Paramedic Ride Alongs

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Oct 25, 2004

Well, I'm an Oregon RN too, and I'd loveto go on a ride-along with the EMTs.......I've done this with the police department, and I'd jump at the chance to tag along with paramedics for a couple of shifts. I think it would not only be educational, but fun......not to mention the fact that some of those hunky EMTs are pretty easy on the eyes!

Seriously, though, I have nothing but respect for paramedics.....you guys can get an IV in half the time it takes me on a good day, you know your ACLS, and you can deal with all kinds of situations that would intimidate the hell out of me. More power to you. :)

ladytraviler · Oct 25, 2004

I am sorry but I have taken heads off for that statement "paramedics are not trained well, and they don't know what is best for the patient...". I defended paramedices in nursing school against students who thought they were just ambulance drivers. I worked in the field of paramedicin for 10 years before becoming a nurse. I would still be there but for career changing injuries. The nurse and the paramedic have identical skills. The difference is where they are directed. The paramedic is trained for emergencies where the nurse has stability of a well lit facility and extra staff at hand. I think paramedics benefit from hospital rotations that are/should be mandatory. The nurse on the other hand never gets the street experience unless they push to do ride alongs. Sorry so long, this is just a really sore spot for me. I think that we need to work together and appriciate each others field of expertise and let the job be done. I have seen many premadona nurses and at the same time many a**holes of paramedics. We both have a side of the coin and need to understand that they may overlap from time to time. Good paramedics ask questions about what they dont understand. Good nurses ask for clarifacation from that paramedic about what they do if they dont understand. Have a good day.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2004

Well, I'm an Oregon RN too, and I'd loveto go on a ride-along with the EMTs.......I've done this with the police department, and I'd jump at the chance to tag along with paramedics for a couple of shifts. I think it would not only be educational, but fun......not to mention the fact that some of those hunky EMTs are pretty easy on the eyes!
Seriously, though, I have nothing but respect for paramedics.....you guys can get an IV in half the time it takes me on a good day, you know your ACLS, and you can deal with all kinds of situations that would intimidate the hell out of me. More power to you. :)

Well, depending on where you are, you can ask to be on a ride along with your local ambulance co. Metro West Ambulance in Wash CO is rather cool about it, and I am not too sure about AMR, but have heard of nurses getting to go on them. I mean...doesn't hurt to ask..and trust me, really worth the time (as long as something happens..LOL, I spent two nights where absolutely nothing happened...only one little old lady that called 911 because her caregivers didn't come to her call light in time and peed her bed! GRRRR!). Finally the third night..more that I could imagine and it was great!!! Especially when you can just watch .

Yeah, I have paramedic respect beaten into me by hubby..LOL, but working with them...now that was awesome!!!!! (I also worked with Northwest RockMed..the volunteer medics that go to outdoor concerts, and the majority of them are paramedics and naturalpaths (so I learned so much!)...talk about the best in fun medicine..total field nursing!!!!!!! I miss it soooo much!).

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2004

I am sorry but I have taken heads off for that statement "paramedics are not trained well, and they don't know what is best for the patient...". I defended paramedices in nursing school against students who thought they were just ambulance drivers. I worked in the field of paramedicin for 10 years before becoming a nurse. I would still be there but for career changing injuries. The nurse and the paramedic have identical skills. The difference is where they are directed. The paramedic is trained for emergencies where the nurse has stability of a well lit facility and extra staff at hand. I think paramedics benefit from hospital rotations that are/should be mandatory. The nurse on the other hand never gets the street experience unless they push to do ride alongs. Sorry so long, this is just a really sore spot for me. I think that we need to work together and appriciate each others field of expertise and let the job be done. I have seen many premadona nurses and at the same time many a**holes of paramedics. We both have a side of the coin and need to understand that they may overlap from time to time. Good paramedics ask questions about what they dont understand. Good nurses ask for clarifacation from that paramedic about what they do if they dont understand. Have a good day.

I hear you loud and clear and seen a lot of this too! I even got in the middle of something when I was on a ride along...it was a crisis pregancy and the fetal heart rate of the baby was way low! I noticed while we were in the patients room that she had several empty large econo size tums bottles, and one half full on her nightstand. I asked her how many she took a day, and she said "I don't know but I buy one of those bottles every 3 days or so!"...wow! Okay...that amount of calcium should have brady'd her, let alone her child!

When the paramedics were resporting off..the nurse didn't even listen to them at all! So I pipped up by stating I was a nursing student and was curious about something I had seen and wanted their advice! They were very eager to talk with me and help. SO I brought up what I saw and boom...they got a montitor on her fast and the baby's heart rate was almost gone! Boy did they move!!!

Later I saw the two nurses, and said "wow, isn't it funny that the paramedics you were talking to you told you word for word what I said...but it took me..a nursing student to get action..is that because of the nursing title? Am I more of a medic then they are? I thank you for your prompt response for the two patients...and suggest listening to paramedics next time, because if I wasn't here...well, I don't want to even THINK of what would have been!"

They just smirked, muttered something about 'nurse beats paramedics everytime, even smart orificed student nurses"..I let it go....

I felt that was such a waste! I know many aren't like it..and paramedics aren't immuned either (oh trust me, I get to hear nightly about all the nasty things paramedics do towards nurses that give them flack...).

I think ride alongs/rotations would be an awesome way to break those barriers!

