vomiting. Narcotics like morphine, pethidine, fentanyl, and\ndilaudid, used to treat severe pain, such as with burns and fractures.\nAdenosine, calcium channel blockers Diltiazem and Verapamil used to slow down\nexcessively high heart rates. Para sympatholytic drug such as Atropine, used to\nspeed up slow bradycardia heart rates. Sympathomimetic [6] such as dopamine,\ndobutamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine used for severe hypotension (low\nblood pressure), cardiogenic shock and septicemia. D50W (a solution of 50%\ndextrose in water), used to treat hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Sedatives\nlike midazolam, lorazepam, and etomidate, used to reduce the irritability or\nagitation of patients. Paralytics such as succinylcholine, rocuronium, and\nvecuronium, used when an emergency procedure such as rapid sequence intubation\n(RSI) is required. Antipsychotics like haloperidol or ziprasidone, used to\nsedate combative patients. Respiratory medications such as salbutamol,\nIpratropium bromide and methylprednisolone, used to treat conditions such as\nasthma and acute bronchitis. Cardiac medications such as nitroglycerin,\naspirin, and morphine, fentanyl used to treat cardiac ailments such as angina\nand heart attacks. Antiarrhythmic such as amiodarone, lidocaine and magnesium\nsulfate used to treat cardiac arrhythmias such as ventricular tachycardia and\nventricular fibrillation. Antiemetic such as promethazine or ondansetron used\nfor nausea and vomiting. Naloxone used to treat opioid drug overdose and\nflumazenil.. I write with every sense of seriousness to avail fellow Nigerians the opportunity to know who paramedics are, how they are trained, what they do or employment structure, where they are trained and where are they found in Nigeria Presently? WHO IS A PARAMEDIC? The paramedic is a healthcare professional who works in emergency medical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\nWHO IS A PARAMEDIC?<\/strong>
\nThe\nparamedic is a healthcare professional who works in emergency medical\nsituations. A paramedic may be more formally defined as a medical professional\nwho provides medical care to sustain life in the pre-hospital environment,\nusually in an emergency, at the point of illness or injury. This includes an\ninitial assessment of the patient after a particular health crisis. Treatment\ncan also be continued en route to a hospital if more definitive care for the\npatient is required. Paramedics provide advanced levels of care for medical\nemergencies and trauma. The majority of paramedics are based in the field, in\nambulances, emergency response vehicles, or in specialist mobile units such as\ncycle response. Paramedics provide out-of-hospital treatment and minor\ndiagnostic services, although some may undertake hospital-based roles, such as\nin the treatment of injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIn the\nUnited States, paramedic training is considered vocational. Paramedic education\nprograms typically follow the US Department of Transportation\u2019s Emergency\nMedical Technician-Paramedic: National Standard Curriculum. While many\nregionally accredited colleges and universities offer paramedic programs, only\na handful require a formal degree component prior to completion. Course minimum\nrequired hours vary from state to state but range between 700 \u2013 1300 didactic\nand clinical hours. Calendar length can vary from between six months to upwards\nof two years.
\nBut down\nthe line. The institute of health technology UBTH Benin city Edo state Nigeria.\nEstablished the school of Paramedics in the year 2008.with a United states of\nAmerica (US) curriculum Running till date the. School trains paramedics and\nother states have started to key into this. 2014 was actually a great year for\nthe profession the Nigeria ministry of health keyed into this and created a\nnational diploma curriculum and encouraged the need for more schools to be\ncreated.
