Are Nurses First Responders?

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

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?

RNsRWe said:
Took the words right out of my mouth (fingers?)!

OP, you entered a contest for First Responders, became a finalist...and THEN asked if you were eligible?

And to make it a bit weirder.....you posted you left bedside years ago to work in Informatics, and have NO patient contact! How on earth can you consider yourself a First Responder?

Well, if you had a computer problem, you might be very grateful for a brave informatics first responder.

OP- you could always look up the definition.

1 Votes
hherrn said:
Well, if you had a computer problem, you might be very grateful for a brave informatics first responder.

LOL!

I read the thread with interest, as I honestly did not know where the dividing line was, but as an RN who works in a hospital I do not consider myself a "First Responder". In the course of my job, I may very well be the first one in the room for something bad, but....not the same thing.

If I were to come across an accident scene and I see there is already fire/police/ambulance/EMT cars there...I don't stop, as they don't need ME. As someone here already said quite well, there's probably nothing as annoying as having a bunch of people "offering to help" when in reality they are making the situation worse by being yet another person that has to be moved out of the way! NO one is there? OK, I'm stopping. And doing what I can do until someone with a CLUE about Side-of-the-Road Medicine gets there.

But the OP here doesn't work in acute care, doesn't work as a bedside nurse, and hasn't for years. She (he?) works at a computer, at a desk, and doesn't go near a patient! Still waiting to hear how that qualifies someone as a First Responder...? :down:

2 Votes
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.

My job description includes being a "first responder".

1 Votes
PMFB-RN said:
My job description includes being a "first responder".

Ah yes, and I have no doubt you are....but you do not work at a desk doing Informatics, no patient contact for the past few years or anytime in the forseeable future, as does the OP ;)

1 Votes
Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
RNsRWe said:
Ah yes, and I have no doubt you are....but you do not work at a desk doing Informatics, no patient contact for the past few years or anytime in the forseeable future, as does the OP ;)

No, I carry a hospital cell phone and an emergency pack and respond to changes in patient condition. We (the RRT RNs) are first responders for any incident involving non patients in the hospital (staff, family, visitors) and first responders for any incident that happens out side the building, but still on hospital property. In the Winter we respond to many fall injuries in the parking lot when people slip on the ice.

I have responded as a first responder to things like a doctor experiencing severe chest pain while shoveling his car out of the snow, visitors falling down the stairs, family members falling or experiencing SOB, chest pain, allergic reactions, emotional breakdowns, fights. Staff who have fallen and hurt themselves and a thousands other things.

When an 911 call is made from hospital property we are dispatched. If it's in the hospital we are usually the only responders. Outside the building police and EMS also are dispatched but we are always first on scene since we are so close.

1 Votes

Which is exactly WHY you are a first responder, no questions asked. Probably more qualified than many of those who consider themselves as FRs.

Somehow I can't see you staying at a desk....!

2 Votes

Advanced trained BSN Nurses, Critical Care, ICU, ICU stepdown are in fact first responders. At 911 these specialist nurses were called in and are way above the average office or floor nurse. Depending on their education, advanced training and assessment, they are the top of the line first responders. The nurses I've described are used in life flight, critical care as a normal part of their career. Yes, BSN advanced critical care Nurses are in fact first responders. They're many positions within nursing. I'd ask if the RN has a BSN and is a critical care nurse. They and well trained paramedics are the top of the line first responders. A critical care RN is licensed and educated, trained to do things above a paramedic. I respect Paramedics, have known many in ER rooms in NYC to out perform MD's in their first year. A critical care RN is top in the ER, above all other first responders except trauma teams working as a single unit.

Yes, BSN RN'S are legally licensed as first responders.

