Tips for a Paramedic starting ADN in 2 months

203bravo, MSN, APRN · Nov 10, 2014

Best of luck to you --- I've been a paramedic since 1994 and am currently wrapping up the 3rd semester of a 5 semester BSN program..

While you will have some distinct advantages with your paramedic experience the nursing process is VERY different and I have had teach myself to think like a nurse and not a paramedic.. so far I've gotten A's in all my classes with the exception of Medsurg 1 (B) and no one in my cohort got an A. This semester I am heading into my finals with all A's. Let's see if I can keep it that way :) but Psych may just be my achilles heel. Medsurg II has been a little better for me since we have been dealing with emergency and critical type patients.

tcRN2015 · Nov 13, 2014

Don't drive yourself crazy trying to maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout nursing school. It's doable, but absolutely unnecessary... Especially with your background.

stonesoup77 · Nov 18, 2014

Well theres advantages and disadvantages as I see it. A distinct and very important advantage is that you've had plenty of direct patient care. A large percentage of your classmates will most likely have never touched a human being that they didnt already know intimately, and by touch I mean access, observe, poke, prod, and clean every crack and crevice on their body. That part alone scares a lot of people. The ability to rapidly access patients using all your senses is something any pre hospital provider has hopefully honed and it will continue to be a critical skill. Med administration will be a breeze. As far as general knowledge about lecture material I can only speak as someone entering the third semester of a 5 semester program as an Advanced EMT when I say that it seems like I already know about 20% of the materiel. That includes A+P, SOME fluid and electrolytes, diabetes, respiratory, musculoskeletal, neuro and a bit more. As a medic I suspect you can include cardiac in there also. Let me emphasize that there is a ton more information needed to be a nurse, in fact it's downright comical to hear street medics and EMT's say that they know more than a nurse... One disadvantage I can speak about with experience is learning the Nursing Process. It can be extremely difficult to change from a street level emergency provider mindset to a nurse mindset, and mastering that Nursing Diagnoses and Nursing Process will be key to your success. Remember how when you went from Basic to Paramedic they taught you to see "the big picture"? Well, as a nurse theres obviously an even bigger picture and learning the complexities behind that takes time, probably a couple or more semesters to get a good grasp on it. As far as 4.0 GPA, well if thats your goal then go for it, that being said they call a nurse that graduated with a 3.0....nurse. Best of luck, Im sure youll do fine.

TheNGTKingRN · Nov 25, 2014

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Haha...

There's politics in nursing too!

Anyway.

Number 1 advice ... do NOT be ego driven. Some paramedics think they know it all.

Appreciate the HOLISTIC nursing model or get out ... drop out.

Nursing is not ALL action and emergency. Nursing is MUCH more broad. You deal with chronic to acute ... even in the ICU. Nursing disease management, diet therapy, and so on so forth.

Managing the post operative patient. Nursing a fresh CABG.

Ambulating a patient for the 2nd time (phys therapy does the first) with their NEW heart.

Teaching a patient about antirejection medications.

Teaching a mom about breastfeeding.

Teaching family members about the scary ICU machines.

Guests · Nov 28, 2014

ve enjoyed being a medic but the politics and constant ego-trips have left me wanting more... Once I finish school I plan on quitting Fire/EMS and moving on to ICU nursing...

I hear these complaints from a number of fire/medics which always brings forth the caution: "Don't think you'll find less politics and fewer ego-trips in an ICU..."

Anyone have any tips for a medic going the nursing route?

Keep your medic-mind to yourself. I have observed some friction between nurses and medics based on competitiveness, jealousy, and cockiness.

Medics are not nurses and nurses are not medics. Some of the skills translate directly and, particularly in the ED, medic experience is very valuable (IMO) but I'd keep it to myself were I you.

Also realize that there's a lot of friction between the ED and ICU so I'd think you may experience something similar as a field medic.

Basic advice: Work hard, be honest, and play things very close to the vest.

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Nov 29, 2014

I'll have to kind of parrot what ♪♫ in my ♥ said, as well as some others. I'm also a Paramedic, and actually also an athletic trainer by training. I'm very well educated along the medical model. The patient care stuff and the "background" stuff that's common between all healthcare fields was all easy for me. The hardest thing for me to do is to put that "medical model" stuff on a shelf while I was in school because I had to learn to "think like a nurse."

