Quote Originally Posted by NEPAKevin View Post
Its been a while since I took first aid, but I vaguely recall being told that aspirin and other over the counter meds were a no-no.
I don't want to turn this into a protocol / scope of practice discussion... but.... Pharmacology is a tricky subject to tackle.

I've seen this from the EMT-B, EMT-P and now the MD perspectives...so here goes...

I'd rather the patient be turned over to me with no pharmacologic interventions vs. people dispensing medications without: 1) the diagnostic skill to determine what is going wrong and 2) knowing the how, why, and what can go wrong with giving that medication. BOM you pointed out a great example.

Even you have both of those criteria satisfied, there are times where giving someone a med effectively cuts us higher level providers off from providing the best course of treatment... hence EMT-B's and I's typically don't get that much pharmacologic autonomy, and paramedics get a whole bunch.

-Sam

Samuel B. Long
NREMT-P, MICP, WEMT-P
UNM School of Medicine