Kansas EMS Transition

“They’re not teaching me to fly. They’re teaching me how to not crash.”

July 7, 2010 in Educators, General | Tags: Jon, Kansas EMS, Kansas EMS Transition, Kansas EMS Transition Airplane | 4 comments

I have a friend who is a corporate pilot. Alan has flown jets for years and so I was surprised one day when Alan announced that he was going to back to school for a week to learn a new aircraft. It seems his company was adding a Gulfstream jet to its fleet of Citation jets. In order to make the transition, all of the pilots were heading back for a week of school to learn the new aircraft. It seems that while the basic principles of lift, weight, thrust and drag remain the same for flight; achieving the balance of these principles in a way that keeps you from creating a hole in the ground is dependent upon knowing how the aircraft you are flying works. As Alan said, “They’re not teaching me to fly, Jon. They’re teaching me not to crash.”

Over the past few weeks, we have been asked a number of times why instructors who are paramedics must attend the train the trainer course. The assertion is that they already know the material. This brings to mind my friend Alan’s experience. The train the trainer is not about teaching you how to teach prehospital medicine. The train the trainer is about teaching you how to use the EMS transition bridge courses. We will not be spending time teaching you the lift, weight, thrust, and drag of prehospital medicine. If you are coming to the train the trainer we assume that you either know this or have people back home who do. Our job is to teach you how to teach clinical medicine successfully within the framework of the transition course lesson plans.

We are looking forward to seeing you this fall as we move from the development phase into the launching phase of this exciting time in Kansas EMS.

Getting there through all the details

June 27, 2010 in AEMT, EMR, EMT, Educators, General | Tags: Kansas EMS, Kansas EMS Transition | Leave a comment

Yes, it has been a while since I posted. I’ve been a bit consumed over the past several months as we push this project towards the completion of the development stage and ready for the implementation stage.

As we enter into the final push, we loaded up the laptops and headed to our Colorado branch office to work “off the grid”. It is amazing what you can get done when you don’t have email, the Internet, or telephone distractions. Here is a view from the office we had for a few days. It was nice to get back to the sweltering heat of Kansas after several days of cool, crisp, mountain air.

Colorado Branch Office

I thought you would be interested to know the projected estimates for hours in each of the transition courses:

Emergency Medical Responder - 16 hours (Must be completed in the two-year recertification cycle.) This will be a busy transition course with a lot of enhancements to the EMR scope of practice. Instructors and students should expect to be busy as they work to complete this bridge course in the 16 hour time frame!

Emergency Medical Technician - 24 to 28 hours (Must be completed in the two-year recertification cycle.) Remember, you must have 28 total hours to renew so if your bridge course is only 24 hours you have 4 more hours to complete!

Advanced Emergency Medical Technician - 116 + hours (Approximate. This must be completed over two recertification cycles [4 years].) The estimated time for AEMT is just that, estimated. It really depends upon the knowledge level of the instructors teaching the course and of the students taking the bridge course, as well as the speed with which students pick up the new material. If they have a strong grasp on their EMT-Intermediate knowledge and are enthusiastic about studying and learning, I suspect the course will move along. If they have let their foundational knowledge slip away over time or do not have strong study habits, you will likely need to plan for more than 116 hours.

In the next few weeks we will be finalizing lesson plans, cleaning up media, spell checking task analysis and check sheet documents, and rolling out sample syllabi and schedules. We’ve also got some work to do on pre and post tests for modules. So, we’re down to the details and getting close to the end.

A big “thank you” to the people who have been helping us by reviewing and giving feedback on the development of lessons. It has been very rewarding to have both field providers and physicians who have given strong recommendations to ensure that the lessons are meaningful and on target.

Train-the-Trainer Courses

June 1, 2010 in AEMT, EMR, EMT, Educators | Tags: Kansas EMS, Kansas EMS Transition | Leave a comment

Who should attend? Any Kansas TO1, TO2, or I/C who wishes to coordinate Kansas EMS Transition bridge courses will need to complete the Train-the-Trainer course for each level bridge (EMR, EMT, AEMT) they will coordinate.

The scheduled dates for each Region are as follows with locations to be announced on or before July 15:

Date	Location
August 28, 29 – 2010	Region I
September 25, 26 – 2010	Region III
October 9, 10 – 2010	Region VI
October 23, 24 – 2010	Region IV
November 6, 7 – 2010	Region II
November 20, 21 – 2010	Region V

Read more about preparing to teach the bridge courses.

10 .. 9 .. 8 .. 7 .. 6 .. 5 ..

