Post-nominal letters matter in any profession. I’ve said it before, if we are a profession of professionals, then our post-nominal letters mean something. If we are just some kids kicking around a hobby before we grow up, then we aren’t professionals.
“I am no less a paramedic than you because I don’t have all those letters after my name.” I was told recently. You will never hear me describe myself as a better paramedic than anyone just because of letters. To insinuate something along those lines is only childish.
The bottom line regarding my post-nominal letters is this: I earned them.
I earned NREMT-P when I passed their entry requirements. I earned CCEMT-P after attending a class for three weeks, and passing a test of higher difficulty. I earned FP-C when I passed what was arguably the hardest test ever placed in front of me. I earned CCP-C when I passed a test that was a little bit more difficult than FP-C.
I am no better than any other paramedic out there because of my letters, cards, certificates, or patches. I call myself a “paramedic” and would never refer to myself as anything else.
Post-nominal letters matter, regardless of what others say.
You still think they don’t matter? Fair enough. Go tell that to the interventional cardiologist. Go tell that interventional cardiologist that he thinks he is better than the other cardiologist because he has “FACC” on his coat.
Go tell that to the medical director at the large trauma hospital. Go tell him that he is being pretentious because he puts “FACEP” on his coat. Tell him he must think he is better because his coat says “MD, PhD.”
Let’s go talk to that ICU nurse taking care of the patient on the ventilator and 5 vasopressor drips. Tell her that she isn’t better than the nurse on the orthopedic floor, and that her “CCRN” doesn’t mean anything special.
Maybe we could hang hang around this ICU room for a little while, and when Respiratory Therapy walks in to monitor ventilator settings, and to check on their patient, you could look at her scrubs, turn up your nose, and say “Oh, you must think you are better than me, because you have ‘RRT’ behind your name. What a jerk. I can intubate too.”
While we are on the way out of this hospital, let’s not forget to stop by the ER, where we can find the nurse with “CEN” behind his name. Don’t forget to tell him that he is a jerk because he doesn’t just use “RN.” Only a jerk would use “CEN.”
As I said before, medicine is a profession, made up of professionals. If post-nominal letters don’t mean anything to us, then why should they mean anything to physicians, nurses, or other ancillary providers?
I think it’s kind of going apples-to-oranges with several of your examples. MD, PhD? Really? That’s something one earns with far more effort than 3 weeks (or 3 months…or sometimes even 3 years) of additional education. Honestly, same thing goes for RRT, CEN, CCRN, FACEP and FACC. All of those require far more time and education to attain than most of the paramedic-level post-nominal letters (hell, probably more than all of the ones you mentioned combined).
There is a point where they are pretentious. If you’re corresponding with someone about general paramedic stuff, it’s over the top to add NREMT-P, CCEMT-P, FP-C,CCP-C, AEIOU & sometimes Y. The NREMT-P is probably plenty. Of course, I don’t have a lot of Post-Nominal letters. In my official correspondence, I have B.A., EMT-P. My wife has more, but her general official correspondence is MBA, RN. If she followed your example, it would be something more like, B.A., EMT-B, OEC I/T, RN, BSN, MBA…but despite the amount of work to attain each of them (and maintain some of them), it’s pretentious to list them all.
I have a string of post nominal letters that I could place behind my name — B.A., M.Th., Ph.D., NREMT-B (and hopefully in about 11 months NREMT-P). I never use any of them. It’s not because I am not proud of them, it’s just not my style. However, if others want to use their letters, I say go for it. The use or non-use doesn’t bother me one way or the other.
I certainly wouldn’t equate my paramedic education with that of a physician, nurse, or respiratory therapist. As long as we have to work under someone’s license, we cannot be considered on par with these other medical professionals.
Just my two cents.
I certainly respect your opinion not to use letters you have earned, though it seems odd not to use Ph.D when it required such work.
I won’t equate my education with that of a physician. But “MD” or “DO” are not the only letters physicians use. FACC is bestowed on cardiologists who meet certain criteria, the same as FACEP is bestowed on emergency physicians.
Perhaps we can establish the “American College of Emergency Medical Services?” FACEMS? Hmmm.
“CCRN certification is awarded to critical care nurses who have passed the 150-question, 3-hour certification exam and meet the eligibility requirements for hours of clinical practice in care of acutely and/or critically ill patients.”
How is that different (or pretentious of me) than my use of “FP-C?”
CCC,
I would say it’s how they’re used. If you’re not corresponding regarding flight paramedicine, I would go with one of your other sets of letters (because the fact that you’re a FP-C means nothing to me if we’re talking specifically about some aspect of ground operations).
My bad on not recognizing the similar requirements for CCRN. Again, if they’re doing something that isn’t critical-care related, it wouldn’t serve much purpose. In other cases, it may well.
Yes, that means different sig lines for different things. (If she needs the letters, the BA, BSN, RN and MBA usually aren’t on her Ski Patrol stuff…but her EMT-B and OEC-I/T are…because they’re pertinent to the position).
I agree that how you use different letters does have some bearing with where you are using them, I have seen paramedics use FF after their EMTP even though they’re working on a purely ems system. I do not agree that FPC or CCEMTP means nothing if you are talking about ground ems functions. While the FPC does deal with flights and advanced procedures we may never see on a rig, there is a lot of information that can be used to better understand and treat a patient.
Critical care, in my opinion, gets a bad reputation for being too much information for a short transport and treatment time on an everyday EMS run. In reality a lot of the information you go over while studying for an FPC & CCEMTP can assist you in treating all ranges of patients. From cardiac patients to OB to trauma.
What I get fed up with are the medics who are certified in all the top forms of advanced certifications and yet do the very least they can get away with for their patients, and don’t teach others when the opportunity arises.
Now I really don’t agree with what nremtjohn said with, “I certainly wouldn’t equate my paramedic education with that of a physician, nurse, or respiratory therapist. As long as we have to work under someone’s license, we cannot be considered on par with these other medical professionals.”
True, just the standard Paramedic education may be insufficient for a complete emergency provider, with the appropriate skill set and advanced training I would say you could certainly bring up standards to equal and maybe even superseding that of nurses or RTs. They also work under someone else’s orders.
I would argue that a well trained, competent and with the proper leeway of their protocol, a paramedic could stand toe to toe with the best nurses and respiratory techs, well everything except the pay.