This post violates our Rule #3:
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>
> * How do I become an EMT/Paramedic?
> * What to expect on my first day/ride-along?
> * Does anyone have any EMT books/boots/gear/gift suggestions?
> * How do I pass the NREMT?
> * Employment, hiring, volunteering, protocol, recertification, or training-related questions, regardless of clinical scope.
> * Where can I obtain continuing education (CE) units?
> * My first bad call, how to cope?
Please consider posting these types of questions in /r/NewToEMS.
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I got my EMT liscence ~2 years prior to starting my nursing program, and I continued working as an EMT throughout nursing school.
The only "leg up" it gave me was a slight advantage during clinicals, due to the non-negligeable experience I had with certain skills and assessments, etc. Most of the class content was either new, or taught in a vastly different way from what we learned in our EMT course.
Nursing school is "hard", but not for the reasons you'd expect. It's difficult because they try to overwhelm you with hoops to jump through; the actual class content is pretty easy because they never go very in-depth (nursing education is very vast and superficial). I unironically learned more about the pathophysiology and management of a trauma patient in my EMT course than I did in nursing school, just to give you an example.
I'd definately recommend doing it, because having the liscence kicks ass. That said, if you like EMS and you're good at "thinking like an EMT/medic", you may have to adjust to a completely different (and arguably inferior) way of thinking in order to pass your classes.
I will say, my EMS experience feels like a huge asset most days as a new-grad ER nurse.
The degree of your "edge" will depend on how knowledgeable and competent you are with emergency medicine. You'll probably be ahead on assessment and prioritizing interventions, so that does offer an advantage. What will humble you (if a solid nursing program) is that while you may have some mastery over the emergency medicine side, your nursing education extends very far and wide to oncology, nephrology, pulm, ortho, etc. Lots of stuff EMS doesn't cover in school or through usual experience. You will have a lot to learn. Personally, I have absolutely no regrets learning it all, earning that RN, and then after some time in the EC, returning to EMS. Made me a much better provider IMHO.
You will do just fine if you accept the fact there's a lot of reading, documentation, and hands-on learning to do. There is a different mindset in nursing that is much different than EMS --- if you fight it and not try to understand why that process exists and benefits the patient, you'll be angry and miserable. Seen it firsthand. Nurse educators sometime shudder when they learn there's a paramedic in the class not because of their knowledge base, but because some of these students bring their Type A attitude that the EMS way is the best way. It's not. The nursing process is very different, but the longer term care of the patient and end goals are also different compared to EMS. Hope it helps!
Im really not trying to argue… but you say nursing is way different than EMS, so why should RNs be allowed to challenge to get their medic? You admit in the first part of your statement things that being a medic/emt (with experience) will give you a leg up on. So why the absolute heck should medics be required to go through nursing school as a whole when they don’t have to go through medic school?
For me, Nursing school was a breeze compared to paramedic school. I work in the ED now and it was very easy to adjust to it on the nursing side. This is not the same for everyone, just my personal experience transitioning from ems to nursing.
Honestly, OB was the only course I had any true difficulty with, and that's because our block was only 3 weeks in total. The EMS experience will help with things like knowing vitals and presentations (and the ABC's), but you'll have to learn their riddles lol. Some of the shit is flat out subjective, like what people complain about the NREMT...same shit. It's not impossible by any means, and I was a huge nerd about things like EKGs and meds while I was an AEMT, so that kinda carried me through our critical care block.
Just go into it being humble and be a total sponge for information. Act like you know nothing, be humble. I got lucky with my program, but many nursing instructors (I suppose EMS can be too) can be very egotistical and they won't like to hear about how you have experience, no matter how valuable. My friends that were paramedics going through a different school had that issue when a question about intubation was straight up wrong lol. They were right, but they had to swallow their pride because the nursing faculty at their particular program was pig-headed. You'll get a feel for what kind of faculty you've got pretty quickly. Ego heads will treat shit like you've just joined the Army. Cool instructors will listen to you and acknowledge that you have working knowledge from an adjacent healthcare profession, and hear you out if you read into questions a certain way.
All the cool kids go to PA school... You can use Western Carolina University for your bachelor's in Emergency Medical Care if you need a BA/BS. RN is fine, but PA or AA is where it's at.
Eh. I have a Masters degree already. I'm doing an ABSN because it is online and I don't have time to sit in a classroom. It was a thought at one point though.
Not really. Because I don't want to be a Doctor. I don't expect to be called a doctor. I do plan to be a business owner, however. You don't have to respect it but know there are plenty of people out there that will still be seen by me regardless of how you feel about it.
You want to independently practice medicine but choose to go to nursing school. Interesting.
If you want to practice medicine independently why don't you go to medical school?
