Jon Stewart Puzzled Why Combat Medics Can't Apply for Nursing Jobs

[kabfighter]

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook, and it made me scratch my head a bit. Combat medics undoubtedly serve an important and difficult role, but Stewart appears to be comparing apples and oranges. It seems that states' licensing bodies for emergency medical technicians are more to blame for the problems experienced by these two fine people than the fact that medic experience is not sufficient to qualify for the NCLEX and become a nurse. Jon Stewart correctly points out that combat medics are obviously qualified for EMT-P certification, but starts the segment reading qualifications for nursing positions. Additionally, the physician assistant position was designed to give medics from the Vietnam era an avenue to civilian employment, but that now takes six years of education rather than the two it required when the occupation was born.

I think there should be better opportunities for veterans, but I don't think that nursing is the problem here.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-october-24-2012/exclusive---economic-reintegration-for-veterans

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

These jobs are related but not the same thing. They should be able to get some credit for what they know, and it would be great if there was a program for them to "fill in the gaps" between what they know and the nursing curriculum. This shouldn't be rocket science to understand the difference. I was a paramedic who became a nurse. There was lot of material I didn't know and had to learn. I'd say there was an overlap on about half the material in my nursing program.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

when people question this situation I always think they believe nursing is related to tasks only. There is so much more to being a nurse than knowing how to do certain tasks. I believe paramedics excel at the nursing-related tasks they perform. But nurses are trying to prevent emergencies, not teach them, and this requires a greater understanding of how the total body functions, including the brain. I have sutured animals but that does not make me a surgeon.

[Lynx25, LPN]

I was a medic, and was quite annoyed when I discovered, that in my state I was ONLY allowed to drive the ambulance. I went LPN, and rather wish I had gone for Paramedic instead.

Nurse or not, Combat medics aren't given enough credit to apply to their civilian careers.

[VICEDRN, BSN, RN]

This makes me so angry. Emt-b or possibly emt-p is a justifiable translation of these skills. The military employs RNs in other capacity for a reason and they are not the same job. I feel it's insulting to act like an emt-b is a translation of a school nurse. Both the president and mr Stewart are playin the "just a nurse" card.

For the record, I was an emt-b and I am an RN.

[Mike A. Fungin RN]

It's not a domestic problem, it's a military one.Both medics in the interview had their EMT-B certificates from the military. They can go work as an EMT when they get out. The problem is that they're really functioning as an EMT-P in the military, without the license. If the military had them do NREMT-P instead of B, problem solved.Shows a profound lack of understanding to equate competency in combat EMS with readiness to function as a community health nurse.

[Cro-Magnon]

In a world where to have a job changing a light bulb you must have a bachelor's degree, the GI Bill is vital to veteran survival. Any job, profession may be learned with on the job training. Unfortunately this is rarely if at all practiced today.

Having trained in the military to become a hospital corpsman, I know this : you are not truly of your profession until you have worked in it. Until I was assigned to my unit, I only knew what the training told me, and much of it is unrealistic in daily practice.

As a student, you are essentially paying what your future employer did not want to pay to train you. It is the practice these days. Yet again this is unfortunate. Many people do not do well in traditional educational settings, and thus have a great deal of trouble paying for the training their future employer will require them to have.

Nursing is a noble profession, just as the job of a janitor is a noble profession. Each person has ideals. I would not like to work as a janitor, but if I did I would do it well.

I guess what I'm saying is that you are "just a nurse". You are a combination of Book learning and experience. If you feel that your job is important, internalize that and carry it. If you hold it out, people are mean, and you'll get it slapped out of your hands. I think what is being said here by the president and jon stewart is that a man or woman who is deployed to combat in service of his/her country shouldn't be screwed when they come home. I was just a combat medic, and nobody in any capacity could take that honor away from me. Don't let other people take that stuff from you. it's important.

[kimbap]

I was really disappointed in the way it portrayed school nurses. To be fair, the medics on the show looked just as confused as to why they would apply to be a school nurse when they weren't trained for it. I love Jon Stewart, but he really missed the mark with that one.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

So should RNs just work as docs where there are shortages of physicians, since it's kind of the same thing?

If you want to be a nurse, go to nursing school.

[moneybarb]

Jon Stewart's "Tribute to Institutional Incompetence" is the face of Obama Care... the long lines, lack of resources and leadership in a quandary without a clue as to what to do.

During the last debate Obama said he did't know why a medic had to go to nursing school to become a nurse!

President Obama promised that he would remove bureaucracy and red-tape to expedite services to hurricane victims AKA ...smaller government works better then big government.

Do you want those such as the mayor, governor and FEMA to run your health care? If so then vote for Obama but then don't complain when you call for help, no one answers. Don't complain when you find yourself waiting in a long line before you receive pre-approval for your health care needs. If you are lucky enough to gain approval for hospitalization, if you vote for Obama, don't complain that you have a medic at your bedside and not a professional nurse.

[SummitRN, BSN, RN]

There's some ignorance... it should be corrected with advocacy and education. Where the heck is the ANA on this? I hear crickets...

They ought to at least be sending out some lobbyists!

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

If so then vote for Obama but then don't complain when you call for help, no one answers. Don't complain when you find yourself waiting in a long line before you receive pre-approval for your health care needs. If you are lucky enough to gain approval for hospitalization, if you vote for Obama, don't complain that you have a medic at your bedside and not a professional nurse.

This is off topic. However, since you posted..... Where in the Affordability Care Act is any of this information listed???? The answer is nowhere!

BTW, most facilities are not in a holding pattern regarding health care. Facilities around the country have already implemented policies to support the Affordability Care Act and have done so for years now. So when you call 911, people respond right????

The Affordability Care Act is not going away! That is only the wish of very few Republicans who have no clue what good the Act will do for ALL AMERICANS. Also, Republicans running for office talk about wanting to get rid of it because they want your vote, but they know that they cannot get rid of it either. Too many organizations on both sides do not want it to go away, too many Americans do not want it to go away, and we are more powerful than Fox Noise!