klallen

As far as discrimination I can't really comment because I don't work on your unit. As far the job, It might not have anything to do with not taking your test yet. I worked a while on a general care floor and if they liked you as a tech they would hire you as a nurse if they had the positions. When I moved to an ICU I asked if they do the same for techs they like and she said its very unlikely no matter how much they like you. It could be different at your hospital but at the one I work at they have to post the job still and go through the normal hiring process even if they know they want to give you the job. It was explained to me that for ICU positions the requirements are usually some sort of experience like ICU or step down units. When they hire one of their techs right out of grad school they have to changes the posting to graduate nurse which means no experience and opens the door for many more applications. On top of that there are usually rules they follow like taking internal employees over external and I believe I was told they have to hire union employees over non union employees. As a tech we aren't part of the nursing union so when a graduate nurse position is posted for an ICU or specialty unit the odds of actually getting the job even if the manager wants you is slim to none.

First I do know there are flight paramedics, In fact the flight crew at the hospital I mentioned must be a RN and Paramedic. Also some of the area programs in my area fly with one RN and one medic. You are right I don't know all the protocols all over the US and I feel pretty confident in saying you don't either. And yes I don't work as a crew member but I would like to in the future and have done a lot of research on that program and I have talked to a few of the crew members. I ask you yet again have YOU ever been part of a flight crew? I'm not making blanket statements, I understand over use is a problem all over the US but in my area I don't think it is. The program I speak of has been around for 30 plus years and the safety of the crew and patients its the number one priority. They don't make transport decisions lightly. I still stand by my statement if the patient is 20 minutes away under the right circumstances using air transportation is appropriate. Again I don't know what kind of EMS people you are around but I have never known someone to call the flight team just because they are too lazy to drive. That is a blanket statement. How many different areas have you worked, how many different EMS companies do you know people from. Can you speak for every EMS worker in the country. I'm pretty sure that's a no and I'm pretty sure you only have experience in a small area. Maybe that's what EMS does in your area but I assure your area is one of the few and possible only that do that. Paramedics and EMT's live for that critical patient, they are going to want to transport that patient and see the care as far as they can. They aren't going to say I don't feel like driving lets call med flight. You are right I'm defending Flight nurses/paramedics AND EMS workers, but this isn't an ideal world this is reality and yes it has its flaws but so does everything else. I'm not hiding my head in the sand but you can NOT say every flight program in the entire US has overuse issues, you are NOT an expert on EVERY program in the entire US and I don't even think I would call you and expert in the subject at all. I don't believe I ever said overuse wasn't an issue in some programs.

I actually have not only worked in ICU I have spend a good amount of time working in a level 1 trauma ER at a nationally ranked hospital with a prestigious Flight program for my paramedic program and I have never seen or heard of a patient that was air lifted in to get discharged that quickly. It is not "people like me" that keep air ambulance companies flying unsafely. I cant speak for the companies you seem to have so much knowledge about, but I can speak fr the one at my hospital. They take their safety VERY seriously and if it is unsafe they DO NOT FLY. In the 30 years of service there has only been one fatal accident and it was and is not taken lightly. Also I fully understand that not every call is not life threatening. Most of the call done at our hospital are transports. But they aren't done because EMT's and Medics are lazy like you seem to believe. A lot of the patients are too sick for the hospitals in the UP and need to be transported down to us. I am not knocking pr hospital medics but at the end of the day they are only cleared to do so much. At least here in Michigan there are things flight nurses can do for the patient medics aren't allowed or equipped to do. Also sometimes it takes the fire fighters at least 20 minutes just to be able to get the patient out so in the time you can have the chopper getting ready and arriving. When you have already lost time in extrication adding on another 20 minutes by ground when you have the chopper there and ready? doesn't make since not to use it. It all depends on the scene the patient and a ton of other factors. If you use the resource correctly it can save a patient. To say medics/EMT's used air ambulances because they are lazy is wrong. I'm curious have you ever worked as a EMT/ Medic? how about as a flight nurse or for a air ambulance company? It sounds like you have done your research but I'm curious if you have ever been in that situation where you have to make a call if the patient goes by ground and air. I'm sure its not always black and white or one that is taken lightly.

