[JeremyNursingStudent]

Hello all,

Until the other day, I had no idea there was a such thing as a flight paramedic. I thought all of them were flight nurses. What are the differences in pay and training of a flight nurse vs a flight paramedic? They both have the same job - to stabilize the patient for transport to a hospital, so how different can the training really be?

thanks for the input!

Jeremy

[nghtfltguy]

oh yes!
major differnce!
i was a flight paramedic for quite a while before i was a flight nurse..
truth be told.. the flight paramedic has a more difficult job than the nurse, makes less money, and in most cases, has a worse seat on the chopper....
flight paramedics were around way before flight nurses...
im now a flight nurse but listen, flight medics are just as good! if not better!.... who am i kiddin... they r better....
as the medic on flights i dealt mostly w/ airway stuff while the nurse dealt w/ iv drugs on the iv i started..i did all the intubations and bagging and all that stuff and the nurse pushed atropine when i told them too....
well...im the nurse now, i quite often miss that job as the medic...

[Sweetooth EMT-P, RN]

hi ngt,

I am thinking of doing the heli eventually. I am also both a paramedic and RN, so is it possible to have both titles or do they perfer you be one or the other??

oh and sorry to Jeremy for breaking into your thread

Sweetooth

[ohplease]

Originally Posted by Sweetooth EMT-P, RN

hi ngt,

I am thinking of doing the heli eventually. I am also both a paramedic and RN, so is it possible to have both titles or do they perfer you be one or the other??

oh and sorry to Jeremy for breaking into your thread

Sweetooth

Probably not. The pay scale is different, and depending on the service you work for, the duties may differ. You can be an Paramedic/RN but usually can only work as one or the other.

[hogan4736]

Originally Posted by nghtfltguy

oh yes!
major differnce!
i was a flight paramedic for quite a while before i was a flight nurse..
truth be told.. the flight paramedic has a more difficult job than the nurse, makes less money, and in most cases, has a worse seat on the chopper....
flight paramedics were around way before flight nurses...
im now a flight nurse but listen, flight medics are just as good! if not better!.... who am i kiddin... they r better....
as the medic on flights i dealt mostly w/ airway stuff while the nurse dealt w/ iv drugs on the iv i started..i did all the intubations and bagging and all that stuff and the nurse pushed atropine when i told them too....
well...im the nurse now, i quite often miss that job as the medic...

All of the companies in AZ switch off duties...RNs intubate and place chest tubes, and do needle thoracostomies...

their duties are interchangeable (except for a few drips)

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by nghtfltguy

the nurse pushed atropine when i told them too....

I'm really hoping you're kidding because if not that's pretty damn ignorant of you to say. As a flight nurse I depend on my medic and absolutely believe they are underpaid which is why we, the nurses, on our crew are sticking our necks out to try to get them better pay. But I NEVER have needed a medic to tell me when or what drug to use on a patient. WE work as a team and discuss our plan of care, often we don't even have to use words just looks to get the job done. I don't think my job is harder than the medics and the medics don't think theirs is harder than ours. We have a ton of mutual respect for each other and it shows by us not making stupid ccomments such as these.

[hogan4736]

Originally Posted by nghtfltguy

the nurse pushed atropine when i told them too....
well...im the nurse now, i quite often miss that job as the medic...

does your medic pull your puppet strings now and tell you what to do and when to do it?

I'm w/ scot...We work as a team together in the prehospital arena...we leave our egos at home...

[awsmom8]

I once asked a prehospital care coord why they flew a medic and RN--why not 2 RN's? She replied because nurses eat they young and it is less of a power struggle of who was in charge...a medic/RN worked together better than 2 RN's...

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by awsmom8

I once asked a prehospital care coord why they flew a medic and RN--why not 2 RN's? She replied because nurses eat they young and it is less of a power struggle of who was in charge...a medic/RN worked together better than 2 RN's...

You've got to be kidding me! What a slap in the face to the medics who work in that system. Not to mention an extremely unprofessional remark. Having a medic as part of the team brings in the field experience most nurses do not have. I'm not "in charge" of my medic. I completely trust and respect them. By the way our medics refer to the nurses assigned with them as "my nurse". It's not a hierarchy thing it's more a term of endearment. That prehospital coordinator needs to be slapped (figuratively of course).

[ldh]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

You've got to be kidding me! What a slap in the face to the medics who work in that system. Not to mention an extremely unprofessional remark. Having a medic as part of the team brings in the field experience most nurses do not have. I'm not "in charge" of my medic. I completely trust and respect them. By the way our medics refer to the nurses assigned with them as "my nurse". It's not a hierarchy thing it's more a term of endearment. That prehospital coordinator needs to be slapped (figuratively of course).

Umm, I don't think that FlyingScot meant to say that one team member was "in charge" of another - in fact the coordinator said that RNs and medics work better as a team, not as part of a hierarchical relationship. Quite frankly I totally agree with not having two RNs together, especially a brand new one and an experienced one. Whether we want to face it or not, more experienced and senior nurses very often use their power and expertise to intimidate and demoralize younger/less experienced nurses. I'm going through it (yet again) as a new grad. A person who feels intimidated and demoralized is not going to perform well on the job at all, and I wouldn't want that person working on me in an emergency for God's sake. I would rather have two people working together as a team, and an experienced RN and a newbie RN are not going to be team material, like it or not. Maybe in due time, but not right out of the gate.

I think that what FlyingScot said really shines a thought-provoking light on the profession of nursing. I was completely unprepared for the level of hostility which I discovered in this profession. I know that this subject has been done to death on this site, but I think it is time for nurses to quit saying "oh just suck it up, I went through the same thing".... like being wholly demoralized and stomped on is some sort of required rite of passage....bulls***.

I know if I were a flight coordinator, I would definitely put an RN and a medic together. No power struggle or head games, just teamwork and mutual respect.