Original post by electricjonPlease quote me correctly. I am not disputing that you know basic life support. Of course you do. However, basic life support is simply giving 30 compressions to 2 breaths, not exactly rocket science and certainly no reason to call someone a doctor.
As for defibrillators. Yes, I know that dental students, just like medical students, are taught how to combine BLS along with using an AED. An AED being an AUTOMATED External Defibrillator - i.e. you stick two pads on to their chest, turn it on, and then it does everything for you. Again, not THAT difficult and again, no reason to call someone a doctor - these things have clear instructions on the front to allow them to be used by any lay person. Nurses and paramedics are also trained to use them. No-one's calling them doctors either.
What I am talking about is ADVANCED life support. Medical and dental students DO NOT study this at university, it being a 2 day internationally recognized course that anyone can do, you have to get renewed every 4 years, and teaches you how to do manual defibrillation, recognise and treat life threatening arrhythmias, post resuscitation care, as well as a range of common emergencies such as pregnancy, anaphylaxis, sticking needles in chests etc...and loads more - essentially all the important things that members of the general public might expect a "doctor" to be able to do in the is-there-a-doctor-on-board situation. That doesn't mean that "doctors" fresh out of medical school are automatically able to handle these things. Far from it, and part of their continuing postgraduate training involves attending such courses in order to develop. Without ALS, a junior doctor in the UK is very unlikely to get a competitive job or progress up their chosen career ladder, whatever their specialty, and as such represents one of the first of many hurdles that a newly qualified doctor must overcome. It's just that they're already called "doctor" by then so status doesn't really come into it.
Dentists can progress in their career however, without having to possess ALS, and yet they would still be allowed to call themselves "doctor" straight after finishing dental school. I have an objection to that (in case you hadn't gathered by now!) MOST dentists, just like ALL newly qualified medics, would probably be hopeless in any serious emergency that required anything more than chest compressions, sticking on defibrillator pads and flicking a switch. To any dentists out there, would YOU know what to do if the defibrillator show torsades de pointes, irregular tachycardia with a broad QRS or pulseless electrical activity? Shock them? That would be a very bad idea. I suppose then you know what dose of adrenaline to give? Amiodarone? Magnesium? And over how long? Oh, you don't. Don't call yourself a doctor then. The public will be misled into thinking you can help in these emergency situations, which is what most people would expect.
Bare daaaambbb?! wtf? Please. Just get it right before you lay into me.