Degrees shouldn't be a divisive topic in EMS, but they are. It's a also a topic that tends to be fatiguing, but there's a saying "When you're tired of saying it, people are just starting to hear it". David Fifer doesn't seem to have tired of the message, and I'm here for it. David and I got together to talk about degrees for Paramedics, where the nuance is in the discussion is, why we often sound like elitist pricks when we talk about degrees, and why the discussion has almost nothing to do with being able to start an IV or follow a protocol. This is part one of the discussion. Part two will transition over to the topic of the paramedic practitioner.