I thought we had a winner. He showed up early, that is always a good sign. He drove himself, another good sign. He told us that he had purchased his car with his own money - bonus points. Finally, he had a job. Wow. This was the most dialed in EMT student that we had seen this semester.
Then we asked him the question. It is a simple question, one that is so easy, anyone over the age of 16 should know it. Yet of the EMT students that my shift has seen this semester, only one has answered it correctly.
As a joke, we asked a student the question last semester and were surprised that they did not give us the correct reply. This semester, we have kept track of the number of students that were able to answer the question. To this point, one of three. Not too good.
I must admit after seeing all of the attributes of this student, I really thought he would know. I would have put money on it. Happily, no money was wagered, as the student didn't know the answer.
The question, you might ask?
What do the initials C.P.R. stand for.
Our student admitted that he did not know, but wanted to guess. He got "cardio" correct and guessed "pulmonary", but he fell flat on "resuscitation".
Of the four students he had this semester, two were more than 10 minutes late. One arrived right at the 0800 bell. One was early.
Two were driven by their parents. One had to call his mom because he forgot his jacket and was cold. One's father came to the station door in a bathrobe and flippy-flops to pick him up.
One of four knew what CPR stand for.
I can't wait for next semester.
Thanks for reading,
Schmoe
Some days you just need to walk away
8 hours ago
Serious? Wow..... *shaking my head*
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would have let them touch a patient! Wow.
ReplyDeleteWHAT!!!!!! Anyone who has ever taken a CPR course knows what the heck it stands for!!
ReplyDeletegbguh
What kind of EMT school are they running over there?
*grumbles and shakes her head as she walks away*
xx
Jaxs
Let me say that the students might have been able to PERFORM CPR, but they didn't know what it stood for.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of punctuality was a shocker to me as well.
Thanks for the comments.
Dear Captain Schmoe,
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing that the buzzword has become the word. But not teaching/learning the 'cardio-pulmonary resuscitation' antecedent indicates a lack of fundamental understanding. It would be interesting to see if any of them knew what pulmonary meant.
As to transportation: this is a huge area of trouble for small business too. As you leave a handful of major urban centers, there is not enough of it. And it is not reliable. In a way it's almost not fair to the car-less--but a deadline is a deadline.
I would try hard not to blame the guy whose father is in a bathrobe. There are people who try to subvert a good message all over the place--including in the family. It does speak to a lack of support in transportation though, and perhaps a bad background. Hard to explore in an interview too. Oh, ick.
Good luck with the newbies. It looks like you're going to need it. Unbelievable!
Ann T.