Doubts about Nursing

Nursing Students General Students

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Hey everyone,

I'm an EMT who recently got accepted into nursing school. Our local nursing school is very selective and I'm proud to have gotten in, however, I'm beginning to become depressed about the course content. I spent a year learning how to keep people alive in EMT school, and now it seems like I'm going to spend two years learning how to watch people die. Would someone please tell me it gets less depressing from here? I don't mind learning how to care for the dying, but I don't want to continue in this field if that is 100% of what I'll be learning.

EMS and nursing have a lot of differences. I am in nursing school right now, but I received my EMT-B in high school. I loved it!

EMS is more life saving interventions and more fast paced and YOU make all the decisions. Nursing, you pretty much follow orders from the MD and things go a lot slower since you care for the pt over an extended period of time. As a medic, you can intubate a patient, where as in the ER only a MD can do that! Nurses do not even learn how to do that. EMT's learn how to look at a patient and tell what is going on quickly and fix it, nurses may need more time to learn this b/c usually pt look a little better by the time they reach the hospital.

Something I have noticed in the ER is that nurses do things a bit differently. For instance. If someone is unconscious or AMS, I would put oxygen on them ASAP. Some of the nurses I work with wait a little bit and assess and I am not sure why...The nurses who were EMT's before do the same thing I would. Its like the others are afraid to use oxygen or something and that scares me... In EMS, we also tend to use higher o2 L to. We use a lot of 4L NC or NRB at 15 L but in the ER they tend to use 2L on NC and consistantly use lower o2 L for some reason.

You have to block out your EMT learning and learn the nursing process which is pretty different. My boyfriend is studying EMT-B and he asks me questions and I want to help but I am learning a new process and I feel like I would mess him up and tell him the nursing way. You have to do what you feel is right for you. If you like EMS better, advance in that field, because nursing is a little different.

One thing that I would consider for you is becoming a paramedic or flight medic or maybe become a nurse in a trauma center. I like the EMS employment benefits because it is much less stress involved. I work in the ER as a tech and boy is it CRAZY! In EMS, you can bond more easily with your coworkers and it is a little more laid back, depending where you work of course.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Flight.
EMS and nursing have a lot of differences. I am in nursing school right now, but I received my EMT-B in high school. I loved it!

EMS is more life saving interventions and more fast paced and YOU make all the decisions. Nursing, you pretty much follow orders from the MD and things go a lot slower since you care for the pt over an extended period of time. As a medic, you can intubate a patient, where as in the ER only a MD can do that! Nurses do not even learn how to do that. EMT's learn how to look at a patient and tell what is going on quickly and fix it, nurses may need more time to learn this b/c usually pt look a little better by the time they reach the hospital.

Something I have noticed in the ER is that nurses do things a bit differently. For instance. If someone is unconscious or AMS, I would put oxygen on them ASAP. Some of the nurses I work with wait a little bit and assess and I am not sure why...The nurses who were EMT's before do the same thing I would. Its like the others are afraid to use oxygen or something and that scares me... In EMS, we also tend to use higher o2 L to. We use a lot of 4L NC or NRB at 15 L but in the ER they tend to use 2L on NC and consistantly use lower o2 L for some reason.

You have to block out your EMT learning and learn the nursing process which is pretty different. My boyfriend is studying EMT-B and he asks me questions and I want to help but I am learning a new process and I feel like I would mess him up and tell him the nursing way. You have to do what you feel is right for you. If you like EMS better, advance in that field, because nursing is a little different.

One thing that I would consider for you is becoming a paramedic or flight medic or maybe become a nurse in a trauma center. I like the EMS employment benefits because it is much less stress involved. I work in the ER as a tech and boy is it CRAZY! In EMS, you can bond more easily with your coworkers and it is a little more laid back, depending where you work of course.

im glad im not the only one who notices this... of all things ABC's people.. stop dragging a$$ and give em some o2 sheesh lol.

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Look up Hypoxic drive and nurses make their own assessment of the patient once they arrive in the er.

Removal of a NRB is to see how well the pt. is compensating on room air.

