ramkatral

Dunno if it's too late for your answer, but I grew up in Spartanburg. Mary Black is the private for profit hospital of the area. It's a pretty decent place, though it seems to me a little more costly than Spartanburg Regional. That could just be a mis-representation though. I guess it depends on what you wanna do. If you want to work in an ED, then you should look at Spartanburg Regional. They're a level 1 trauma center, and they own/run EMS so they have a very active ED. If you want more in depth info on either, send me a message, I'll be glad to chat with ya.

Sometimes I wish we really got to know patients long enough to develop relationships like that. The only people we get to know well are frequent fliers, and they tend not to be those kinda folks.

The one thing I'd like to add is how very little people think before they speak. Medics don't think about how their words can hurt an aspiring nurse. I hear CNAs get bashed a lot, and I'm sure that hurts badly. They're just trying to make it to the top most of the time. Just like it hurts to be treated the way some of us medics are. Don't people realize I come home to a wife and 2 children making a less than desirable salary, yet working conditions that have almost gotten me killed on occaision. (How many 'normal' nurses have had to climb into a burning car to get a C-collar on and pull a patient from it? That's a scary feeling. I've also been on the scene of a shoot out, assessing a patient when we then discovered the shooter was still there.) I get told several times in a year I'm substandard to nurses and whatnot because I'm 'just a medic'. People around me keep pushing me to get RN or PA so I'll 'make more money'. Why is it that people can't just realize how much their words hurt? Maybe this is what I love, and EMS is in my soul? Perhaps it's not all about the money. Sure, I'd like to be able to give my family more than I do. Maybe one day the pay differentials will even out. Whether or not they do, I'll do this till I die, and high-five the nurses who love doing what they do.

All I can do to this is simply nod my head. Nothing else need be said.

Eh, I have no actual answer for you but I have a lil comic relief: Why shouldn't she be able to? There's nothing to labor and delivery but catch, suck, cut, wrap... I've delivered three little ones in the pre-hospital environment. And yes, I'm just joking around about there being nothing to it, before I get flamed to hell.

Yup, that's an extensive part of EMT training at all the levels up to Paramedic. 'Talking down' pts with altered mental status, and dealing with dangerous patients/scenes. We got called over to the ED to assist the nurses with such a patient a few weeks ago. It took about half an hour, but he finally gave in.

Thank you. More than you know. It's nice to hear that sometimes, ya know? Heh, and less than desirable becomes absolutely horrible in a thunderstorm. I know one thing. We complain of our frequent fliers a lot, but you get WAY more in the ED. I love sitting at the nurses station, watching the screen that monitors the waiting room cameras, listening to the nurses name off every single person out there and what it is they want, without looking it up. I get a chuckle. If it's a slow day for us at EMS, I'll often bring the patient back, get em hooked up to the monitors, do an EKG, push an IV, or whatever else it is they need so that the nurses can tend to the patients who truly need it. I'm tellin ya, I have never ever had a problem with any nurse. I love ours. They always have some fresh coffee and donuts set aside just for us in the morning, and we grill out every sunday afternoon and take them lunch.

You know, I can tell there's a lot of animosity between emts and nurses, and i can see how deep it runs here. I would just like to make this post to say that I am an EMT, career. I don't want to be anything else. My wife is working towards her RN. As such, I would like to whole-heartedly, from the bottom of my soul, thank each any every nurse all the way down to CNA for everything you do. Just know that there are some of us out here who truely appreciate you.

Okay, first of all, EMT216, you're WAAAY out of your lane. You're acting in the very manner that started this conversation. Do you not get that? You're the one in the wrong here, and don't try to throw the nurse card at me. I am not a nurse, I am a career EMT and a part time firefighter. Lose the attitude or go find another place to start name calling. They are doing nothing more than offering counter points. If you expect to be allowed to speak, then you should be ready to listen. Zippy, you're right. Notice I said Nurses 'without the proper training' have no business in an accident environment. As for nurses in nursing homes, they know just as much as their counterparts in other areas. They simply are not equipped or allowed to handle acute emergent situations. It's the nature of their job. If you're unhappy with having to respond to a LTC emergency call, quit. Personally, I consider it another day at the office. I enjoy my job and all the calls that come with it. Emergency or routine, it's what I get paid to do. LPNs are just as qualified to do their job as you are yours. Get over it. CNAs, LPNs, RNs, NPs, they're all certification levels. Just like EMT-B, I, or P. Just because an EMT is a basic doesn't make his role any less important. Nurses of all levels have their places and their jobs, and we have ours. We both need each other, and we both should treat each others like brothers and sisters.

I can say alot of the smugness and attitude many nurses feel from EMTs is because of the same thing in return. Even though I have a very good relationship with our ED nurses, the ones I encounter at nursing homes or other LTC facilities tend to treat me as a lesser. It's quite unfair. Maybe, without you knowing it, you're giving off that same impression to the EMTs you're working with? I have found that it goes on with the nurse unaware they're doing it. As for EMT216s comments, I can both agree and disagree. Half the time I have good nurses who're ready with all the information I request. They'll be standing there with charts in hands spewing history to me. It's wonderful. And the other half there won't even be a nurse there. It'll be some administrative person fumbling through the paperwork for the information I need. I can't speak negatively about any of the nurses I work with. I can, however, say there's attitude problems on both sides of the aisle. I am guilty of popping off at some innocent nurse because I'm on the 20th hour of a 20+ call shift. It doesn't make it right, though.

I disagree with the bashing of Firefighters being EMTs. 97% of our calls, the fire department is first on the scene. I'm GLAD we have at least EMT-Bs on scene quickly. Especially for time critical cases such as cardiac arrest. If you've never had a career in the EMS field, you wouldn't understand 75% of the life in the pre-hospital environment. It's unforgiving. More so than the hospital. We have no doctors around.

You know, this could go on forever. Each side could point at the other. I personally get along great with the nurses at our ED. In fact, our EMS base sits right beside the ED, so when not on a call, I tend to hang out at the nurses station to pass the time. That being said, you have to look at it from a EMTs point of view. We're paid crap. End of story there. A lot of times it's very frustrating to be in the same general ballpark of a field that nurses are in, and be handed the business end of a crap stick. Also, to ask questions like 'Why hasn't she had her breathing treatment' are part of the standard history gathering. Those kinda questions are built into the EMT mindset, just accept that. You gotta understand, we don't carry on long term care. I usually only ever see a patient once. Ever. I have to learn everything I can about them within a 5 minute window. Also, you can't compare what EMTs do to nurses or vice versa. EMTs receive more training in working in the pre-hospital environment. Such as hazmat, rescue operations, vehicle extrications, sometimes providing care with nothing but things lying around the house, laws regarding pre-hospital treatment. Nurses aren't taught the first things (as far as I know), about an urgent extrication in the aftermath of a MVC. Nurses on the other hand, go more in depth into pathophysiology and long term treatment. I'm sure there's more, I just personally don't know what an RN learns. But in the end, we should all learn to work together. Because what would people do WITHOUT EMTs, and what would people do WITHOUT Nurses? There would be a big mess. That's what.

You know, I work on an ambulance. It's been my experience that the ones who meet you outside tend to be in truely bad shape. I had a 'difficulty breathing' call awhile back. It was 28 degrees outside and sleeting/snowing. When the patient was outside beside the road in shorts and a tank top in the standing tripod position, I knew this was bad. I've come to realize that the ones who meet you outside tend to be the ones who figure that if they're going unresponsive or whatnot, they wanna be as close to your arrival point as possible.

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