First it was not right of students to act like they are better than a nurse, they are students have a lot to learn. I agree an EMT dosent have the same amount of knowledge as a nurse but a nurse also has more school. But I do not think nurses are better or smarter than EMTs or paramedics. As as for the incident you described can we clarify did EMTs show up or paramedics because you changed it from paramedics in the middle of the story to EMTs at the end. If EMTs showed up they are not taught how to do 12 leads or to read EKGs. Also i so I think we can all agree there are some bad medics AND some bad nurses out there so it is unfair to judge medics as a whole based one or a few incidents. at the end of the day there is not better or smarter when it comes to nurse Vs EMT/ medics.

I dont know what kind of paramedic class you took but I'm sorry you are wrong. I'm expected to know the drug, the class it falls under the doses for adult and peds, indications, contraindications, adverse reactions, other names that drug goes by and the mechanism of action. In my class we are expected to know a heck of a lot more than getting the patient on the stretcher, starting and IV and giving O2. Like everyone has said nursing and paramedic is not something you can compare they both have their areas where they will know more than one another but neither job is beneath the other.

I have a feeling you have never work as or with EMTS/Medics but a helicopter is not called just because they are too "lazy" to transport a patient. 20 minutes is a long transport time for a critically ill patient. Working in an ICU I would think you would know most critically ill patients don't have 20 minutes and need a hospital sooner than later. Also nurses and doctors and everyone in the hospital all work very hard to treat their patients but please don't knock pre-hospital care. yes most "saves" happen in the hospital but alot of times they are possible because of the EMTS/Medics and yes sometimes Medics/EMT's have "saves themselves and they work just as hard as ICU nurses do. At the end of the day people are alive because both pre-hospital and hospital care.

Honestly I think "The tech" sounds more offensive than "My tech" to me its like a nurse just being like hey you tech. On my unit they use my name or my tech. At the start if shift if they don't know who the tech for their patients are yet, they use my tech or when we have new techs and the nurses are just starting to learn their name. And I know when its getting really busy and stressful nurses will use my tech.If nurses cant use "my tech" than you can use "my nurse" and I bet you have used my nurse before and didn't even realize it. Things get busy and when you need help you will get use what every phrase to get it you can, I really thin your over thinking this.

Congrats! I have been a CNA for about three years and just recently got my EMT license. The one thing my instructors have taught me it EVERYONE is nervous and the people giving the test know this and understand! (Well most of them do) Just take a deep breath, you know what you need to do to pass, and being nervous is okay!

I disagree with this. As a PCT I'm not a robot that goes around and just baths and turns my patient because my nurse says so. We work together to take care of the patient. I know why i do these tasks and I know what to look for. I may not chart an official skin check but I still do skin checks on everyone of my patient. When a patient starts to go down hill or their status is changing half of the time the PCT is the first person to catch this. I'm not saying I know as much as a nurse but I do know more about nursing than you are giving PCT credit for and I do think like a nurse because the Nurses I work with teach their PCT's to think like them.

This might not be the case where you work, but where I work it makes all the difference. If you are on the unit working as a PCT and you are good at your job and work hard there is a good chance when you become an RN and there is an open position you will get the position. Most of the RN's on our floor worked as PCT's. Almost of our PCT's were hired after they did clinical on our floor for school and if they did well they would get hired for a PCT job. Also PCT experience is still better than no health care experience at all. Everything the PCT does, a RN also does. Like other people have said, its all about networking. If your good at your job and work hard, people will notice and want to hire you or help you become an RN. Dont get me wrong it might still take some time to find an RN job, but becoming a PCT will help.

Just because you don't want your patients to know your last name does not mean your trying to hide something. I have tape over my last name on my badge and so dose many of my coworkers. I work on a neuro floor and tend to have a good handful of patient that can get violent, we even had to all take a self defense class. There have been more than a few patients and patient family members that have threatened us and we even had one patient tell a nurse as they were threatening the nurse they wanted the nurses last name. We have had patients follow nurses to their car and tell other nurses the make and model of the car. So I feel better and more safe when my patients don't know my last name. The least amount of personal information my patients know the better. They don't need to know that stuff about me. As for us knowing their personal information it's our job they come to us to get care. I'm not looking to do anything with their personal information that would harm them.