OSCE

Dear ALS Credentialing Candidate:

Congratulations on a very high achievement! You are now at a crossroads after - on average - a 14 to 15 month journey from being an EMT to being on the verge of providing ALS care in service to our citizens, workers and visitors. If you come to us as a reciprocity candidate, you have made a long-term commitment to serve as well, which started with our 3-6 month academic residency program. You and I both owe a huge thanks to our academy faculty, staff and preceptors.

To both academy grad and reciprocity medic, we all welcome that commitment and hope to certify your readiness to practice independently with a license in the State, under my oversight.

Since the 1980’s, MCFRS has had one of the most rigorous front-end loaded credentialing processes in the State, which consisted of two steps, the EMS duty officer testing and the MD verbal/oral interview panel. With changes in teaching and medical science, and through years of feedback, we completed our QI program on that process to introduce in the Summer of 2017 the new Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE), which is the ultimate consensus tool by your peers. It simulates the true evolution of a patient with a partner, plus the corollary daily activities every medic must master - consulting, destination choices, documentation and justification of downgrading a patient if that tool is contemplated.

Preparation for the exam includes habits already developed for the Registry: key protocol knowledge, judgment taught to you in class and residency, and written skills you should have demonstrated throughout class. Please be assured this is a process that, if you are ready to be a medic, you should pass. It is simply time to “strut your stuff”! Direct any questions you have to your preceptor, EMSDO, Captain Dan Schaefer, Michele Burkhammer, and/or Lieutenant Yann Le Renard.

Warmest wishes and best of luck,

Roger M. Stone, M.D., M.S., FACEP FAAEM FAEMS, Medical Director