RN to Paramedic Bridge Course

Specialties Flight

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I'm wondering if any of you might know of a RN to Paramedic bridge course. I'd like to get my certification as a Paramedic, but don't want to have to through a whole year of school to do it! Let me know if you can help!

Specializes in Nursing Student.

Of course the RN has more movement like a ladder... A paramedic is lateral; that is why many Medics eventually take the RN program... Longivity factor is on the RN... As the debate on who is better... There is no comparison... They are 2 different practices... In no way am I downing the RN profession... I made a suggestion to the other member on which way would be easier.... I was only giving the NY prospective.... Many people are waiting to get inot RN programs because the school is in demand..... So it would be easier to take the EMT course then the Paramedic course.... Then take the Excelsior or related programs for the RN.... EMS and Nursing are not the same and I hate when my peers compare the medic to RN and vice versa... Not the same...

Thx,

Alex

Specializes in Nurse Anesthetist.

True. I did not know just how much I didn't know until I went further in school. Now with a master's in nursing practicing anesthesia, I am shocked at the drugs I pushed so cavalier in the past.

PS I didnt go into nursing until 30. Good luck!

I'm not sure if "IronJohn" addressed WHY he was inquiring (I wasn't about to read ALL 13 pages of this thread), but I seriously doubt he was considering changing careers from RN to Paramedic for "career advancement" or was ignorant enough to think there would be a pay scale increase.

I am an RRT that obtained my Paramedic certification through a "bridge" program SPECIFICALLY as a requirement for my position with a children's hospital transport team. I'm not certain of the exact reason my dept requires the "Paramedic" cert...but I know that we all MUST have a city ambulance permit to operate, and you need at least an EMT-B to apply for the city permit.

Experience-wise, I do not think I am ANYWHERE NEAR the level of a Paramedic that has spent his career working in the EMS field (especially when it comes to adult trauma), but we ARE required to pass the same NREMT-P exam as the Paramedic that went through a two-year program. The bridge program was NOT designed to teach a lay-person to be a full-blown Paramedic in two-weeks, it was designed to teach an EMS approach to medical professionals who have already learned the foundations of health science (human anatomy/physiology, chemistry, biology, pharmacology, etc, etc), and prepare them to take the registry exam...and obviously it must accomplish that, because my one-semester program (along with my 20+ years in hospital medicine) was sufficient enough to earn me "NREMT-P"!!

K I am not on here to argue just trying to get some expert advice from anyone near Columbus Ohio.

I have been a medic for a while was a medic in the army and got my EMT-P after returning stateside From Grant. (Great Program by the way)

I heard about a Medic to RN bridge program from my CCEMTP instructor at Columbus state while taking the corse.

This is something that I am really interested in but I would like to find a good program that I can get a lot of clinical experience. I am a verry audiotoy and kinesthetic learner so online programs are out for me which to the majority of what I am finding. I want to do well in the class, and I want something to prepare me to be a good nurse.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Gregg

As for as pay, its not about equity...its about supply and demand.

There is (and has been for many years) a huge nursing shortage in the US. Most EMS companies operate on a shoestring budget, whereas hospitals (especially multi-facility health care corporations) have deep pockets and can supplement operating costs with donated funds. Just because RN's get paid a significantly higher salary than EMT-P's doesn't make them more valuable to the medical community...just in higher demand.

There is NOTHING fair or equitable about the medical field. Its not fair that non-practicing physicians who testify for malpractice attorneys get paid MORE than they would for practicing medicine.

Hell...its REALLY not fair that some closet sex-fiend gets paid OVER $100 MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR for hitting a little white ball across a grass covered field into a slightly larger hole...yet for roughly .045% of that we save lives, during which we sometimes risk our own lives in dangerous situations, and are exposed to every virus, bacteria and bodily secretion known to man.

Yeah...that's equity for ya. But like my old man always told me..."You want fair, it comes in October" (he was referring the the State Fair, of course).

Quick Comments:

Paramedicine is very different than nursing, but the whole point of bridge programs in to let people that have the knowledge and skills earn the ability to use them in the field. I know several ICU nurses who know a ton more than the MD residents and do all types of intubation, and ventilator management. We're not talking about new grad med/surg nurses. We're talking about the people who save the lives of the acute patients the rest of the day after the paramedic is done with his/her short encounter.

I am EMT-B going to school for ADN, and planning to bridge to EMT-P after more acute care experience. Just an additional note about creighton, you have to have been an EMT-B to have the RN -EMTP bridge. As an EMT-B with a lot of critical care exposure, you have pretty much "lived" the clinical time.

Nurses don't give paramedics enough credit for their ability to single handedly manage acute patients. Paramedics don't give nurses enough credit for the wide aspect of the training preparing them to work in any area of nursing, not just emergency.

Specializes in CTICU.

It what states do RN intubate. I work in a level I trauma center and RN's don't do vent mgmt. RT's collaborate with the pulmonologists.

Isn't intubation an ACLS skill?? I've seen RN's intubate.

Specializes in CTICU.

EMT-B's can admin....what 6 drugs. Paramedics give drugs ie: adenosine, succ, atropine, they intubate and u are trying to say emt b's clinical experience is equiv to a paramedics?

Specializes in CTICU.

Para's, RT's, CRNA's and MD's are the only ones who can intubate in my hospital, that i'm aware of

Specializes in CTICU.

I'm sure in other stats or hospitals RN's can intubate....I'm sure this is something that requires many supervised successive intubations by an MD.

No, I'm saying that a RN with critical care experience, and field experience as a basic on high volume of critical calls will most likely be knowledgeable, confident and comfortable working as an EMT-P.

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