Percom's EMT-P Student Announcements

We have some new docs on board who are wanting to help students learn in our program, especially out students stationed overseas who cannot attend our normally scheduled chats due to time zone differences. Also, I am sure there are others here in the states who work odd times and may also benefit. We attempted this a few days ago but since our docs are in the U.S. Army, they had difficulty with the Army servers getting first themselves and students into the room on their servers. They have been working on the problem and Dr. James Cox is going to attempt this again on May 11th at 19:00 hrs Afghanistan time, which correlates to 09:30 if you are in the Texas time zone. If you are interested in attending this chat, please log into the chat room from this page for the chat a little ahead of time and wait on the doc to log in. If you haven't logged in before, be sure to go in ahead of time and set up your account.

Remember, our docs for this chat are overseas and in potentially volatile locations so be patient and please be understanding if any problems arise. But we want you who need this to benefit from this so let's give it another shot.

Please look inside your course for the Medical Director Forum.  Dr. Kiss has posted the first discussion topic for you and your fellow students to work on over the next week to 10 days.  :)  He will check back in then and see what you all have posted.  :)  Have fun!  Let the games begin!

Each student will now be required to interact and post questions or researched or constructive posts in discussions with Dr. Kiss, the PERCOM Medical Director, and your fellow students in the Medical Director Forum online. Dr. Kiss will be posting questions and/or scenarios starting within the next few days to prompt you to work with your fellow students to come up with answers or ask more questions as indicated. Each student MUST participate a minimum of 3 times for this course level prior to taking your final exam unless you have already been cleared to take your final exam as of today, April 24th, 2012. However, be aware that just making a comment that is not really "discussion" (such as thanking someone for their information or agreeing with someone else, etc.) will not count toward your minimum number of posts. You must post actual THOUGHTS, IDEAS, RESEARCHED ANSWERS, etc to get credit. So start watching for Dr. Kiss to post on the forum and start interacting with him. We think you will find it enjoyable and beneficial. If you have a question for him in the meantime or at any time, just start your own thread in the forum. Be aware that he will only be checking on progress or posts in the forum approximately every week to 10 days so be patient and check for responses each time you enter your coursework.

RSVP's for the P2 Days 1 and 2 Practice Session in the San Antonio/Floresville, Tx area are due no later than 9 a.m. on Friday, May 4th, 2012.  To be eligible, you must have completed all assignments through the Cardiology portion of the course, have taken and passed your Pharmacology and ECG Qualifying Exams and be cleared by your lead instructor.  To RSVP, email Jane at programdirector@percomonline.com before the deadline.  Late RSVP's will not be accepted.

With the new chat room feature, there will be a separate room available for unmoderated chat for students in your course. If you would like to meet each other, get ideas, discuss research strategies, use it as a "study hall", etc, you can set up chats using this feature. To discuss this with your fellow students, use the student forum inside the course itself and arrange dates and times to talk.

Since this chatroom is unmoderated, please refrain from using foul language or being derogatory, demeaning or inappropriate in any way while in our chat rooms. We do have the ability to monitor without being seen and if any such behavior is observed or reported to us by fellow students, your access will be removed and you can suffer discplinary action in your course. We don't want to sound harsh but sometimes we find it is necessary to remind folks to be respectful of each other. Thank you for your cooperation and enjoy the new feature!

PERCOM has purchased some new software for our chat room live interactive feature for all initial training courses. This will require that you register the first time that you enter again using the Chat Room button on the right side of this screen. It will take you to the login page. It will be in a popup box window so you will need to turn off your popup blocker prior to entering the chat room.

The first time you will use the Register side of the screen in the popup box to set up your user name and password. We want all students using the SAME FORMAT for screen names. Please use your first and last name with appropriate capitalization and spaces, i.e. John Doe. Select your password and reenter it as directed. Then click the Registration button when finished, and it will take you into the chat room. On further accesses, use the login section on the left side of the popup box using the user name and password you entered each time.

We hope you enjoy the features. If you have any difficulty or find that something is not working well with your particular computer platform, please email Jerry at jerrydinsmore@percomonline.com .

The calendar/schedule has been changed for the upcoming Paramedic 2 Practice Session scheduled for April 14th and 15th due to no students currently needed days 3 and 4 as was originally scheduled.  So this session now begins a skills cycle at TEEX in College Station and many of you need this session. 

The deadline for RSVP is no later than 9 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd.  To be eligible, you must have completed THROUGH Cardiology in your course and have taken and passed the Pharmacology and ECG Qualifying Exams, which are proctored by webinar.  To RSVP, email Jane at programdirector@percomonline.com if you meet the requirements and would like to attend this session.

At a recent EMT Exit Session, it was written that PERCOM should go back and change all of its presentations, tests and test questions to match the textbook being used. I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that PERCOM has a REASON for not just using the content associated with the preferred textbook. First, we have found over years of EMS educational delivery, that content matched to any one textbook is not good enough. Every textbook is different and while some stress one thing, another may not stress that important item or leave it out entirely. Students must also learn to adapt, find and utilize information from a broad spectrum of sources to include other textbooks, the internet, trade magazines, etc. Students may even find conflicts in that information. But that is ok. This is how we teach students to research and also to learn to critically think while also trying to provide information for you that may not be clear or may not even be in your textbook. You CANNOT achieve full success as an EMS provider by sticking to what you learn from one source, and PERCOM's course design promotes that students learn to use various sources and research to find information. Don't forget that it is to your benefit to look at EVERY lecture presentation included in this course because there is MUCH material there that will add to, enforce or fill in what is NOT in your book. Thank you.