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\nWHAT DO PARAMEDICS DO? OR WHAT THEIR EMPLOMENT STRUCTURE PRESENTLY\nIS IN NIGERIA AND THE WORLD AT LARGE?<\/strong>
\nParamedics\nare employed by a variety of different organizations, and the services provided\nby paramedics may occur under differing organizational structures, depending on\nthe part of the world. A new and evolving role for paramedics involves the\nexpansion of their practice into the provision of relatively basic primary\nhealth care and assessment services. Some paramedics have begun to specialize\ntheir practice, frequently in association with the environment in which they\nwill work. Some early examples of this involved aviation medicine and the use\nof helicopters, and the transfer of critical care patients between facilities.\nWhile some jurisdictions still use physicians, nurses, and technicians for transporting\npatients, increasingly this role falls to specialized senior and experienced\nparamedics. Other areas of specialization include such roles as tactical\nparamedics working in police units, marine paramedics, hazardous materials\n(Hazmat) teams, Heavy Urban Search and Rescue, and paramedics on offshore oil\nplatforms, oil and mineral exploration teams, and in the military. But in\nNigeria the profession is quite new and some. Agencies haven’t keyed into this.\nExcept Lagos state Emergency Management Agency(LASEMA) who actually have\nemployed. The graduates from the institute of Health Technology UBTH and\nlikewise University of Benin Teaching hospital (Ubth)Also. but Presently UBTH\ngot Trained Paramedics working in Hospital. Instead of out of hospital #the_nigerian_factor.\nThey are actually not aware of its importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIt will\ninterest Nigerians to know the following: While there are varying degrees of\ntraining and expectations around the world, a general set of skills shared by\nessentially all paramedics and EMTs (EMERGENCY MEDICAL TECHNICIANS) includes:\nAdvanced cardiac life support, or ACLS, treats areas involving cardiac injury\nor compromise; the most common is cardiac arrest. Since the heart and nervous\nsystem begin to degrade in as little as 4-6 minutes, early recognition and\ntreatment in the prehospital setting is very effective in life saving\ntreatments. Using many devices and treatment modalities, such as Cardiac\nMonitors, Defibrillators, and cardiac medications, the chief objective is to\nstop and reverse the effects of lack of cardiac output. Spinal injury\nmanagement, including immobilization and safe transport. Fracture management,\nincluding assessment, splinting, and use of traction splints where appropriate.\nObstetrics, including assessment, assisting with uncomplicated childbirth, and\nrecognition of and procedures for obstetrical emergencies such as breech\npresentation, cord presentation, and placental abruption. Management of burns,\nincluding classification, estimate of surface area, recognition of more serious\nburns, and treatment. Advanced airway management techniques including surgical\nairways. Triage of patients in a mass casualty incident. Assessment and\nevaluation of general incident scene safety. Effective verbal and written\nreporting skills (charting). Routine medical equipment maintenance procedures.\nRoutine radio operating procedures. Emergency vehicle operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nMEDICATIONS ADMINISTERED BY PARAMEDICS.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\nIn the\nNigerian health system, the fight for superiority, and the fear for the sudden\nemergence of the Medical Laboratory Scientist has evolved into unbridled\ncalumny and the use of such words as mediocrity, paramedics as a weapon of\nPROFESSIONAL WARFARE by the NMA and her allies to attack other noble\nprofessions in the health sector in Nigeria. It is pertinent to note that a\nclose look at the history of paramedics\u2019 professionals, shows that every other\nhealth professional like doctors, nurses, pharmacists, radiographers can\nfunction perfectly well as a paramedic, EXCEPT the MEDICAL LABORATORY\nSCIENTIST. The evidence is clear as stated above based on the duration of\ntraining, certificate obtained, general skills as well as medications\nadministered by paramedics. So in Nigeria, the term PARAMEDICS is\nmisinterpreted and misapplied because of selfishness and arrogance. In Nigeria\ntoday, based on what happens in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, I cannot see any\nform of paramedics activity established by law through the act of legislation\nin our hospitals. It is very important to mention that NEMA is in the fore\nfront of coordinating paramedics activities in the case of emergency responses.\nIn which have been tested over time that the so called coordinator general of\nNEMA is not even a PARAMEDIC. The_NIGERIAN_FACTOR.
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\nFor\nclarity\u2019s sake, based on history and on the realities on ground in Nigeria:
\nParamedics\nare pre-hospital in function, they are community, district or state based. They\nperform some procedures that physicians are supposed to do if their workload\nallows. According to the Britannica, \u201cthese paramedic workers perform routine\ndiagnostic procedures such as the taking of blood samples and therapeutic\nprocedures such as administering injections, or suturing wounds; they also\nrelieve physicians of making routine health assessments and taking medical\nhistories\u201d.
\nFinally, I\ncall on all comrades across the nation to stand their ground, on the paramedic\nprofession, to improve and modernize medical practice and not to be subdued by\nit while we also inform and educate the people. I won’t end this article\nwithout mentioning the BODY who has striven so well to keep the paramedic dream\nALIVE in Nigeria
\n(The\nfountain of living waters). An NGO who has actually. Trained paramedics both\nhome and abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"