May 16, 2010 in General | Tags: Kansas EMS Transition, Kathleen | Leave a comment

EMR Transition PowerPoint

Here’s a Sunday afternoon status update from the curriculum development team:

AEMT lesson plan draft is with the physician and peer reviewers.
Media, Methods, and Activities development is in full gear.
Task Analysis is on final approach (99.9% complete).
Evaluation checklist development is launched.

In short, all of the pieces of the transition curriculum are progressing. And, we are “keeping our eye on the ball” ….

Quote for the day:
      He who has a hundred miles to walk
     should reckon ninety as half the journey.
      –Japanese Proverb

Where in the world is the curriculum project?

April 27, 2010 in General | Tags: EMS Scope Documents, Kansas EMS Transition, Kathleen | Leave a comment

The Road Ahead

An update to let interested parties know that we are forging ahead:

The EMR and EMT bridge courses are in the hands of our physician and peer reviewers for review and recommendations. We have begun revisions of both courses based on initial feedback from reviewers. Media and activity development is underway.

The first draft of the AEMT bridge course is rapidly moving toward completion. It will be sent for physician and peer review within the next two weeks.

We encourage people to continue to download scope documents and begin reviewing supporting material in preparation for instructing and participating in the transition.

I close this post with a quote from physicist, author, and systems thinker, Poul Anderson, “I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated.”

Silence is Golden

March 1, 2010 in General | Leave a comment

FG Manx Manager

In the tradition of the Olympics, we’ve been having nordic cross-country combined lesson plan writing sessions at the Friesen Group office. We are being overseen by our Manx Manager, Theodore. He hangs out on the desk or the nearby chair, asserting his authority to insure regular, ongoing progress is being made.

So, while the blog and new postings have been few and far between, in this case, “silence is golden”.

passion AND indifference

February 5, 2010 in General | Tags: Kathleen, Management, Organization Development | Leave a comment

This is a cross-post from the Friesen Group blog, but I thought it fit here too. -Kathleen

In the interest of looking at all perspectives, I have been reflecting on the need for balance between passion and indifference. In organizations, managers spend time and energy seeking to motivate people to passion for their work. But, with too much passion managers can roll over people and miss important cues indicating risk or simply other options – including better ones. With too much indifference managers can become lethargic and stagnate.

There is balance in the world: a time for reflection and stepping back to see more clearly, and a time for passionate engagement.

If you’re interested in thinking further about this dichotomy, check out Bob Sutton’s post on 10 things he believes about the workplace or David Maister’s post on Passion, People, and Principles.

Strong opinions, weakly held

February 2, 2010 in General | Tags: Kathleen | 3 comments

As dialogue, debate, and discussion continue around various EMS Transition questions, I was thinking about a post on Bob Sutton’s blog where he talks about the need for strong opinions, weakly held. The argument originated with persons from the Institute for the Future.

It starts by stating that we each need to have strong opinions. When we care passionately about something, we are willing to put our energy and time into learning about it, understanding it, and defending it. But the argument doesn’t stop there. The rest of the argument is that we need to hold our strong opinions loosely. If we’re too attached to our opinions, we lose the ability to hear and see other evidence and alternative ideas.

I close this post with a quote from Sutton, “Wisdom is the courage to act on your knowledge and the humility to doubt what you know.”

Why the transition matters to me

January 19, 2010 in General | Tags: Kathleen | Leave a comment

It’s Kathleen’s turn to write today:

I moved to Kansas about 7 years ago. And, for the last several months I have traveled across the state. Along with seeing amazing scenery (everyone should have to exit the I’s: I-70, I-35, I-135), it was my first time to meet with many EMS providers. The providers I met care passionately about:

Providing excellent health care to the people in their communities.
Building professional EMS services that continuously improve the care provided.
Relationships with their families, providers on their service, and communities.

These core values speak to me of people who are loving and compassionate. The day-to-day commitment of EMS providers across the state is amazing. It makes me proud to be a Kansan.

As I look at the opportunities for expanded and improved care offered by the new scope, I’m excited to think of the service possibilities — possibilites that offer life changing care to citizens. I’m excited to think about Kansas being at the head of the line for implementing the new national scope of practice. But most of all, I’m want to know that when I travel across the state in the coming years, I can count on receiving quality, up-to-date care should my family or I ever need it — care made possible by implementing the new scope — care that can make a difference!

I hope that the 2010-2013 transition is another successful event in the proud traditions of the Great State of Kansas!

AEMT Course Planning Document

January 18, 2010 in AEMT, Educators | 3 comments

The Advanced EMT transition course planning document is now posted to the site. You can access it by clicking here or by going to the Documents and Links page.