Are Nurses First Responders?

[ScrubADub12]

Hi Guys,

I recently entered a contest for my wedding on facebook and was selected a a finalist among Police, Paramedic, EMT etc. I am just interested to find out if we would consider Nurses to be First Responders? From the moment patient enters any medical institution we are the ones who provide care, but often this can happen before the hospital. I understand that paramedic, police, firemen etc. are typically the first on scene but why are nurses never really given much credit beyond the four walls of a hospital?

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

There's a WORLD of difference between a nurse and a first responder. My DH is a police officer, trained as a first responder. He arrives FIRST on the scene of 911 calls. Not nurses, not even flight nurses.

I did EMS for almost 20 years, nursing school was SO different than we I did as an EMT

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

TransportJockey said:

The only nurses that could possibly be considered first responders would be rotor flight nurses. Or if a nurse is working in some capacity as an EMT/LEO/FF/Paramedic.

I had always thought they were sometimes considered first responders because they are usually the first "on the scene" for walk ins and dumps?

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Throw a nurse into an actual first response scene and you will find your answer quickly.

[FlyingScot, RN]

TransportJockey said:

The only nurses that could possibly be considered first responders would be rotor flight nurses. Or if a nurse is working in some capacity as an EMT/LEO/FF/Paramedic.

Nope not even rotor nurses. They are requested BY the first or sometimes second responders.

[Chesterton1]

I would also like to say there is a difference between being a First Responder and someone who is called a first responder for being on the scene first.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

So nurses certainly can be first responders. But that would be nurses is specific jobs. For example in my job as rapid response nurse I am a first responder for any injured person in the hospital and our parking lot. So if I am responding to a call for (for example) an inpatient who had dropped their blood pressure I am not acting as a first responder. If I am responding to a call for a visitor who fell and injured themselves in the parking lot then I am acting as a first responder as I would typicaly be the first person with any medical training to arrive on scene. The 911 call is routed directly to me in those cases. Another example would be transport (ground and air ambulace) nurses who respond to scenes in the field.

Nurses who are taking care of patients in a hospital are not first responders.

I should also point out that in the rural area where I live all of the firefighters and EMS crews are volenteers who have other full time jobs. A remarkable number of them are nurses in their regular jobs. So a nurse can become a first responder, but not typicaly in their roll as a nurse.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

FlyingScot said:

Nope not even rotor nurses. They are requested BY the first or sometimes second responders.

Typicaly true but in the very rural area where I live it occasionaly happens that the transport nurse / medic ambulance team is the first non cilivian to arrive on scene. Usually this is becuase of the other first responders being delayed in getting there (typicaly weather or floods).

Usually the call goes out and the plan is for use to meet the first responders on their way to the hospital and transfer to patient into our rig. Occasionaly we get all the way to the scene and are the first trained people to arrive.

[Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN]

Technically a flight nurse is not a first responder. They are called in after the first responder is already on the scene.

[AnnieOaklyRN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

No, nurses are not considered first responders!

Annie

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Are nurses first responders?

Nope. And so many nursing students seem to be disappointed to discover nursing is so much more mundane than wht they see on TV.

[PMFB-RN, RN]

BrandonLPN said:

Are nurses first responders?

Nope. And so many nursing students seem to be disappointed to discover nursing is so much more mundane than wht they see on TV.

I get you. You are right, I have seen it several times myself in nursing students. Not the glory and drama they were expecting. There are exceptions. Hang with the rapid response team for a few shifts and you can see there are exception.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Most nurses are not "First Responders" as most would define that role. They certainly aren't trained for that role while in school. Some rotor wing nurses are auto dispatched as 911 responders and can sometimes be first on-scene. Some nurses work 911 as PHRNs. It is clear to me, anyway, that they are very much the exception. The vast majority of nurses just don't do 911 type work and for them to be thrown into that role could be potentially dangerous.