In addition to taking on COVID-19 and all the precautions that go with delivering health care during a pandemic, some of UConn Health\u2019s front-line providers also took on a class of future paramedics this summer.<\/p>\n
Halfway through its one-year program, the New Britain EMS Academy paramedic trainees switch from classroom work to a local emergency department to shadow doctors and nurses.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beginning of March is when this particular class started that clinical rotation, and then about a week and a half into it, all the clinical partners paused, so it essentially put the class at a full stop,\u201d says Matthew Hess, the academy\u2019s clinical and field internship coordinator and one of its instructors. \u201cSo when we reached out to [UConn Health Nursing Director of Professional Practice and Clinical Excellence Sue Ellen Poyton], she said, \u2018No problem. You can come in.\u2019 It essentially allowed us to start back our program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why was the UConn John Dempsey Hospital ED available to for these future paramedics in the late spring when other places weren\u2019t?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were just at a place where we were comfortable with students,\u201d says Shannon Curtis, clinical nurse specialist for the ED. \u201cAll the staff here were very excited to have the medic students with them. They were able to do the education and have the students be a set of extra hands. The students were great. If we needed something, they\u2019d run to take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the term is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to emergency medical services workers in general, paramedics are advanced providers who receive specialized training in areas like anatomy, cardiology, medication, and medical procedures.<\/p>\n