Paramedics are taking our Nursing job!

[MacERRN]

I got to beat the dead horse, I'm feeling it today as I read the classified's. Before flaming me to the burn unit, I was the 89th paramedic in Iowa. I got in on the first class opened to general population at UIHC in 1980.My license was #89. I also precept. EMT-P students in out Level 1 trauma center, so I know the training, the standard protocols taught, etc. that a paramedic obtains.

I see the way hospitals are dealing with this economy, replacing RN's with Paramedics. Let see, 5 yrs of college vs a 6 month class, basically a semester if going full time(the EMSLRC at the U of Iowa has a class that will take you from EMT basic to EMT-P, only one in country I believe). Who would you want at triage? Or administering meds that they have no idea the side effects? It's a crazy world. Keep the medic's on the street and leave the nursing to nurses!

[JustMe]

Frankly I'm more worried about a hospital that would hire an EMT in place of an RN as the ONLY person other than the physician. Sounds like a very small understaffed hospital--not where I'd want to live or work. Some parts of Hawaii can be very rural so perhaps an EMT was the best they could come up with.

Another thread addresses the differences between nursing and medicine. The lines are grey between all of these practices. Tasks are shared among the professions but it is up to each individual discipline to know when the line has been crossed. In this case the hospital crossed the line by hiring an EMT when an RN was required. Yes, many hospitals are hiring EMTs for their ERs--but is this appropriate?? We have a nursing shortage--maybe more hospitals should step up to the plate and help their EMTs to get nursing degrees. Then they would not be out of compliance with professional standards.

EMTs and paramedics are trained for work in the field. RNs and LVNs are trained for bedside care. Anything else requires specialized training after licensure along with following standardized protocols. Just because a paramedic can intubate in the field does not mean he/she can do it in the hospital. That's where the line is crossed--at the ER door.

Just my

[jcampbell]

i do believe clear guidelines need to be established on a national level to keep individuals and companies from exercising errors in judgment as we have read in these posts.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

I love working with paramedics in the ER. All the ones I have met are awesome. And some of them are way better at some things than I am.

What I object to is a paramedic calling himself a nurse. Saying that anyone taking care of a sick person is a nurse. And this particular paramedic devaluing our education and value. And bragging how much better he is than a nurse.

Nurse is a protected title. I worked hard to earn mine.

I continue to welcome any paramedic to work with me. They bring a lot to the table and I appreciate them.

[helicoptergal, BSN, RN]

This thread vividly illustrates the vast misunderstanding of the profession of a Paramedic. There is not a standardized scope of practice regardless if a paramedic is nationally registered or not. Each state has a different scope of practice for paramedics. Some areas require doctor consultation to start an IV, and in some areas paramedics have a expanded scope of practice that includes aggressive expanded treatment procedures and protocols. Optimally Paramedics provide an integral link in the chain in the health care continuum. And rather view the attempts of Paramedics to work in the hospital as trying to take over, I believe that it provides the opportunity to provide better patient care by utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach.