flyinchic

Hey there...just my 2 cents from a past-paramedic. I went through the local community college many years ago and completed the continuing education courses for EMT-B, EMT-I and then EMT-P. It was a great experience. I worked several part-time jobs as a paramedic and volunteered a great deal while becoming a paramedic. I also have a BS in Biology, and have always been interested in something in the medical field. I am completing my first year of nursing school now....and will say that many of the basics have been review for me because of my background. Of course, things have changed since 7 years ago, and in addition, the protocols and such are a little different on an ambulance than in a hospital setting. The school I attend right now REQUIRES all students to be certified as a CNA prior to admission to the nursing program. As soon as I got my CNA certification, I went to work in the Emergency Dept as an ER Tech (fancy for CNA in the ED)...the hospital did on site training for additional skills (EKG's, blood draws, foley insertion, splinting)...and I will say that my experience in the ED has been the best so far. In my "free" time, I evaluate pt labwork and the meds they are being given and tie that in with what I have learned in nursing. Even though I cannot do "nursing" in the ED as a Tech, I am learning so much about ED nursing and my experiences at work have made school much easier. I agree with the others that the amount of time needed to complete the EMT training in addition to clinicals and studying nursing will be way too much! I highly recommend the CNA route and see if you can get a job in the ED...much to learn there !! Good luck!

Hey Monique... For Nursing Implications, this would be directly correlating with each of your Nursing Interventions. Say, perhaps you chose...RN will ensure pt eats a low fat diet at all meals....as your nursing intervention for atherosclerosis. A nursing implication of this would be something that you would watch for, labs you could monitor to follow up on whether or not the intervention is doing what you want it to do. Assessing the pt for whether or not giving them a low-fat diet is helping them maintain or improve their health...assess pt for weekly weights, assess for episodes of angina, etc. You chose a difficult diagnosis, because atherosclerosis is not something you can easily measure or change in the short term. But, one good & easy way to approach it is to list the signs/symptoms of atherosclerosis and come up with interventions that can reduce those signs/symptoms and from those interventions, determine how you can measure the effectiveness. Hope this helped! Good luck! Christie Student RN