NREMT-P to RN? Hi I'm Conate :)

[Conate]

This is almost more of an introduction than a question, but still, please answer if you have a clue :)

Ok, so I'm sixteen. I'm a dude. I left public schooling. It was a waste of time compared to how well I can spend it home schooling. Socialization isn't a problem. Neither is college. Now I'm not lazy (even though I've been accused of this by people who don't even know me), I can really zone out and work, but it's more that I can learn and do far more home schooling (have more freedoms time wise, socially, physically, mentally, educationally, and even spiritually haha). Now I'll be done before I'm seventeen easy, so I'm good. My mother is an RN now, and a friend of mine is a paramedic. I just thought I'd let you know my situation.

I'm really looking into nursing. I love helping people. I like the benefits and skills that come with it. I also like the pay, of course. The hours are what I appreciate most. Since I'd be working three days a week most of the time, I'd have the other four days to take classes, spend time with friends and family, and work on my novel and songwriting ambitions. I'd most likely be a travel nurse for the economic benefits as well as the experience of getting to live in other places.

The stability is what I really like. Nursing is economically bullet proof in my book. It may not always pay so high, but it's a great thing to fall back on if my song and novel work doesn't do anything.

Also, both my mother and friend told me that paramedics are quite useful when it comes to heavier situations. They are better experienced with tracheotomies, IV's, defibrillator's, and those sorts of things. However, their license ends at the front door of the hospital according to my friend.

I'd like to do both. I'd feel a lot more useful if I could have the skills of a trained EMT and the freedom of an RN. My mother explained that she can't quite legally give IVs (even though a colleague of hers does anyways lol). I don't know if she means "yet" or if she just can't, but I'm not sure about what I'd have to look into to be able to do those things as an RN.

My friend also told me that there was a bridge program that only lasted a semester for EMT's looking to be RN's. I know how long it takes to go from an EMT-Intermediate to an NREMT-P. But I'm not so sure how many semesters it would take to become an EMT Intermediate. Maybe one or two?

But overall I think being an RN with an NREMT-P degree would probably get me somewhere in the lines of better pay, better opportunities, more experience, and more fun on the job... or something more interesting than just tending to a patient's basic needs like most nurses do from what I understand. Which I'm fine with, but I'm also more into direct work for the ER and things of that nature. Same pay, hours, work in general, but more action may be more interesting.

So basically I'm looking to be doing this:

High School

Pre-Requisites

EMT-Intermediate

NREMT-P

RN

BSN

CRNA

If that works... I think it will, but I'd like to know what you more experienced folk think... or know about becoming an EMT in the first place. My buddy told me the EMT program shares a lot of credits with the RN program. I don't know if that's entirely true, but that would be very convenient...

Anyways, thanks for the help. Nice to meet you all. I appreciate your time if you read it this far haha. But I should get some sleep. Just because I'm homeschooling doesn't mean I should be up this late :) I look forward to reading what you have to say in the morning. I appreciate any advice, input, or otherwise. Night.

[icyounurse, BSN, RN]

Wow, it seems like you are thinking way more about your future than I was at 16, , and kudos to you for that. You sound like you really have a plan.

But would like to point out that paramedic and nursing are 2 very different fields, and although in some areas of the country there may be bridge programs, ect, there is nothing like that available anywhere I have lived. If you want to be an RN, just go to RN school. It doesnt make much, if any, difference in the job or pay you get as an RN if you have been a paramedic previously, although you may have more rounded experience this way. RN's work in the ER without EMT experience all the time.Although it may be helpful towork as an EMT or CNA in the hospital while going through nursing school.

And also,nurses are responsible for way more than simply basic care. I suggest you look through some threads here and read up nursing and see if the day to day would work for you.I work in critical care areas and my job is very complex. ICU nurses run codes, give very dangerous hemodynamic drugs,run very complicated life preserving machines, and are on the frontlines to intervene for the critically ill and deal with death and dying frequently.

Is your mother an LPN because RN's always start IV's and give IV drugs, its part of the job.Also some LPNs can give IV drugs and start IV's also after a IV therapy course.

Good luck, you sound very motivated:)

[getoverit, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Wow, it seems like you are thinking way more about your future than I was at 16, , and kudos to you for that. You sound like you really have a plan.

But would like to point out that paramedic and nursing are 2 very different fields, and although in some areas of the country there may be bridge programs, ect, there is nothing like that available anywhere I have lived. If you want to be an RN, just go to RN school. It doesnt make much, if any, difference in the job or pay you get as an RN if you have been a paramedic previously, although you may have more rounded experience this way. RN's work in the ER without EMT experience all the time.Although it may be helpful towork as an EMT or CNA in the hospital while going through nursing school.

And also,nurses are responsible for way more than simply basic care. I suggest you look through some threads here and read up nursing and see if the day to day would work for you.I work in critical care areas and my job is very complex. ICU nurses run codes, give very dangerous hemodynamic drugs,run very complicated life preserving machines, and are on the frontlines to intervene for the critically ill and deal with death and dying frequently.

Is your mother an LPN because RN's always start IV's and give IV drugs, its part of the job.Also some LPNs can give IV drugs and start IV's also after a IV therapy course.

Good luck, you sound very motivated:)

very nice reply and i'm not trying to argue with you, but i don't think it's fair to imply that paramedics only deal with "simply basic care". endotracheal intubation, running codes, initiating mechanical ventilation, infusing thrombolytics, etc. are all part of a paramedic's job in some transport services.

and i totally agree with you that if you want to be an RN then go to nursing school. don't take the long way around. i love critical care and wouldn't want to be doing anything else. it is strange that his mom can't "legally give IVs".

[icyounurse, BSN, RN]

very nice reply and i'm not trying to argue with you, but i don't think it's fair to imply that paramedics only deal with "simply basic care". endotracheal intubation, running codes, initiating mechanical ventilation, infusing thrombolytics, etc. are all part of a paramedic's job in some transport services.

and i totally agree with you that if you want to be an RN then go to nursing school. don't take the long way around. i love critical care and wouldn't want to be doing anything else. it is strange that his mom can't "legally give IVs".

No I wasnt referring to paramedics dealing with only basic care. He said in his post that NURSES only deal with simply basic care:) THATS what I was referring to.

Here I am pasting a quote from his post here

" or something more interesting than just tending to a patient's basic needs like most nurses do from what I understand."

No I dont think that about Paramedics at all, sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

You sound like a very motivated individual. Good for you!

Nursing and paramedicine are entirely two different creatures. Don't waste time by going through EMT-Basic and Paramedic classes and degrees if your ultimate goal is to become a nurse. If you decide on perhaps becoming a PA, then I would say the EMS experience would help.

Medical model vs. Nursing model, not the same.

Good luck to you on your journey!

[Conate]

Thanks guys! I'll be sure to look into the other aspects of nursing that I wasn't aware of.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I'm an NREMT-P and a new RN. I'm working in an ER, and my starting pay is the same as every other new grad RN, despite my five years as an NREMT-P. So while the NREMT-P experience might make you a better RN and vice-versa, it might not translate into higher starting pay. However, it might make you more competitive when seeking work.

If you want to do both, do both. I do. I work as an RN and volunteer as an NREMT-P.

Where I went to medic school (community college in Virginia), NREMT-I is one year/two semesters, and NREMT-P is an additional year/two semesters.