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2004

OH where are my mannors! Okay, so as a nurse I see my own share of this! I was doing CPR on a man who was found on the toliet pulseless and apnec. The paramedics came in and I started my count outloud so they could take over, which they did...and I proceeded to help them get their equipment so I could help with the IV and bagging if necessary. They wouldn't give me the time of day, and one said..."no what you did for him was adorable, so why don't you go find some beds to make, or pillows to fluff!".

Okay...the nurse in me was furious..the paramedic sympathetic part of me giggled, but then was mad..LOL! Then I noticed that they hadn't brought their bag mask or resp equipment! So I said "well, I will unfold your sheets for the gurney in a min *wink*, but maybe I will run out to the rig and bring your resp equipment in for ya!"...DOH!

Needless to say...they ran out and got it....and at the end, he had a pulse and being bagged and there I was...sheet at the ready with the biggest SEG on my face! LOL!!!

That was fun, but still...things would have moved quicker if we hadn't wasted time on the words

NurseFirst · Oct 25, 2004

1. The number of drugs that PMs carry is very limited, compared to the number of meds in the world. PMs are not necessarily going to know that side effects of aminoglycosides are ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity, or that a patient taking cephalosporins ought not to have wine with dinner.

2. Never even SAW a urinary catheter that wasn't in a patient.

3. Anything about enemas or relieving a fecal impaction.

4. Never heard of autonomic dysreflexia (of course, if this is something that has been given a name in the last 25 years, it would have been before my time.)

5. Bed bath ?!?! Making a bed with a patient in it !?!?!

OTOH, when I re-took EMT training last Winter we covered:

1. Putting on c-collars

2. putting people into a ked-sled

3. stuff about bites, snake, insect, etc.

4. putting on a (hare, and others) traction splint

And if I was a paramedic, I would learn to do Endotracheal intubation (something we didn't do when I was a paramedic; we used esophageal obturator airways.)

(Now, I have just started nursing school, so I don't KNOW that we won't cover those...but, my suspicion is....)

How much "first aid" is actually taught in Nursing School?

Regards,

NurseFirst

PS And we didn't use gloves in those days...AIDS changed all that.

Antikigirl, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2004

OH man the humor in me came out a bit on that one..I love it!

1. Autonomic dysrefelxia..."forgetting your ambulance is an automatic and driving it like a stick shift by habit!"

2. Fecal impaction: "nothing that going over speed bumps code three won't fix!"

3. Urinary Catheter: "extra tubes to get stuck or stepped on" Seeing one OUTSIDE a patient "darn it...okay can someone put that back in please...sorry about that!"

4. Bed bath: "an ongoing fantasy for paramedics with nursing spouses that gets a four letter word response, and potential for a minimum 25 resident horror stories r/t their day at work!"

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

OH I hope my hubby doesn't ever read that...he will kill me! LOL!!!!!!!!

Still Riding · Oct 25, 2004

I would love too, the learning experience would be amazing, but i'm a student so everything is a learning experience.

NurseFirst · Oct 25, 2004

Thanks for the laughs!

OH man the humor in me came out a bit on that one..I love it!
1. Autonomic dysrefelxia..."forgetting your ambulance is an automatic and driving it like a stick shift by habit!"
2. Fecal impaction: "nothing that going over speed bumps code three won't fix!"
3. Urinary Catheter: "extra tubes to get stuck or stepped on" Seeing one OUTSIDE a patient "darn it...okay can someone put that back in please...sorry about that!"
4. Bed bath: "an ongoing fantasy for paramedics with nursing spouses that gets a four letter word response, and potential for a minimum 25 resident horror stories r/t their day at work!"
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!
OH I hope my hubby doesn't ever read that...he will kill me! LOL!!!!!!!!

Trauma Columnist · Oct 25, 2004

I'm in Illinois: I'm an RN in the ER and I'm also a pre-hospital RN on my local rescue squad. I abosolutely love the adrenaline rush! There is a lot both disciplines can teach each other. I respect all the paramedics and they in turn, respect me too. Its a two-way street. Together - we give great patient care.

missmercy · Oct 25, 2004

I had a crush on the hospital's sexiest PM --WAY BACK -- as did all the other candystripers at the time. :rolleyes: I had a unique friendship with this extremely handsome and very egotisical young man though -- I chose to interview him for a speech project r/t a job that we wished we could have. After the interview -- with his huge ego stoked by the fires of a teenager's admiration, we became chums and would eat dinner at the same time, harass each other in the halls, you know -- stuff like that NOTHING INAPPROPRIATE -- until the evening when we were eating dinner after my cs "shift" and his pager went off -- he said " Hey want to come along?!" DUH! NO BRAINER!! SO I hopped into the squad with "Chip & Dale" (No,:imbar not their real names!) and off we went to the accident scene where I was firmly instructed to "STAY IN THE RIG!" (I stayed of course -- rivited to the action outside. Turned out to be a multiple fatality and the guys got into a bit of trouble for bringing an "unapproved observer" :uhoh21: along. We ended up transporting one of the DOAs back to the hospital and I sneaked out of the squad near the driveway. Who tattled, I will never know - - but that experience was one that encouraged me to stay in nursing -- was SO impressed with those guys. (They weren't too terribly difficult to watch work either:imbar ). Actually stayed in touch unitl I got married -- one even came to the wedding -- both moved out of state -- both stayed in Emergency medicine. Was an experience I will NEVER forget!