Regarding paramedics in ER..why are they paid so terribly ?

taidan · Sep 23, 2005

Since one of my friends just took the licensure exam last week (no degree), could you provide a link or some verification please.
http://www.miemss.org/ems_plan/EMSPlan_FinalFirstDraft.pdf
This link shows the Maryland plan, and it sez nothing about a degree. It sez it will follow the NSC, which encourages a degree, but does not require it. I've been involved in EMS for a long time in this area as a manager and educator and I keep myself informed. I work for the agency that develops the NSC, so I think I'd know if they started requiring one.

i stand corrected. I heard this from some paramedics at my department with shiny new B.Ss. thank you for the info

BamaBound2bRN · Sep 23, 2005

This has been very interesting reading. I don't know (or really care) who to believe, the main theme here seems to be Paramedic Envy or maybe RN Envy- not too sure yet who is more jealous of who (bad grammer sorry mom). I think it is important to be happy with what the man in the mirror is doing. :smokin: Ain't it strange that we have a smiley face that is smoking.........on a nursing forum

Trauma Columnist · Sep 23, 2005

Okay - we don't want to this to deteriorate into an us versus them thread. We all are an integral part of the ER scheme of things and all contribute our fair share. There are some things we are just going to have to agree to disagree on.

jwk · Sep 24, 2005

Oh, dont worry I havent gone far away. To answer some questions. Yes in most states Medics are Licensed. The states that are still certified will be switching in the near futrue, check state leg. websites for details. And yes Medics are a form of Physician Extenders and operate under the Physician in all aspects of Patient care. (This is how we can give Meds, intubate, needle chests, surgical airways, chest tubes and needle the paricardial sac.) And that is the reason they can replace a NP or PA, They also operate under the Physician. In the ER where I work the have started the Physician Extender Paramedics to see Pts, order labs, rad, suture, I&D, LPs order meds, review results, consult with oncall MD and Rx scripts under the MD license. The MDs have agreed and approved this and it was started. That is why if a Medic ever causes an error in the field or in house, it will be the MD the he was working under that will be on the stand with him. Oh, and I have put off Nursing School to pursue this position. I will pursue the degree again only to advance my other job in Flight Medicine. It doesnt matter if you think I am full of Sh*t or not, it is very humerous to know that it has gotten so many of the RN's in an up roar. It has done the same in our ER but after the first couple weeks they realized that if I order something it is coming from the MD through me.

Again - much or most of what you are doing falls well outside a paramedic's legal scope of practice. I don't believe for a second that ANY pharmacist would accept a prescription signed by Joe Blow, NREMTP. It simply won't happen.

A paramedic cannot operate outside their legal scope of practice simply because a physician orders them to do so.

Again, as so many have asked - where do you practice?

Jen2 · Sep 24, 2005

A paramedic cannot operate outside their legal scope of practice simply because a physician orders them to do so.

TRUE! I as an RN can obviously go and get a vomiting patient 4mg of Zofran IVP. However, if I don't have a doctors order for that med I am operating out of my scope of practice. I have standing orders that I utilize in my ED for things, but I am protected if I do a standing order because I have the order to do so. It's not about I can do this and you can't, it's about practicing within your scope of practice.

I could probably do a femoral artery stick better than most of the docs, but as an RN I am not allowed to do this even if a doc tells me so. A doctor can write an order for an RN to do anything, it's the nurse that needs to say, "Hey I cannot do that".

RN's and paramedics will never be able to be interchanged. It's two totally different things. Both the education for medics and nurses are also very different. Medics learn skills and thus their education is very skill oriented. Rn's learn much more about assessment, meds, and the patients response to those meds. It is great that some ED's hire medics. I wish we had a few. We do have one guy that is an EMT and he's awesome, but his title is clinical associate (nurses aide), so he's not even allowed to put in an IV. Even if some ED's are hiring and utilizing medics, put that medic on a med/surge floor and see how they function. My point is they will never be interchanged.

Medic173 · Sep 24, 2005

I dont care if you think I am FOS, I know what I do every night I go to work at the ER, I know that when they developed this position that I was one of the individuals that sat with the hospitals legal board, JACHO, DOH, and the CNO before hand. You RNs really need to do your homework about medics before you go around bashing them. We work under the MD scope and what every they want us to perform.

Trauma Columnist · Sep 24, 2005

Close this for a cooling off period.