Hello Everyone, I'm a new grad nurse who is exiting the field of EMS and wondering if I should bother to recert my card. I had worked in EMS for 9 years with 5.5 of which being spent as a Paramedic. I became burned out and turned to Nursing for the vast array of jobs and positions a Nurse can hold. My Paramedic card has about another year left on it and I'm just wondering if in your opinion it's worth it to recert it. I do not intend on working on the ambulance and am only worried about future career opportunities. Is there really any value left in that card when you have a Nursing license?

I'd keep it for now until I land the position I want if I were you. Valid healthcare-related certifications tend to mean more than expired ones in the nursing world. It may help you along the way, in terms of your job search, until you gain some actual (substantial) nursing experience. I've met about 4 EMTs/Paramedics-turned-RNs who were able to land ER or ICU positions soon after becoming RNs because of that certification.

I renewed my LPN license when it came time, after becoming an RN, because I'd had it for 25 years when the real period arrived. But when the second post-RN renewal roled around, I let it go because that license will always be linked to my name (valid or expired) as proof of years of 'nursing' experience, and it was pointless to keep it valid since I would be held accountable to the highest nursing credential in my possession.

For now, you have 9 years of healthcare-related experience, but no nursing experience. If your certification is affordable, I think you should definitely renew until you can get 2 solid years of nursing experience under your belt...just in case you, too, encounter the "nursing-ain't-what-I-thought-it-would-be" mindset like a lot of new grads. Your background/certs may expedite your options.

OP: I'm in a similar position as you. I'm an RN that's also a Paramedic. I have retained my Paramedic license for quite a while, though I have not technically "used" the license in several years. I do not intend to go back to being a FT Paramedic though I do miss working on an ambulance, so PRN work is possible. I don't yet have sufficient experience for me to land a decent job doing CCT work and I'd want to get back into the swing of things on an ambulance first anyway, so PRN Paramedic work is the best way for me to make it happen.

I spent quite a bit of time earning and working as a Paramedic and since my RN license an my Paramedic license aren't interchangeable, and since I can find quite a bit of CE that counts for both Paramedic and RN CE... it's not that expensive to keep up my Paramedic license. It would be far more expensive to let it go and reactivate it later than it would be to simply maintain it.

I can see gaining an RN license and letting an LVN/LPN license go because the RN license supersedes the LVN license much like a Paramedic license does for EMT or AEMT.

My (strong) suggestion for you is to keep the Paramedic license active. It may just open some doors for you down the road (potentially literally) because your license is active.

Keep it! If you ever want to do critical care transport it will do you a world of good.

Will be of benefit if you decide to do flight nursing...

I'm an RN and I've actually talked to my local EMS supervisor more than once about getting my EMT-P certification in addition.

ED, flight, critical care, critical access hospital...how many posters have we seen on here wanting to branch into search and rescue, forestry...If you have it, don't give it up until you are sure you will never use it again!