medic9872

I chose to stop my clinicals for now due to the staff at my clinical site openly stating to patients and among themselves that this is all a hoax and will blow over quickly. No gloves, no masks in use. No triaging of patients to separate the well vs the sick visits. Did I mention this is a pulmonary office? This continued up until the last clinical I did on 3/11. I worked in the ER on 3/13 and 3/14 with several covid rule outs and lots of respiratory crap. I got sick on 3/15...not completely sure it was covid, but that's my assumption. Both me and my husband have been sick since 3/15. Severe fatigue, coughing until short of breath with chest/rib pain, slight congestion, body aches, low grade fever. I took him to urgent care on 3/16 (he has no pcp) and they dx bronchitis, gave him clarithromycin, prednisone, and tessalon perles. He developed a fever three days later (and yes, he was taking the abx as prescribed). Both of us basically spent a week in bed with this and we're still coughing, though not nearly as bad. No one will test us. I called my work - they say to call my pcp. I called my pcp - they said since I don't have enough symptoms, they won't test. It's insane. My state doesn't have any sort of widespread testing and I would be shocked if they do anytime in the future. I have another month of school, now completely online. I'm honestly considering a travel contract once school is out. Many in my class hadn't found a clinical placement prior to covid exploding and I don't see it feasible to get a new placement at this point. They were talking about pushing our clinical requirements out into the Summer or seeing if there were any other options that don't include direct patient care. I'm lucky in that this is my first clinical rotation and I'm not graduating this semester. I can put my schooling on hold for a semester or two if needed...and I think it'll be needed. My husband is out of work until who knows when. This is a giant mess.

I'm at Georgia State University in the FNP program. The majority of my classes require an 80% on tests and an 80% overall, but you must have an 80% on your tests before anything else is considered.

Where do you live? I think the usage of LPNs varies greatly by area. We have LPNs in my ER and they function like an RN except that they can't titrate drips and a couple other small things (means they don't get the critical rooms). My hospital employs LPNs in many areas, even some in ICA/ICU if they commit to obtaining their RN in a certain time period (may have to be enrolled in school, I'm not completely sure on the details). Honestly, I think your best option would be to take the additional couple of semesters worth of core classes and apply to a bridge program. In the long run you're going to spend a lot of time and money to make about the same per hour as you make as a paramedic. I did the bridge program at Darton College (now part of Albany State University) and got my RN in 2013. I did their BSN bridge as well and finished that in 2015. Most of the core classes are online, even some of the lab courses only require you to go to labs (some of those are hybrids and you only go about every other week). I understand how you feel about being burned out on 24's. Are you able to go to 12 hour shifts? If you need some employment options, send me a PM. I'm in the Warner Robins area. I have a couple of contacts at various services in middle GA if you need some help finding a new job. Good luck to you!

Also check the hospitals in Macon, Warner Robins, Perry, Milledgeville, etc. I think the BSN trend is centered in Atlanta. Everywhere else in the state seems to be totally ok with ADNs. We even have some LPNs in my ER.

Where do you live? I'm in Warner Robins, which is about 100 miles south of Atlanta. My local hospitals do the residencies and they accept ADNs, BSNs, and even LPNs. I think Atlanta hospitals can be more discerning as they have a large applicant pool. If you want info on the hospitals in my area, send me a PM. Good luck to you!

I have to agree with the others who said that you should get your EMT-B and get some field experience. My mom is a paramedic and many of my relatives were firefighters, but their experience doesn't translate to you. I like to say that I "grew up" in EMS because I vividly remember reading my mom's paramedic books (and getting in trouble for bringing them to school lol) and her learning patient assessment on me and my brothers. I also remember visiting her at work many times and being in awe of everything. I was also an avid ER fan, which made me want to be an ER nurse. My point is that all of those things are great and they make for a good story in an interview, but they mean nothing when it comes to your work experience. ER and ICU nursing is completely different from EMS. ER is much closer in terms of how you work (find and fix the problems, send them on to definitive care), but EMS is its own monster. You could likely pass the paramedic bridge course but I don't think it would help you. You need field work, not another certification or license. Something that could be very beneficial would be becoming an instructor in ACLS, PALS, BLS, etc. Most flight programs do a lot of training and community outreach and they love to have instructors as a part of their crew. If I were you, I would do the EMT-B and get instructor status in some of those alphabet courses (especially BLS). Good luck to you!

Good luck to you!

