Emergency life or death situations must be evaluated through problem solving skills so that the person has the best chance of survival. Emergency situations can be quite complicated, especially when there are more severely injured people than EMTs and paramedics. The EMT paramedic must place a census on each patient, including which one is in need of the most urgent help and is it possible to save them. For example, if one person would take approximately twenty minutes for the paramedic to revive and save, while others would take one to two minutes, depending on their severity, some of the quicker patients may come first. The paramedic must be able to evaluate the situation and determine in what way would they be able to save the most amount of people? Many times the most severe wounds and injuries will be treated first because the other less severe injuries can wait for more emergency personnel to show up or until the paramedic is finished.
The majority of the times, EMT paramedics only have one or two patients to take care of, and their responsibility is to do what they can to keep them alive and breathing until they get to the hospital. This may include revitalizing, providing oxygen, patching wounds to stop bleeding, and providing medication to the patient. In these situations paramedics must use problem solving skills to evaluate the individual’s situation and what would be best for them. They will also have to find alternative methods or medications if the patient is allergic to the traditional uses.
An EMT paramedic’s career consists of responding to emergencies and since each emergency is different and unplanned, problem solving skills are needed almost every time a paramedic is called to a scene. To be able to have the advanced problem solving skills needed, many EMT paramedic schools with require high advanced math classes, such as calculus. Some EMT paramedic programs will even include specific problem solving classes that will allow the students to interactively and physically problem solve, instead of just mentally. By the time a paramedic student graduates, their problem solving skills should be high, but the student will still need to leave room for improvement. Throughout an EMT paramedics career, the paramedic will learn how to quickly problem solve in a variety of situations, and unfortunately, this may include making mistakes, but there should always be someone else there to catch the mistakes so they do not endanger anyone.
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