From beginning to end

As we come to the last few weeks of the EMT course, it seems that we are also coming full circle, revisiting early class materials on the lifecycle of human development.

One of the more interesting aspects of our current study is the process of childbirth, and the EMT skills that support it.

As one instructor noted, human beings have been giving birth in fields and caves for thousands of years, and it's only the last few hundred where doctors got involved.

As a result, EMTs are expected to be fully prepared to deliver healthy babies without additional assistance (and to provide appropriate emergency care and transport when and if complications arise.)

Needless to say, this has made for some humorous practical skill sessions,mostly involving EMT students trying not to laugh as their peer is arm deep in the abdomen of the mother (delivery) mannequin, trying to emulate the birth process by pushing the baby mannequin out (with appropriate grunting sounds made entirely by accident in most cases).

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