Begins with an overview of basic pharmacology and then introduces students to advanced pharmacological concepts. Intravenous access with fluid and medication administration is presented along with airway management. This course leads into cardiac rhythm recognition and assessment of the cardiac patient.
Goals, Topics, and Objectives
- Pharmacology
- Special Patient Populations
- Clinical Judgement/Behavior
- Airway Management
- Medicine
- Trauma
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Pathophysiology
- Differentiate among the chemical, generic (nonproprietary), official (USP), and trade (proprietary) names of a drug.
- Explain the special considerations in drug treatment with regard to pregnant, pediatric, and geriatric patients.(Pharmacology; Special Populations)
- List & differentiate the phases of drug activity including the pharmaceutical, pharmacokinetic, and pharmacodynamics phases.(Pharmacology)
- Describe the processes called pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, including theories of drug action, drug-response relationships, factors altering drug responses, predictable drug responses, iatrogenic drug responses, and unpredictable adverse responses.(Pharmacology)
- Perform mathematical conversions from the household system to the metric system. (Pharmacology)
- Formulate the correct drug and applicable dosage for a given set of patients using information gained through this course.(Pharmacology; Clinical Judgment)
- Describe the indications, equipment needed, technique used, precautions, and general principles for the following: peripheral venous or external jugular cannulation, intraosseous needle placement and infusion, and obtaining a blood sample. (Pharmacology)
- Compare the ventilation techniques used for an adult patient to those used for pediatric patients. And describe special considerations in airway management and ventilation for the pediatric patient. (Airway Management)
- Describe the indications, contraindications, advantages, disadvantages, complications, liter flow range, and concentration of delivered oxygen for the following supplemental oxygen delivery devices: a nasal cannula, simple facemask, partial-rebreather mask, nonrebreather mask, and venturi mask.(Airway Management)
- Explain the indications, contraindications, advantages, disadvantages, complications, equipment, and technique for the following: endotracheal intubation by direct laryngoscopy, digital endotracheal intubation, dual lumen airway, nasotracheal intubation, repaid sequence intubation, endotracheal intubation using sedation, open cricothyrotomy, needle cricothyrotomy and extubation. (Airway Management; Medicine; Trauma)
- Given several preprogrammed patients with non-traumatic pulmonary problems, demonstrate the appropriate assessment, prehospital care, and transport. (Airway Management; Medicine)
- Identify the epidemiology, anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, assessment findings, and management (including perhospital medications) for the following respiratory diseases and conditions: Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Bronchial Asthma, Chronic Bronchitis, Emphysema, Pneumonia, Pulmonary Edema, Pulmonary Thromboembolism, neoplasms of the lung, Upper Respiratory Infections, Spontaneous Pneumothorax, and Hyperventilation Syndrome. (A&P; Pathophysiology; Pharmacology; Medicine; Trauma; Airway Management;& Clinical Judgment)
- Based on the pathophysiology and clinical evaluation of a patient with chest pain, appraise the clinical problems according to their life-threatening potential. (Medicine; Clinical Judgment)
- Given several preprogrammed patients with cardiac complaints, provide the appropriate assessment, treatment, and transport.(Pharmacology; Medicine; Clinical Judgment)
- Recognize, manage, and justify treatments for various cardiac dysrhythmias.(Medicine; Clinical Judgment)
Assessment and Requirements
The entire Paramedic Program is a performance-based curriculum. All students completing each level of course work will be required to pass both the applicable performance applications as well as a comprehensive topic exam. There is a schedule Midterm and Final written exam with discretionary quizzes throughout the program.
All course participants must be able to physically complete tasks associated with the performance-based assessments. All areas of final assessment, whether written and/or practical, must meet minimal competencies of 80% or better following testing criterion.
Instructors (or their designees) reserve the right to require students to provide picture identification for test taking, graded paper, projects , or other appropriate purposes.
Determined by program faculty