Jon Stewart Puzzled Why Combat Medics Can't Apply for Nursing Jobs

PMFB-RN, RN · Nov 4, 2012

I was a medic, and was quite annoyed when I discovered, that in my state I was ONLY allowed to drive the ambulance. I went LPN, and rather wish I had gone for Paramedic instead.
Nurse or not, Combat medics aren't given enough credit to apply to their civilian careers.

*** Some states allow medics and corpsmen to challeneg the NCLEX-LPN. That's what I did then did an LPN to RN program in 9 months. Total time from discharge from army to sitting RN NCLEX - 11 months. I didn't have a single college credit to my name when I was discharged.

PMFB-RN, RN · Nov 4, 2012

Do you want those such as the mayor, governor and FEMA to run your health care? If so then vote for Obama but then don't complain when you call for help, no one answers. Don't complain when you find yourself waiting in a long line before you receive pre-approval for your health care needs. If you are lucky enough to gain approval for hospitalization, if you vote for Obama, don't complain that you have a medic at your bedside and not a professional nurse.

*** LOL! You almost made me blow Snapple out my nose when I read that. I know it's nice to have fun here on Allnurses but we must becareful with statement like the above. Some of the less informed and more gulliable among us might actually think you are being serious.

wooh, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2012

Yeah, I was disappointed in this. Sure, you know how to stabilize a guy with 3 limbs blown off. And that makes you able to identify possible sexual abuse in a three year old how?

I support the cause. And I hope shining a light on the issue helps our veterans transition into the civilian sector. But there was no need to insult nurses to do so. (And I've sent a message to TDS saying that.)

Music in My Heart · Nov 4, 2012

I was speaking to a friend regarding her boyfriend who wanted to challenge the RN licensing procedure because he had been a medic. "He even knows how to suture," she said. "Well that's great," I said, "but we don't suture... the docs and PAs do that..."

The point is, the medic role is not the nurse role. That's why, as somebody already pointed out, there are nurses in the military as well as medics (and I'll point out that the nurses are officers while the medics are enlisted).

I was a Marine (enlisted, at that) and nobody holds the USN corpsmen in higher esteem than do the Marines but a corpsman is not a nurse just like a paramedic isn't. They're simply two different roles with some overlapping education and skill sets.

mappers · Nov 4, 2012

Last time I checked, private insurance was still in charge of healthcare even with ACA. There is no government-provided option.

Jon Stewart's "Tribute to Institutional Incompetence" is the face of Obama Care... the long lines, lack of resources and leadership in a quandary without a clue as to what to do.
During the last debate Obama said he did't know why a medic had to go to nursing school to become a nurse!
President Obama promised that he would remove bureaucracy and red-tape to expedite services to hurricane victims AKA ...smaller government works better then big government.
Do you want those such as the mayor, governor and FEMA to run your health care? If so then vote for Obama but then don't complain when you call for help, no one answers. Don't complain when you find yourself waiting in a long line before you receive pre-approval for your health care needs. If you are lucky enough to gain approval for hospitalization, if you vote for Obama, don't complain that you have a medic at your bedside and not a professional nurse.

DSkelton711 · Nov 4, 2012

*** Some states allow medics and corpsmen to challeneg the NCLEX-LPN. That's what I did then did an LPN to RN program in 9 months. Total time from discharge from army to sitting RN NCLEX - 11 months. I didn't have a single college credit to my name when I was discharged.

Wow! How did you do LPN to RN in 9 months with no degree or college credits? Other vets could use this info.

PMFB-RN, RN · Nov 4, 2012

Wow! How did you do LPN to RN in 9 months with no degree or college credits? Other vets could use this info.

9 months, or two semesters is (or should be) the standard length of an LPN to ADN-RN program. I got all the credits I was missing through CLEP. I just took all the tests (in one day) and only studied for the ones I failed then re-took them. Got like 34 college credits in less than a week that way. In addition I chose a veteran friendly school system (http://www.swtc.edu/) that accepted 100% of the ACE (http://aarts.army.mil/) recomended credits for my military training and service.

What I did can be done by many former medics and corpsmen. I have written in detail about how I got where I am here on allnurses and on several vets blogs. After I graduated from the ADN program I entered a 9 month critical care nurse residency program at a large hospital. Eventualy, with a different employer, I did RN to BSN in one year (10 classes)online on my employers dime at a respected state university. I chose a program that allowed an associates degree to meet all of their lower division education requirements, reguardless of weather the classes were actually taken or not. A number of schools do that.

So RN, BSN in 2 years of college, one of them being pretty part time online (and abserdly easy, I think I got dumber in the BSN program).

All it took to be aware of the possibilities was some time surfing the web and making phone calls.

medic9872 · Nov 4, 2012

I was really disappointed in the way it portrayed school nurses. To be fair, the medics on the show looked just as confused as to why they would apply to be a school nurse when they weren't trained for it. I love Jon Stewart, but he really missed the mark with that one.

I didn't see the show but I'm guessing a part of the problem is that school "nurses" are no longer RNs or LPNs. In my area, you can be a school "nurse" with a CNA license. They call them med techs officially but I have heard many of them refer to themselves as the school nurse. :-/

The school system has one RN that is in charge of the entire county. And this is a fairly large system - 5 large high schools, 8 or 9 middle schools and around 25-30 elementary and primary schools.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

kimbap · Nov 4, 2012

Hmmm, I didn't know that. Where I'm at school nurses have BSNs, I believe. I love my kiddo's school nurse.

jt43 · Nov 4, 2012

You don't even have to have a CNA to be a "nurse" in my kids' school district. It's horrible. There should be some standard regulation about that across states

zoidberg, BSN, RN · Nov 4, 2012

You don't even have to have a CNA to be a "nurse" in my kids' school district. It's horrible. There should be some standard regulation about that across states

that not good. my mother is a school nurse and has her msn, and years of experience. granted its more of a retirement job, but she makes good money for it. (high cost of living area, of course). With all the things I hear her dealing with, I have no idea how a CNA would do that job and not let someone get seriously injured.

jeckrn, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

. Jon Stewart correctly points out that combat medics are obviously qualified for EMT-P certification, but starts the segment reading qualifications for nursing positions. Additionally, the physician assistant position was designed to give medics from the Vietnam era an avenue to civilian employment, but that now takes six years of education rather than the two it required when the occupation was born.

Sorry but as a soldier and seen the training that 68W's recieve they are just over EMT-B trained. Then can do some advance treatments but have no training on medications, EKG rhythms etc. It was not until the last couple of months that flight medics started to recieve paramedic training. This was a shame because about all they could do was but in a IV and patch the wounds, and not much else. Most medics would not take much education to get them up to an EMT-P level.