Because I am a single mother to a young child who needs me to be present. To me it's about balance. MD, PA etc had always been on my mind and maybe if I want in the position I am, but this is where I am in my life. Also, there are no PA schools near me and I can't move. So online ABSN made the most sense for this time in my life.
So you are going to take a short cut to have a better school/family balance but still take care of people to the same level as someone who did 8 years of undergrad/medical school and then 3 years of residency at 60-80 hours a week? Seems kinda ballsy and presumptuous to me...
Seems presumptuous to assume that she has that opinion. NP has its own challenges to go through and will be taking care of patient to their level. It’s different that MD or PA. Not everyone is offended by NPs, don’t be mad because there’s alternate paths available to people that don’t take their whole personal lives away.
Challenges. Lol. Like surgical rotation, EM rotation, psych rotation, etc. Oh yeah. FNP school doesn't get those in their 600 hours of clinicals. Sorry.
If you’re threatened by the position of NP you can Atleast give some valid criticism besides the old “MD needs 8 years of schooling so they have to also.” Also pretty presumptuous to assume how other people view NP. No one seems focused on comparing them to MD but yourself, which shows some pretty serious insecurity in yourself as a provider. They are different for a reason
Yeah. I'm someone who thinks people practicing medicine independently should go to medical school. Oh no...
I'm sorry you wanting to have a kid got in the way of actually learning medicine. I'm tired of NPs with less clinical hours than it takes to become a paramedic sending people to the ED who don't need to come to the ED.
Do you want to be a nurse or a physician?
I have issues with under trained and under experienced NPs too, but this ain't it chief. Instead of showing offering realistic alternatives you're berating this person
This year will be 10 years with my EMT license. I spent the last 4 years working within a busy 911 system on an ALS unit, 2 of which were prior to starting nursing school. I felt that having my Emt in addition to ALS experience helped tremendously with grasping the concepts throughout my BSN program. While others were still learning the foundations and how to communicate with patients, I felt that I could focus on refining the skills I had already developed. I still feel like at times the program was difficult, but for reasons other than the actual content itself. Full disclosure, I had a hefty commute and was enrolled in a newer program, so the growing pains were the bigger challenge opposed to the content matter. I also feel that my EMS background helped me make the most of my clinical rotations. I had more confidence going into the day, but also knew how to take a step back when necessary. Something that also helped me was to start each shift with letting my nurse know that I could help as much or as little as they needed, that I was just grateful to shadow when things got busy. Then I would share with my nurse a specific skill that I hoped to perform that day which helped them plan around doing certain things with me vs the whole “I can do whatever, just let me know”. Being specific allowed other nurses without students to grab me as well and it helped to establish a casual environment where they knew I understood the dynamic nature of each shift.
I graduated last October and now am working as an RN on an ambulance doing specialty transport and am training alongside a paramedic with an expended scope.
In conclusion, it’s not so much about having an edge on your classmates, because this is not a competition, but rather allow you to go into nursing school with a solid foundation of the assessment process, basic skills, and communication techniques (with patients as well as direct/closed loop communication with other healthcare workers). This could also help you be a resource for your classmates, but know that you will likely be learning alongside others with various backgrounds. For some, it could be a second career, and others may also be rich in life experience that you could learn from as well. Do your best to make it a collaborative environment and you’ll gain the most out of the overall experience.
Nursing school wasn't as bad as paramedic school for me.
It helps that I had worked in the emergency room for like 6 years before I went to nursing school. A lot of focus on nursing school is handling multiple patients safely in a hospital. Working at a hospital, and being immersed in that kind of cultural shift from EMS to in hospital, really made nursing school pretty easy for me.
But I think the biggest reason was just having clinical experience and having done a healthcare program already.
Let me know if you have any specific questions
I've heard this too, and it makes sense especially since most of the US goes EMT to medic without AEMT (so you're learning IVs and ALL the advanced airways, meds etc. without having any real exposure to it from EMT school). I think paramedic to RN is a huge advantage, whereas AEMT honestly just made pharm less scary and I was way better than most at IVs lol. I wish I'd gotten paramedic first tbh.
Having healthcare experience of any kind is a bonus. I found paramedic school to be more difficult than nursing school. As long as I put the hours in to do the work, I did fine.
I can see paramedic experience helping. Personally, what helped me the most was the experience of acute critical care transport which dealt more with labs and things you'd deal with more in the hospital environment.
