Hi everyone! Brand-new to the forum, but hoping I could get some input as I'm just starting a medical journey.
I have a tendency to write novels when asking questions, so here's the short question and I can elaborate on personal/professional context need be: if I get certified and work as a paramedic while attending an RN program, will that experience be beneficial once I start applying for nursing positions? Obviously they are not the same job, but will the patient interaction experience and limited procedural/assessment skills assist me in a nursing future?
Thanks in advance for the help. I'm trying to figure out my best academic/career track for the next few years of life.
I agree with your wife. Paramedics don’t make a lot and to be a paramedic at least around here, they require a degree. EMTs require a certification but don’t have the scope a paramedic does. EMTs earn less than a paramedic and you are in with the public. The down and dirty public.
I’d go straight for my RN and get a tech job in the hospital that will get you the same pay as an EMT. Easier way to get your foot in the door as well.
Just my two cents. Most EMTs that go to nursing school end up as a tech either in the ER or on my unit while in school.
Specializes in ED & Critical Care CEN, TCRN, CCRN, CFRN, CTRN.
As a new RN (I graduated this year 2021) & a paramedic here is what I will tell you. It depends on what YOU want to do. Honestly, at first I NEVER saw myself as a nurse. I ONLY "thought" of this route because I didn't want to be a medic stuck trying to get into PA school. During that time, I looked into being a NP & then saw that being a nursing would a great fit for me. You don't have to figure it out "all right now". Go where your heart tells you! If you are not interested in being an RN, you will weed yourself out (Trust me, nursing school is tough to get in and tough to finish!) Paramedic is the same. If you go the degree route, it's 2 years. If you go the con-ED route, you will have to be complete an EMT course first, before applying to Paramedic school. Paramedic is NOT easy at all (we started 42 and graduated 9). My point is that your heart HAS to be in it 100%. If you want to do paramedic then later RN, you will have SOME advantages because of patient care experience. You will have a good base on patho, pharm, patient assessments, triage, invasive skills etc. But because you will be a medic, don't expect nursing school to be easy (it's not). The ADN vs BSN in my area doesn't make much of a difference in terms for competing for jobs. Most of my classmates are at major hospital systems. I was hired by Duke University Hospital w/ an ADN (I have to complete my BSN w/in a specific time though). But then again, I do have Army medic & Paramedic experience while competing with New Grad RNs. Good luck on whatever you decide to do!
As a new RN (I graduated this year 2021) & a paramedic here is what I will tell you. It depends on what YOU want to do. Honestly, at first I NEVER saw myself as a nurse.
EMT-B to EMT-P to RN ADN to BSN here and I still think of myself as a paramedic, it will always be my first love.
To answer the OP's question, did my medic training help my nursing career? Absolutely but I was a medic for some years before I was a nurse, meaning I had a lot of experience before I ever went to the Paramedic to RN bridge program. Got to say, my critical thinking and assessment skills were learned as a medic and were a cut above what was taught in nursing school.
I would not recommend anyone get their paramedic's license with the idea of immediately going into nursing school while learning a new trade. It's far too much to be a new medic while trying to assimilate nursing school as the same time.
How do I know?
I flunked out of my nursing school by working a shift where I go no sleep then taking an important exam which I bombed. And, I wasn't new to the field. Sat out a semester and went back into the program. Lesson learned, I quit my job as a medic and completed nursing school, it was easier eating ramen noodles for a year than taking a chance on failing again.
All the above having been said, the reason I went to get my RN is simply that my body and pocketbook wouldn't handle the strain any longer.
Too many years on the road, walking backwards down a flight of stairs at 0200AM carrying my share of 300lbs of humanity for (at the time) $12.00/hour. I have one artificial knee, the other bone on bone and a bad back.
Still miss the road but looking at my back account, maybe not as much as I thought.
Similar pathway as above — EMT (2000) to paramedic (2003) to RN (2008), I also worked as an ER tech from 2005 until I finished nursing school in 2008 and stayed in the same ER as an RN, then BSN in 2010, Army, then first MSN in 2015. My paramedic cert was active until March 2021, when I finally let it go. I do feel that the years of paramedic experience were helpful, just in terms of dealing with patients in a healthcare setting. I wouldn't discourage anyone from being a paramedic, but it is not like TV, any more than the rest of healthcare mirrors TV (except Scrubs, that one is more realistic, LOL). But be a paramedic if you want to be a paramedic, not just as a stepping stone to RN. They are based on different models — medical model for paramedics, you work under a physician's license, and nursing model for nursing, under your own license. If you aren't going to spend much time as a paramedic before moving on to nursing, you might just skip it and just go straight to RN, if that is what you want. I really enjoyed being a paramedic, it just didn't pay as well and I fell in love with the ER. ? Good luck!
Thanks to everyone for the input. Definitely a mixed-bag of opinions here; I appreciate all of them, truly.
I do just want to say for the record that I completely understand that EMT/paramedic is not like TV (though big shout-out to @Pixie.RN for calling out my favorite TV show ever ?); I don't have a hero complex or delusions of grandeur. Like any other job out there, both the RN and the prehospital sides will have their ups and downs. My first education was for archaeology, and I think I lean toward prehospital/EMS because of some deep-rooted need to not spend all my time indoors.
Anyway.... lots to think about, and I am glad to now have opinions from those more exposed to the medical field than me (or my wife, for that matter). Thank you guys so much
Honestly I want the medic, but it's been an ongoing butting-of-heads between my wife and me. I want the medic because I want to be out in the community helping people during their emergencies be them large or small (Wife thinks this is a naïve rose-colored-glasses view of the profession on my part). She wants nursing for the higher earning/income potential and lateral & upward mobility; not be a "glorified taxi driver". I guess I'm trying to find a way we can both get what we want out of the situation.
While understanding that it's a lofty, long-term goal, my internet searching has me thinking that flight nurse might be a rational aspiration to make us both happy. My thought process was that getting some experience in EMS could be beneficial to that in the long-run.
Being in EMS would absolutely benefit you. EMS are first responders, they can start I.V.'s, do EKGs on the spot, do vitals. But do what you want, and not do a whole educational program based on your 'wife'.
LovingLife123
1,592 Posts
I agree with your wife. Paramedics don’t make a lot and to be a paramedic at least around here, they require a degree. EMTs require a certification but don’t have the scope a paramedic does. EMTs earn less than a paramedic and you are in with the public. The down and dirty public.
I’d go straight for my RN and get a tech job in the hospital that will get you the same pay as an EMT. Easier way to get your foot in the door as well.
Just my two cents. Most EMTs that go to nursing school end up as a tech either in the ER or on my unit while in school.