State Licensing

Well, now that the academics are over I have to go through the colossal steps of applying for the state licenses. See, the NREMT only certifies that you've been educated and demonstrated proficiency for the knowledge and skills as a Nationally Registered Paramedic. It has no lawful control over whether you can practice medicine in any given state, as that is at the sole discretion of each state. Most states recognize the passing of the NREMT as acceptable to apply for and receive their state's license to practice.

I am applying for licenses in Ohio and Kentucky since I live on the border and perhaps one day may work for a Cincinnati based agency. I also plan to apply for Illinois and Indiana as both are prospects for relocation down the road. Applying for state licensing is about as pleasurable as jumping through the hurdles to join the military. Copious amounts of paperwork that you hurriedly fill out and send in, only to be acted upon on the states own time table. Let's face it, the government is not know for their efficiency.

To top it off, required certifications that were part of our training and education done months ago have still not made it to us from the university. Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Pediatric Advanced Life Support were successfully completed last year...still here I sit in wait for their arrival so I can complete my application process to the states. They had to wait to give us the certifications until successful completion of the class...tomorrow will be one full week. One full week doesn't sound like a long time, but it really is since, a). we already passed the training for these certifications months ago and, b). the university staff knew in advance that we would be graduating on time. Maybe I am just being too impatient...but I can't do anything until I can successfully make it through the application process.

For those of you concerned, my surgery last Wednesday went well. The doctor was able to remove two of my three screws successfully, however, the third was to far in to be removed without a lot of extra work. He said I had a lot of scar tissue on the lateral (outside) aspect of my ankle that he tried to clean up. He hasn't said one positive thing about how the original surgeon did his job. He believes, as I do, that the original doctor made things way worse by doing things with such archaic procedures and techniques, which are no longer used by most ortho's because of the kind of results that they yield. I am up walking some, but I get really sore where the one screw was that was holding that little ball on the inside part of your ankle. That one spot hurts the most. I was miserable the first two day with pain...now I am down to once or twice a day on pain meds. The surgeon is still dealing with my insurance company concerning the knee injections I am supposed to receive which may help me avoid surgery in that area. Dr. Nick hacked me up there too when he was trying to do the autograft.