In an attempt to speed up the process of getting actual course completion certificates to individual students, we are piloting a change where we will start emailing the scanned course completion certificates, letters and attached informational docuements to students rather then mailing them. The scanned CCC will contain the signature and can be printed off on your end. This will allow us to get them to you a few days sooner and have less chance of them being lost between us and students, which seems to be happening more frequently since the last round of changes with the U.S. Postal Service. Any student who HAS to have an original from our office can request it when our secretary emails you the scanned documents.

For those of you who live in the East Texas area or who plan to travel to that area for rotations to stay with family or friends or who just want to rotate in East Texas, we now have the availability to sign you up for rotations with Kilgore College, our sponsor.  This is an all or none arrangement.  When it is time for you to do your rotations, we would register you with Kilgore College's EMS education program for their clinical and field sections ONLY. You would be a joint student between the two programs but would pull all rotations through Kilgore College as a student (the same agreement as we have now with TEEX).  Once you are complete, they would notify us you are clear, and course completion is still through PERCOM.  So your choices for rotations are through PERCOM sites, or TEEX or Kilgore College.

When it is time fo you to submit all your clinical paperwork and documentation to Mr. Royder,our Clinical Coordinator, please make sure you discuss this with him and fill out the proper paperwork.   This paperwork will be posted under a button on this page very soon but in the meantime, it can be obtained through Mr. Royder at clinicals@percomonline.com .

We are in the process of making more changes at PERCOM as our company grows. Please be sure you are cleared by your Lead Instructor for your Pharmacology and ECG Qualifying Exams and email that instructor to schedule those exams.  Then after you have completed your homework assignments, research exams and all mandatory chat rooms, you should email your lead instructor to schedule your final exam.  Available test times are posted on the calendar under the Final Exam button on this page and all times are in CST/DST. We can only schedule one student at a time so send several choices of dates and times from which Pat can assign your test. If you need your test after 5 p.m. CST/DST or on a weekend, these MAY be available but will incur an extra charge of $25 for an After-Hours Fee.

Remember, you MUST pass your ECG and Pharm Qualifying Exams to be eligible to go to your Paramedic Days 1 and 2 Practice Session. Minimum passing score on these two exams is 80.

Please watch the PERCOM skills calendar for new Practice and Testing Session postings for 2012. We have begun posting them and will continue to post new ones as we receive the dates from instructors over the next several weeks. The Skills Calendar is located under the "Calendar" button on the main PERCOM webpage at http://percomonline.com .

Remember, you MUST complete Skills Days 1 and 2 and THEN 3 and 4 and THEN testing for days 5 and 6 in that order and you MUST have completed THROUGH the Cardiology portion of the course in its entirety, including passing your Pharmacology and ECG Qualifying Exams to be eligible to RSVP for Skills Days 1 and 2.  We have made some changes on previously posted session for this course on the calendar to change some exiting sessions to start again at Days 1 and 2 since so many of you need to START the Skills Practice process.  Be sure to check the calendar closely for these days and changes.

We seem to have had a rash of students recently who have become forceful, demanding, and some have even become belligerent to one or more members of the PERCOM staff either by telephone, email or in person.  Some students have become "testy" because they want to complete course or clinical requirements THEIR way and not by policies set by either PERCOM or any of its affiliates.  While most of our students have and continue to demonstate professionalism, courtesy and respect to our instructors, coordinators, staff and all affiliate personnel, the ones who have NOT been demonstrating that professionalism are causing problems that won't be tolerated.  ALL requirements listed in our Student Handbook, course syllabus and schedule, clinical and field rotation paperwork, coursework and as listed on this website or by instructors, coordinators, program director or affiliates of our program will be followed to the letter without complaint.  Questions are welcomed but demands, inappropriate comments, complaints about having to complete the requirements as set forth by PERCOM or its affiliates, etc WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.  ALL PERCOM students are expected to demonstrate the professionalism and behaviors that WILL be expected of you as an EMS PROFESSIONAL in the workforce or volunteer workforce.  Anything less is totally unacceptable and WILL be grounds for dismissal from the program!  Working together in a positive manner to resolve issues without conflict is always best for everyone concerned. 

I thought this class might be interested in reading this article distributed by JEMS today. Be sure to copy and paste the whole link to your browser.

http://www.jems.com/article/patient-care/identifying-diseases-mimic-str?utm_source=Go+Forward+Media+eMail%2C+Powered+by+Bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Identifying+Diseases+that+Mimic+Strokes&utm_content=programdirector%40percomonline.com&utm_campaign=JEMS+eNews+03-15-11

The Advanced Chat Room time has been moved up to 7:30 p.m. CST/DST effective immediately.  Be aware this is set to begin as soon as the Basic Chat Room ends at 7:30 so if you log in early, please wait patiently until 7:30 for Mr. Gandy to begin the Advanced Chat Room.  Please do not interfere with the Basic Chat if it is still underway until 7:30.  Remember, you MUST attend AND PARTICIPATE IN three Advanced Chats to be eligible to graduate from this course.