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Specializes in Infectious Disease, Neuro, Research.
Look up Hypoxic drive and nurses make their own assessment of the patient once they arrive in the er.

Removal of a NRB is to see how well the pt. is compensating on room air.

Exactly.;) I started as an EMT, worked hither & yon, and my wife is an RT. O2 therapy (along with a few other "specialized" practices) is inadequately taught to nurses.

OTOH, most EMTs aren't thinking beyond the next 30 minutes, unless they have excellent mentors and/or broader exposure. Viewing your level of practice as the prep and staging area for the next level of care will increase the multidiscliplinary, integrated care in your practice, that nursing talks (though the walk is unfortunately variable).

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Hmmmm. I'm taking it that you haven't dealt with much death in your practice so far.

I'm going to be really blunt: its time to grow up, before you really hurt someone.

You seem to be agressive and intelligent. Those can be positive, with the right self-assessing attitude and good mentoring. I've been blessed in practicing at the outer-edge of my scope of practice most of my professional life because I sought out good mentors, who could teach not only advanced skills, but the reasoning (and the ability to verbalize that reasoning) behind the performance.

Any jacka** can stab a couple of 14g in, and squat on a bag to push it, while doing compressions, and shout "Hoorah!" when they drop the pt. off. It takes something a "bit more", when triaging a dozen people, and being able to look into someone's eyes, tell them you'll be back, and you both know that one of you ain't gonna be there, so to speak, when you make the second pass.

If you continue with your program, learn that, if nothing else: there are things you won't be able to fix. Part of the "integrated care" and "psycho-social needs" in nursing is allowing us to acknowledge death, and to help our patients deal with the steps in incorporating that realization/experience into their existence, however long that may be. It may (if you allow it) also help you to learn some of that gentleness as well. If not, every death is a failure, and sooner or later, one will really hit you close to home. Some care providers get out of the field because of such experiences, and I've personally known one suicide.

I've had around 200 people die, under my care(EMT/MA/AUA/RN), most trauma, many codes, only a few "progressive failures". I don't work oncology or hospice because I'm not capable of that profound, continual expression of empathy.

If you are serious about doing "whatever is necessary", you'll lose the sucky attitude, and get a firm grip on when enough is enough.

Not trying to tear you a new one, but there is a big difference between the simple science, and the art.;)

I realize that it probably sounds like I am being immature, but in reality I am searching for the proper information and support to make a decision that will effect the rest of my life. I actually have called triage on a MCI before (it wasn't called in as such, so our BLS unit was the first on the scene), but I still sleep just fine at night. I did what I could, for who I could, the best that I could, and some people lived and some people didn't.

I have trouble with watching people die and not being able to even try to help. I don't think that I could ever be happy in a nursing home or hospice setting, and as much as I love my fellow man (most of the time) my own mental health is important to me.

However, I do realize that my issue may be avoidable by specializing. I just have to get through college, I think, and then perhaps I can just avoid the two healthcare settings that would make me miserable. My resume should predispose me for ER and ICU anyway.

However, it sounds like you have some viable experience to share if you would care to share information in a less derisive tone. ;)

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I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with the concept of hospice. It's not an area that I'm interested in now but I think about my patients and their families. Hospice is about making the dying patient comfortable at home, in the hospital or in a special facility. What's so wrong with that? Did I misunderstand what you were trying to say Lost EMT?

It is not that there is something wrong with the concept of hospice. I heartily agree that they should exist. I just can't do it. It is not something that I could ever do and maintain any form of pleasure in my job, which, if I were to work as much as most nurses do, will be most of my life.

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By the way, now that I have randomly replied to a few people, I want to thank everybody who's commented so far. Most of you have been really helpful, and I feel much better about the field I'm going in to. So far, anyway. Hospice clinicals in two weeks... but I guess I'll grin and bear it. (Is grinning appropriate?)

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Specializes in Public Health.

Honestly as a CNA and future RN i can say that nursing homes are not my ideal workplace BUT there is something profound you feel when you help someone pass away without pain or fear and with their dignity intact. You aren't burdened with an inability to help them instead you feel like you did more for them than any doctor could ever do

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