End of CCT Nurses in California?

[TraumaSurfer]

It looks like the California EMSA is advancing its proposal for the Critical Care Paramedic in California. This provides for an expanded scope of practice which may surpass that of the RN even without the Associates degree.

http://www.emsa.ca.gov/paramedic/default.asp

I know the effects will be felt in both Flight and ground CCT. It will also extend into Maternal/OB and Neonatal Specialty transports. Some counties have already been watching this and are ready to make the transition from RNs to Paramedics on flight and CCT. This has already been heavily discussed in Orange county. It has both pros and cons. I am still a firm believer in education and that one should actually have worked in a critical care environment for at least a couple of years before transporting an ICU patient. But, that also may now become a reality for the Paramedic as the CCP is moving into the hospitals in Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado. A few hospitals are using Paramedics to replace Respiratory Therapists for nightshifts and in the ERs. Some smaller hospitals in California are considering this also since the Paramedics will now have point of care devices and mechanical ventilators as part of their scope of practice. This could serve many purposes.

[PeakRN]

21 hours ago, Drew Congdon said:

The training materials are the same. Most books and prep classes are for both. Tests may have varied questions, but topics covered and knowledge base are the very close.

The training classes from some unscrupulous companies may be marketed towards nurses and paramedics, but that doesn't make them the same test.

The tests have different materials, different testing requirements, administed by three groups and test for two different kinds of healthcare.

[Drew Congdon]

Just judging from people who have taken both, and what they report. I only have an fpc, but this is distracting from the point of my post. The point is the unified flight Paramedic scope is to make the jobs of air medical crews more efficient and remove the requirement for flight medics to have multiple accreditation’s throughout for every county they fly in vs one scope. California is the only state where this is a problem.