NursEMT-P

I did get the big packet! Hurray!! I have some prehospital experience but no in hospital experience and my volunteer work has been pretty limited in the last 6 months, which makes me super nervous

I haven't received the big packet yet Hoping its just because of the thanksgiving holiday! How is it?

Yep everyone does the big packet :) What track are y'all applying for? I am applying for the emergency track! I am so excited! It's gonna be a long wait until we find out about interviews!

A place to share excitment, news, personal stats, tracks and anything else you care to share!

As a medic, I can only speak for my service in saying that we ALWAYS choose feeding the patient over D50, and I know very few people who would say differently. That being said, we are almost always called after the patient is found unconscious or after reasonable lay person efforts to raise BG, when D50 is necessary. D50 can be very detrimental to the patient for a number of reasons (super sugar high and a big crash, vein damage, extravasation and subsequent major tissue damage, trouble regulating blood sugar for days afterwards in severe DM and osmolality concerns) and I know many medical directors who are taking a long hard look at how diabetic patients are treated for this very reason. I think you made the right choice, I would never question your judgement and I would venture to say that following a protocol just for the sake of it without using judgement is much more dangerous then the common sense you exercised! Good job!!

TraumaSurfer- I take it from previous posts that you have some personal vendetta against EMS, and I am certainly not here to start a fight, but I feel a little inclined to defend pre-hospital care providers. I feel about as comfortable letting a Paramedic take 6 patients on a med surge floor as I do letting that med surge nurse work a bad call in a snowstorm 45 minutes away from the closest hospital. These roles are equally as important, but different. I respect an entry level paramedic exactly the same amount as I respect an entry level RN. I, like you good folks, believe that trust and clinical judgement come with time, and that you must earn these through experience and excellent performance. However, nobody seems to realise that some EMS program's require as much as some BSN programs. We need standardisation so that we can grow as a profession and not just as technicians. Also on respect- you see, I have this radical idea that everyone deserves respect (I know, crazy!) You seem to disagree. While I respect your opinion, I feel like of you looked internally, you may find that much of your negativity towards pre-hospital providers stems from you and not from them and their giant egos and actions. If you go into a communication with a bad attitude like yours- you're sure to fail!! Basically, what I am trying to say is that I feel like you should learn to respect others before you participate in discussions on respect. You are ruining it for the rest of us who are all trying to be friends. Big egos are not strictly an EMT, Paramedic, FR disease... I probably should have said that more therapeutically (since that's all I've learned in nursing school) but anyways...... (Sorry nurses, bad attempt at a joke and doesn't reflect my beliefs :) I will now proceed to put on my flame resistant clothing.

Sorry for the huge paragraphs, for some reason it won't format correctly on this phone.

I think that the biggest problem with the turf war between paramedics and nurses is the great degree of variability in education and training. I went through a degree paramedic program and felt like I learned much more in a month then I have learned in the entirety of my nursing school stint. But, there are paramedic program's that are once a week for several months (shake and bake medics) and there are others (like mine) that are structured similarly to an adn or bsn program, with extensive clinical requirements. Additionally, orientation and preceptorships vary greatly. sometimes it is just weeks before you are released on your own, and as anyone who has worked EMS knows, patients rarely fit protocols and those protocols leave lots to be desired anyways. The same holds true at the EMT-B level. Before we can be respected as a profession, some degree of uniformity needs to be present in our training and education. All in all, It angers me that the professions don't have more mutual respect for each other. There is a great deal of misunderstanding about each professions roles from the opposing profession, even though we work so closely. That being said, you are more then just an ambulance driver! Basic skills do more then drugs and tubes ever have. Make sure you respect the nurses and do your job well, and you will be a part of fostering good, mutually respectful relationships with the nurses in your area.

Thank you so much for the reply! I am hoping to have the EMS side covered as I have all the nice instructor certifications and I am currently working in the field. However I don't want to rush anything and I really want to be completely comfortable with my skills before I begin to apply. I am a pretty young paramedic though so I really have a ways to go and I realize ill need to start over as far as experience goes once I finish nursing school. am hoping to apply to the new grad burn tracks at UNC Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt, I know unc is strictly burns, but I'm not sure if Vanderbilt is a mixed unit or not. I'm assuming that CCRN is significantly harder then CCEMT-P, but do you know by chance how it compares To FP-C? I have been preparing for this test, more so for the knowledge then the certification, but I am hoping to take the test in January. Again thank you so much for taking the time to apply!!

Hey Everyone, this may be a silly question, and if so, ignore it. I am a paramedic, currently in nursing school and hoping to ultimately be a flight nurse. I am pretty familiar with the steps needed and the vast amount of experience necessary to get into flight nursing. After graduation, I obviously hope to land a new grad position in either a level 1 ED or an ICU (probably ICU, as I feel its the quickest way to get comfortable with legit sick patients). The more I think about it, the more I would really like to try burn nursing. I had an observation experience in a burn ICU and found it very interesting. However, obviously I need all my experience to work towards the ultimate goal. So the question is, for all of those who work in flight, do you think I am way over-specializing by trying for burn nursing straight out of the gate? Will this be less desirable for a flight position then medical/surgical/trauma/cardiac ICU? I would like to go to an ED after I get some ICU experience, mainly because I enjoy the hub bub and constant changing population of the ED, but I guess I'm worried that ICU experience limited to a Burn ICU may be less desirable when I start applying (in the far away future) to flight jobs. Of course, this is assuming I can land a new grad ICU position at all, but I like to be a step ahead of the game. Thank you so much for your time!

Even though I undertand the reason behind color coded scrubs, I still like bright, pretty ones better:) Even when I was in the hospital as a patient I liked the nurses bright colored/print scrubs, they made me happy. And I always knew who my nurse was so it was never a problem for me. But working, I see how it can get confusing

I haven't personally, but I live in WNC and my brother has had to do clinicals there as part of his Paramedic program and absoultely loved it!

I have a major problem with shyness and not having much confidence but I know that it is something I have to work on and I think being willing to work on it and gain skills is the first step. I think whoever said fake it til you make it is completly right, Just keep pushing yourself out of your comfort level and you will eventually be comfortable with it. I also think alot of it just comes with age and experience. Good Luck:)

If it is really what you want, go for it!!

I like the way you think haha I am not a nurse yet, so probably shouldn't answer this, But I have volunteered and worked as an emt and at a hospital, so here is my $0.02. I don't mind kissing a little a$$, if it makes them more comfortable and helps them get better. I mean the milkshake thing was obviously just ridiculous, but if they want their family by their side at every hour, an extra blanket, the tv clicker or a coke I'm more than happy to help them out. Now that doesn't mean that they shouldn't ask nicely and be respectful, but as long as their request isn't just wayyy out of line, I'm more than happy to cowtail to their whims, I mean, they are paying and probably are already feeling miserable. Of course, as I said, I'm not a nurse yet and don't have to worry about crazy patient loads, meds, and all that, so I can see how it would be frustrating if they are constantly wanting something.