paramedic nursing

Hi,
I don't know your location, but I know in Ontario, Canada you can't be a paramedic unless you take the 2 year college course, even if you are an RN. I checked into it. It's unfortunate.
Hope this helps,
Tanya

I am an RN and a Paramedic 1 working in the Yukon at this time. I work as a Flight Nurse and when I'm not flying I work as a Paramedic in the ambulance. The Yukon is unique in that they don't require you to have your EMT-P certificate, but I believe in most other provinces and states you need to have both certificates to work in this area. If you are interested in the advanced skills of a paramedic and in providing nursing care then Flight nursing is an interesting line of work. There are a few areas hiring nurses, but most request that you have 3-5 years ICU/ER/CCU/CSICU/NICU experience. But if you get into oine of these specialty units you could work on your EMT-P certificate as many places offer part-time or distance ed programs.

Hi there,
I am a certified Paramedic in Ontario and I am finishing my degree in Nursing, therefore I have alittle knowledge of this area.

With the baby boomers retiring, Ambulance, Fire and Police are being hard hit to find suitable replacements for their retiring personnel.

What this means is that a nursing degree is well looked at when applying for the jobs. as for a nurse becoming a Paramedic, it is possible. I was offered a nursing position and a part-time medic position in Ontario. My girlfriend, who is a nurse but not a paramedic, was told that she could have the same deal. all she had to do was "challenge" the certification exam, which the hospital & ambulance service were willing to help her do.

So, its possible for nurse to do both. As both a medic and a Paramedic I can clearly say that the only skill difference between the too, AT THE ENTRY LEVEL, is that the nurse would need to become familar with the policies, equipement and have a class F licence. The Radio operators course is a 4 hour BS course, so dont sweat it.

Good luck.

I ride an ambulance as an RN. I can do as much or more than a Paramedic. In our state there is a bridge program under development of RN/Paramedic and vice versa. Hopefully it will be up and running in a year.

b

Hi, in North Carolina, in certain counties an RN can Challenge the EMT-P exam. I am an RN working towards everything I need to fly, I have opted not to challenge the exam so.. I have just started the EMT-P class. The college I am going to has accepted my RN in place of EMT-I which cuts a year off the EMT-P class. I will finish next May. Hope this helps!

Hi, in South Texas they did away with the RN/Paramedic bridge program. If you are an RN and want to be a EMT-P, you at least need to go to school for the EMT-Basic; which is aprox. 3 months.Once you have the EMT-B, you can skip the EMT-I but you are still require to attend the whole EMT-P course.(including EMS ride outs and ER clinical hours). Probably the reason they did this here is that there to many nurses who didn't know what to do in the field, how to control and MVA scene, a shooting scene,etc... Down here there are only a handful of RN/Paramedics (in 7 counties) I am an LVN and EMT and will finish my RN in december. I plan on being an RN/NREMT-P and be ready to FLY!!!!!!

here in florida an rn can challenge the state paramedic exam......i believe they have to have their emt basic. a paramedic (at my nursing school) can opt to clep one semester of the rn program.....of which i chose not to even try.

as far as skills go, paramedics are only limited to what medical control allows. where i work, the sky is the limit as to what you want to do, you just need the courage to try or ask. we have it much more liberal than rn's in the hospital or er's, at least in my area.

i have worked in 2 other states, and they each were different with some rules, but neither allowed any clep for the rn to paramedic..., but they both did vice versa.

after working as a paramedic 13 years i cannot imagine why a nurse would want to do my job.....maybe some can't figure out why i want to be a nurse either.

Hello, I am a NREMTP and just finished a ADN program. I also teach @ a communtiy college that has a AAS paramedic program. We are investigating a RN to paramedic bridge couse. I work part-time for a flight progarm and all the full-time RN's are also NREMTP's. I feel this is an excellent combination. My goal in teaching paramedics is to teach the simalarities and the dissimalarities in the two professions.

I"m sorry but after spending 20 years as a Paramedic and now 5+ as an RN, I think it's a waste to be both. It's not the certification it's the training that makes a difference. WHen I'm in the back of an aircraft if something goes wrong, I'm going to be judged as an RN and not as a paramedic, even if I have the certification.