RN to Paramedic Bridge Course

Of course the RN has more movement like a ladder... A paramedic is lateral; that is why many Medics eventually take the RN program... Longivity factor is on the RN... As the debate on who is better... There is no comparison... They are 2 different practices... In no way am I downing the RN profession... I made a suggestion to the other member on which way would be easier.... I was only giving the NY prospective.... Many people are waiting to get inot RN programs because the school is in demand..... So it would be easier to take the EMT course then the Paramedic course.... Then take the Excelsior or related programs for the RN.... EMS and Nursing are not the same and I hate when my peers compare the medic to RN and vice versa... Not the same...

Thx,
Alex

True. I did not know just how much I didn't know until I went further in school. Now with a master's in nursing practicing anesthesia, I am shocked at the drugs I pushed so cavalier in the past.
PS I didnt go into nursing until 30. Good luck!

I'm not sure if "IronJohn" addressed WHY he was inquiring (I wasn't about to read ALL 13 pages of this thread), but I seriously doubt he was considering changing careers from RN to Paramedic for "career advancement" or was ignorant enough to think there would be a pay scale increase.

I am an RRT that obtained my Paramedic certification through a "bridge" program SPECIFICALLY as a requirement for my position with a children's hospital transport team. I'm not certain of the exact reason my dept requires the "Paramedic" cert...but I know that we all MUST have a city ambulance permit to operate, and you need at least an EMT-B to apply for the city permit.

Experience-wise, I do not think I am ANYWHERE NEAR the level of a Paramedic that has spent his career working in the EMS field (especially when it comes to adult trauma), but we ARE required to pass the same NREMT-P exam as the Paramedic that went through a two-year program. The bridge program was NOT designed to teach a lay-person to be a full-blown Paramedic in two-weeks, it was designed to teach an EMS approach to medical professionals who have already learned the foundations of health science (human anatomy/physiology, chemistry, biology, pharmacology, etc, etc), and prepare them to take the registry exam...and obviously it must accomplish that, because my one-semester program (along with my 20+ years in hospital medicine) was sufficient enough to earn me "NREMT-P"!!