ER RN vs EMS

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hi,

My name is Andre and I am currently a combat medic in the army. I am planning to enter nursing school at Chamberlain College upon my ETS. I was a EMT in Los Angeles for 3 years before joining the army and loved working on the streets in the EMS field. I thought about becoming a paramedic but I dont feel I can make enough money to support my family in doing so. I figured becoming an ER RN might be a much better opportunity. The question is what can i expect as an ER RN? What is the ER RN's role nd responsibilities and what are they allowed to do patient care wise. I know each position has its own scope of practice. Ilove the high paced atmosphere of the EMS system. Would this be a good fit? Any information would be greatly appreciated :)

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Hi Andre, I have a question to ask, have you used your G.I. benefits yet?

What you can do and what you might experience as a ERRN depends on where you work. An ER, such as one conected to L.A. County, affords a wide variety of patients and never a dull moment. unless they are too busy, the house staff, you start I.V.'s pass a variety of tubes, do assessments, to name a few things. But, unlike a paramedic in the field, you will not get the same opportunities as they do.

GrannyRN65

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

Andre, IMHO you'll feel at home in the ER. Many allow for a lot of autonomy on the part of the RN which should fit right in with your medic training (my daughter is also a combat medic and I'm very impressed with the knowledge base the Army has given her in the intense training you all go through).

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GrannyRN- I plan to use my GI Bill benefits seeing as how the school is completely covered by it.

dthfytr- The Army does provide us with alot of training someone in our position would not have on the outside. We are allowed to do alot of procedures, especially on the line in a combat situation that is unheard of in the civilian world. I am completeing a 12 month deployment as we speak and will be home in less than a month and I have seen/done/learned more this past year than my previous 4-5 yrs in the medical field as an EMT-B.

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Specializes in ED.

First, I have been well compensated as a paramedic, making more than my RN pay. But that is 56 hour workweek vs. 36

second, I'm a 20 year army medic retiree, so been there got the t-shirt

Third, RN. Is way different than being an EMT. Combat medic. Rewarding fun. But different. Nursing school was no joke.

The 911 gi bill rocks. Thnx uncle Sam

If u think u know everything. You don't

Don't be arrogant

Get a tech job at an ER. To see how things are done

Make some friends. You will need friends

Don't take things personal

HR and most of your future co workers could care less that u were an army medic. They want to know if u can do the job

Paramedic to RN was my transition. One year of para medic school and one year of nursing school

Is chamberlain a regents/ excelsior kinda school

Might consider a more traditional. School

Don't ever get discouraged

You got shot at. You can do this

Learn from everyone. Both how to do things and how not to do things

Exscuse the rambling. I go ADD

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Andre, first, thanks for your service to our country! I too was a medic in a big city, (Atlanta) and loved EMS. The money was bad so I moved away and went to nursing school and became an RN. Now I think it may be the worst job I have ever had. I miss EMS so much. Where I live there is only one ER and they never have an opening. Most hospitals require two years med surg before going to the ER and some require certification. Good luck but nursing and EMS are so far apart it is crazy. Stay near a big city where you will have more options when you get out of school.

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I think if you work in a large environment, such as SoCal, you're probably going to have difficulty doing a lot of the things you want to do. Sure, in most emergency departments the RNs have protocols allowing them to do a variety of things without pulling at the coat tails of a doctor, but, being a large/urban setting, there'll probably be a lot of teaching going on in the way of medical students, resident physicians, student nurses, and other specialties. That said, I doubt you'll be inserting many, if any, ET tubes and doing a lot of the cool things that paramedics do. I don't think of IVs and NGTs as interesting or exciting.

I was a paramedic for a while here, but I left the field after I got into law enforcement. Now, I'm getting a second bachelor's degree: nursing. Go figure, lol. I'm not done with LE yet though. I want to stay affiliated with that. All that said, the only clinical environment I'd feel comfortable in, as an RN, is the ED. I could effectively work in other environments (ICU, CCU, etc), but I wouldn't like the atmosphere at this point in my life.

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Specializes in Emergency Department, House Supervisor.

"What is the ER RN's role nd responsibilities and what are they allowed to do patient care wise. I know each position has its own scope of practice. Ilove the high paced atmosphere of the EMS system. Would this be a good fit? Any information would be greatly appreciated :)"

Hey there,

As am experience ED nurse who has seen numerous Medic to RN converts, all I can say is...we welcome you. You guys rock. One option you might consider is flight nursing. Big pay. Excitement, and you would still get to work in the field a little. (Yet some of the work is purely transport, which can be boring.

Hope this helps.

SyckRN:)

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Specializes in icu/er.

forget the chamberlain on line schools. you want real learning? try to get into a traditional class program 1st..if all fails i suppose a online shake-n-bake course can get you into a nclex seat.

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Is Chamberlain online? Don't do an online nursing school. I'm a medic in the Reserves, deployed to Iraq and worked in an ER, and work as a tech in an ER now while going to nursing school. I prefer the ER setting over working on ambulances. I did ride alongs prior to my deployment and I had no interest. I would recommend getting a tech job in an ER (you can get PRN, so you don't have to work a set amount of hours in a week), which would be no problem with your experience most likely. See if you like it. If you do, keep it while in nursing school. It'll open up a lot of doors.

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Thank you very much for the responses. For those who are unfamiliar with Chamberlain, they are a dedicated nursing college. I believe they do offer some online courses for bridges but not for the traditional BSN. That is what I plan on taking. They have small class sizes and state of the art labs. They have 5 campuses throughout the US. I plan on attending the Jacksonville, FL campus since I am stationed in Savannah, GA at Ft. Stewart currently.

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Have you looked into any RN-Paramedic bridges? I'm currently an EMT and nursing student, and I plan on getting a job in the ER out of college, then becoming a Paramedic on the side just because I love EMS so much. In some states I think RNs can actually just challenge the Paramedic by taking the NREMT-P. However in my state I do believe I just take about a 2 month bridge class and then I'm eligible to sit for the exam. Good luck in whatever you decide to do though!

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