1 Votes

Your not a critical care BSN RN, a normal floor or medical office nurse is lacking the education, training and daily work environment as critical care, er nurses, ICU, ICU stepdown BSN RN'S. The key is always continue to educate yourself and actively participate growing as a Critical Care RN. Yes, there are soft positions for those that wish to cruise along, lack of motivation. Always educate yourself, never cease to grow. It's sad you feel like your not capable of being up to the task to be a critical care RN. Time to rethink your path. Just because you aren't into high end critical care, you shouldn't discredit your peers that are striving to improve and be their best daily. Time to take on more responsibility. Grow, you'll be a better RN and will be a confident licensed critical care RN!

1 Votes
Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.
Dr Williams said:
Your not a critical care BSN RN, a normal floor or medical office nurse is lacking the education, training and daily work environment as critical care, er nurses, ICU, ICU stepdown BSN RN'S. The key is always continue to educate yourself and actively participate growing as a Critical Care RN. Yes, there are soft positions for those that wish to cruise along, lack of motivation. Always educate yourself, never cease to grow. It's sad you feel like your not capable of being up to the task to be a critical care RN. Time to rethink your path. Just because you aren't into high end critical care, you shouldn't discredit your peers that are striving to improve and be their best daily. Time to take on more responsibility. Grow, you'll be a better RN and will be a confident licensed critical care RN!

Wondering who you are, "Dr. Williams". Given that you cannot differentiate between your and you're, I'm guessing at troll.

If not a troll, I'm really scared to face reality.

1 Votes
Specializes in Oncology.
Dr Williams said:
Advanced trained BSN Nurses, Critical Care, ICU, ICU stepdown are in fact first responders. At 911 these specialist nurses were called in and are way above the average office or floor nurse. Depending on their education, advanced training and assessment, they are the top of the line first responders. The nurses I've described are used in life flight, critical care as a normal part of their career. Yes, BSN advanced critical care Nurses are in fact first responders. They're many positions within nursing. I'd ask if the RN has a BSN and is a critical care nurse. They and well trained paramedics are the top of the line first responders. A critical care RN is licensed and educated, trained to do things above a paramedic. I respect Paramedics, have known many in ER rooms in NYC to out perform MD's in their first year. A critical care RN is top in the ER, above all other first responders except trauma teams working as a single unit.

Yes, BSN RN'S are legally licensed as first responders.

A first responder has nothing to do with education level and everything to do with job description. A volunteer fire fighter has way less medical education than any nurse, but they're a first responder. An ICU nurse is far from a first responder. Their patients are pretty well settled in place.

Even being a rapid response nurse in a hospital is not the same as being a paramedic. You still have more equipment, better access to higher levels of care and testing, and you don't have to brave the elements or have the safety concerns of being outside.

1 Votes
blondy2061h said:
A first responder has nothing to do with education level and everything to do with job description. A volunteer fire fighter has way less medical education than any nurse, but they're a first responder. An ICU nurse is far from a first responder. Their patients are pretty well settled in place.

Even being a rapid response nurse in a hospital is not the same as being a paramedic. You still have more equipment, better access to higher levels of care and testing, and you don't have to brave the elements or have the safety concerns of being outside.

I think that will vary with where you work. Some places get their share of violent patients who have walked in or been brought in by family and friends. We have even had nurses killed inside of hospitals. We might even be more vulnerable because we don't always have a dispatcher screening ours calls or having police dispatched to every violent situation in a hospital. Why? Because as you assumed, the patients are settled in place. Not expecting situations can sometimes be the most harmful or deadly.

We now get 2 days of situational tactics and self defense during orientation and with a yearly review. It sucks to have to feel the need to fight for your life at work inside of a hospital but it is no longer our grandmothers' career. In many situations we are first responders and have to face the same realities of a changing work environment.

Don't let your guard down. Keep training for the unexpected both medically and for safety.

1 Votes
Specializes in Oncology.

Settled into place, like not with gaping wounds, having an airway and IV access established, being in a bed on a monitor, i.e., nothing like a patient a first responder sees.

Not as dangerous- in an ICU you're not going to be taking care of a patient outside in an active lightening storm or in a house where grandma keeps a gun under the mattress.

1 Votes
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