What do you think every EMT student should experience?

A recent discussion over at EMTlife.com caught my eye. This poster, self-identified as an EMT, put out the following list of “what every EMT should be required to to experience before they graduate”

1. Spend one class fastened on a spineboard. Or at least 30 minutes.

2. Undergo a rapid eval, wearing a swimsuit under some clothes which can be cut. The team at the end of the semester who found the hidden injury fastest wins a very good prize, enough to get them fired up during the eval. It ought to be just your underwear and wearing your normal everyday clothes, but we can’t have everything.

3. Lay down, be spineboarded and be transported code three across town in an ambulance. Put some rocks under your back to help simulate injures.

Any other such??? Hx taking? Exrication? EMT’s speaking a foreign language? Blindfolded, earplugged or not allowed to speak (mute)?

This brings up some interesting points. How real-life realistic are the many scenarios and training exercises we go through? After running scenario after scenario, using our healthy, warm pink and dry classmates as pseudo-patients, how prepared are we for the reality of EMS work?

What would you add to this list? What do you think all rookie EMTs should have to experience before heading out on the road?