Paramedic to RN Bridge

[JustforJoan]

Anyone out there doing the Paramedic to RN bridge? I am almost done FCCA starts June 30/14 and since I live in Washington state the state will not license me until I have 1000 hrs working as a nurse somewhere else - soooo I have to take the NCLEX out of state (I spoke with Oregon and they will allow me to take NCLEX/state license). I guess I will be commuting to Oregon! New to the State, New to the Country I wished I had known all of this information first and would have taken the nursing program the traditional way. Would love to connect with someone who can give me some encouragement. Feeling kinda frustrated.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

thread moved for best response

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

How did you not know about the additional requirements? Or was moving to Washington State one of those unplanned things? Either way, good luck! I did EC's program as a paramedic. It was fabulous for me.

[JustforJoan]

I moved to Washington to get married. I am from Canada and was a medic there for 12 years, when I moved down I decided to do the online Paramedic to RN bridge. My biggest concern is the CPNE, I work in a busy ER right now as a ER Tech while I finish school. The ER is much different than floor nursing and I am hoping to shadow with a floor nurse for a few days just to get the feel of it. I have read your posts on the CPNE and really appreciate your input. Thanks so much for replying.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I was also a paramedic who worked as an ER tech, so I just ended up being an ER nurse - it fits me well! Very different from floor nursing, for sure. I have a ton of respect for my peeps in tele, med-surg, L&D, etc. - I couldn't do what they do! lol. Congrats on your marriage. :) As I'm sure you know from researching and reading, the skills for CPNE are pretty basic things - nothing fancy. Things that scared me most were enteral feedings (I don't know why), and having a patient in traction, because I can be a bit of a klutz and I could totally see myself tripping over some very important weight that's supposed to hang free and keep traction. Haha.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

The only thing would caution you about with taking the Excelsior Paramedic to RN path is that if you decide to move to California, you may not be able to have your license endorsed for practice in California. I'm not saying that the Excelsior program is worthless, far from it... I'm just saying that you have to understand that not all states accept Excelsior RN grads.

[JustforJoan]

Thankfully Oregon will allow me to take NCLEX and be licensed. I am 2 hrs away so I will be commuting for a while! Not sure how the VA medical centers work if you can have any state license to work there.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

My understanding is that if you're working for the VA, you only need to be licensed in one state... but they may have other requirements as well. That means you could be an Excelsior Grad working in a VA site located in California, but you'd be an RN for the VA, but not a California RN, so you won't be able to work / pick up PRN jobs in California.

As long as Oregon allows you to be a licensed RN, great! Then later you can endorse over to Washington... I think it's a very good, well-reasoned plan. I like the fact that Excelsior and other educational institutions allow for a bridge from Paramedic to RN. It's not the same bridge path as LVN/LPN to RN because of the basic educational differences between Paramedics and Nursing, so I can very well imagine that many institutions would be willing to create yet another bridge path, with all the expense associated with having to create one.

[JustforJoan]

Thank you both for your encouraging words. Getting prepared to start the FCCA on June 30th - I really wanted to take both modules at the same time but was advised by EC not to - really want to be done already.