# Paramedic to RT



## jonesy0924 (Sep 8, 2011)

does anyone know of a bridge program for paramedic to RT. I love on Florida???


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## EMS Patient Care Advocate (Sep 8, 2011)

depends on your learning. You can do it primarily online these days. There are several programs. A google search will find them.


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## jonesy0924 (Sep 8, 2011)

do you know any links to these schools have searched and am not finding any I am looking for RT not RN


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## EMS Patient Care Advocate (Sep 8, 2011)

I overlooked that, sorry. I can only find information about RT being specialty information not comparable or covered in the other disciplines. I do NOT believe there is a bridge course for paramedic to respiratory therapist. I believe you would need to pursue a full educational program.
There is more room for advancement and better opportunities for you to bridge to RN I would think. I would love to do it! Good luck I will be following so please post if you find any further information.


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## Shelley Watson (Sep 9, 2011)

I also don't think that there are any bridge course between paramedic and RN, because both are not related in any respect. You can go to other specialist courses in paramedic only. Doing an RN course would completely divert your career path.


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## epipusher (Sep 9, 2011)

Shelley Watson said:


> I also don't think that there are any bridge course between paramedic and RN, because both are not related in any respect. You can go to other specialist courses in paramedic only. Doing an RN course would completely divert your career path.



Excelsior college offers a bridge program for medic to RN. I know of several people that have done the course. It is state dependent as well. It's all online, no clinical time just a three day hands on test. Like any for profit program, do your research.


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## usafmedic45 (Sep 9, 2011)

There are no paramedic to RT "bridge programs" because RTs never have felt the need to lower our standards to increase our numbers.  Most programs have such a backlog of applicants that they don't need anything like this.   Short cuts in health care are not a good thing.


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## systemet (Sep 9, 2011)

usafmedic45 said:


> There are no paramedic to RT "bridge programs" because RTs never have felt the need to lower our standards to increase our numbers.  Most programs have such a backlog of applicants that they don't need anything like this.   Short cuts in health care are not a good thing.



I respect your commitment to education, but don't you think there's some overlap between the two fields?  Shouldn't there be some sort of advanced placement for paramedics?  I trained alongside respiratory therapists, and we took many of the same courses for the first year, should I have to repeat those courses again?

Or nursing...  It seems silly to me that because I have a BSc, I can do an accelerated BScN in 18 months.  But my paramedic training gets me starting week one, day one, doing 4 years.


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## Shishkabob (Sep 9, 2011)

Shelley Watson said:


> I also don't think that there are any bridge course between paramedic and RN, because both are not related in any respect. You can go to other specialist courses in paramedic only. Doing an RN course would completely divert your career path.



There's a crap load of Paramedic to RN courses.  Infact, I can think of 4 in just my area of Texas alone.


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## Iceman26 (Sep 9, 2011)

Linuss said:


> There's a crap load of Paramedic to RN courses.  Infact, I can think of 4 in just my area of Texas alone.



Agreed, I've seen many in a couple of different states. I know in Arizona the bridge programs allow you to enter nursing school starting at Block 3 I believe it is.


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## usafmedic45 (Sep 9, 2011)

> I respect your commitment to education, but don't you think there's some overlap between the two fields?



Not as much as you would think.  I could put an RT student next to you and he'd probably be able to run circles around you when it comes to physiology, physics, biochem, pathophysiology, etc. 



> Shouldn't there be some sort of advanced placement for paramedics?


Not for the technical stuff because it's taught at a completely different level between your average paramedic program (fairly low-ball teaching because the standards are so low) and your average RT program because our standards are comparatively higher.



> I trained alongside respiratory therapists, and we took many of the same courses for the first year, should I have to repeat those courses again?



For gen ed (A+P, etc), yeah, you should get credit for it but you shouldn't be able to skip the airway management, etc simply because you the basics in your paramedic course.  There's a lot of stuff people simply don't do in the field and even those that can don't do it frequently enough to maintain the knowledge and skill levels related to them. 



> But my paramedic training gets me starting week one, day one, doing 4 years.



What freaking RT program are you talking to that's making you start all the way over if you have a bachelors?  Seriously...there are a few out there that are run by borderline nutjobs who have some really over zealous views of the field.  Let me know what program you are looking at and I'll tell you if it's one of the ones I am talking about.   Just do an AS program and make sure you talk to the program director, not the admissions office. They generally don't know :censored::censored::censored::censored: about the workings of programs and are just there to get your money from you.  

But back to my point: There's no justification for a bachelors in RT to be completely honest.  You know what the difference between a bachelors and associates in RT is?  About $20-40K in student loan debt.


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## Katy (Sep 9, 2011)

I'm afraid I am unaware of any "bridge" programs from Medic to RT, but considering all I know about what RT's have to learn the best thing to do is just go ahead and take the full course. Only so much overlaps, and much more that doesn't. As far as nursing bridge programs, there are many, even though I too believe those would be best if you simply took the entire nursing program.


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