Being a Nurse and Firefigher

[ksadcock]

Hello All,

I am currently in nursing school at the University of San Francisco and I love it! I started my journey to nursing school as a fire science major and decided I wanted to pursue a career in the medical field more than being a firefighter. Recently though, firefighting is all I think about! I've decided I want to pursue both nursing and firefighting and was wondering if anyone else has done this? If so, are there any jobs out there that combine both skills? I know I can be both independently of each other, but I figured I'd ask to see if anyone had experience with this.

Thanks!

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

In IL we have the pre hospital RN. I'm both a volunteer fire fighter and do EMS too.

Then, of course I have my real job...lol

[gunrock]

I have a very similar background as you, got my EMT and went to a fire academy, etc. I know of one FF who works in the ED per diem and full time as a FF in a large bay area department. It's possible but keep in mind you're applying for two incredibly hard jobs to get. I made a decision a long time ago that nursing was more suited for me, but I have a friend who is also in the same boat as you and we've talked a lot about the pros and cons of each. If you decide to go down this route your best options would be to get a few years of nursing experience while you test and then if you do get picked up by fire, you can go per diem and concentrate on getting through the academy and probation. No hospital (at least in my opinion) should hire you as a new grad part time and obviously no department will hire you part time. Getting a nursing job and getting experience before landing a fire job would be the only way I could see this working. While you look for nursing jobs just keep testing and maybe volunteer (I think Cordelia fire is still looking for volunteers) to make your fire resume stronger.

You could do prehospital work as an RN but you're not doing much with fire, the closest you would get is if you were a flight nurse and worked traumas. You could always work full time as a nurse and just volunteer (although I only know of one volunteer dept close by, Cordelia).

Anyways good luck.

[gunrock]

In IL we have the pre hospital RN. I'm both a volunteer fire fighter and do EMS too. Then of course I have my real job...lol[/quote']

There are very few (many are disappearing) volunteer fire departments on the west coast, especially the Bay Area... They are pretty much all professional departments.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

I'm a volunteer firefighter and a nurse. When I was younger I took the testing to try for career firefighter positions with the thought that the 24 hour on 3 day off shift rotations would perhaps work in well with a per diem nursing job. The career positions didn't pan out well - mostly due to residency qualifications that i was unwilling to fulfill (i didn't want to move to the city - even if it was just renting an apartment to maintain a work address - besides, that practice is frowned upon) and the jobs that I was offered were not 24 hour shifts. they were 8 hour shifts a 2 hour drive across my state - no thanks. In the end, it just seemed like too much upheaval of my life to make both work together as paying careers when i realized i was perfectly content getting paid for nursing and volunteering my time serving my community as a firefighter.

So to answer your question, yes I think it can work together, but it takes a delicate balance.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

I am both an EMT and a nurse, and I am a call EMT at our local fire department. They have a HUGE call firefighter force as well. Do both, and just do some call.....