What state are you in? I'm in GA and most of the bases within about 75 miles of my house are rural. The trend here is to keep the helicopters in the places that the calls originate rather than sending them from the cities to the calls as it's a delay. They do a mix of scene calls and transfers. I would suggest that you ask the individual services about the specifics and talk to the crews. I have been missing my EMS days and I think this would be a good way to use all of my skills. I actually had an interview today with one of the big flight services in my area. I have 7 years EMS (5 as a medic) and just under 5 years as a RN (primarily ER, some ICU in a small hospital). I aced the tests and I think the interview went well. I have my ACLS, PALS, BLS & BLS instructor, GA EMS instructor (I think this was a huge selling point), some of the NIMS courses (100, 200, 700, I think), and TNCC. I was a bit surprised that I got an interview and even more surprised at how well it seemed to go. Ultimately I think that experience and certs are how you get your foot in the door, but it's up to you and your personality from there. I think it also depends on how competitive your area is. For the services in my area, they prefer experience in education as they do a lot of community outreach and a lot of training. They also expect you to be customer service oriented (I know, we all hate that lol). I think this company is a good fit for me personally and I really hope they offer me the job. I should know something in a couple weeks.

Hi, I'm in GA as well and I've applied to the FNP program at GSU for spring. I looked at a lot of programs and I liked GSU the best. (Doesn't hurt that my brother is in law school at GSU.) Emory has a good program and a great reputation but it's way expensive. I already have a heavy student loan debt due to going back to school multiple times (paramedic, RN, BSN, plus I changed my major several times when I was younger), so I went for the more affordable option. There are a couple more choices in Atlanta though. Kennesaw State seems to have a good program. There's also Mercer/GA Baptist and Brenau in Gainesville and several online programs such as Walden, South Univ, Frontier, Chamberlain, etc although that wasn't the route I wanted to take. Let me know what you decide. GSU extended the deadline for spring applications to mid October if you're wanting to apply.

You're definitely not too old! I was 32 when I started my medic to RN bridge and 33 when I graduated. I was 35 when I finished my BSN and I've applied for a FNP program to start in the spring. I'm 37 so if you're too old, I guess I am too lol. You're going to get older regardless so you might as well work towards doing something you love.

Hi! I completely understand how you're feeling - overwhelmed by life and work, and yet you want to go back to school and further your career. It sounds like life might be settling down a bit, so I think you should go for it. Can you do online classes? You don't necessarily have to choose one of the strictly online schools, many state schools offer online classes as well. My BSN program was entirely online except for clinicals. I applied to GA State University for their FNP program, which is a hybrid type of program. I would suggest looking into what is offered by whatever your preferred school is and go from there. Maybe you should talk to an advisor and see what advice they can offer. I think FNP would afford you the opportunity to practice as well as teach as you said, but an education degree would not. If you think you might want to practice as an FNP, I would go that route. You can always go back and take education classes later, if needed. Or you could do the education degree and then do a post-grad certificate for FNP. Follow your heart and good luck!

If you can manage Vanderbilt, I would definitely go there. As you said, the name alone could open doors for you. Vanderbilt was my first choice for FNP, but the traveling would be too much for me (I'm in middle GA) and I'm not in a position to move right now. Good luck to you!

Hi! I'm on nights in the ER and I'm applying for a FNP program for spring. The program is a hybrid one, but of course there are still clinicals to consider. I'm planning to group as many of my shifts together so that I'm not constantly switching my sleep schedule. I already do this and it helps a lot in feeling like a somewhat normal person when I'm off. I'm also saving up my paid time off so that I can use it as needed to get those clinicals done. I generally have some down time at night, sometimes quite a bit. I was able to study a lot and even write some of my papers, discussion responses, etc during my BSN completion program. Ultimately the most important thing is to ensure that you are getting enough sleep. Good luck!

I don't have any experience with GCSU, but I have also been researching GA FNP programs. I am working on my application to Georgia State's FNP program for spring. Their program is a hybrid with the majority of work online, from what I can gather. Where in GA do you live? I'm in the middle GA area. I've heard a lot of good things about GA Southwestern and GA State. Emory is top notch, but also costs a fortune, so it's not on my list of possibilities. I know a few people who went to South University, but they did not have good reviews of the program. It is online though and didn't seem to be outrageously expensive. A former coworker went to the Univ of Alabama at Birmingham. Her program was a hybrid, but the vast majority of classes were online. She had glowing reviews of the program and she plans to focus on rural healthcare.

I know a FNP who works in women's health and she landed that job as soon as she passed her boards. I think FNP may give you experience with a wider age range than WHNP, but I don't really know enough about it. It seems that most practices and employers in my area look for FNPs, but that may be different as it sounds like you're in a more densely populated urban area than I am (middle GA). Either way, good luck to you!