For those who have worked as EMT's...

Sounds like it was just a vent, much like the ones you would find on this site that describe our experiences with fellow nurses, docs, medics - you name it.

I think you will find many medics with some resentment toward LTC nurses. Much of it is probably due to the fact that our training emphasizes different patient care priorities.

Medics and LTC nurses don't typically spend a lot of time together, so when we do have negative interactions, it can really color our perceptions of an entire profession.

Thanks for the reply! I know it was probably more a vent than anything but I figured I'd ask if it was common thinking. Good to know it's not universal!

The way I see it is this....you know what they say about opinions...lol I've been a LTC nurse and Nurse aide and am also an EMT. Luckily, I haven't run into an EMT who thinks this..that I know of.

i am a nurse/paramedic and i have so much respect for LTC nurses. you guys work incredibly hard under not so spectacular conditions/ratios most of the time and are still able to love and care for your residents with a smile on.

to be very frank and honest, yes i have butted heads with nurses in LTC (esp one who took the chart from a patient in cardiac arrest and ran to make copies for 10 minutes while we were trying to transport), and i have responded to 911 calls where the patient has obviously been dead for four hours before someone found them. i had gotten some resentment from LTC nurses as well, because alot of them thought that EMS automatically would have a chip on their shoulder. and yeah, i know why. there are lots of paragods and rude EMTs out there, not discrediting that at all.

although it did make me upset, when i did my rotation in the nursing home in nursing school and shadowed a nurse who had 40 patients to give meds to (who were on 27 meds or so a peice!), treatments, feedings, insulins, family issues, orders, charting, labs, etc, etc, etc in an 8-12 hour shift... i have the utmost respect for you guys. i was absolutely exhausted everyday of that rotation. i could not do your job.

it does make a difference to see things from the outside and to walk a minute in someone else's shoes. eric is absolutely correct--two completely different worlds with two completely different sets of priorities.

god bless you, LTC nurses!!! don't let a silly med student ruin your day.

My husband is a firefighter/EMT and he runs a lot of calls to the one of the local nursing homes in our area. He has come home with some pretty wierd stories. Like somebody else said above, he's run a few calls where the nurses or CNA's (not really sure) called 911 and it was obvious that the patient had been dead for hours and there's some other things that have happened as well. I'm sure it depends on the nursing home and these EMT's probably aren't putting two and two together that the nursing home is probably way understaffed and it's really not the nurses fault that the administrators don't want to put the funding in to adequately take care of the residents. I'm sure that has a lot to do with the bad things that go on in some of these places. I sure wouldn't want my family member to be cared for in the one that he frequently visits. It's really sad.

i wouldn't take these threads from the emt forum too seriously, especially since they contradict each other and make statements such as, "... place them on a 2lpm nrb." really? does the bag even stay inflated? - i guess it would since the patient is not breathing. anyhow, it makes no difference whether you're transferring your patient to another nurse or emt or other service, some folks are cool and some have 'tudes.

Yeah, I think it's just a vent too. Some of the LTC nurses I've known were great, wonderful people and I've always been impressed by how much work gets done with so little staff and the amazing amount of personal connection they have with some of the residents.

As a responder to nursing homes, I've seen somethings that were hard to explain. Like the "2LPM/NRB", I doubt that was a misprint. I've seen 2L flowing into a non-rebreather. i've also seen it when the patient was apneic.

But the bottom line is EMTs rarely have the experience in LTC to accurately make an appraisal of the nursing home nurses. Same as most nurses don't have the experience to make a blanket statement like that about EMTs.

Thanks again for the replies. It is good to know that this was probably more of a vent thread rather than a universal opinion.

yeah, it was a vent, but my BIL (married to sis who is an ICU nurse)actually believes this and stated about the same to me. Yeah, my jaw was on the floor and there was no way in changing his opionon of my non nursing skills, etc. Glad I live in PA and no where near him.

Apparently all the LTCs in his area of TX are horrible. Not single good one at all.

BTW, he is a fire fighter/ paramedic.

As a nurse in LTC....I've see alot of crazy stuff, incompetant, lazy staff, so yes....It is probably out there.

So many missed opportunities. LTC nurses and paramedics can learn a lot from each other - if only we could swallow our pride sometimes. Easy for me to say - I was a medic then EMT before going into nursing.