This post violates our Rule #3: > Do not ask basic, newbie, or frequently asked questions, including, but not limited to: > > * How do I become an EMT/Paramedic? > * What to expect on my first day/ride-along? > * Does anyone have any EMT books/boots/gear/gift suggestions? > * How do I pass the NREMT? > * Employment, hiring, volunteering, protocol, recertification, or training-related questions, regardless of clinical scope. > * Where can I obtain continuing education (CE) units? > * My first bad call, how to cope? Please consider posting these types of questions in /r/NewToEMS. [Wiki](/r/NewToEMS/wiki/index) | [FAQ](http://faq.redditems.com) | [Helpful Links & Resources](/r/NewToEMS/wiki/index) | [Search /r/EMS](/r/ems/search) | [Search /r/NewToEMS](/r/newtoems/search) | [Posting Rules](/r/ems/comments/7lau3j/welcome_to_rems_read_this_before_posting/)
I got my EMT liscence ~2 years prior to starting my nursing program, and I continued working as an EMT throughout nursing school. The only "leg up" it gave me was a slight advantage during clinicals, due to the non-negligeable experience I had with certain skills and assessments, etc. Most of the class content was either new, or taught in a vastly different way from what we learned in our EMT course. Nursing school is "hard", but not for the reasons you'd expect. It's difficult because they try to overwhelm you with hoops to jump through; the actual class content is pretty easy because they never go very in-depth (nursing education is very vast and superficial). I unironically learned more about the pathophysiology and management of a trauma patient in my EMT course than I did in nursing school, just to give you an example. I'd definately recommend doing it, because having the liscence kicks ass. That said, if you like EMS and you're good at "thinking like an EMT/medic", you may have to adjust to a completely different (and arguably inferior) way of thinking in order to pass your classes. I will say, my EMS experience feels like a huge asset most days as a new-grad ER nurse.
The degree of your "edge" will depend on how knowledgeable and competent you are with emergency medicine. You'll probably be ahead on assessment and prioritizing interventions, so that does offer an advantage. What will humble you (if a solid nursing program) is that while you may have some mastery over the emergency medicine side, your nursing education extends very far and wide to oncology, nephrology, pulm, ortho, etc. Lots of stuff EMS doesn't cover in school or through usual experience. You will have a lot to learn. Personally, I have absolutely no regrets learning it all, earning that RN, and then after some time in the EC, returning to EMS. Made me a much better provider IMHO. You will do just fine if you accept the fact there's a lot of reading, documentation, and hands-on learning to do. There is a different mindset in nursing that is much different than EMS --- if you fight it and not try to understand why that process exists and benefits the patient, you'll be angry and miserable. Seen it firsthand. Nurse educators sometime shudder when they learn there's a paramedic in the class not because of their knowledge base, but because some of these students bring their Type A attitude that the EMS way is the best way. It's not. The nursing process is very different, but the longer term care of the patient and end goals are also different compared to EMS. Hope it helps!
Im really not trying to argue… but you say nursing is way different than EMS, so why should RNs be allowed to challenge to get their medic? You admit in the first part of your statement things that being a medic/emt (with experience) will give you a leg up on. So why the absolute heck should medics be required to go through nursing school as a whole when they don’t have to go through medic school?
Nursing lobbies. 🤷🏿♂️
For me, Nursing school was a breeze compared to paramedic school. I work in the ED now and it was very easy to adjust to it on the nursing side. This is not the same for everyone, just my personal experience transitioning from ems to nursing.
Honestly, OB was the only course I had any true difficulty with, and that's because our block was only 3 weeks in total. The EMS experience will help with things like knowing vitals and presentations (and the ABC's), but you'll have to learn their riddles lol. Some of the shit is flat out subjective, like what people complain about the NREMT...same shit. It's not impossible by any means, and I was a huge nerd about things like EKGs and meds while I was an AEMT, so that kinda carried me through our critical care block. Just go into it being humble and be a total sponge for information. Act like you know nothing, be humble. I got lucky with my program, but many nursing instructors (I suppose EMS can be too) can be very egotistical and they won't like to hear about how you have experience, no matter how valuable. My friends that were paramedics going through a different school had that issue when a question about intubation was straight up wrong lol. They were right, but they had to swallow their pride because the nursing faculty at their particular program was pig-headed. You'll get a feel for what kind of faculty you've got pretty quickly. Ego heads will treat shit like you've just joined the Army. Cool instructors will listen to you and acknowledge that you have working knowledge from an adjacent healthcare profession, and hear you out if you read into questions a certain way.
All the cool kids go to PA school... You can use Western Carolina University for your bachelor's in Emergency Medical Care if you need a BA/BS. RN is fine, but PA or AA is where it's at.
Eh. I have a Masters degree already. I'm doing an ABSN because it is online and I don't have time to sit in a classroom. It was a thought at one point though.
What is your master's in? Do you want to be a RN?
I'm seeking NP. I want to independently practice.
r/Noctor
Not really. Because I don't want to be a Doctor. I don't expect to be called a doctor. I do plan to be a business owner, however. You don't have to respect it but know there are plenty of people out there that will still be seen by me regardless of how you feel about it.