Like many, put your Paramedic brain on a shelf for a while and don't let it be widely known that you are a Paramedic. It will be nearly impossible to hide the fact that you have patient care experience. That will be readily apparent when you start seeing patients. Make sure that even if you're "found out" that you make certain that you're there to learn to be a nurse in every way. In short, drink the nursing Kool-aid.

I kept things generally under wraps for most of my time in Nursing School and only really let things out during my final semester. My last clinical instructor was an ER nurse and had an appreciation for Paramedics. Not all nursing instructors/professors are like that, and some truly don't like paramedics at all, let alone having men in nursing.

That being said, you're about to enter a very interesting time and you'll probably have flashbacks to Paramedic school when you were being given info at a very fast pace. Nursing school is similar in that respect...

RunBabyRN · Nov 29, 2014

I agree about the thought processes. I was a Navy corpsman, and I had to put the medic brain on the shelf and learn to think as a nurse (you'll hear that phrase a lot in nursing school). The hands-on skills will be SO nice, and you'll be over a hump that holds up a lot of people- having to touch real people in intimate ways. I've seen that hold people back for a long time, and it's hard to learn when you are clearly very uncomfortable touching a patient.

The nursing approach looks at a patient very differently than a medic. You are looking very holistically, versus looking solely at the symptoms and stabilization (though every now and then, that thought process has its place). The best advice I can give is to be open to new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things. If you have good instructors, they'll welcome your past experience. However, they will likely still have different ways of doing things. Try their way, and see what works best for you. I've learned ways to improve on what I used to do, but there's plenty that I still do the "old" way. I work doing home infusions, and I know that the other night, I was grateful for my old corpsman experience! I had a new patient who was the hardest stick I've had in a long time, and I got him on the second go. Apparently it's par for the course for there to be 4-5 attempts.

nurse2033, MSN, RN · Dec 1, 2014

So you think you will escape politics and ego trips? Hmmmmm... It's just a different flavor of crazy, there are people involved after all. Focus on the difference in the culture and outlook and you'll do fine. The science is the easy part and you have lots of real world experience. Good luck.

mh0712, MSN, RN · Dec 2, 2014

The one bit of advice I would give is that no matter what, remember you are in a nursing program to learn. Yes you can intubate and do a million more things than most Med-Surg nurses would ever dream of doing; however, you are expected to be respectful and learn from them. You could probably hit a 16 gauge IV on the frailest old lady doing 80 down the highway headed to the hospital; however, you will have to "learn" how to do it sitting still in the hospital and from a nurse that probably doesn't know what a 16 gauge IV cath looks like. Just stay low, keep your cool, and remember you are there to get an education. If you have a big head or ego, leave it in the car or at the house. Otherwise, you will suffer. A close friend of mine is an RT going to nursing school and in his first semester he excelled clinically and aced all his tests, but he has made instructors mad and students mad by corrected them with his years of experience. Not a good idea and he is making enemies. Learn from the bad examples and when you get to ICU, you will love it!

MedicalPartisan · Dec 16, 2014

All of the paramedics I know did exceptionally well in nursing school. While it is different, you certainly have an advantage. Don't stress too much.

Ruger8mm · Dec 18, 2014

Don't drive yourself crazy trying to maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout nursing school. It's doable, but absolutely unnecessary... Especially with your background.

Exactly. I used to be a 4.0 student, until this semester. I have a 13 year background as an Advanced Clinical Sonographer specializing in echocardiography and I'm an EMT-B. My advice, don't stress over grades. Just do the best you can. There was a group of us who were the top of our class until this semester. Then we all got a B in one class (third semester of the program). Hard nursing class. The biggest thing to remember is once you graduate, nobody cares what your grades were.

Your disadvantage is your experience. Rely on it, but don't rely on it. The right answer on a nursing test IS NOT always the right answer you'll use in the real world. Go by what you studied and learned in class, not what you learned in the real world.

Nurses are taught way more in school than those of us in the rest of the medical world ever thought. I thought I was ready and I've been very successful, but I've had to study hard. It is not a program a person can just breeze through, even with medical background.