A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and it made me scratch my head a bit. Combat medics undoubtedly serve an important and difficult role, but Stewart appears to be comparing apples and oranges. It seems that states' licensing bodies for emergency medical technicians are more to blame for the problems experienced by these two fine people than the fact that medic experience is not sufficient to qualify for the NCLEX and become a nurse. 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.
I think there should be better opportunities for veterans, but I don't think that nursing is the problem here.