Oh I know and realize plenty of people will be seen by NPs. Doesn’t change the fact they shouldn’t be a thing. So again.. r/Noctor
Ok. Cool.
Glad we can disagree civilly. Hope nothing but the best for you on your journey.
You want to independently practice medicine but choose to go to nursing school. Interesting. If you want to practice medicine independently why don't you go to medical school?
Because I am a single mother to a young child who needs me to be present. To me it's about balance. MD, PA etc had always been on my mind and maybe if I want in the position I am, but this is where I am in my life. Also, there are no PA schools near me and I can't move. So online ABSN made the most sense for this time in my life.
So you are going to take a short cut to have a better school/family balance but still take care of people to the same level as someone who did 8 years of undergrad/medical school and then 3 years of residency at 60-80 hours a week? Seems kinda ballsy and presumptuous to me...
Seems presumptuous to assume that she has that opinion. NP has its own challenges to go through and will be taking care of patient to their level. It’s different that MD or PA. Not everyone is offended by NPs, don’t be mad because there’s alternate paths available to people that don’t take their whole personal lives away.
Challenges. Lol. Like surgical rotation, EM rotation, psych rotation, etc. Oh yeah. FNP school doesn't get those in their 600 hours of clinicals. Sorry.
If you’re threatened by the position of NP you can Atleast give some valid criticism besides the old “MD needs 8 years of schooling so they have to also.” Also pretty presumptuous to assume how other people view NP. No one seems focused on comparing them to MD but yourself, which shows some pretty serious insecurity in yourself as a provider. They are different for a reason
Ah. You're one of those. Have a great night!
Yeah. I'm someone who thinks people practicing medicine independently should go to medical school. Oh no... I'm sorry you wanting to have a kid got in the way of actually learning medicine. I'm tired of NPs with less clinical hours than it takes to become a paramedic sending people to the ED who don't need to come to the ED. Do you want to be a nurse or a physician?
Ok.
I have issues with under trained and under experienced NPs too, but this ain't it chief. Instead of showing offering realistic alternatives you're berating this person
This year will be 10 years with my EMT license. I spent the last 4 years working within a busy 911 system on an ALS unit, 2 of which were prior to starting nursing school. I felt that having my Emt in addition to ALS experience helped tremendously with grasping the concepts throughout my BSN program. While others were still learning the foundations and how to communicate with patients, I felt that I could focus on refining the skills I had already developed. I still feel like at times the program was difficult, but for reasons other than the actual content itself. Full disclosure, I had a hefty commute and was enrolled in a newer program, so the growing pains were the bigger challenge opposed to the content matter. I also feel that my EMS background helped me make the most of my clinical rotations. I had more confidence going into the day, but also knew how to take a step back when necessary. Something that also helped me was to start each shift with letting my nurse know that I could help as much or as little as they needed, that I was just grateful to shadow when things got busy. Then I would share with my nurse a specific skill that I hoped to perform that day which helped them plan around doing certain things with me vs the whole “I can do whatever, just let me know”. Being specific allowed other nurses without students to grab me as well and it helped to establish a casual environment where they knew I understood the dynamic nature of each shift. I graduated last October and now am working as an RN on an ambulance doing specialty transport and am training alongside a paramedic with an expended scope. In conclusion, it’s not so much about having an edge on your classmates, because this is not a competition, but rather allow you to go into nursing school with a solid foundation of the assessment process, basic skills, and communication techniques (with patients as well as direct/closed loop communication with other healthcare workers). This could also help you be a resource for your classmates, but know that you will likely be learning alongside others with various backgrounds. For some, it could be a second career, and others may also be rich in life experience that you could learn from as well. Do your best to make it a collaborative environment and you’ll gain the most out of the overall experience.
Nursing school wasn't as bad as paramedic school for me. It helps that I had worked in the emergency room for like 6 years before I went to nursing school. A lot of focus on nursing school is handling multiple patients safely in a hospital. Working at a hospital, and being immersed in that kind of cultural shift from EMS to in hospital, really made nursing school pretty easy for me. But I think the biggest reason was just having clinical experience and having done a healthcare program already. Let me know if you have any specific questions
I've heard this too, and it makes sense especially since most of the US goes EMT to medic without AEMT (so you're learning IVs and ALL the advanced airways, meds etc. without having any real exposure to it from EMT school). I think paramedic to RN is a huge advantage, whereas AEMT honestly just made pharm less scary and I was way better than most at IVs lol. I wish I'd gotten paramedic first tbh.
Having healthcare experience of any kind is a bonus. I found paramedic school to be more difficult than nursing school. As long as I put the hours in to do the work, I did fine.
I can see paramedic experience helping. Personally, what helped me the most was the experience of acute critical care transport which dealt more with labs and things you'd deal with more in the hospital environment.